Caregiver sensitivity predicts infant language use, and infant language complexity predicts caregiver language complexity, in the context of possible emerging autism

Adding to the Conversation: Language Delays and Parent-Child Interactions in the Younger Siblings of Children With Autism

In their first three years, children begin to maintain topics and add new information in conversation. In turn, caregivers create opportunities for language learning. Compared to children with no family history of autism (typical likelihood, TL), the younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at elevated likelihood (EL) for both ASD and language delays. This study asked: (1) Do profiles of spoken language and conversational skills differ across groups? (2) Does spoken language relate to conversational skills? and (3) How does parent speech relate to child spoken language and conversational skills? Child spoken language, conversational skills, and parent speech were examined during toy play at home with three-year-old TL (n = 16) and EL children with ASD (EL-ASD, n = 10), non-ASD language delay (EL-LD, n = 21), and no delays or diagnoses (EL-ND, n = 37). EL-ASD children produced fewer intelligible utterances, and EL-LD and EL-ASD children produced shorter utterances than TL and EL-ND children. When utterances were intelligible, all groups were highly contingent to the topic. EL-ASD children were less likely than all other groups to add new information, and adding new information was positively associated with utterance length. Parents of EL-ASD children had fewer opportunities to respond contingently. However, all parents were highly topic-contingent when child speech was intelligible, and parent speech complexity varied with child language and conversational skills. Findings highlight strengths in conversational skills for EL-ASD children during toy play with parents and show that children and caregivers together shape opportunities for developing language and conversation.

Caregiver-infant interactions in infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism in India

Prospective studies of infants at elevated likelihood for autism (EL-A) have identified differences in caregiver-infant interactions (CII) when compared to infants at typical likelihood (TL). These differences begin to emerge prior to the infant's first birthday and may impact social opportunities essential for facilitating social-communicative development. To our knowledge, all studies to date have focused on Western samples (Australian, European, and US). However, parenting science has long recognised cultural variability in CII. This study investigated whether global features of CII differed between EL-A and TL infants in India. Caregiver-infant free-play videos involving 33 EL-A and 15 TL infants aged 9-15 months were rated using the Manchester Assessment of Caregiver-Child Interaction-Infant (MACI). EL-A infants received lower sensitive responsiveness and psychological stimulation compared to TL infants in age-controlled analyses. No significant group differences were found in caregiver directiveness or in infant or dyadic MACI scales. Furthermore, caregiver sensitive responsiveness and psychological stimulation (incorporating social and cognitive stimulation) were positively associated with concurrent parent-reported infant play and leisure, lending support for ecological validity. This first study in a South Asian context demonstrates a partial replication of previous CII studies. Early pre-emptive interventions targeting caregiver-infant interaction are recommended for Indian families to enhance infant exposure to responsive and stimulating social interactions. The strength of findings is understood in the context of utilising caregiver self-recorded CII, the sample size and broad age range.

The Utility of Natural Language Samples for Assessing Communication and Language in Infants Referred with Early Signs of Autism

Natural Language Sampling (NLS) offers clear potential for communication and language assessment, where other data might be difficult to interpret. We leveraged existing primary data for 18-month-olds showing early signs of autism, to examine the reliability and concurrent construct validity of NLS-derived measures coded from video-of child language, parent linguistic input, and dyadic balance of communicative interaction-against standardised assessment scores. Using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software and coding conventions, masked coders achieved good-to-excellent inter-rater agreement across all measures. Associations across concurrent measures of analogous constructs suggested strong validity of NLS applied to 6-min video clips. NLS offers benefits of feasibility and adaptability for validly quantifying emerging skills, and potential for standardisation for clinical use and rigorous research design.