Translation and validation of the Children's Communication Checklist to evaluate pragmatic language impairment in Thai children.

Background: The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC) was developed to provide an assessment of domains of language impairment in children, particularly the pragmatic domain. This study examined the effectiveness of the CCC-Thai version in discriminating children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from typically developing children.

Methods: The parents of two groups of 50 children aged 4-6 years, one with clinically ascertained ASD, and one with typical development, completed the CCC-Thai version.

Results: The mean pragmatic composite score was significantly lower in the ASD group (124.6) than in the typical development group (142). The optimal receiver operating characteristic curve cut-off score was found to be identical to the original English version (132). Corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 94% and 86%, respectively. The positive predictive value and the negative predictive value were 87% and 93%, respectively. The corresponding area under the curve was 0.95 (95% confidence interval: 0.91-0.99).

Conclusion: The CCC-Thai version is a promising instrument to assess pragmatic language impairment in Thai children.