Adaptive Behaviour and Cognitive Skills: Stability and Change from 7 Months to 7 Years in Siblings at High Familial Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 48; no. 9; pp. 2901 - 2911
• Main Authors: Salomone, Erica, Shephard, Elizabeth, Milosavljevic, Bosiljka, Johnson, Mark H., Charman, Tony
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological - physiology; Adaptive behavior; Analysis; At Risk Persons; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - genetics; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Behavior Problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; Children; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Development; Cognitive Measurement; Cognitive skills; Cognitive-behavioral factors; Cutting Scores; Database Management Systems; Departments; Developmental Delays; Developmental psychology; Familial factors; Family Income; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Infancy; Infant; Infants; Male; Medical prognosis; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Outcomes of Treatment; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology; Public Health; Risk Factors; Risk reduction; Siblings; Siblings - psychology; Social Skills; Thinking Skills; Time; Young Children; Adaptive behaviour; High familial risk; Prospective study; Cognitive ability
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3554-5

Cognitive and adaptive behaviour abilities early in life provide important clinical prognostic information. We examined stability of such skills in children at high familial risk for ASD who either met diagnostic criteria for ASD at age 7 years (HR-ASD, n  = 15) or did not (HR-non-ASD, n  = 24) and low-risk control children (LR, n  = 37), prospectively studied from infancy. For both HR groups, cognitive skills were consistently lower across time than those of LR children. HR-ASD children showed increasing difficulties in adaptive behaviour over time compared to LR children, while the HR-non-ASD children showed no such difficulties. This pattern of change may inform our understanding of developmental profiles of HR siblings beyond core ASD symptoms.