gender differences in language comprehension. In addition, the finding about the gender differences in the AspD group might
suggest that girls with AspD and boys with AspD had different language comprehension growth rates. Future studies may
want to investigate the difference in the language comprehension growth rate between girls with AspD and boys with AspD.
Several limitations of this study should be acknowledged. First, this study was not a longitudinal study. Thus, it was not
possible to examine language comprehension growth in individuals with AspD and individuals with AD. Second, given that
this study only recruited participants aged between 7 and 12 years old, to examine the language abilities of younger or older
individuals with AspD and individuals with AD was beyond the scope of this study. Third, this study did not collect IQ data of
children with TD. Thus, it was not possible to examine IQ influence on children with TD. Fourth, this study did not ask
participants with AspD and AD if they took any medication for pharmacological correction of their disorders. Thus, the
influence of medications on the differences among participants with AspD, AD, and TD could not be ruled out. Fifth, we only
asked participants to provide us with their AspD or AD certificate of diagnosis. Thus, the information about the probes used
by their physicians to make a diagnosis was unknown. Sixth, some children with AspD have pragmatic language deficits.
However, to investigate the difference between children with AspD and children with TD in pragmatic language was beyond
the scope of this study. Seventh, this study was simply a study of understanding language comprehension of Mandarin
speaking children with AspD and children with AD. To compare the differences between English speaking children with
AspD and AD and Mandarin speaking children with AspD and AD was not the purpose of this study. Eighth, although this
study showed that IQ influenced the difference between children with AspD and children with AD in language
comprehension, it should be noted that the IQ test used in this study also tested language skills. Thus, it may be the case that
IQ was correlated with language comprehension because the language skills had been measured twice.
In conclusion, children with AspD did not significantly differ from children with TD in language comprehension. Children
with AspD differed significantly from children with AD in language comprehension but this difference could be explained by
higher IQ in children with AspD. Gender differences in language comprehension were found only in the AspD group at the
middle childhood age level. The findings of this study may provide critical information to practitioners in knowing the
differences among children with AspD, children with AD, and children with TD in language comprehension.