Communication difficulties perceived by parents of children with developmental disorders

Introduction: The child's inclusion in his/her social-cultural context is very important to his/her adaptation and well-being. The family has a major role as a facilitator of this process. Therefore the difficulties of these families in communicating with children with communication disorders are an important issue to be assessed in order to support orientations to families. Purpose: The present study aimed to identify and compare communication difficulties perceived by parents of children with Down Syndrome (DS), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Methods: Information was gathered with the use of a questionnaire with 24 questions regarding the perception of parents about their child communication disorders and the difficulties they identify. The questions were divided into four domains: 1 - Parents' personal difficulties; 2 - Parents' impression about themselves regarding their child; 3 - Parents' impressions about other persons' reactions to their child and 4 -Parents' impression about their child. Sixty parents were the subjects of this study: 20 had children with DS, 20 with SLI and 20 with ASD. All children had ages between 6 and 12 years. Results: It was possible to observe that there was significant difference between the parents of ASD children with those of DS and SLI on the second, third and fourth domains. Conclusion: The questionnaire is effective to the identification of the communication disorders of ASD children based on their parents' reports but not to other developmental disorders.