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American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology Vol.16 368-380 November 2007. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2007/040)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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Research

Pragmatic Language Profiles of School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Williams Syndrome

Amy Philofsky
Deborah J. Fidler
Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Susan Hepburn
University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center

Contact author: Amy Philofsky, who is now at the Department of Psychiatry, Box C268-30, University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80262. E-mail: amy.philofsky{at}uchsc.edu.

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.

Key Words: pragmatics, assessment, autism spectrum disorders, Williams syndrome






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