Gary Koch

Defense Date

3-5-2012

Graduation Date

2012

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Jeffrey A. Miller

Committee Member

Ann X. Huang

Committee Member

Diane L. Williams

Keywords

Autism, Pragmatic language, Social skills

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized a core triad of symptoms: impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests (APA, 2000). Impairments in social development, however, have been considered the most salient and handicapping aspect of ASD and, traditionally, the primary deficit from which the diagnosis results. From a cognitive standpoint, it has been argued that these social impairments in individuals with ASDs arise as a result of deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) development. The degree to which impairment in ToM corresponds to real-world social-communicative impairments has received little attention, however. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ToM and pragmatic language skills discriminated between adolescents with ASD and typically developing, age-matched comparison participants. The study also attempted to explore the relationships between ToM, pragmatic language, and social skills and test the model that pragmatic language mediates the relationship between ToM and social skills. Results indicated that ToM significantly predicted pragmatic language skills and that pragmatic language skills, and not ToM, significantly discriminated between adolescents with ASD (N = 10) and typically developing comparison participants (N = 10). The mediation model above was not supported by regression analysis; however, the results do provide some insight into the relationships between ToM, pragmatic language, and social skills. Implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research were discussed.

Format

PDF

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS