Abstract
Pragmatic language deficits are becoming more apparent and can be seen early on in life in individuals who present with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Asperger Syndrome (AS), and Social Communication Disorder (SCD) or Pragmatic Language Impairment (PLI). As our awareness and understanding of social communication disorders advance, so does our assessment and treatment of social language impairments. The current study aims to explore how paralinguistic cues (i.e., facial expressions, intonation/prosody), affective expression, and social context skills develop across the lifetime in students who are typically developing and students with ASD, AS, and PLI. The Clinical Assessment of Pragmatics (CAPs) was given to all students to assess current pragmatic language function. Four subtests from the CAPs were comparatively analyzed in individuals between the ages of 7:0 to 15:11 who present as: typically developing, present with PLI, and present with high functioning autism (HFA). The four key constructs analyzed for the purpose of this study include: affective expression, paralinguistic decoding, paralinguistic signals, and social context appraisal. Results of the current study revealed significant differences in both the typically developing group and PLI group across all ages in nonverbal language (paralinguistic decoding and paralinguistic signals) and social competence (affective expressive and social context appraisal) tasks. Additionally, the current study revealed that students with PLI disorder acquire social language skills in a similar pattern to typically developing students, however, at a delayed rate. Students with HFA did not appear to follow the same pattern of social language acquisition as typically developing students. Students with PLI and HFA may differ in their understanding and acquisition of nonverbal and social competence skills.
Highlights
Pragmatic Language DevelopmentAnxiety From the day a baby is born; he/she is developing social and emotional skills through their environment and their relationships with others [1]
Research has shown that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate an absence or lack of joint attention that begins in infancy and may have difficulty understanding and using gestures and attending to a communicative partner or shared object [4]
It has been documented that 30% of individuals with ASD develop very little verbal communication, which further emphasizes the need for nonverbal social language skills [5]
Summary
Pragmatic Language DevelopmentAnxiety From the day a baby is born; he/she is developing social and emotional skills through their environment and their relationships with others [1]. Research has shown that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate an absence or lack of joint attention that begins in infancy and may have difficulty understanding and using gestures and attending to a communicative partner or shared object [4]. Students with ASD may have difficulty with the interpretation and use of: paralinguistic cues (e.g., facial expressions, body language, and prosody), affective expression, and social context. Since most of these skills progress over the course of development, it is crucial that skills are assessed and treated early on in development to increase future social language development [6]
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