Ravi Shruthi, Bradshaw Allison, Abdi Hervé, Meera Shoba Sreenath, Parish-Morris Julia, Yankowitz Lisa, Paterson Sarah, Dager Stephen R, Burrows Catherine A, Chappell Chad, St John Tanya, Estes Annette M, Piven Joseph, Swanson Meghan R
Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States.
Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.
Front Commun (Lausanne). 2022;7. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.977724. Epub 2022 Oct 18.
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, = 81) demonstrated widespread reductions in social communication skills at 12-months compared to HL infants who did not meet criteria for autism (HL-Neg, = 277) and LL-Neg ( = 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.
社交沟通挑战的早期出现及其对后来被诊断为自闭症的婴儿语言能力的影响，引发了许多针对社交沟通技能的早期干预项目。虽然研究一直表明，在生命的第一年，社交沟通评估得分较低，但在12个月大时，探索社交沟通不同维度与后期语言之间关联的研究有限。了解早期社交沟通技能与语言之间的关联，将提高我们选择能够影响下游语言技能的高优先级干预目标的能力。本研究使用标准化评估，对516名根据家庭中有无自闭症兄弟姐妹而具有高（HL）或低自闭症可能性（LL-Neg）的婴儿的社交沟通技能进行了分析（84%为白人，60%为男性）。该研究的主要目的是描绘生命第二年社交沟通技能的发展情况，并评估社交沟通技能与后期语言之间的关联。与未达到自闭症标准的HL婴儿（HL-Neg，n = 277）和LL-Neg（n = 158）婴儿相比，达到自闭症标准的HL婴儿（HL-ASD，n = 81）在12个月时社交沟通技能普遍下降。在该研究的所有婴儿中，12个月时社交沟通技能较好的婴儿在24个月时语言能力也较好。然而，组内分析表明，达到自闭症标准的婴儿直到24个月大时才表现出这种发展上的耦合，此时社交沟通与下游语言技能呈正相关。社交沟通技能下降的级联模式以及与后期语言的总体显著正相关，进一步证明了在正式诊断自闭症之前支持发展社交沟通技能的必要性，这一目标可能通过预防性干预来实现。
