PURPOSE: High-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves pragmatic impairment of language skills. Among numerous tasks for assessing pragmatic linguistic skills, idioms are important to evaluating high-functioning ASD. Nevertheless, no assessment tool has been developed with specific consideration of Korean culture. Therefore, we designed the Korean Autism Social Language Task (KASLAT) to test idiom comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to introduce this novel psychological tool and evaluate idiom comprehension deficits in high-functioning ASD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The participants included 42 children, ages 6-11 years, who visited our child psychiatric clinic between April 2014 and May 2015. The ASD group comprised 16 children; the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) group consisted of 16 children. An additional 10 normal control children who had not been diagnosed with either disorder participated in this study. Idiom comprehension ability was assessed in these three groups using the KASLAT. RESULTS: Both ASD and ADHD groups had significantly lower scores on the matched and mismatched tasks, compared to the normal control children (matched tasks mean score: ASD 11.56, ADHD 11.56, normal control 14.30; mismatched tasks mean score: ASD 6.50, ADHD 4.31, normal control 11.30). However, no significant differences were found in scores of KASLAT between the ADHD and ASD groups. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that children with ASD exhibit greater impairment in idiom comprehension, compared to normal control children. The KASLAT may be useful in evaluating idiom comprehension ability.
Autism Spectrum Disorder/*diagnosis/psychology ; Child ; *Comprehension ; Female ; Humans ; Language ; Language Development Disorders/*diagnosis/psychology ; Language Disorders/*psychology ; Language Tests/*standards ; Male ; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVETo investigate the influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder (DLD).

METHODSThe 1-3 Years Child Home Nurture Environment Scale, Gesell Developmental Scale, and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale were used for the evaluation of 125 children with DLD. A total of 130 children with normal language development matched for age and sex were enrolled as control group.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the DLD group had a significantly higher proportion of children in a bad home nurture environment and significantly lower scores of all domains of home nurture environment (P<0.05). In children with DLD, the home nurture environment score was positively correlated with the level of language development (r=0.536, P<0.01) and the score of ability domain in social emotion (r=0.397, P<0.01) and was negatively correlated with the scores of the domains of explicit behavior, covert behavior, and imbalance in social emotion (r=-0.455, -0.438, and -0.390 respectively, P<0.01). Home nurture environment had direct influence on language development in children with DLD and affected their language development via the mediating effect of social emotion.

CONCLUSIONSHome nurture environment influences language development and social emotion in children with DLD, and social emotion has a partial mediating effect between home nurture environment and language development.

Child, Preschool ; Emotions ; Environment ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Language Development ; Language Development Disorders ; psychology ; Male ; Social Behavior

OBJECTIVETo investigate the features of intellectual development in children with language disorder.

METHODSThe developmental quotients (DQs) of motor, object, language and social abilities were evaluated in 300 children with language disorder by Gesell Developmental Schedules.

RESULTSAll the 300 children had normal mean DQs of motor ability and lower mean DQs of object, language, and social abilities. Of all children, 31.0% had abnormal motor ability, 49.0% had abnormal object ability, and 52.7% had abnormal social ability. The DQ of language ability was significantly positively correlated with the DQs of the other three abilities (r=0.506, 0.644, and 0.711 respectively, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSChildren with language disorder may have abnormal motor ability, adaptive behavior, and personal-social behavior. Diagnostic intellectual development evaluation and comprehensive intervention for other developmental abnormalities should be performed for these children.

Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Intelligence ; Language Development ; Language Disorders ; psychology ; Male ; Motor Activity

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Central auditory processing disorder [(C)APD] refers to a deficit in auditory stimuli processing in nervous system that is not due to higher-order language or cognitive factors. One of the problems in children with (C)APD is spatial difficulties which have been overlooked despite their significance. Localization is an auditory ability to detect sound sources in space and can help to differentiate between the desired speech from other simultaneous sound sources. Aim of this research was investigating effects of an auditory lateralization training on speech perception in presence of noise/competing signals in children suspected to (C)APD. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this analytical interventional study, 60 children suspected to (C)APD were selected based on multiple auditory processing assessment subtests. They were randomly divided into two groups: control (mean age 9.07) and training groups (mean age 9.00). Training program consisted of detection and pointing to sound sources delivered with interaural time differences under headphones for 12 formal sessions (6 weeks). Spatial word recognition score (WRS) and monaural selective auditory attention test (mSAAT) were used to follow the auditory lateralization training effects. RESULTS: This study showed that in the training group, mSAAT score and spatial WRS in noise (p value≤0.001) improved significantly after the auditory lateralization training. CONCLUSIONS: We used auditory lateralization training for 6 weeks and showed that auditory lateralization can improve speech understanding in noise significantly. The generalization of this results needs further researches.
Child* ; Education ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Humans ; Language Development Disorders* ; Nervous System ; Noise ; Speech Perception

