Language and pragmatic functions in school-age children on the autism spectrum.

Abstract

This study examined group differences in language and pragmatic functions across sex-, age- and IQ-matched samples of Asperger syndrome (N = 22), high-functioning autism (N = 11), deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP) (N = 11), and speech and language disorder (SLD) (N = 11) groups. The purpose was to explore possible differentiating features in the fields of vocabulary, comprehension and pragmatics and, in addition, to determine whether Asperger syndrome could be reliably separated from high-functioning autism on these variables. The findings suggest that Asperger syndrome may be associated with higher full-scale and verbal IQ than high-functioning autism; Asperger syndrome may not be associated with better pragmatic skills (as defined in this context) than high-functioning autism; language comprehension may not clearly separate Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism once the effects of very low IQ are partialled out; both DAMP and SLD can be distinctly separated from Asperger syndrome and autism.