Semantic Pragmatic Disorder
Encyclopedia
Pragmatic language impairment (PLI) is an impairment in understanding pragmatic
areas of language. This type of impairment was previously called semantic-pragmatic disorder (SPD). Pragmatic language impairments are related to autism
and Asperger syndrome
, but also could be related to other non autistic disabilities such as ADHD and mental retardation
. People with these impairments have special challenges with the semantic aspect of language (the meaning of what is being said) and the pragmatics of language (using language appropriately in social situations).
features and specific semantic pragmatic language problems. More recently, the term "pragmatic language impairment" (PLI) has been proposed.
Rapin and Allen's definition has been expanded and refined by therapists who include communication disorders that involve difficulty in understanding the meaning of words, grammar, syntax, prosody, eye gaze, body language, gestures, or social context. While autistic children exhibit pragmatic language impairment, this type of communication disorder can also be found in individuals with other types of disorders including auditory
processing disorders, neuropathies, encephalopathies and certain genetic disorders.
People with SLD often share additional characteristics consistent with high-functioning autism. For example, they may dislike or avoid eye contact. Many have rigid habits, a shallower range of interests than most people but not as bad as Asperger Syndrome or autism, (often with a deep knowledge of their areas of interest), sensory and eating sensitivities, coordination and muscle-tone issues. They may also display striking abilities in an area like mathematics
, computer science
, geography
, astronomy
, reading
, history
, sports, politics
or music
.
These children typically are verbose. However, they usually have problems understanding and producing connected discourse, instead giving conversational responses that are socially inappropriate, tangential and/or stereotyped. They often develop obsessional interests but not as strong or eccentric as people with Asperger's Syndrome or autism
.
The current view, therefore, is that the disorder has more to do with communication and information processing than language. For example, children with semantic pragmatic disorder will often fail to grasp the central meaning or saliency of events. This then leads to an excessive preference for routine and 'sameness' (seen in autism and Asperger's Syndrome) as PLI children struggle to generalize and grasp the meaning of situations that are new; it also means that more difficulties occur in a stimulating environment than in a one-to-one setting.
A further problem caused by PLI is the assumption of literal communication. This would mean that obvious, concrete instructions are clearly understood and carried out, whereas simple but non-literal expressions such as jokes, sarcasm and general social chatting are difficult and can lead to misinterpretation. Lies are also a confusing concept to children with PLI as it involves knowing what the speaker is thinking, intending and truly meaning beyond a literal interpretation.
.
is a similar but different disorder where main characteristics are an above–average ability to read with a below–average ability to understand spoken and/or written language.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
areas of language. This type of impairment was previously called semantic-pragmatic disorder (SPD). Pragmatic language impairments are related to autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
and Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, but also could be related to other non autistic disabilities such as ADHD and mental retardation
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
. People with these impairments have special challenges with the semantic aspect of language (the meaning of what is being said) and the pragmatics of language (using language appropriately in social situations).
History
In 1983, Rapin and Allen suggested the term "semantic pragmatic disorder" to describe the communicative behavior of children who presented traits such as pathological talkativeness, deficient access to vocabulary and discourse comprehension, atypical choice of terms and inappropriate conversational skills. They referred to a group of children who presented with mild autisticAutism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
features and specific semantic pragmatic language problems. More recently, the term "pragmatic language impairment" (PLI) has been proposed.
Rapin and Allen's definition has been expanded and refined by therapists who include communication disorders that involve difficulty in understanding the meaning of words, grammar, syntax, prosody, eye gaze, body language, gestures, or social context. While autistic children exhibit pragmatic language impairment, this type of communication disorder can also be found in individuals with other types of disorders including auditory
Auditory system
The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing.- Outer ear :The folds of cartilage surrounding the ear canal are called the pinna...
processing disorders, neuropathies, encephalopathies and certain genetic disorders.
Characteristics
Individuals with SLD have particular trouble understanding the meaning of what others are saying, and they are challenged in using language appropriately to get their needs met and interact with others. Children with the disorder often exhibit:- delayed language development
- difficulty understanding questions
- difficulty understanding choices and making decisions
- difficulty following conversations or stories. Conversations are "off topic" or "one sided"
- difficulty extracting the key points from a conversation or story; they tend to get lost in the details
- Stuttering or cluttering speech
- Repeating words or phrases
- difficulty with verb tenses
- difficulty with pronouns
- difficulty explaining or describing an event
- tendency to be concrete or prefer facts to stories
- have difficulty understanding satire or jokes
- have difficulty understanding contextual cues
- difficulty in reading comprehension
- difficulty with reading body languageBody languageBody language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....
