Early Pragmatic Communication in Autism and Fragile X Syndrome.

Purpose: Autism and fragile X syndrome (FXS) are both associated with pragmatic communication difficulties, but the pattern of strengths and weaknesses varies. Early pragmatic communication skills include using communication for different functions, such as behavior regulation or establishing/mainta...

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Published in:Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 68; no. 12; pp. 5978 - 5994
Main Authors: Hoffmann, Anne, Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth, Brady, Nancy
Format: Article
Published: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Dec2025
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Dec2025
      vid: 68
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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        10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00054
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        au:
          Hoffmann, Anne
          Berry-Kravis, Elizabeth
          Brady, Nancy
        affil:
          Department of Pediatrics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
          Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
          Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
          Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
          Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorders, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
          Life Span Institute, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
      su:
        Illinois
        Communicative competence
        Cross-sectional method
        Language & languages
        Autism in children
        Attention
        Cognition
        Child behavior
        Children
        Asperger's syndrome in children
        Research funding
        Data analysis
        Questionnaires
        Kruskal-Wallis Test
        Fragile X syndrome
        Descriptive statistics
        Chi-squared test
        Speech evaluation
        Statistics
        Comparative studies
        Data analysis software
      sug:
        subj:
          Communicative competence
          Cross-sectional method
          Language & languages
          Autism in children
          Attention
          Cognition
          Child behavior
          Children
          Illinois
          Asperger's syndrome in children
          Research funding
          Data analysis
          Questionnaires
          Kruskal-Wallis Test
          Fragile X syndrome
          Descriptive statistics
          Chi-squared test
          Speech evaluation
          Statistics
          Comparative studies
          Data analysis software
      ab: Purpose: Autism and fragile X syndrome (FXS) are both associated with pragmatic communication difficulties, but the pattern of strengths and weaknesses varies. Early pragmatic communication skills include using communication for different functions, such as behavior regulation or establishing/maintaining joint attention. This study examines naturalistic samples of communication to assess pragmatic function variables in very young children with autism, FXS, and typical development (TD). Method: Using the Communication Complexity Scale, standardized communication samples were collected from children with autism (n = 10), FXS (n = 10), and TD (n = 10), matched on spoken word count. Patterns of overall communication and pragmatic functions are provided. The relationships between pragmatic communication and cognition, receptive language, expressive language, and autistic symptomatology were assessed. Group differences in the amount and complexity of the pragmatic functions of behavior regulation and joint attention were analyz ed. Results: Descriptively different patterns of overall communication and pragmatic functions emerged between groups, with lower amounts of joint attention in the group with autism. Trends toward significant correlations between expressive language and both pragmatic functions in FXS as well as behavior regulation and cognition in the FXS and TD groups emerged. There were no significant group differences. Conclusions: Findings highlight possible early differences in pragmatic communication between autism and FXS. Clinicians need to consider nuanced differences between groups.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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