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75 Can the Children’s Communication Checklist Differentiate Between Children with High Functioning Autism, ADHD, and Academically-Based Learning Disabilities?
- Zane Shammas-Toma, Joseph E. Casey, Ava Flanagan
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, p. 750
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Objective:
The Children’s Communication Checklist-Second Edition (CCC-2) is a rating scale designed to assess domains of communication skills with emphasis on pragmatics (Bishop, 2006). The CCC comprises 10 subtests addressing various aspects of oral communication skills: Speech, Syntax, Semantics, Coherence, Initiation, Scripted Language, Context, Nonverbal Communication, Social Relations, and Interests. In a study conducted on the original CCC, Geurts et al. (2004) found that when compared to normal controls, pragmatic difficulties occurred in children with either high functioning autism (HFA) or ADHD. Since the initial version of the CCC, no study has examined whether the revised version can differentiate children with HFA, ADHD, and LD, the purpose of the present study. Focus was on derived factors of the structure/content of language and the pragmatics of language.
Participants and Methods:Forty-one participants grouped according to diagnosis were drawn from two archival data pools, one adapted from a previous study conducted by Casey and Scott (2016) and the other from a set of anonymized patients from a neuropsychological clinic. Fourteen participants met clinical criteria for autism (Mage = 11.95), 12 participants met criteria for ADHD without co-morbid disorders (Mage = 9.5), and 15 participants met criteria for a learning disability involving reading, writing, math, or some combination (Mage = 10.13). Group-specific descriptive statistics were computed for the participants’ age, full scale intelligence quotient (IQ), and General Communication Composite (GCC). Two factor scores were computed, one composed of the subtests that constitute the structure/content aspects of language (Speech, Syntax, Semantics, and Coherence) and one composed of the pragmatic aspects of language (Initiation, Nonverbal Communication, Social Relations, and Interests), an area of particular weakness in HFA. Independent samples ANOVAs were conducted on both factor scores to determine whether the CCC-2 could differentiate the three groups. Post-hoc comparisons were planned for the subtests comprising the factor(s) that differentiated the groups.
Results:Participants in the ADHD (M = 9.45, SD = 2.45) group were significantly younger than those in the HFA group (M = 11.95, SD = 2.24) and LD group (M = 10.13, SD = 2.58), the latter two not differing significantly. The groups did not differ significantly on IQ, nor on the structure/content factor. On the pragmatic factor, the LD group (M = 10.18, SD = 9.91) had significantly higher scores than the ADHD group (M = 7.79, SD = 6.54), which in turn, had significantly higher scores than the HFA group (M = 5.48, SD = 8.26), F(2, 38) = 17.81, p < .01. Within this composite, the same pattern was shown on Nonverbal Communication, F(2, 38) = 9.29, p < .01, and Interests, F(2, 38) = 17.81, p < .01.
Conclusions:Compared to children with an academically-based learning disability, children with ADHD and HFA demonstrated pragmatic difficulties on the CCC-2. Although there was overlap between the pragmatic language characteristics of children with ADHD and children with HFA, the CCC-2 demonstrated utility in distinguishing the two disorders on certain aspects of communication skills, suggesting that it is a useful tool in differential diagnosis.
73 Examining the Associations Between Sentence Repetition and Other Cognitive Abilities in a Clinical Sample of School-Aged Children
- Rebekah E Taylor, Joseph E Casey, Ava M Flanagan
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 748-749
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- Article
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Objective:
Sentence repetition (SR) task performance is related to various cognitive abilities and not just learning and memory, as is commonly considered (e.g., Baron, 2018). Bartlett (2018) was the first to examine the associations among SR performance and other cognitive abilities within a single study, using a normative sample. Bartlett (2018) found that SR performance was predicted by language, auditory verbal working memory, processing speed, and nonverbal cognitive ability of which only language abilities and auditory verbal memory significantly added to the prediction. However, no study to date has examined the associations between SR and other cognitive abilities in a clinical sample of school-aged children. The present study sought to determine the extent to which language, working memory, nonverbal abilities (visuospatial processing and fluid reasoning), and processing speed predict children’s SR in a clinical sample.
Participants and Methods:Children 6 to 14 years of age (N = 191; 65% males) were included in the present study. Participants were drawn from two separate archival data populations of children referred for neuropsychological assessment in southwestern Ontario. SR scores were obtained from performance on Benton’s (1965) sentence repetition task. Language, working memory, fluid reasoning, visual perception, and processing speed were measured with Index scores from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (5th edition). The association of each of these cognitive domains with SR was determined by multiple linear regression. The effects of age and sex on SR were also examined (N = 226; 64% males).
Results:A multiple linear regression model including the five independent variables significantly predicted SR performance, F(5, 185) = 30.306, p < .001., adj. R2 = .435. Only language and working memory added significantly to the prediction, p < .05. A mediation analysis demonstrated that processing speed indirectly predicted SR performance through working memory, b=.0241, [95% BCa [CI .0132, .0355]. A moderate positive correlation was found between age and SR performance, r(226) = .416, p < .001. Sex was unrelated to SR performance.
Conclusions:The findings from this study are consistent with other studies indicating that SR taps multiple cognitive abilities. In a large and representative clinical sample of children referred for assessment due to academic or other learning difficulties, language plays as significant a role in SR performance as does auditory verbal attention and working memory. An advantage of the present study was the use of clinically relevant summary measures of cognitive domains associated with intelligence testing.
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