Sibling Configuration as a Moderator of the Effectiveness of a Theory of Mind Training in Children with Autism: a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Danielle M J de Veld, Anke M Scheeren, Patricia Howlin and 4 others
PMID 32808151WHAT IT FOUND
After an eight-week theory-of-mind training, sibling number and having an older sibling did not predict gains in theory-of-mind knowledge or overall autistic traits.
They did predict better parent-reported everyday theory-of-mind behavior and fewer social-cognition problems.
Key findings
01Sibling number and having an older or younger sibling did not moderate the training's effect on theory-of-mind knowledge or overall autistic features.
02Children with more siblings showed better parent-reported theory-of-mind behavior after treatment.
03Children with an older sibling showed better parent-reported theory-of-mind behavior and fewer social-cognition problems after treatment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample had few children with more than one or two siblings, so results may not apply to larger families and some sibling comparisons were underpowered. Almost 90% of participants were boys, so gender effects could not be explored. The social-cognition subscale finding was a post hoc analysis, not the main planned outcome. Only children with receptive verbal IQ above 70 were included, so findings may not apply to children with lower language ability. The training was a package of group sessions, homework, and parent sessions, so the contribution of any one component cannot be separated. Sibling autism status and sibling gender were not analysed as moderators because sample sizes were small, although excluding 14 children with autistic siblings did not change results.
Declared interests
ZonMW funded the study. No author conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that having more or older siblings causes better therapy results. This was a moderator analysis of an existing randomized trial, and the beneficial sibling patterns appeared only for parent-reported everyday behaviors and a post hoc social-cognition subscale, not for theory-of-mind knowledge or total autistic features.