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Ravi S, Bradshaw A, Abdi H, Meera SS, Parish-Morris J, Yankowitz L, Paterson S, Dager SR, Burrows CA, Chappell C, St.John T, Estes AM, Piven J, Swanson MR. Are early social communication skills a harbinger for language development in infants later diagnosed autistic?-A longitudinal study using a standardized social communication assessment. Front Commun (Lausanne) 2022; 7:977724. [PMID: 37168581 PMCID: PMC10167971 DOI: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.977724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The early emergence of social communication challenges and their impact on language in infants later diagnosed with autism has sparked many early intervention programs that target social communication skills. While research has consistently shown lower scores on social communication assessments in the first year of life, there is limited research at 12-months exploring associations between different dimensions of social communication and later language. Understanding associations between early social communication skills and language would enhance our ability to choose high priority intervention goals that will impact downstream language skills. The current study used a standardized assessment to profile social communication skills across 516 infants with a high (HL) or low likelihood (LL-Neg) for autism (84% White, 60% Male), based on the presence of a sibling with autism in the family. The primary aim of the study was to profile social communication skill development in the second year of life and to evaluate associations between social communication skills and later language. HL infants who met criteria for autism (HL-ASD, N = 81) demonstrated widespread reductions in social communication skills at 12-months compared to HL infants who did not meet criteria for autism (HL-Neg, N = 277) and LL-Neg (N = 158) infants. Across all infants in the study, those with better social communication skills at 12-months had better language at 24-months. However, within group analyses indicated that infants who met criteria for autism did not show this developmental coupling until 24-months-of-age at which point social communication was positively associated with downstream language skills. The cascading pattern of reduced social communication skills as well as overall significant positive associations with later language provide further evidence for the need to support developing social communication skills prior to formal autism diagnosis, a goal that could possibly be reached through pre-emptive interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shruthi Ravi
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - Allison Bradshaw
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - Hervé Abdi
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
| | - Shoba Sreenath Meera
- Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India
| | - Julia Parish-Morris
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Lisa Yankowitz
- Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sarah Paterson
- The James S. McDonnell Foundation, St. Louis, MO, United States
| | - Stephen R. Dager
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Catherine A. Burrows
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Chad Chappell
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Tanya St.John
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Annette M. Estes
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Joseph Piven
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Meghan R. Swanson
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
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