Language comprehension of children with Asperger's disorder and children with autistic disorder

• When IQ was not controlled, children with AspD showed higher language comprehension than did children with AD.
• When IQ was controlled, there was no significant difference between the two groups.
• Children with AspD did not differ from children with TD in language comprehension.
• Gender difference was found in the AspD group at the middle childhood age level (10–12 years).

This study investigated language comprehension of Mandarin-speaking children with Asperger's disorder (AspD) (n = 88) and children with autistic disorder (AD) (n = 136) and compared their language comprehension to that of children with typical development (TD) (n = 832). The Mandarin Token Test was used in this study. This study found that (a) when IQ was not controlled, children with AspD showed higher language comprehension than did children with AD. But, when IQ was controlled, there was no significant difference between the two groups; (b) children with AspD did not differ from children with TD in language comprehension; (c) gender difference was found in the AspD group at the middle childhood age level (10–12 years).