and reading/using nonverbal communicationNonverbal communicationNonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch , by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact... - Problems with nonverbal cues such as personal space between others
- Difficulty with writing
- difficulty in making and maintaining friendships and relationships because of delayed language development
- difficulty in distinguishing offensive remarks
- difficulty with organizational skills
People with SLD often share additional characteristics consistent with high-functioning autism. For example, they may dislike or avoid eye contact. Many have rigid habits, a shallower range of interests than most people but not as bad as Asperger Syndrome or autism, (often with a deep knowledge of their areas of interest), sensory and eating sensitivities, coordination and muscle-tone issues. They may also display striking abilities in an area like mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, reading
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, sports, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
or music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
.
Clinical profile
According to Bishop & Norbury (2002), children with semantic-pragmatic disorder have fluent, complex and clearly articulated expressive language but exhibit problems with the way their language is used.These children typically are verbose. However, they usually have problems understanding and producing connected discourse, instead giving conversational responses that are socially inappropriate, tangential and/or stereotyped. They often develop obsessional interests but not as strong or eccentric as people with Asperger's Syndrome or autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
.
The current view, therefore, is that the disorder has more to do with communication and information processing than language. For example, children with semantic pragmatic disorder will often fail to grasp the central meaning or saliency of events. This then leads to an excessive preference for routine and 'sameness' (seen in autism and Asperger's Syndrome) as PLI children struggle to generalize and grasp the meaning of situations that are new; it also means that more difficulties occur in a stimulating environment than in a one-to-one setting.
A further problem caused by PLI is the assumption of literal communication. This would mean that obvious, concrete instructions are clearly understood and carried out, whereas simple but non-literal expressions such as jokes, sarcasm and general social chatting are difficult and can lead to misinterpretation. Lies are also a confusing concept to children with PLI as it involves knowing what the speaker is thinking, intending and truly meaning beyond a literal interpretation.
Relationship to autism
There is debate over the relationship between semantic-pragmatic disorder and autistic disorder as the clinical profile of semantic-pragmatic disorder is often seen in children with high-functioning autismHigh-functioning autism
High-functioning autism is an informal term applied to autistic people who are deemed to be "higher functioning" than other autistic people, by one or more metrics. There is no consensus as to the definition. HFA is not yet a recognised diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR or the ICD-10.The amount of...
.
Related disorders
HyperlexiaHyperlexia
Hyperlexia was initially identified by Silberg and Silberg , who defined it as the precocious ability to read words without prior training in learning to read typically before the age of 5. They indicated that children with hyperlexia have a significantly higher word decoding ability than their...
is a similar but different disorder where main characteristics are an above–average ability to read with a below–average ability to understand spoken and/or written language.
See also
- AutismAutismAutism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
- High-functioning autismHigh-functioning autismHigh-functioning autism is an informal term applied to autistic people who are deemed to be "higher functioning" than other autistic people, by one or more metrics. There is no consensus as to the definition. HFA is not yet a recognised diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR or the ICD-10.The amount of...
- HyperlexiaHyperlexiaHyperlexia was initially identified by Silberg and Silberg , who defined it as the precocious ability to read words without prior training in learning to read typically before the age of 5. They indicated that children with hyperlexia have a significantly higher word decoding ability than their...
- PDD not otherwise specifiedPDD not otherwise specifiedPervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified is a pervasive developmental disorder /autism spectrum disorder . PDD-NOS is one of three forms of Autism Spectrum Disorders. PDD-NOS is often referred to as atypical autism....
- Specific language impairmentSpecific language impairmentSpecific language impairment is diagnosed when a child's language does not develop normally and the difficulties cannot be accounted for by generally slow development , physical abnormality of the speech apparatus, autistic disorder, acquired brain damage or hearing loss.-Overview:Specific...
- Speech and language pathologySpeech and language pathologySpeech-Language Pathology specializes in communication disorders.The main components of speech production include: phonation, the process of sound production; resonance, opening and closing of the vocal folds; intonation, the variation of pitch; and voice, including aeromechanical components of...
- Speech and language pathology in school settings
- ADHD
- Asperger SyndromeAsperger syndromeAsperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
External links
- http://psyweb.psy.ox.ac.uk/oscci/presentations.htm/pragmatics.htm - Page about research into pragmatic impairments. Part of the Oxford Study of Children's Communication Impairments and including work by Professor Dorothy Bishop.
- I CAN - information on speech, language and communication in children