What are social communication impairments?
Children with social communication impairments struggle to use appropriate social communication. For example, they misinterpret non-literal language and ignore turn-taking and social conventions. Deficits in social communication are requisite diagnostic criteria for the DSM-V (APA, 2013) disorders of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder. However, children experiencing difficulties with social communication can also include other groups and are not limited to those covered by these DSM-V diagnoses.
Children with social communication impairments experience persistent difficulties with the social use of language. For example, they tend to find it difficult to take turns during conversation, to maintain a topic of conversation appropriately, form conclusions from what is being said, understand non-literal language such as jokes or sarcasm, repair communication breakdowns, and alter communication to match the listeners needs, often being non-responsive or responding irrelevantly to conversational partners.
Areas of difficulty for children with social communication impairments
- Knowing how to take turns in conversation
- Knowing when to ask for help or to clarify their own communication
- Understanding how much information others need
- Working collaboratively with others
- Giving good instructions
Impairments in social communication have profound effects on children’s social development, mental health and education and are strongly associated with bullying, isolation and school exclusion. However, little is known about language disorders and it is an under-researched area despite being as common as other conditions, such as ADHD, childhood obesity and dyslexia, and having a similar impact (Bishop, 2010).
Areas impacted by social communication impairments
- Social development
- Mental Health
- Education (Bullying, isolation, school exclusion)
High rates of social communication impairment have been found in children who are excluded from schools (Donno et al., 2010, Gilmour, 2004). Furthermore, emotional and peer problems have been found to be strongly associated with social communication impairments in adolescence (Helland, 2014). Children with social communication impairments are much more likely to be rejected and victimised by their peers than typically-developing children (Laws et al., 2012, Mok et al., 2014) and around 56% of boys are judged by teachers to have hyperactivity/inattention problems (Ketelaars et al., 2010). A long-term follow-up of children with social communication impairments showed that in adulthood these individuals struggle with social relationships such as romantic relationships and friendships (Whitehouse et al., 2009). Moreover, healthcare costs have been shown to be 36% higher for children with language disorders (Sciberras et al., 2015).
A recent (2017) survey of head teachers (National Association of Head Teachers - NAHT) reported that 86% felt school readiness has worsened in the past five years, they also reported children's speech, language and communication to be the greatest cause of concern. (Available at BBC News Education)