Developmental trajectories in siblings of children with autism: Cognition and language from 4 months to 7 years

Ifat Gamliel, Nurit Yirmiya*, Dena H. Jaffe, Orly Manor, Marian Sigman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

We compared the cognitive and language development at 4, 14, 24, 36, 54 months, and 7 years of siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) to that of siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) using growth curve analyses. At 7 years, 40% of the SIBS-A, compared to 16% of SIBS-TD, were identified with cognitive, language and/or academic difficulties, identified using direct tests and/or parental reports. This sub-group was identified as SIBS-A-broad phenotype (BP). Results indicated that early language scores (14-54 months), but not cognitive scores of SIBS-A-BP and SIBS-A-nonBP were significantly lower compared to the language scores of SIBS-TD, and that the rate of development was also significantly different, thus pinpointing language as a major area of difficulty for SIBS-A during the preschool years.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1131-1144
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume39
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2009

Keywords

  • Autism
  • Broad autism phenotype
  • Cognition
  • Language
  • Siblings

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