Table 3.

Impairments in Nonverbal and Verbal Communication Domain and Items

	ASD (n = 29)		DD (n = 21)		F	Partial η2
	M	SD	M	SD
Nonverbal Communication Domain	6.55	4.19	5.00	4.45	1.59	.03
Pointing to express interest	1.41	0.78	0.90	0.89	4.61*	.09
Conventional gestures	1.31	0.93	1.14	0.96	0.38	.01
Nodding head	1.10	0.98	0.43	0.81	6.68*	.12
Head shaking	1.03	0.98	0.38	0.74	6.59*	.12
Spontaneous imitation of actions	0.59	0.87	0.86	0.91	1.14	.02
Imaginative play	0.69	0.93	0.62	0.80	0.08	.00
Imitative social play	0.41	0.73	0.67	0.91	1.18	.02
Verbal Communication Domain a	11.63	5.77	8.00	5.08	3.53†	.10
Stereotyped utterances/echolalia	1.26	0.81	0.57	0.76	6.26*	.17
Social verbalization/chat	1.42	0.77	1.14	0.86	0.95	.03
Reciprocal conversation	1.37	0.76	1.14	0.86	0.63	.02
Inappropriate questions/statements	0.95	0.78	0.64	0.84	1.15	.04
Pronominal reversal	1.32	0.89	1.07	0.92	0.60	.02
Neologisms/idiosyncratic language	0.63	0.76	0.50	0.85	0.22	.01

^*p <05;

^†p < .10

^aVerbal communication items are for verbal participants only, ASD n = 19, DD n = 14