Pragmatic Language Markers of Autism Diagnosis and Severity.

Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 101300021 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 1750-9467 (Print) NLM ISO Abbreviation: Res Autism Spectr Disord Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE

Original Publication: Amsterdam : Elsevier

Purpose: Assessment of pragmatic language difficulties is limited with conventional tests but can be performed with informant reports. We evaluated the performance of a parent-completed language scale in differentiating autism from typical development (TD) and another neurodevelopmental disorder. Specifically, we aimed to gauge the respective values of structural and pragmatic language scores for diagnostic discrimination and for predicting severity of social impairment in autistic children.
Method: 174 children aged 7 to 17 (101 with autism, 45 with ADHD, 28 with TD) were evaluated with the ADOS-2 and an abbreviated version of the WISC. Parents completed the Children's Communication Checklist, 2nd Edition (CCC-2) and the Social Responsiveness Scale. CCC-2 mean differences across diagnostic groups were tested with analysis of variance and covariance. Multiple linear regression was used to compare the structural and pragmatic CCC-2 scores in predicting autism symptom severity.
Results: Both structural and pragmatic language scores discriminated between the three diagnostic groups, with stronger effects for the pragmatic scores. Pragmatic scores remained robust predictors of ADHD and ASD diagnoses even after accounting for cognitive and structural linguistic differences. Among autistic children, social impairment severity was associated with pragmatic, but not structural, language profiles.
Conclusions: In order to characterize pragmatic language, easy to administer parent questionnaires such as the CCC-2 may support clinicians who are considering an autism diagnosis and needing to evaluate and monitor social communication.
Competing Interests: We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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R01 DC012033 United States DC NIDCD NIH HHS; R01 MH086654 United States MH NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH115357 United States MH NIMH NIH HHS

Keywords: language assessment; parent report; social communication

Date Created: 20220509 Latest Revision: 20230602

20240628

PMC9075340

10.1016/j.rasd.2022.101970

35528460