Early social communication development in infants with autism spectrum disorder

Jessica Bradshaw, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Courtney McCracken, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Moira Pileggi, Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Natalie Brane, Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Abigail Delehanty, John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Taylor Day, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Alexis Federico, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Cheryl Klaiman, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Celine Saulnier, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Ami Klin, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Amy Wetherby, Autism Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.

Abstract

Social-communication differences are a robust and defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but identifying early points of divergence in infancy has been a challenge. The current study examines social communication in 9- to 12-month-old infants who develop ASD (N = 30; 23% female; 70% white) compared to typically developing (TD) infants (N = 94, 38% female; 88% white). Results demonstrate that infants later diagnosed with ASD were already exhibiting fewer social-communication skills using eye gaze, facial expression, gestures, and sounds at 9 months (effect size: 0.42-0.89). Moreover, three unique patterns of change across distinct social-communication skills were observed within the ASD group. This study documents that observable social-communication differences for infants with ASD are unfolding by 9 months, pointing to a critical window for targeted intervention.