The Roles of Pragmatic Language and Theory of Mind in the Adaptive Communication Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit marked social communication impairments. Research suggests that these deficits often lead to delays in adaptive behavior, such as adaptive communication. In this study, I examined the roles of two social constructs, pragmatic language and theory of mind (ToM), in the adaptive communication abilities of young children with and without ASD. Thirteen children with ASD (31% female; M age = 58.08 months) and 24 children with typical development (58% female; M age = 52.42 months) between the ages of 3:0 and 6:5 were assessed. Adaptive communication was measured by the Functional Communication subscale of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). Pragmatic language ability was assessed by the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). ToM was measured through a battery of laboratory tasks. Results indicated significant direct effects of status on adaptive communication [F(1, 35) = 28.61, p \u3c .001], status (i.e., TD vs. ASD) on pragmatic language [F(1, 35) = 8.17, p = .001], and pragmatics on ToM [F(1, 35) = 7.03, p = .01]. Results did not support the hypotheses that the relation between status and adaptive communication would be mediated by pragmatic language alone, ToM alone, or pragmatic language predicting ToM. Post hoc analyses showed scores on each measure were trending in the predicted directions when compared to past literature. This indicates promise for future research replicating the study. Additionally, exploratory analyses showed that only children with ASD had at-risk or clinically significant pragmatic and/or adaptive communication skills. While it has been previously shown that older children with ASD (ages six through adolescence) demonstrate pragmatic language deficits than children with TD, this relation has not been examined in younger children. These results may help inform therapy goals for young children with ASD. It may be beneficial for children with ASD as young as three years old to begin working on improving their pragmatic language skills. The study’s strengths include the population sampled (i.e., young children with ASD compared to children with TD who have average or greater verbal abilities)

The serial relation of theory of mind and functional communication in the externalizing problems of children with ASD

Children with autism exhibit greater externalizing problems than typically developing (TD) peers. Our objective was to develop a greater understanding of contributing factors. We hypothesized that theory of mind (ToM) and functional communication (FC) would serially mediate this relation. Our sample included 111 children (65 with TD and 46 with ASD) ages 3:0 to 6:11. The results supported a serial mediation (B = .25, CI95 = .02 to .98), indicating that children with ASD demonstrated greater difficulty understanding others\u27 perspectives, which may impact their ability to communicate effectively. Lower FC skills may increase frustration and lead to greater externalizing problems

The role of theory of mind on the stress intensity of parents of children with ASD

Research indicates many children with ASD show deficits in theory of mind (ToM) ability, and their parents experience more stress than parents of typically developing (TD) children. We evaluated how ToM abilities impact the association between developmental status (TD and ASD) and parental stress intensity (PSI) in 101 children (ages 3:0 to 6:11) and their parents. A moderation analysis indicated the main effect of status on PSI was significant intensity (B = -1.509, CI95 [-12.386, 9.368], p = .783) but the effect of ToM skills on PSI was not (B = -.956, CI95 [-4.673, 2.761], p = .611). The findings suggest that even when ToM abilities appear similar, parents of children with ASD may experience higher parental stress

Parent Reported Child Attention Problems and Depression Related to Parenting Stress in ASD

We investigated how attention difficulties and child depression symptoms influence frequency of stress events in parents of children with ASD (n = 39) and parents of typically developing children (n = 61). Parents completed self-report measures evaluating children\u27s attention problems and depression symptoms. The results indicated that status was positively associated with attention related problem behaviors, child attention problems was positively associated with child depression symptoms, and depression symptoms were positively associated with frequency of parenting stress. Our results suggest higher stress in parents of children with ASD occurs through a mediated pathway which was associated with increased parental stress