Language Differences at 12 Months in Infants Who Develop Autism Spectrum Disorder

Area of Science:

• Developmental psychology
• Pediatric neurology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Early language development is a critical indicator of neurodevelopmental trajectories.
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis often occurs later in childhood, limiting early intervention opportunities.
• Limited research exists on early linguistic markers in infants who later develop ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate early language differences at 12 months of age in infants who later receive an ASD diagnosis.
• To identify specific receptive and expressive language patterns indicative of later ASD.
• To explore the utility of language assessments in identifying infants at high risk for ASD.

Main Methods:

• Prospective analysis of data from 346 infants, including a high-risk group for ASD.
• Assessment of receptive and expressive language skills at 12 months of age.
• Rasch analysis to evaluate word understanding and production, controlling for overall language ability.

Main Results:

• Infants later diagnosed with ASD demonstrated significantly lower receptive and expressive language scores at 12 months.
• Rasch analysis revealed statistically unexpected patterns in word understanding and production in infants who later developed ASD.
• Quantitative and qualitative language differences at 12 months effectively distinguished infants who later developed ASD.

Conclusions:

• Language differences, including lower scores and unique patterns of word use, are detectable at 12 months in infants who later develop ASD.
• Early language assessment may serve as a valuable tool for identifying infants at risk for ASD.
• These findings support the potential for earlier identification and intervention for ASD through linguistic markers.