Assessing pragmatic language difficulties using the Revised Children's Communication Checklist‐2. Exploratory structural equation modeling and associations with restricted and repetitive behaviors

Keating, Jennifer, Uljarević, Mirko, van Goozen, Stephanie H. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5983-4734, Abbot‐Smith, Kirsten, Hay, Dale F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2505-0453 and Leekam, Susan R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1122-0135 2024. Assessing pragmatic language difficulties using the Revised Children's Communication Checklist‐2. Exploratory structural equation modeling and associations with restricted and repetitive behaviors. Autism Research 17 (3) , pp. 584-595. 10.1002/aur.3100

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Abstract

In this paper, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Child Communication Checklist‐Revised (CCC‐R) for the first time with an English‐speaking sample. We used a confirmatory application of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) to re‐evaluate the CCC‐R's psychometric properties. We found strong support for its use as an assessment for pragmatic and structural language. Our second main aim was to explore associations between pragmatic and structural language and restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs), two hallmark characteristics of autism. We used the CCC‐R and Repetitive Behavior Questionnaire (RBQ‐2) to investigate these associations in a diverse non‐clinical sample of children, taking a transdiagnostic approach. We intentionally excluded autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses to test, (1) the CCC‐R in a broad sample and (2) the association between pragmatic language and RRB in children not already selected for that association. The sample comprised two groups of children, one was community sampled (n = 123) and the other (n = 143) included children with non‐specific behavioral, emotional and/or cognitive difficulties referred to an assessment unit by schools. We found clear associations between pragmatic language difficulties and RRBs in both groups. Regression analysis showed that pragmatic language was the only significant contributor to RRBs even after Grammatical‐Semantic score, age, sex, and socioeconomic status were controlled. The pattern was the same for both recruitment groups. However, the effects were stronger for the school‐referred group which also had more pragmatic difficulties, grammatical‐semantic difficulties and RRBs. A robust link between pragmatic language and RRBs, established in autism, has continuity across the broader non‐clinical population.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Psychology
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1939-3792
Funders:	ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, Waterloo Foundation
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 February 2024
Date of Acceptance:	10 January 2024
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2024 10:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166147

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