Parental Broad Autism Phenotype and the Language Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Michelle Flippin, Linda R Watson
PMID 29307040WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers who were less socially interested or more inflexible had children who showed less engagement with objects or people and lower language skills.
The finding came from 16 families of children with autism and does not prove parent traits caused language problems.
Key findings
01Higher maternal aloof and rigid scores were associated with lower child language scores.
02After accounting for mothers' responsive verbal behaviors, maternal aloof scores were no longer associated with child language, but maternal rigid scores remained associated.
03No paternal broad autism phenotype subscale scores were associated with child language scores.
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 very small: 16 children and both parents. All measures were taken at one time point, so the study cannot show which came first or whether parent traits caused child language differences. Child language and visual reception scores had floor effects: five of 16 children got the lowest possible language standard score, and seven of 16 got the lowest possible visual reception T-score. The families were mostly high-income, with median family income $100,000, and all parents were married, so results may not apply to lower-income or other family structures. The coding did not measure whether parent language was flexible, only whether it followed the child's focus.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that parent traits caused lower child language skills, or that coaching parents to talk more about what the child is doing will improve child language. These were single-time-point correlations in 16 families, and no intervention was tested.