PURPOSE: As a preliminary study on the development of a new developmental screening tool, this study examined the validity of the Korean Ages and Stages Questionnaires (K-ASQ). METHODS: The clinical sample included a total of 218 Infants and children at 30, 36, 60 months of age, who were diagnosed with developmental disorders. Age- and sex-matched normal controls were selected from a national large-scale K-ASQ database. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated in different age and diagnosis groups, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed as well. In addition, concurrent validity was analyzed for the clinical sample by comparing the K-ASQ with other reference scales. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the K-ASQ were above fair (0.82-0.96) overall, however they varied depending on age and diagnosis groups. Specifically, the sensitivity at 60 months was relatively low (0.65). Especially, the discrimination sensitivity for the language delay group was poor at 60 months (0.42). ROC analysis showed that the overall discrimination capacity was above fair in all 5 domains [area under the curve (AUC): 0.74-0.98]. However, there were some domains and age groups with relatively poor discrimination capacity. In terms of concurrent validity, the correlations between the K-ASQ domains and reference scale subscales were statistically significant overall, but weak in some domains. CONCLUSION: The overall discrimination capacity and concurrent validity of the K-ASQ were above fair, but there were some domains, age, and diagnosis groups in which the K-ASQ was not successful in identifying potentially developmentally challenged children. These findings suggested the need for the development of a new developmental screening test tool, which is suitable for Korean infants & children.
Child* ; Diagnosis ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Infant* ; Language Development Disorders ; Mass Screening ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVETo study the incidences of comorbidities and behavioral problems in children with functional articulation disorders.

METHODSOne hundred and twelve children with functional articulation disorders (aged 4-11 years) were enrolled. Their comorbidities were identified based on clinical investigations and the DSM-IV diagnosis criteria of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stuttering, tic disorders and enuresis. Behavioral problems were evaluated by the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist.

RESULTSSixty-nine patients (61.6%) had one or more comorbidities. The incidence of comorbidity in children with middle-severe functional articulation disorders was higher than in those with mild disorders. The most common comorbidity was language impairment (30.4%), followed by stuttering (16.1%), enuresis (13.4%), and tic disorders (6.3%). In school age children, ADHD (47.5%) was the most common comorbidity. The incidence of behavioral problems was 40.2% by the Child Behavior Checklist and 57.1% by the Parent Symptom Questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONSThe children with functional articulation disorders have high incidence of comorbidity and many behavioral problems.

Articulation Disorders ; psychology ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; epidemiology ; Child ; Child Behavior Disorders ; epidemiology ; Child, Preschool ; Comorbidity ; Enuresis ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Language Disorders ; epidemiology ; Male

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of children with mental retardation (MR) of unknown etiology for early recognition and intervention. In this study, we defined children with MR of unknown etiology as those without clear etiologies for MR despite extensive evaluation and were not associated with pathological behavioral problems such as pervasive developmental disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The clinical characteristics of children with MR of unknown etiology were as follows. 1) MR of unknown etiology was 48.8% of all MR. 2) MR of unknown etiology was more common in males. 3) Delayed language development was a leading factor that made the parents of children with MR of unknown etiology seek help from physicians. However, most of the children with MR of unknown etiology showed a relatively uniform delay in several areas of development. 4) Most children with MR of unknown etiology were delayed walkers. 5) Most children with MR of unknown etiology were mild cases.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Human ; Korea ; Language Development Disorders ; Male ; Mental Retardation/psychology ; Mental Retardation/physiopathology* ; Mental Retardation/etiology ; Retrospective Studies

Auditory neuropathy is a hearing disorder characterized by an absent or severely abnormal auditory brainstem response, with preservation of the cochlear microphonics and otoacoustic emissions. This suggests that outer hair cell (OHC) function is normal but that auditory function proximal to the OHCs is impaired. These patients demonstrate mild to severe hearing loss for pure tones and impaired word discrimination out of proportion to pure tone loss. Hearing aid alone is of little or no benefit in patients with auditory neuropathy. Visual support via cued speech or signed language can be a fail-safe method for insuring language development. Recently, there are some reports that cochlear implantation is highly successful in patients with auditory neuropathy. We report three cases (two children and one woman) with auditory neuropathy. Each patient was tested with cochlear microphonics, otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem response and middle latency response, etc. All three patients had normal cochlear microphonics or otoacoustic emissions with absent auditory brainstem response. Two of them had evidence of a peripheral neuropathy. We should be aware of auditory neuropathy and implications for its management, which differs from treatment of sensorineural hearing loss. Auditory neuropathy also raises a concern about the risk of false-negative findings when newborn hearing screening is restricted to otoacoustic emissions.
Child ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Hair ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Disorders ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Language Development ; Mass Screening ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases

OBJECTIVE: To introduce and revise the Violence Risk Scale (VRS) for assessing violence risk and risk change, and to examine the reliability of Violence Risk Scale of Chinese version(VRS-C). METHODS: The original English version of the VRS was translated into Chinese according to established translation procedures. To examine the scorer reliability the 14 cases assessed by 3 assessors separately. One hundred and twenty-five patients with mental disorders from 3 different institutions in Sichuan province (Refined Control Ward in Ankang Hospital, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Science and Mental Health Center of West China Hospital) were collected to examine the reliability of VRS-C. RESULTS: The results showed moderately good scale reliability of the VRS-C, with 0.80 of ICC for scorer reliability. All items have significant consistence with Cronbach's alpha coefficient as 0.921, split-half reliability as 0.906 and item total correlation as 0.246-0.849. CONCLUSION The reliability of the VRS-C version is acceptable.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Factors ; China/epidemiology* ; Educational Status ; Female ; Forensic Psychiatry/methods* ; Humans ; Language ; Male ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Middle Aged ; Psychological Tests/standards* ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Risk Assessment/standards* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Violence/statistics & numerical data* ; Young Adult