The underlying basis of the communication difficulties of high functioning pervasive developmental disorder
Date
2008-10-22T08:46:12Z
Authors
Ridley, Gillian Mary
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Abstract
This study aimed to explore the underlying basis of the communication difficulties in children
(between 5.0 and 7.11 years) with high functioning pervasive developmental disorder
(HFPDD) (n=26), compared to children with specific language impairment (SLI) (n=26), and
children with no history of developmental difficulty (NDD) (n=26). The study looked at:
whether different profiles could be obtained for the groups on comprehensive batteries of
communication, cognitive processing and theory of mind; which areas measured were best
correlated; and which measures best differentiated the groups. Comprehensive
communication and theory of mind batteries were devised and conducted. Cognitive
processing was measured using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri and Das,
1997). Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis
test, Bonferroni t tests, frequency distributions, Pearson correlation coefficients and
discriminant function analyses. Kappa coefficients and analysis of variance measures were
carried out on 23% of the rated data in order to establish inter-rater agreement and
acceptable levels of agreement were reached.
On the communication assessment, the HFPDD group experienced the most difficulty on the
measures of understanding abstract vocabulary, understanding conversation, pronoun
alternation, higher level semantics, narrative ability and pragmatic ability. In contrast, the
SLI group experienced the most difficulty on the measures of expressive grammar and
narrative clarity. On the cognitive processing assessment, the HFPDD group experienced
marked difficulty in the areas of planning and attention, while the SLI group experienced
significant difficulty in the areas of successive processing and less marked but still significant
difficulty in the area of planning. Within the HFPDD group, a group with simultaneous
processing markedly stronger than successive processing, a group with successive processing
markedly stronger than simultaneous processing, and a group with simultaneous and
successive processing occurring at a similar level, were identified. The HFPDD group
experienced significant difficulty on all the measures of theory of mind, although a limited
number of HFPDD subjects did not experience difficulty. The SLI group experienced
significant difficulty on the two theory of mind measures that were more verbally loaded.
Strong correlations were found between receptive language, expressive semantics, narrative
ability, pragmatic ability, planning, attention and theory of mind; and between expressive
grammar and successive processing. Pragmatic ability, narrative ability, planning, and
certain of the theory of mind measures best appeared to discriminate the groups. A combined
model of language, cognitive and theory of mind processing is proposed to explain the
differences between the HFPDD and SLI groups.
Description
Keywords
high functioning autism, pervasive developmental disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, semantic-pragmatic disorder, specific language impairment, communication, cognitive processing, theory of mind