TOPICC and PRS Conversational Checklists
Chiara Tenaglia, Gaia Dattola, Roberto Padovani, Giovanna Puccio, Sara Bertoni, Sandro Franceschini, Andrea Facoetti
The study presents a clinical application of the TOPICC and PRS conversational checklists to a group of subjects with autism spectrum disorder, without intellectual disability and with good linguistic functioning, aged 6-14 years (n = 38). The attribution of scores was carried out by two independent judges, while viewing the video recordings of the administration of ADOS2 (Module 3). The analyses first concerned various correlational statistics: (1) a good agreement emerges between independent observers; (2) the checklists used correlate with each other and show significant relationships with the autistic symptomatology assessed at ADOS2, especially with regard to TOPICC; (3) further correlations were found between the conversational checklists and the performance of the neuropsychological components of WISC4 (working memory, processing speed). The clinical sample was finally divided into two groups based on the WISC4 intellectual profile (homogeneous vs inhomogeneous), highlighting slightly more intense conversational symptoms for the sub-group with disharmonious skills on the intelligence test.
Keywords
Autism, Pragmatics, Conversation, Conversational checklist.
