Assessment of pragmatic abilities of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The pragmatic assessment of the communicative abilities, as part of the procedures for speech-language diagnosis has developed in Brazil mostly since the publication of the Functional Communicative Profile (FCP - Fernandes, 2000) as part of the ABFW - test of children's language. This publication resulted in the increase on the number of studies involving different groups. However, it involves a time-consuming process even to experienced professionals. Therefore, a simpler tool that could be used by the speech-language pathologist in the routine professional practice and that identifies the most relevant pragmatic abilities would be a relevant contribution to the evidence-based practice. Such a tool could be used in the planning of intervention proposals and to follow-up the results of intervention processes. This way, the purpose of this study is to propose a protocol to the assessment of the pragmatic abilities of children with autism spectrum disorders, test it and compare the results with those of the FCP. (AU)