Potential Risk Factors for the Development of Self-Injurious Behavior among Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Adele F Dimian, Kelly N Botteron, Stephen R Dager and 7 others
PMID 28220358WHAT IT FOUND
Self-injury at 12 months and lower cognitive scores were the strongest signs of self-injury at 24 months in infants at high familial risk for autism. 48% of those who self-injured at 12 months still did so at 24 months.
Key findings
01At 12 months, 39% of high-risk infants showed self-injury; at 24 months, 32% did, and 48% of those with self-injury at 12 months still had it at 24 months.
02Self-injury at 12 months was a significant predictor of self-injury at 24 months, and higher MSEL Early Learning Composite scores were linked to lower odds.
03Children diagnosed with ASD at 24 months had 1.85 times higher risk of self-injury at 24 months than children without a diagnosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Self-injury was based on parent report of any item endorsed, not direct observation. The outcome was only self-injury or no self-injury, without severity, and the measure may not capture severity in infants. The sample was not restricted to infants with no self-injury at 12 months, so the study could not show which factors preceded new self-injury. The findings are about infant siblings at familial high risk for ASD and may not generalise to other risk groups or ages. The sample was 62.6% male, so sex effects may be hard to detect. Low-risk infants were described but not included in main analyses because the base rate of self-injury was low.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this study shows a way to prevent self-injury. It observed risk factors in high-risk infants and did not test treatment. It also cannot show which early factors came before new self-injury because some infants already had self-injury at 12 months.