Capacity of the CCC-2 to Discriminate ASD from Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2) assesses language use, differentiating structural and pragmatic/sociointeractive aspects.
• Previous research highlights the CCC-2's utility in identifying communication discrepancies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Galician adaptation of the CCC-2's ability to differentiate linguistic profiles in children with various disorders.
• To determine if the CCC-2's discriminative capacity remains consistent across different developmental ages.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 117 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental language disorder (DLD), attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Down syndrome (DS), or typically developing (TD) were assessed.
• Children were categorized into two age groups: 4–6 years and 7–16 years.
• The Galician CCC-2 was administered to assess linguistic abilities.

Main Results:

• The Galician CCC-2 accurately identified children with and without communication impairments.
• It successfully distinguished between pragmatic disorders (observed in ASD and ADHD) and structural disorders (observed in DS and DLD).
• The instrument differentiated various pragmatic impairment profiles and showed consistent performance across both earlier and later developmental age groups.

Conclusions:

• The Galician CCC-2 is a valuable tool for differentiating between clinical groups and assessing pragmatic language disorders from an early age.
• Its consistent performance across age groups supports its utility in early intervention planning for children with communication challenges.