The revised Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-R): factor structure and psychometric evaluation

  • Abstract: The Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) is often applied to assess pragmatic language impairment which is highly prevalent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and several mental health conditions. We replicated previous findings on the limited applicability of the CCC-2 in clinical samples and the inconsistent findings concerning the factor structure. The aim of the present study was, thus, to develop a concise, simplified, and revised version of the CCC-2 in a large German-speaking sample. Four groups of children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 years were included: ASD (n = 195), intellectual disability (ID, n = 83), diverse mental health conditions (MHC, n = 144) and a typically developing control group (TD, n = 417). We reduced the original number of items from 70 to 39, based on item analysis, exploratory factor analysis and the exclusion of communication-unrelated items. The revised version, CCC-R (α = 0.96), consists of two empirically derived factors: a pragmatic-language (α = 0.96) and a grammatical-semantic-language factor (α = 0.93). All clinical groups (ASD, ID, and MHC) had significantly increased CCC-R total scores, with the highest scores being in the neurodevelopmental disorder groups (ASD and ID). In addition, we found group-specific patterns of elevated pragmatic-language scores in the ASD group and grammatical-semantic scores in the ID group. The CCC-R was comparable to the CCC-2 in distinguishing ASD from the other groups. The CCC-R is proposed as a simplified and easily applied, clinical questionnaire for caregivers, assessing pragmatic language impairments across neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health conditions. Lay Summary: The CCC-2 is a questionnaire designed to identify children who have problems in the social use of language, however, it is limited in its clinical application and exhibits inconsistent factors. We have created a shorter and simpler version of the CCC-2 that we have called the CCC-R which overcomes the previous limitations of the CCC-2. It consists of two subscales: pragmatic language and grammatical-semantic language. The CCC-R can be used as a short and clinically relevant caregiver questionnaire which assesses pragmatic language impairments in children and adolescents. Autism Res 2021, 14: 759–772. © 2021 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Metadaten
Author:Sophia A. C. Wellnitz, Isabella KästelORCiDGND, Leonora Vllasaliu, Hannah Cholemkery, Christine M. FreitagORCiDGND, Nico BastORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-638779
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2467
ISSN:1939-3806
Parent Title (English):Autism research
Publisher:Wiley
Place of publication:Chichester
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2021/01/06
Date of first Publication:2021/01/06
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2022/03/16
Tag:CCC-2; autism; intellectual disability; language impairment; social communication
Volume:14
Issue:4
Page Number:14
First Page:759
Last Page:772
Note:
Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
HeBIS-PPN:493358846
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften
Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitung 4.0