SLPOtherJournal of autism and developmental disorders2019

Parent-Reported Communication Abilities of Children with Sotos Syndrome: Evidence from the Children's Communication Checklist-2.

Chloe Lane, Jo Van Herwegen, Megan Freeth

PMID 30536215

WHAT IT FOUND

Parents reported marked communication difficulties in most children with Sotos syndrome, similar overall to children with Williams syndrome.

Language structure and pragmatic skills were both impaired, with particular problems in context use and nonverbal communication.

Key findings

01Most children with Sotos syndrome had communicative difficulties of varying severity on the CCC-2, and only one scored in the normal range.

02Overall communication ability did not differ significantly between children with Sotos syndrome and children with Williams syndrome.

03Within Sotos syndrome, pragmatic language was uneven, with greater difficulty in use of context and nonverbal communication than in inappropriate initiation and stereotyped language.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs

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What it does not show

The communication profile was based only on parent report, not direct assessment or observation of live interaction. There was no typically developing control group, so CCC-2 scores were interpreted against the test's standardisation sample. IQ and adaptive functioning were not assessed, so communication scores were not compared with overall intellectual ability. The Sotos syndrome sample was small (31 children), and ability varied widely within the group. The comparison was with children with Williams syndrome, not with children with typical development, so syndrome-specific interpretation is limited. Some between-group profile differences were trends rather than confirmed differences after multiple-comparison correction.

Declared interests

The funding statement names the Child Growth Foundation and the Bailey Thomas Charitable Fund. No further conflict-of-interest details are given.

The easy way to misread this

Do not treat these profiles as directly observed or as evidence that a therapy works. The study used parent report, did not include a typically developing control group, and did not assess IQ or adaptive functioning.

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