{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T09:49:27Z","timestamp":1790156967399,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2010,12,31]],"date-time":"2010-12-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1293753600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":4745,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Intl J Lang &amp; Comm Disor"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1998,1,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Using a play\u2010based methodology and a symptom checklist, this study investigated idiom comprehension in 26 children aged between 6\u201011 who were considered to have semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties. This group was compared with two groups of mainstream children and a group of children with (other) language disorders not primarily of a semantic or pragmatic nature. The results indicate that the children with semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties did, as a group, demonstrate significantly fewer appropriate idiomatic interpretations and significantly more inappropriate interpretations than did any of the other three groups. However, the higher level of inappropriate scores in the semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties group reflected a larger number of \u2018fuzzy\u2019 actions rather than significantly higher rates of literality. This may indicate an awareness among these children that the literal meaning is inappropriate in the absence of adequate idiom vocabulary. It may also reflect difficulty in retrieving known idioms from memory and\/or in selecting the most appropriate meaning from several possibilities in context. Despite relative weakness, the children with semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties displayed appropriate interpretations considerably more often than they evidenced inappropriate ones. Within\u2010group analysis reveals that the children diagnosed with Asperger syndrome or high\u2010functioning autism performed less well than did those diagnosed with \u2018semantic\u2010pragmatic disorder\u2019. Nevertheless, both of these subgroups encompassed a considerable range of comprehension ability with regard to the 12 common idioms tested. Analysis of the play task performance and symptom checklist suggests that this variation probably reflects differences in the critical semantic and pragmatic skills underpinning idiom comprehension. These include flexibility of thought, theory of mind, attention to context, prosody and overall coherence, as well as the ability to integrate world knowledge and current contextual information to guide inferencing. In combination with definition task data and broader knowledge of symptomatology, the play task may be used to identify the sites and sources of idiom comprehension breakdown in individual children. It is probable that idiom comprehension in this group of children with semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties was facilitated by the inclusion of only concrete idioms and by the visual support provided by the play set. Nevertheless, the moderate to age\u2010appropriateability displayed by this group in this context suggests that the characterization of children with semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties as predominantly literal needs to be revised. Rather than seeking a blanket characterization of an essentially heterogeneous group, it may be more useful to consider idiom comprehension a secondary manifestation of semantic and\/or pragmatic difficulties. Since the children who exhibit these difficulties vary in symptomatology and, probably, in aetiology, it follows that they will also vary with respect to idiom comprehension and the reasons for its breakdown.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1080\/136828298247910","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,26]],"date-time":"2002-07-26T16:25:32Z","timestamp":1027700732000},"page":"23-44","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":63,"title":["A study of idiom comprehension in children with semantic\u2010pragmatic difficulties. Part II: Between\u2010groups results and discussion"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Debra","family":"Kerbel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pam","family":"Grunwell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2010,12,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","volume-title":"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition","author":"American Psychiatric Association","year":"1994"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","volume-title":"Working with Pragmatics","author":"Andersen\u2010Wood L.","year":"1997"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/13682828909019890"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_5_1","first-page":"16","volume-title":"Language Development and Disorders: Clinics in Developmental Mdicine No. 101\u2010102","author":"Bishop D. V. M.","year":"1987"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03198118"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/13682828609019846"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","volume-title":"Oxford Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs (Previously published as Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English","author":"Cowie A. P.","year":"1993"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_9_1","volume-title":"Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English Vol. 2","author":"Cowie A. P.","year":"1985"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","first-page":"163","volume-title":"Advances in Working with Language Disordered Children","author":"Culloden M.","year":"1986"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_11_1","volume-title":"Autism: Explaining the Enigma","author":"Frith U.","year":"1989"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03213418"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_13_1","unstructured":"Gilchrist A. 1995 An Introduction to Asperger Syndrome and High Ability Autism.Paper presented at the Leicestershire Autism Outreach Service Conference on Asperger Syndrome and High Ability Autism Leicester UK."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00357.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00275.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0266736940100206"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02172093"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01287.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_19_1","first-page":"75","volume-title":"Child Language Disability Vol. II","author":"Hyde\u2010Wright S.","year":"1991"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_20_1","unstructured":"Johnson G. 1985 The Development of Idiom Comprehension in Normally Developing and Language\u2010deficient Children.Unpublished MA. thesis University of Montana."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_21_1","first-page":"153","volume-title":"Advances in Working with Language Disordered Children","author":"Jones S.","year":"1986"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kerbel D. 1996 A Study of Idiom Comprehension in Children with Semantic\u2010pragmatic Difficulties.Unpublished Ph.D. thesis De Montfort University Leicester.","DOI":"10.3109\/13682829609033152"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/026565909701300201"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_24_1","unstructured":"Kerbel D.andGrunwell P. 1997b A study of idiom comprehension in normally developing children(Submitted for publication)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/13682828509012255"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_26_1","first-page":"123","volume-title":"Thinking Across Cultures: The Third International Conference","author":"McTear M. F.","year":"1989"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_27_1","first-page":"18","volume-title":"Child Language Disability Vol. II","author":"McTear M. F.","year":"1991"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_28_1","volume-title":"Pragmatic Disability in Children","author":"McTear M.","year":"1992"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/00011363-199006000-00007"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.2804.475"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.3604.772"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_32_1","volume-title":"Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Specific Speech and Language Disorders in Children","author":"Rapin I.","year":"1987"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/026565908900500205"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_34_1","volume-title":"Clinical Pragmatics: Unravelling the Complexities of Communicative Failure","author":"Smith B. R.","year":"1992"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-5371(79)90284-6"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.2401.64"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/026565909401000102"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291700053332"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511526770.003"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Language &amp; Communication Disorders"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/api.wiley.com\/onlinelibrary\/tdm\/v1\/articles\/10.1080%2F136828298247910","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/136828298247910","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,28]],"date-time":"2023-10-28T03:38:42Z","timestamp":1698464322000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1080\/136828298247910"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1998,1,3]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1998,1,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1080\/136828298247910"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/136828298247910","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1368-2822","1460-6984"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1368-2822","type":"print"},{"value":"1460-6984","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1998,1,3]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2010-12-31","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}