A meta-analysis of Children's Communication Checklist (CCC) for children & adolescents with pragmatic language impairment

Children and adolescents with pragmatic language impairment show overall communication problems. However, the pragmatic problems vary depending on their diagnostic characteristics. The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC, CCC-2) was developed to assess overall language ability through parents' and/or teacher's reports (Bishop, 2003). This research reviews studies of pragmatic language assessment using CCC or CCC-2, and investigates if children and adolescents with pragmatic deficits (autism spectrum disorders [ASD], attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders [ADHD], and Williams syndrome [WS]) can be differentiated through CCC or CCC-2. Methods: Fourteen studies which met the inclusive and exclusive criteria were selected from three electronic databases: PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, and ERIC. A systematic review was done using meta-analysis (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis II, 2005). Results: There was a significant group difference between ASD and ADHD showing significant differences with typically development (TD), respectively, but there was no difference between the WS and TD controls. The sub-domains (structural/pragmatic/autism-social domain) that brought group differences were all three sub-domains in the ASD group. Structural and pragmatic domains were significantly different sub-domains in the ADHD group. Conclusion: CCC or CCC-2 is a useful tool for discriminating ASD and ADHD groups from TD controls. However, it is not enough to represent various pragmatic profiles depending on diagnostic groups such as ASD and ADHD. Therefore, it is necessary to use both direct and indirect assessment tools to reveal the differential profiles of pragmatic problems in various groups with communication disorders.