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Autism: Social Communication Disorder

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Synonyms

Pragmatic communication disorder; Pragmatic language disorder; Pragmatic language impairment; Semantic pragmatic deficit disorder; Semantic pragmatic deficit syndrome; Semantic pragmatic language disorder; Social pragmatic communication disorder

Short Description or Definition

In more than 70 years since its first clinical descriptions, conceptualizing autism as a diagnostic category has been an ever-evolving and challenging process due to the broad heterogeneity that exists within this disorder. With the more narrow and rigid diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as described in the DSM-5 (APA 2013), a new diagnostic classification was introduced in an attempt to account for individuals with marked impairments in social and communicative abilities but who fail to meet DSM-5 criteria for ASD: social communication disorder (SCD).

SCD, sometimes referred to as social pragmatic communication disorder, is defined by primary impairments in the pragmatic aspects of...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Scott Luther James Jackson

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  1. Scott Luther James Jackson
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Correspondence to Scott Luther James Jackson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Jackson, S.L.J. (2017). Autism: Social Communication Disorder. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102176-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102176-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

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