Cerebellar gray matter differentiates children with early language delay in autism.

The groups were small and uneven, with 13 children with early language delay and 22 children without it, so the finding may not apply to all children with autism. Many autism scans were removed for motion: 27 of the remaining autism scans were excluded because of motion artifact, which limits how general the result is. The children were 8 to 13 years old and were studied at one time, so the study cannot show that cerebellar gray matter differences caused early language delay. Language onset was based on parent report through the ADI-R, and the autism observation measure was not specific to language, so the language grouping may be imprecise. There was no comparison group of children with language delay but not autism, so it cannot show that these cerebellar differences are specific to autism. Autism observation scores were available for 19 non-delay and 13 delay participants because data were missing for three non-delay children. The language composite used only 25 autism participants because age of first phrase data were missing for 10 participants. The sample included five left-handed children, and the authors noted this could influence language lateralization, although excluding them did not change the cerebellar pattern.

The authors declared no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

Do not read these cerebellar differences as proof that the cerebellum caused early language delay or as a reason to change therapy. The study compared groups at one time, included 13 children with early language delay, and did not test treatment, so it cannot show that these brain differences should guide clinical decisions.