Atypical brain network development of infants at elevated likelihood for autism spectrum disorder during the first year of life

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by behavioral features that appear early in life. Although studies have shown that atypical brain functional and structural connectivity are associated with these behavioral traits, the occurrence and initial alterations of brain networks have not been fully investigated. The current study aimed to map early brain network efficiency and information transferring in infants at elevated likelihood (EL) compared to infants at typical likelihood (TL) for ASD in the first year of life. This study used a resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) approach to obtain the length and strength of functional connections in the frontal and temporal areas in 45 5-month-old and 38 10-month-old infants. Modular organization and small-world properties were detected in both EL and TL infants at 5 and 10 months. In 5-month-old EL infants, local and nodal efficiency were significantly greater than age-matched TL infants, indicating overgrown local connections. Furthermore, we used a support vector machine (SVM) model to classify infants with or without EL based on the obtained global properties of the network, achieving an accuracy of 77.6%. These results suggest that infants with EL for ASD exhibit inefficiencies in the organization of brain networks during the first year of life. Lay Summary The brain networks of 5- and 10-month-old infants are able to support efficient communication of information in the brain. Neural networks of 5-month-old with an elevated likelihood (EL) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show an overgrowth in local functional connection, which may not support efficient communication between distant brain regions, while we found no such differences in 10-month-old infants with or without EL for ASD

Play in relation to autism traits in young children at elevated likelihood for autism spectrum disorder

Play of younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (siblings; n = 44), very preterm children (preterms; n = 44), and children at typical likelihood for ASD (n = 36) was observed at 24 months. Children with ASD and atypical development engaged less in spontaneous (pre-)symbolic play than typically developing children. Total duration of spontaneous and elicited (pre-)symbolic play was associated with later ASD traits in siblings. However, no association between most play variables and ASD traits was found in preterms. This suggests possible different ASD-trajectories between siblings and preterms. Thus, spontaneous (pre-)symbolic play may be indicative of developmental challenges across several populations, and results highlight the need to move beyond studying only siblings in order to broaden our understanding of ASD

Bridging the Gaze: Multimodal Patterns linked to Joint Attention during Mother-Infant Interactions with Infants at Elevated Likelihood for Autism

Background: Joint attention is achieved through a combination of verbal and non-verbal cues interacting in systematic ways. Nonetheless, existing studies examining multimodal pathways to joint attention focus on the co-occurrence of a limited set of domains, using methods like lag-sequential analysis. Yet, alternative computational methods, such as temporal pattern analysis (T-pattern), provide a multivariate approach which may better capture the temporal dynamics of behaviour. Methods: Mother-infant interactions were recorded at 10 months (n = 20) and coded for parent-initiated bouts of joint attention, speech, touch, deictic and representational gestures. T-pattern analysis was applied to coded interactions to detect recurring patterns of behaviour leading up to and sustaining joint attention. Results and conclusion: Findings demonstrate that maternal behaviour both eliciting and sustaining joint attention exhibits an organised and complex structure of recurring temporal sequences. Linguistic speech represented the highest relative contribution to detected T-patterns. Moreover, T-patterns sustaining joint attention were more frequent and showcased a wider range of dimensional pathways, compared to those eliciting joint attention. These findings demonstrate a proof-of-concept that T-pattern analysis may be particularly effective in uncovering underlying structures of parent behaviour. By homing in on subtle differences in interactive behaviour on an individual level, potential challenges in social communication could be highlighted

The impact of COVID-19 measures on parent-reported restricted and repetitive behaviours in pre-school children with autism

Background: COVID-19 restrictive measures have had a considerable impact on daily life routines, which may be especially challenging for families of children with autism. In pre-schoolers with autism, it is likely that the disruption of routines mainly impacts the presence of restrictive and repetitive behaviours (RRBs). Furthermore, influence of comorbid conditions, secondary behavioural difficulties and home environment characteristics on RRBs was explored.Method: A cross-sectional online survey design was used to collect parent-report data on 254 children with autism (2.5-6 years) during lockdown in the early months of the pandemic. RRBs were assessed using the Repetitive Behaviour Scale-Revised (RBS-R).Results: Parents reported a significant increase in stereotypic, self-injurious, compulsive and ritualistic behaviour, and restricted interests after implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. The presence of a co-occurring condition, such as language impairments or intellectual disability, was associated with more self-injurious and stereotypic behaviour. However, there was no effect of home environment on RRBs. Further, most children showed increases in internalising and/or externalising behaviour. Increased inattentive behaviour was associated with more ritu-alistic and stereotypic behaviour, and restricted interests. Decreases in hyperactivity were related to more restricted interests. Importantly, in a subset of children, parents reported less behavioural difficulties during the lockdown.Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of flexible implementation and continuity of care for pre-schoolers with autism and support for parents. Further follow-up of children with autism and RRBs, and co-occurring behavioural difficulties is needed and could enhance our understanding of the long-term effects associated with sudden restrictive measures to daily routines

Well-being does not predict change in parenting behaviours among mothers of young children at elevated likelihood of autism

Well-being and parenting behaviours were studied longitudinally among mothers of younger siblings of children on the autism spectrum (‘siblings’; n = 81) and prematurely born children (‘pre-terms’; n = 40). Growth curves were modelled to investigate whether maternal well-being and group (siblings vs. pre-terms) were associated with (change in) reported parenting behaviours between 10 and 24 months of child’s age. As expected, we found more stability than change in parenting behaviours, and more similarities than group differences in parenting behaviours and maternal well-being. Both mothers of siblings and pre-terms reported more disciplinary behaviours when their child grew older, in line with general population findings. Initial levels of supportive behaviours were equally high among mothers of siblings and pre-terms, but mothers of pre-terms reported a further increase between 10 and 24 months while mothers of siblings reported stability. Contrary to our hypotheses, maternal well-being was not associated with any of the parenting behaviours. Despite well-being levels below the general population mean (primarily in the sibling group), mothers in our sample reported that they often used supportive behaviours. This is encouraging, as all children, but in particular a subgroup of children at elevated likelihood of autism who may be especially susceptible to their environment, benefit from supportive and responsive behaviours

Child temperament and mother-child interactions

This study investigates (a) group differences in mother-reported child temperament and observed mother-child interactions between infant siblings of children on the autism spectrum (‘siblings’) and prematurely born infants (‘preterms’) and their mothers, and (b) associations between temperament and mother-child interactions, at 5 and 10 months of child’s (corrected) age. Both siblings and preterms are at elevated likelihood (EL) of autism (Agrawal et al., 2018; Laverty et al., 2021; Messinger et al., 2015; Szatmari et al., 2016; Vermeirsch et al., 2021), but – to our knowledge – these two groups have never been investigated together in a published peer-reviewed study on parent-child interaction and temperament in light of emergent autism. For a more detailed description of our study, we refer to the pre-registrations