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Early Gesture and Vocabulary Development in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study examined longitudinal growth in gestures and words in infants at heightened (HR) versus low risk (LR) for ASD. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory was administered monthly from 8 to 14 months and at 18 and 24 months to caregivers of 14 HR infants diagnosed with ASD (HR-ASD), 27 HR infants with language delay (HR-LD), 51 HR infants with no diagnosis (HR-ND), and 28 LR infants. Few differences were obtained between LR and HR-ND infants, but HR-LD and HR-ASD groups differed in initial skill levels and growth patterns. While HR-LD infants grew at rates comparable to LR and HR-ND infants, growth was attenuated in the HR-ASD group, with trajectories progressively diverging from all other groups.

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Notes

  1. The Words and Gestures form was given to 11 caregivers (2 LR; 9 HR) at 18 months and 3 caregivers (all HR) at 24 months instead of the Words and Sentences form. However, as noted below, because percentile scores rather than raw scores were used in analyses of these time points, these variations will not impact results.

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Acknowledgments

We thank members of the Infant Communication Lab at the University of Pittsburgh for help with data collection, Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal for statistical advice, Nancy Minshew and Diane Williams for valuable contributions at various stages of the project, and Robert H. Wozniak for extensive comments on the manuscript. Special thanks to the families and infants who participated in the research. It could not have been completed without their enthusiastic and dedicated involvement.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from Autism Speaks and the National Institutes of Health (R01 HD41607 and R01 HD54979) to JMI, with additional support from HD35469 and HD055748 to N.J. Minshew.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3415 Sennott Square, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Jana M. Iverson

  2. TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 7180 UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Nina B. Leezenbaum

  3. Department of Psychology, Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, University of Miami, P.O. Box 248768, 5665 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Miami, FL, 33124-0725, USA

    Meaghan V. Parladé

  4. Department of Psychology, College of Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Education, University of Tampa, PH 315, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Box Q, Tampa, FL, 33606, USA

    Erin A. Koterba

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3137 Sennott Square, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Jessie B. Northrup & Kelsey L. West

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  1. Jana M. Iverson
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the design of the study and participated in data collection. JMI, MVP and EAK conducted the initial literature review; JBN, NBL, MVP, and EAK performed the statistical analyses. JMI drafted the manuscript with contributions from JBN, NLB, and KLW. All authors read, edited, and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jana M. Iverson.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained for all individual participants in the study.

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Iverson, J.M., Northrup, J.B., Leezenbaum, N.B. et al. Early Gesture and Vocabulary Development in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 55–71 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3297-8

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