Speech and language disorders in children and adolescents with schizophrenia

This study examines communication characteristics and specific language deficits in 47 children and adolescents diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia using DSM-III-R criteria. All had been referred for speech and language services because of apparent communication problems. Standardized tests and formal measures were used to identify impairment in discrete areas of communication, including pragmatics, receptive and expressive vocabulary and syntax, abstract language, auditory processing, and speech production. Results showed that these discrete areas were variably involved, with pragmatics, prosody, auditory processing, and abstract language having the greatest involvement. The communication deficits identified in the early-onset group closely resembled the phenomenology reported in studies of the communication characteristics of adults with schizophrenia. This comparison thus lends further support to I:he presence of the same disorder as seen in adults. The roles of gender, mental retardation, and seizure disorders are also discussed as additional risk factors in the development of communication problems and schizophrenia.