Precursors to Social and Communication Difficulties in Infants At-Risk for Autism: Gaze Following and Attentional Engagement

TY - JOUR

T1 - Precursors to Social and Communication Difficulties in Infants At-Risk for Autism: Gaze Following and Attentional Engagement

AU - Bedford, Rachael

AU - Elsabbagh, Mayada

AU - Gliga, Teodora

AU - Pickles, Andrew

AU - Senju, Atsushi

AU - Charman, Tony

AU - Johnson, Mark H.

AU - BASIS Team

PY - 2012/10

Y1 - 2012/10

N2 - Whilst joint attention (JA) impairments in autism have been widely studied, little is known about the early development of gaze following, a precursor to establishing JA. We employed eye-tracking to record gaze following longitudinally in infants with and without a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 7 and 13 months. No group difference was found between at-risk and low-risk infants in gaze following behaviour at either age. However, despite following gaze successfully at 13 months, at-risk infants with later emerging socio-communication difficulties (both those with ASD and atypical development at 36 months of age) allocated less attention to the congruent object compared to typically developing at-risk siblings and low-risk controls. The findings suggest that the subtle emergence of difficulties in JA in infancy may be related to ASD and other atypical outcomes.

AB - Whilst joint attention (JA) impairments in autism have been widely studied, little is known about the early development of gaze following, a precursor to establishing JA. We employed eye-tracking to record gaze following longitudinally in infants with and without a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 7 and 13 months. No group difference was found between at-risk and low-risk infants in gaze following behaviour at either age. However, despite following gaze successfully at 13 months, at-risk infants with later emerging socio-communication difficulties (both those with ASD and atypical development at 36 months of age) allocated less attention to the congruent object compared to typically developing at-risk siblings and low-risk controls. The findings suggest that the subtle emergence of difficulties in JA in infancy may be related to ASD and other atypical outcomes.

U2 - 10.1007/s10803-012-1450-y

DO - 10.1007/s10803-012-1450-y

M3 - Article

SN - 0162-3257

VL - 42

SP - 2208

EP - 2218

JO - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

JF - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

IS - 10

ER -