A Prospective Study of the Emergence of Early Behavioral Signs of Autism

By Sally Ozonoff, Ana‐Maria Iosif, Fam Baguio, Ian C. Cook, M. Hill, T. Hutman, Sally J. Rogers, A. Rozga, Sarabjit S. Sangha, M. Sigman and 2 more. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2010

1,019 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Objective To examine prospectively the emergence of behavioral signs of autism in the first years of life in infants at low and high risk for autism. Method A prospective longitudinal design was used to compare 25 infants later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with 25 gender-matched low-risk children later determined to have typical development. Participants were evaluated at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age. Frequencies of gaze to faces, social smiles, and directed vocalizations were coded from video and rated by examiners. Results The frequency of gaze to faces, shared smiles, and vocalizations to others were highly comparable between groups at 6 months of age, but significantly declining trajectories over time were apparent in the group later diagnosed with ASD. Group differences were significant by 12 months of age on most variables. Although repeated evaluation documented loss of skills in most infants with ASD, most parents did not report a regression in their child’s development. Conclusions These results suggest that behavioral signs of autism are not present at birth, as once suggested by Kanner, but emerge over time through a process of diminishment of key social communication behaviors. More children may present with a regressive course than previously thought, but parent report methods do not capture this phenomenon well. Implications for onset classification systems and clinical screening are also discussed.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Mental health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e6bd4fbc3e011eac079cae43030ef4db90ce3b87

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Clinical Psychology

In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Psychiatry and Mental health

Citations in the corpus

Early brain development in infants at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (2017, neutral): “We sought to examine change in social behavior during this time, considering our observation of changes in brain volume during that same period in the HR-ASD group, and a previous report that social deficits in ASD appear to unfold during the second year of life 3 .”
Differences in White Matter Fiber Tract Development Present from 6 to 24 Months in Infants with Autism (2012, background): “Exclusionary criteria included the following conditions: (1) significant medical conditions known to affect brain development, (2) sensory impairments, (3) low birth weight (<2200g) or prematurity (<36 weeks gestation), (4) evidence of perinatal brain injury secondary to maternal complications or ex”
Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College (background): “As a result, fourth-century originals such as gravestones and votive reliefs are omitted, as products of anonymous craftsmen.8 In its general conception, this book is admirable.”