Childhood schizophrenia: Responsiveness to questions during conversation

Objectives: This study characterized further the communicative deficits ass ociated with childhood-onset schizophrenia. It examined the use of speech f unctions that involve responses to Yes/No and Wh- questions in children wit h schizophrenia and normal children during conversation. It also ascertaine d the relationship of these speech functions with cognition and thought dis order. Method: Speech function variables, formal thought disorder, and cohe sion were coded in 32 schizophrenic and 34 normal children, aged 5.6 to 12. 4 years, from speech samples elicited with the Story Game. Results: The sch izophrenic children were significantly more impaired in the use of speech f unctions than the normal children. Other than the association of a subset o f the speech functions with distractibility and loose associations, the spe ech function measures were unrelated to cognitive and thought disorder meas ures. Conclusions: Speech function analysis detects communication deficits not captured by thought disorder measures in children with schizophrenia.