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

Erica Salomone; Elizabeth Shephard; Bosiljka Milosavljevic; Mark H Johnson; Tony Charman; BASIS Team

doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3554-5

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

J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Sep;48(9):2901-2911. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3554-5.

Authors

Erica Salomone^{1

2}, Elizabeth Shephard³, Bosiljka Milosavljevic³, Mark H Johnson^{4

5}, Tony Charman³; BASIS Team

Collaborators

BASIS Team:
Simon Baron-Cohen, Rachael Bedford, Patrick Bolton, Susie Chandler, Mayada Elsabbagh, Janice Fernandes, Holly Garwood, Teodora Gliga, Kristelle Hudry, Emily J H Jones, Greg Pasco, Andrew Pickles, Leslie Tucker, Agnes Volein

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Po, 14, 10123, Turin, Italy. erica.salomone@unito.it.
² Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. erica.salomone@unito.it.
³ Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁴ Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Adaptive behaviour; Cognitive ability; High familial risk; Prospective study.

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological / physiology*
Autism Spectrum Disorder / diagnosis
Autism Spectrum Disorder / genetics*
Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology*
Child
Child, Preschool
Cognition / physiology*
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Risk Factors
Siblings / psychology*
Social Skills*

Abstract

MeSH terms

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