Latent profiles of autism symptoms in children and adolescents with Down syndrome.
D J Fidler, M A Prince, K Van Deusen and 11 others
PMID 34984734WHAT IT FOUND
Among 125 children and adolescents with Down syndrome, caregiver-reported autism symptoms fell into three profiles, not two.
In elevated profiles, social motivation was less elevated than social communication, awareness, and cognition.
Key findings
01Caregiver-reported autism symptoms fit three profiles better than two.
02In the social domain model, the Mixed profile had Social Motivation in the 50s and the other social domains in the mid-60s, while the High profile had Social Motivation in the high 60s and Social Cognition in the mid-80s.
03Compared with Low symptom profiles, High symptom profiles had IQ scores below 55 and more co-occurring biomedical conditions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was community-based, not epidemiological, so the proportion of participants in each profile should be read cautiously. The High symptom group was very small, accounting for 6% of participants. Findings are based on caregiver report, not direct assessment with gold-standard measures. Two SRS-2 forms were combined, and they are normed on different age groups, which may affect scores. Five participants aged 4 years 6 months to 5 years were rated with the Preschool form. The sample had limited racial and ethnic diversity, which affects generalisability. IQ was dichotomised into 55 or higher and 54 or lower because two different IQ tests were used. The higher proportion of females in High symptom profiles may reflect sex-based norming of the School-Age form, not a true sex difference.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The paper is listed as supported by NIH extramural research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these profiles to diagnose autism. They are caregiver-report symptom patterns, not direct assessment, and the high symptom profile was only 6% of the sample.