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Early Social and Emotional Communication in the Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Examination of the Broad Phenotype

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Abstract

Infants with older siblings with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD-sibs) are at risk for socioemotional difficulties. ASD-sibs were compared to infants with typically developing older siblings (TD-sibs) using the face-to-face/still-face (FFSF) at 6 months and the Early Social Communication Scale (ESCS) at 8, 10, 12, 15, and/or 18 months. ASD-sibs smiled for a lower proportion of the FFSF than TD-sibs and lacked emotional continuity between episodes. With respect to TD-sibs, ASD-sibs engaged in lower rates of initiating joint attention at 15 months, lower rates of higher-level behavioral requests at 12 months, and responded to fewer joint attention bids at 18 months. The results suggest subtle, inconsistent, but multi-faceted deficits in emotional expression and referential communication in infants at-risk for ASDs.

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Notes

  1. Levene’s Test indicated a significant difference between group variances, prompting the correction evident in the non-integer df.

  2. Levene’s Test indicated a significant difference between group variances, prompting the correction evident in the non-integer df.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the families for participating in this research. Funding for this study was provided by a grant from NICHD (047417).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, P.O. Box 248185, Coral Gables, FL, 33124-0751, USA

    Tricia D. Cassel, Daniel S. Messinger, Lisa V. Ibanez, John D. Haltigan, Susan I. Acosta & Albert C. Buchman

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  1. Tricia D. Cassel
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  2. Daniel S. Messinger
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  3. Lisa V. Ibanez
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  4. John D. Haltigan
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  5. Susan I. Acosta
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Correspondence to Daniel S. Messinger.

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Cassel, T.D., Messinger, D.S., Ibanez, L.V. et al. Early Social and Emotional Communication in the Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Examination of the Broad Phenotype. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 122–132 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0337-1

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