Neural circuitry at age 6 months associated with later repetitive behavior and sensory responsiveness in autism.
Jason J Wolff, Meghan R Swanson, Jed T Elison and 12 others
PMID 28316772WHAT IT FOUND
In infants later diagnosed with autism, brain wiring at six months predicted repetitive behaviors and sensory responses at age two.
Higher white matter integrity was linked to more severe symptoms. This association was specific to these behaviors and not seen in unaffected siblings.
Key findings
01Structural properties of white matter at six months were associated with later repetitive behaviors and sensory responsiveness in infants who developed autism.
02Repetitive behaviors and sensory responsiveness were strongly correlated in toddlers with autism, even when controlling for cognitive ability and social symptoms.
03The relationship between brain structure and repetitive behaviors was reversed in high-risk siblings who did not develop autism, where higher integrity was associated with fewer behaviors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included infants with an older sibling with autism, so results may not apply to children without this family history. Behavior was measured by parent report, which is indirect and may be subject to bias. The sample size for some analyses was small, and multiple statistical tests were performed. Low-risk infants were excluded because their repetitive behavior scores were too low to analyze. The study did not determine if these brain patterns cause the behaviors or are a result of them.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. No conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the brain scans as a clinical diagnostic test for individual patients. The findings describe group-level associations in a high-risk research sample and cannot currently predict outcomes for a specific child.