Keeping up with the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is just as annoying as Keeping up with the Kardashians. As you may know, the DSM-5 brought about a number of changes related to diagnostic categories for individuals whose needs are related to social skills. One key change was the addition of Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder (SPCD) which is characterized by difficulties in the following areas: communicating socially, adjusting communication to the context of the situations, following conversation and narrative rules, and understanding inferences and figurative language. The problem that comes along with this particular diagnostic category is that there aren’t structured or standardized assessments specifically targeting SPCD. This, in turn, leaves researchers and clinicians with inconsistent methods for determining diagnosis and prognosis. Enter Haiying Yuan and Christine Dollaghan! These masterminds from The University of Texas at Dallas have put their efforts into identifying test items in common assessment tools that target the specific characteristics of SPCD.
And so…… after narrowing down hundreds of research publications referencing pragmatic diagnostic tools, they found nine relevant assessments containing a total of 594 individual test items (ADI-R, ADOS-2, CCC-2, CSBQ, LUI, SCDC, SCQ-Lifetime, TOPICC, TOPL-2; * see below for full test names). After completing a review of the assessments and comparing across raters, they reported the test items that individually targeted each of the four characteristics of SPCD. Please refer to Appendix A of the research article for the specific test items and each associated SPCD characteristic (see link below).
Why the heck is this important? Given the multi-faceted nature of SPCD, the results of this report serve as helpful resources for guiding clinicians in the assessment and the future creation of screenings/diagnostic measures for SPCD. Some things to consider….. the SPCD diagnosis is not recommended before the age of four, so the results of the current study are organized by level of verbal skills (i.e., those commensurate with four years of age and those below). In addition, since this investigation included assessment tools from multiple publications, there may be have been additional test items corresponding to special populations that were overlooked. Although more work needs to be done, Yuan and Dollaghan’s contributions give us guidance for navigating the SPCD diagnosis. As for the best way to Keep up with the Kardashians, changing the channel has worked for me. Sorry ladies, you are not evidenced-based.
* ADI-R: Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised; ADOS-2: Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Edition; CCC-2: Children’s Communication Checklist – 2; CSBQ: Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire; LUI: Language Use Inventory; SCDC: Social and Communication Disorders Checklist; SCQ-Lifetime: Social Communication Questionnaire – Lifetime; TOPICC: Targeted Observation of Pragmatics in Children’s Conversations; TOPL-2: Test of Pragmatic Language – Second Edition
Resources:
The Brains: Haiying Yuan and Christine Dollaghan
The Full Article: Yuan, H., & Dollaghan, C., (2018). Measuring the diagnostic features of social (pragmatic) communication disorder: an exploratory study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27, 647-656.
Brainy Bits Blog 