Conversational analysis in autism and social (pragmatic) communication disorder. An investigation with TOPICC and Pragmatic Rating Scale
Roberto Padovani, Laura Pattuzzi
The study investigates the assessment of pragmatic conversational skills in neurodevelopmental disorders. Two check-lists (TOPICC and Pragmatic Rating Scale) were used in the clinical evaluation of three diagnostic groups, balanced in gender, age and intellectual functioning (n = 20 in each group): autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SCD), and specific learning disorder (SLD). Results show increasing pragmatic conversational symptoms among diagnostic groups (SLD < SCD < ASD). Individuals with ASD, compared to subjects with SCD, present a pragmatic profile with increased symptoms of atypical prosody, verbosity, non-verbal communication deficit, obsessive topics and aloof, stilted interaction. The conversational check-lists seem to be of interest for the clinical assessment of children and adolescents with pragmatic impairment.
Keywords
Conversation, pragmatic, autism, social communication disorder.