Communication problems in children with asperger´s syndrome: how do they solve them?

Abstract

Background: Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) is considered a developmental disability included in autism spectrum. Although how much social communication is affected is one of the core criteria for diagnosis, the whole language uses´ description of AS in non-English speakers is too scarce and, because of this, obtaining an early diagnosis represents a very difficult task. Aim: Compare how AS Spanish speakers children and their neurotypical peers (TD) solve communication problems in different conversational exchanges. Method: 10 children were assessed; 5 diagnosed with AS and 5 typical developmental (TD) paired with them in age and sex. They were interviewed and assessed in some language tasks. The exchanges were orthographically transcribed and analyzed considering the sequences in which communication problems appeared. Results: The total frequency of communication problems was not significantly different (AS=29.17%; TD=22.56%); differences were observed when considering each task. The most significative difference observed ocurred during interviewing and storytelling tasks. Conclusions: Results obtained showed that the most significant difference observed in AS Spanish speakers occurred in interviewing settings. This contribution could be fruitful not only as a diagnosis criterion but also as a possible resource for clinical intervention.