Differences in Pragmatic Language Measures in Mothers of Children with Autism or Fragile X Syndrome

Mastery of pragmatics, which refers to the language used in different social interactions, is key to effective communication in daily life. However, studies have found that mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) are at an increased risk for impaired pragmatic language skills. Though many measures of pragmatic language exist for children, very few are available for these mothers. Two commonly used measures for the mothers include the Pragmatic Rating Scale (PRS) and the Pragmatic Language Subscale of the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ). This study, unlike previous ones that only look at one measure, compares these two measures using cutoff scores. Subjects who score above a certain value are classified as “positive” for pragmatic language issues, and agreement refers to when the subject is classified positive by both measures. While high agreement was expected given the common purpose of the two measures, the results showed very low agreement. This was perhaps due to the small sample size and different testing methodologies used by the PRS and BAPQ. In the future, it may be helpful to conduct this study with a larger sample and/or bring in a third pragmatic language measure