Differentiating Children with Specific Language Impairment and Children with Asperger Syndrome Using Parental Reports

Although traditionally regarded as separate disorders, children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with Asperger syndrome (AS) may to some extent present with similar problems. The aims of the present study were to investigate if children diagnosed with SLI and children diagnosed with AS can be differentiated from each other based on parental evaluations of language and autistic symptoms. All together 43 children aged 6-15 years took part in the study. The SLI group consisted of 20 children (18 males) and the AS group consisted of 23 children (19 males). The parents completed two questionnaires assessing language and autistic symptoms; the Children’s Communication Checklist Second Edition (CCC-2) and the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ). The results showed that the two diagnostic groups were inseparable on an overall measure of communication; children with AS were as severely impaired as children with SLI. However, the AS group exhibited significantly more problems with pragmatic aspects of language than did the SLI group. Autistic symptoms were significantly more prominent in the AS group than in the SLI group. According to parent evaluations, all children in the AS group were language impaired and four children (out of 20) in the SLI group showed autistic symptoms in the clinical range. The findings of this study points to the importance of including language assessment to an initial AS assessment as well as to administer instruments sensitive to AS when assessing children with SLI.