Adaptive Behaviour and Cognitive Skills: Stability and Change from 7 Months to 7 Years in Siblings at High Familial Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Erica Salomone, Elizabeth Shephard, Bosiljka Milosavljevic and 2 others
PMID 29616486WHAT IT FOUND
High-risk siblings scored lower than low-risk siblings on cognitive and adaptive tests from infancy to age 7.
Among high-risk children, those later diagnosed with ASD showed worsening daily living and social skills over time.
Key findings
01Children at high familial risk of ASD had lower full-scale IQ, non-verbal IQ and verbal IQ scores than low-risk children.
02Adaptive behaviour composite scores were lower in both high-risk groups than in low-risk children, and by 7 years the high-risk group with ASD scored lower than both other groups.
03High-risk children with ASD had lower socialization and daily living skills at 7 years than at earlier visits and lower than both low-risk and high-risk children without ASD.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 42 high-risk children and 37 low-risk controls attended the 7-year visit, and the full-scale IQ analysis included 30 low-risk, 23 high-risk without ASD and 14 high-risk with ASD. The high-risk and low-risk families differed in household income and educational level, which may partly explain cognitive differences. The sample was mostly cognitively able, so findings may not apply to children with intellectual disability. Different cognitive tests were used across ages, and Mullen scores were transformed to compare with WASI-II scores. 3 children with a lost ASD diagnosis were excluded from analysis. Group membership was based on diagnosis at 7 years, so early scores are described relative to later outcome.
Declared interests
The article names the Medical Research Council and the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking as funders. The supplied text does not report author disclosures or whether the funders designed, analysed or wrote the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that high-risk siblings without an ASD diagnosis have typical adaptive development. Their adaptive composite scores were lower than those of low-risk children, although they did not show the later worsening seen in the high-risk ASD group.