A scoping review of oral language and social communication abilities in children with Tourette syndrome

BackgroundChildren with Tourette syndrome (TS) have historically experienced problems in academic and social settings, yet their language and communication abilities have not been extensively researched.AimsThis scoping review maps the literature on the oral language and social communication abilities of children with TS in order to describe the nature of the current literature, present a summary of major findings and identify where gaps exist.MethodsA scoping review was completed to identify studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS. A systematic search of six electronic databases was conducted to obtain published and unpublished literature. All English studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS were included. Information was extracted from records and knowledge was synthesised in a narrative summary.Main ContributionWe identified 56 records for inclusion. Almost all records were located in journals within the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Skills most often studied were verbal IQ and verbal fluency. The literature suggests an increased prevalence of language disorders and social communication problems in children with TS; however, literature comprehensively detailing these challenges was scarce. Language strengths were identified in verbal intelligence, story/sentence recall, categorisation and performance on tasks at the single-word level.ConclusionsOral language and social communication skills are important for academic and social success. This review brings scattered literature together to provide up-to-date information about language in children with TS and highlights that there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about language and communication in this population. This scoping review can inform future research and support speech language pathologists in the assessment of young people with TS.