Continuity in social communication development among school-aged siblings of autistic children.

ABSTRACT: Prospective studies of later born siblings of autistic individuals often focus on predicting autism diagnosis. Studies concentrating on siblings who do not develop autism have found subclinical atypicalities in some children as early as the first year of life. However, when followed to school-age, the continuity of these findings has been mixed. We tracked nonautistic siblings (n = 151 higher familial likelihood of autism, n = 115 lower likelihood) longitudinally from infancy to 6-16 years of age when participants completed a battery of social communication measures (parent report and direct observation/administration). Using latent profile analysis, we derived groupings based on patterns of performance across measures. Three groups were identified: Class 1 (45.5%),

SUBMITTER: Gangi DN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12352373 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature