Pragmatic language profiles of school-age children with autism spectrum disorders and Williams syndrome

PURPOSE

To describe and compare the pragmatic language profiles of school-age children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) on a standardized measure to determine whether a standard pragmatics tool can differentiate between 2 groups of children with opposing social presentations and pragmatic language difficulties.

METHOD

Twenty-two parents of school-age children with ASD, 21 parents of school-age children with WS, and 19 parents of school-age typically developing children rated their child on the Children's Communication Checklist-Second Edition (CCC-2; D. Bishop, 2003), a standardized pragmatic language assessment tool.

RESULTS

Both clinical groups demonstrated impairment in overall communication and pragmatic language functioning, but children with WS performed significantly better on overall pragmatic language functioning, and the magnitude of the effect was medium. Profile examination revealed equivalent performances between ASD and WS on most CCC-2 subscales; however, significantly better performances on the Coherence, Stereotyped Language, Nonverbal Communication, and Social Relations subscales were observed in WS.

CONCLUSIONS

The CCC-2 appears to provide an effective means to identify and characterize pragmatic language difficulties using a standardized approach in children with ASD and WS.

Comparison of Language Skills of Adjudicated and Nonadjudicated Adolescent Males and Females

Purpose

This study attempted to determine whether there were any differences or similarities in the basic cognitive and language skills of 4 groups of adolescents: adjudicated (a judge’s decision to establish responsibility for a delinquent act) and nonadjudicated male and females.

Method

The 4 groups of adolescents were 18 adjudicated females, 18 nonadjudicated females, 14 adjudicated males, and 14 nonadjudicated males. They were evaluated using the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K–BIT; A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, 1990) as a screener for intelligence and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—3 (CELF–3; E. Semel, E. Wiig, & W. Secord, 1995) as a screener for language skills.

Results

No gender differences were found between the groups for either the K–BIT or the CELF–3. All groups scored within normal limits on the K–BIT subtests, but lower on the vocabulary portion of the K–BIT compared to the matrices (nonverbal) portion. There were differences found between adjudicated and nonadjudicated groups on the CELF–3, with the adjudicated groups having lower scores.

Implications

As the majority of adjudicated adolescents had not been previously identified as having difficulties with language abilities, this population could benefit from early assessment. Also, children who are at risk for incarceration should be screened for possible language deficits that could contribute to the many difficulties experienced by adolescents.

Methodological adaptations for investigating the perceptions of language-impaired adolescents regarding the relative importance of selected communication skills

This article describes the systematic and detailed processes undertaken to modify a research methodology for use with language-impaired adolescents. The original methodology had been used previously with normally achieving adolescents and speech pathologists to obtain their opinions about the relative importance of selected communication skills for adolescents' positive peer relationships. Modifications attempted to address language-impaired adolescents' characteristic metalinguistic, literacy, cognitive, and information processing weaknesses. Revising the original wording of the communication skills, reducing the reading level of the skills from grade 10 to 4.6, using a Q-sort approach to ranking the importance of the skills, and revising the instructions and administration procedures led to what pilot testing results indicated was a valid methodology for use with language-impaired adolescents. Results of a preliminary study using the revised methodology suggested that language-impaired adolescents may perceive the relative importance of some communication skills differently from their normally achieving peers.

The Use of Two Language Tests to Identify Pragmatic Language Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Purpose: Pragmatic language disorders (PLDs) are difficult to diagnose in a cost-effective manner, and there are few assessment tools that yield quantitative data. This investigation was designed to determine whether two formal assessment tools would differentiate PLDs in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) from controls matched on verbal IQ and language fundamentals.

Method: Thirty-four matched participants were given the Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL; D. Phelps-Terasaki & T. Phelps-Gunn, 1992) and the Strong Narrative Assessment Procedure (SNAP; C. J. Strong, 1998).

Results: Participants with ASDs had significantly poorer scores than controls on the TOPL. On the SNAP, the children with ASDs performed similarly to controls on syntax, cohesion, story grammar, and completeness of episodes. The controls performed significantly better only on the ability to answer inferential questions.

Clinical Implications: The TOPL was effective in differentiating PLDs in children with ASDs when performance was compared to matched controls. The SNAP did not clearly differentiate language problems in these two groups. Research is needed to develop formal assessment tools that target the unique language disabilities of high-functioning individuals with ASDs.

The Relative Importance of Selected Communication Skills for Adolescents’ Interactions With Their Teachers

Purpose: This study investigated the opinions of high school teachers regarding the relative importance of selected communication skills for their students’ communication with them and explored if the content areas in which the teachers taught or the amount of high school teaching experience they had were associated with their opinions.

Method: Teachers ranked 14 communication skills according to perceived order of importance for Grade 10 adolescents’ communication with them as teachers.

Results: Teachers tended to perceive skills associated with discourse management strategies as relatively more important than other skills. The two communication skills that were associated with metalinguistic/figurative language aspects of communication were ranked as least important. Inexperienced and experienced high school teachers tended to rank the importance of the communication skills similarly, as did sciences and humanities teachers, except for the communication skill of turn taking, which sciences teachers ranked higher than humanities teachers.

Clinical Implications: The results provide guidelines for developing intervention approaches that can facilitate successful communicative interactions in high school environments and target goals that teachers of adolescents with language and/or learning disabilities perceive as more important for teacher-adolescent interactions.

Contributions of qualitative research to the knowledge base of normal communication

As clinical speech-language pathology moves toward a progressive use of qualitative research methodologies and applications for clinical purposes, it is helpful to know how the qualitative paradigm has influenced our field. This article reviews a number of studies from the social sciences and their impact on our knowledge of the properties of communication and the investigation of cognitive and language acquisition. This review indicates that qualitative research currently has a significant impact on our knowledge bases in clinical speech-language pathology.

Qualitative research: implications for description and assessment

As clinical speech-language pathologists seeking different ways to understand the complexity of communication within naturalistic and social contexts, we are progressively adapting the qualitative research methods of the social sciences for our assessment purposes. This article discusses some basic principles and practices discussed previously in this forum on qualitative research and demonstrates how they can be employed to provide effective and sufficient clinical communicative assessment.

Cultural analysis of communication behaviors among juveniles in a correctional facility

This study addressed communication behaviors of female juvenile delinquents in a correctional facility. Qualitative methodology was used to study 78 participants ranging in age from 13.1 to 18.9 (years; months), over a five-month period. Data collection consisted of observations, participant observation, interviews, and a review of documents. Additionally, participants were tested on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3. Listening and following rules, utterance types, topics of conversion, politeness, and conversational management emerged as themes. Findings indicated that as many as 22% of participants were potential candidates for language services. Implications for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) providing communication services will be provided.

Importance of Selected Communication Skills for Talking With Peers and Teachers

This research explored normally achieving 10th-grade adolescents’ opinions concerning the relative importance of 14 communication skills for their own communication when talking with their teachers and when talking with their peers. It also investigated if the adolescents’ gender influenced their opinions. Results indicated that the adolescents tended to perceive skillsassociated with characteristics of empathy and considered to be addressee-focused as relatively more important for their communication with their peers. When the adolescents considered their communication with teachers, communication skills related to discoursemanagement strategies assumed relatively more importance. Although gender appeared to influence the types of communication skills considered to be more important than others, gender-based differences in the relative importance of the communication skills were less apparent when gender and communication partnerdifferences were considered together. Future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.