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Friday, May 8, 2009
Northwest Hall (Chicago Hilton)
3:30 PM
Background:
Loucas and colleagues (2008) recently found weaker scores on receptive language measures for individuals with autism as compared to those with specific language impairments (SLI). These poorer scores were driven by difficulties with the Concepts and Directions subtest of the CELF. Loucas and colleagues argue that the linguistic demands of the task compounded by the heavy demands placed on auditory attention and short-term auditory memory may be factors contributing to poorer performance. Since refining how these variables impact adaptive functioning may have implications for treatment priorities, this investigation attempts to disambiguate the role that language ability, and auditory attention/working memory play in the functional use of language and social interaction in high functioning children with autism.
Objectives:
To examine the influence of core language and auditory attention/working memory on adaptive functioning, in a sample of high functioning ASD.
Methods:
Subjects were a clinically referred sample of 41 children (mean age: 9.46 ± 2.98 years; 85.4% male; verbal, nonverbal or full scale IQ≥70) diagnosed with an ASD based on the Autism Diagnostic Interview and/or Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and clinical impression. All data were collected during a comprehensive clinical diagnostic and neuropsychological evaluation. Parents of subjects were interviewed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS). The VABS was used to measure functional communication and socialization. Auditory attention/working memory was assessed with the Wechsler Digit Span subtest, and core language abilities were estimated from a sentence repetition task. Data were analyzed using partial correlations, controlling for age. A follow-up regression including sentence repetition, digit span and age was calculated to examine the unique contribution of each predictor.
Results:
Both sentence repetition (pr= .48, p= .002) and Digit Span (pr= .354, p= .025) scores were correlated with VABS Communication scores but were unrelated to VABS socialization. A follow-up regression including sentence repetition, digit span, and age to predict adaptive communication indicated sentence repetition (p= .026) and age (p= .013), but not digit span (p= .663), were related to adaptive communication.
Conclusions:
We find that estimates of both language ability and auditory attention/working memory are significantly related to communication outcome. Furthermore, when trying to understand the unique contribution of working memory/ auditory attention and core language abilities it appears that core language is a primary predictor of adaptive outcome. Potential implications for treatment include emphasizing the importance of remediating core language abilities, even in high functioning children, with ancillary interventions supporting nonlinguistic auditory processing in order to enhance functional comprehension of spoken language.
Loucas and colleagues (2008) recently found weaker scores on receptive language measures for individuals with autism as compared to those with specific language impairments (SLI). These poorer scores were driven by difficulties with the Concepts and Directions subtest of the CELF. Loucas and colleagues argue that the linguistic demands of the task compounded by the heavy demands placed on auditory attention and short-term auditory memory may be factors contributing to poorer performance. Since refining how these variables impact adaptive functioning may have implications for treatment priorities, this investigation attempts to disambiguate the role that language ability, and auditory attention/working memory play in the functional use of language and social interaction in high functioning children with autism.
Objectives:
To examine the influence of core language and auditory attention/working memory on adaptive functioning, in a sample of high functioning ASD.
Methods:
Subjects were a clinically referred sample of 41 children (mean age: 9.46 ± 2.98 years; 85.4% male; verbal, nonverbal or full scale IQ≥70) diagnosed with an ASD based on the Autism Diagnostic Interview and/or Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and clinical impression. All data were collected during a comprehensive clinical diagnostic and neuropsychological evaluation. Parents of subjects were interviewed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS). The VABS was used to measure functional communication and socialization. Auditory attention/working memory was assessed with the Wechsler Digit Span subtest, and core language abilities were estimated from a sentence repetition task. Data were analyzed using partial correlations, controlling for age. A follow-up regression including sentence repetition, digit span and age was calculated to examine the unique contribution of each predictor.
Results:
Both sentence repetition (pr= .48, p= .002) and Digit Span (pr= .354, p= .025) scores were correlated with VABS Communication scores but were unrelated to VABS socialization. A follow-up regression including sentence repetition, digit span, and age to predict adaptive communication indicated sentence repetition (p= .026) and age (p= .013), but not digit span (p= .663), were related to adaptive communication.
Conclusions:
We find that estimates of both language ability and auditory attention/working memory are significantly related to communication outcome. Furthermore, when trying to understand the unique contribution of working memory/ auditory attention and core language abilities it appears that core language is a primary predictor of adaptive outcome. Potential implications for treatment include emphasizing the importance of remediating core language abilities, even in high functioning children, with ancillary interventions supporting nonlinguistic auditory processing in order to enhance functional comprehension of spoken language.