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Diagnostic Differentiation of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Pragmatic Language Impairment

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An Erratum to this article was published on 02 April 2011

Abstract

The present study examined diagnostic differentiation between school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with pragmatic language impairment (PLI). Standardized diagnostic instruments were used to investigate the relationship between severity of ‘autism triad’ impairments and group membership. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule was administered to 19 children with PLI and 22 children with ASD. Parents completed the Social Communication Questionnaire. There was a significant difference between diagnostic groups in the level of the severity of behaviors represented by the Communication and Reciprocal Social Interaction sub-domains on both diagnostic measures. Currently displayed Repetitive and Restricted Behaviors and Interests were not found to be useful for differentiating between groups. The similarities found between groups have important implications for intervention.

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Acknowledgments

This manuscript was completed in partial fulfillment of a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of McGill by L.M.R who was supported by a Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture scholarship award (2007–2009) and the Saul Levenson Scholarship (Miriam Foundation) in 2006, and also from grants from the Canada Research Program awarded to Professors Cornish and Fombonne. We extend our thanks to the staff of the ASD Program of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, participating schools of the English Montreal School Board, and to Dr. Caroline Zanni for the use of her clinic. We gratefully acknowledge Susan Waite of the English Montreal School Board, who generously gave her time in the collection of data for this study. Special thanks to the families who took their time to be a part of this study and who made this research possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Lisa M. Reisinger & Kim M. Cornish

  2. Autism Spectrum Disorders Program, Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal, Canada

    Lisa M. Reisinger & Éric Fombonne

  3. Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Kim M. Cornish

  4. Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Éric Fombonne

Authors
  1. Lisa M. Reisinger
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  2. Kim M. Cornish
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  3. Éric Fombonne
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Correspondence to Lisa M. Reisinger.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1235-8

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Reisinger, L.M., Cornish, K.M. & Fombonne, É. Diagnostic Differentiation of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Pragmatic Language Impairment. J Autism Dev Disord 41, 1694–1704 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1196-y

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