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Subcategories of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Research suggests that restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) can be subdivided into Repetitive Sensory Motor (RSM) and Insistence on Sameness (IS) behaviors. However, because the majority of previous studies have used the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), it is not clear whether these subcategories reflect the actual organization of RRBs in ASD. Using data from the Simons Simplex Collection (n = 1,825), we examined the association between scores on the ADI-R and the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised. Analyses supported the construct validity of RSM and IS subcategories. As in previous studies, IS behaviors showed no relationship with IQ. These findings support the continued use of RRB subcategories, particularly IS behaviors, as a means of creating more behaviorally homogeneous subgroups of children with ASD.

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Notes

  1. Results did not change when analyses were run using VIQ instead of NVIQ.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation and by R01HD065277 to Somer Bishop, R01MH081873-01A1 and RC1MH089721 to Catherine Lord, and the Dennis Weatherstone Pre-Doctoral Fellowship to Vanessa Hus. We acknowledge Carrie Thomas for her help in the preparation of this manuscript. We are grateful to the families at the participating SFARI Simplex Collection (SSC) sites and to the principal investigators (A. Beaudet, R. Bernier, J. Constantino, E. Cook, E. Fombonne, D. Geschwind, D. Grice, A. Klin, D. Ledbetter, C. Lord, C. Martin, D. Martin, R. Maxim, J. Miles, O. Ousley, B. Peterson, J. Piggot, C. Saulnier, M. State,W. Stone, J. Sutcliffe, C. Walsh, E. Wijsman). We appreciate obtaining access to phenotypic data on SFARI Base. Approved researchers can obtain the SSC population dataset described in this study (https://ordering.base.sfari.org/~browse_collection/archive[sfari_collection_v9_1]/ui:view()) by applying at https://base.sfari.org.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, Bard House, 21 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY, 10605, USA

    Somer L. Bishop, Marisela Huerta & Catherine Lord

  2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Vanessa Hus & Sabata Lund

  3. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Amie Duncan

  4. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Katherine Gotham

  5. King’s College, London, England

    Andrew Pickles

  6. The Wharton School, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Abba Kreiger & Andreas Buja

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  1. Somer L. Bishop
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  2. Vanessa Hus
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  3. Amie Duncan
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  4. Marisela Huerta
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  9. Sabata Lund
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  10. Catherine Lord
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Correspondence to Somer L. Bishop.

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Bishop, S.L., Hus, V., Duncan, A. et al. Subcategories of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 1287–1297 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1671-0

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