Comparing Language Abilities of Children with ASD, ADHD, and Comorbid Symptoms of Both

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Researchers studying the language abilities of school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have found that highly verbal children with ASD (HFA) perform within age level on a number of standardized tests and show intact structural language abilities, but show pragmatic language deficits (Kover et al., 2014; Paytner & Peterson, 2010). Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show a similar trend, although fewer studies have analyzed their language abilities in depth (Kim & Kaiser, 2000). In addition, ASD and ADHD frequently co-occur (Rommelse et al., 2011). However, very few studies have looked at the language abilities of children with a comorbid diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether having a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD moderates these pragmatic language deficits seen among children with ASD. Participants included 21 HFA (Mage = 11.6, SD = 2.2), 24 ADHD (Mage = 11.9, SD = 2.5), and 31 Comorbid (Mage = 12.0, SD = 2.3) school-aged children. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2; Lord et al., 2012) confirmed ASD diagnosis and the Conners-3 (Conners, 2008) confirmed ADHD symptoms. Participants were matched on verbal IQ (VIQ; MHFA = 96.2, SD = 14.1; MADHD = 97.4, SD = 14.1; MComorbid = 96.2, SD = 17.1). Data were collected during a virtual reality paradigm where children viewed a virtual classroom through a headset while they answered questions posed by a research assistant about their everyday lives and interests. Their responses were recorded and transcribed using CLAN (MacWhinney, 2000). CLAN algorithms were used to extract the mean length of utterances (MLU), noun types, and verb types. The Children’s Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2; Bishop, 2006) measured overall pragmatic language abilities. Overall, the Comorbid group did not differ from the HFA or ADHD groups on structural language abilities. No group differences were observed for MLU (p = 0.129), noun types (p = 0.406), or verb types (p = 0.587) (see Figure 1). However, the Comorbid group scored lower on majority of the subscales of the CCC-2, including initiation (e.g. “Talks to people without any encouragement or starts conversations with strangers”), social relations (e.g. “Shows concern when other people are upset”, and interests (e.g. “Reacts positively when a new and unfamiliar activity is suggested”), than the HFA and ADHD groups (ps < 0.001) (see Figure 2). In addition, there were no subscales where the Comorbid group scored higher than the HFA group. Structural language abilities in children with comorbid symptoms of ASD and ADHD do not appear to differ from children with a single diagnosis of ASD or ADHD. Therefore, comorbidity does not make structural language any more challenging for children with ASD. However, their pragmatic abilities, as scored by their parents, were consistently rated lower than their HFA and ADHD peers. Therefore, having an additional diagnosis of ADHD exacerbates difficulties with pragmatics. Future investigations should assess pragmatic language abilities of children with ASD and/or ADHD in their natural speech.

Authors

• Cynthia Boo, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Nancy McIntyre, University of Central Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Peter Clive Mundy, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Letitia R Naigles, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author