The Double Interview Task: Assessing the Social Communication of Children with Asperger Syndrome

Implications for Future Research

A study with more participants would provide more normative data for performance on this task in children with Asperger Syndrome. However, Asperger Syndrome is itself a "spectrum disorder" and each child will have unique difficulties. Theory of mind/perspective taking deficits exist on a spectrum as well and therefore no two children will look exactly alike (Sigman, Yirmiya & Capps, 1995; Yirmiya, Erel, Shaked, Solomonica-Levi, 1998). Koning & Magill-Evans (2001) reported that difficulties in social skills and low social perception scores in adolescent boys with Asperger Syndrome became apparent when dealing with the simultaneous presentation of facial, voice, body, and situational cues. The impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction are prominent in individuals with Asperger Syndrome (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). A future study could document the use of non-verbal behaviors during the Double Interview Task in order to get a clearer picture of an individuals overall difficulties. Another future area of research might be to investigate the implementation of this assessment tool as part of the intervention process. The Double Interview Task could be given as a pre and post test measure of intervention. This tool could be useful in measuring outcomes of social communication intervention.