Relationships between the social communication questionnaire and pragmatic language, socialization skills, and behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is one of the most widely used screening instruments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined the relationships between the reciprocal social interaction, communication, and repetitive/stereotyped factors on the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and pragmatic, socialization, and behavioral problems in children with ASD and children with typical development (TD). Participants were seven- to 11-year-old children with ASD without intellectual disability (n = 52) and with TD (n = 37). The two groups were matched on age and intelligence quotient. Significant differences were found between the two groups on the SCQ domains and the outcome measures (pragmatic language, socialization skills, and behavioral problems). Furthermore, multiple regression analysis exploring the relationships between the SCQ and the criterion variables showed that reciprocal social interaction and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors had an important weight in the prediction of daily life social skills in typically developing children (34%). However, the model with the highest percentage of explained variance in children with ASD involved pragmatic language, with reciprocal social interaction as the best predictor, even reaching 41%. The findings highlight the suitability of routinely including the SCQ in the first stage of assessment protocols for ASD, and, in particular, they show its capacity to predict a valuable repertoire of behaviors.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ); Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ); pragmatic; socialization.