THE DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIMODAL SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN INFANTS AT HIGH RISK FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

In addition to impairments in gaze, facial expression, gesture, and sound, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty producing these behaviors in coordination. Two studies were designed to evaluate the extent to which delayed and/or atypical development in the production or coordination of social communication behaviors can identify children eventually diagnosed with ASD. This research was grounded in Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), which proposes that changes in development depend on the interaction of multiple subsystems within the child, the environment, and the demands of the task; and that instability in one component can translate into varied developmental courses. A prospective longitudinal design was used to compare 9 infants at high familial risk for ASD (HR) later diagnosed with ASD, with 13 HR infants with language delay, 28 HR infants with no diagnosis, and 30 low risk (LR) infants. Participants were observed at home during naturalistic play with a primary caregiver at 8, 10, 12, 14, and 18 months. Frequencies of gestures, words, non-word vocalizations, eye contact, and smiles, and instances in which behaviors overlapped in time, were coded from videotape. Study 1 revealed that, while all infants demonstrated similar levels of communicative behavior at 8 months, ASD infants exhibited significantly slower growth in coordinations involving pre-speech vocalizations and those involving gestures used for joint attention than all other infants, even those exhibiting language delays. Study 2 demonstrated that information gathered on social communication skills during a natural setting improved prediction of diagnostic outcome when combined with standardized assessments and parent report; and the setting, method of measurement, and frequency of assessment were important factors in determining risk. Across both studies, variability was detected between and within infants. Results suggest that behavioral signs of ASD emerge over time in specific areas of communication. Disruption in the coordination of pre-speech vocalizations may result in negative cascading effects that have important implications for later social and linguistic development. Findings emphasize the importance of examining a wide range of communicative behavior in HR infants across contexts repeatedly over time and that DST offers a valuable framework with which to better understand their development

The Reorganization of Communicative Behaviors around the Onset of the Vocabulary Spurt: A Dynamic Systems Approach

This study investigated the reorganization of communicative behaviors during the window of time surrounding the vocabulary spurt by considering the relationship between language, gesture, and affect as the communicative system undergoes a period of instability. Eighteen typically developing infants were videotaped with a primary caregiver at home one month before, at, and one month after the onset of the vocabulary spurt. There were significant differences between the vocabulary spurt session and surrounding sessions in terms of the production and temporal patterning of expressive behaviors. Specifically, the coordination of communicative behaviors occurred less frequently; speech was particularly unlikely to appear in coordination with other behaviors; and the use of earlier well-practiced configurations (e.g., affect combined with meaningless vocalizations) increased specifically at the spurt session. In addition, infants who experienced a more dramatic transition in vocabulary development showed evidence of greater system-wide instability at the vocabulary spurt onset. Findings underscore the importance of examining the communicative system as a whole and using a milestone-based dynamic systems approach to studying developmental change

Anticipatory Smiling: Linking Early Affective Communication and Social Outcome

In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at an object and then turning the smile toward an adult. We report two studies in which the precursors, development, and consequences of anticipatory smiling were investigated. Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between infant smiling at 6 months and the level of anticipatory smiling at 8 and 10 months during joint attention episodes, as well as a positive correlation between anticipatory smiling and parent-rated social expressivity scores at 30 months. Study 2 confirmed a developmental increase in the number of infants using anticipatory smiles between 9 and 12 months that had been initially documented in the Study 1 sample [Venezia, M., Messinger, D. S., Thorp, D., & Mundy, P. (2004). The development of anticipatory smiling. Infancy, 6(3), 397–406]. Additionally, anticipatory smiling at 9 months positively predicted parent-rated social competence scores at 30 months. Findings are discussed with regard to the importance of anticipatory smiling in early socioemotional development

Infant Responding to Joint Attention, Executive Processes, and Self-Regulation in Preschool Children

Infant joint attention is related to behavioral and social outcomes, as well as language in childhood. Recent research and theory suggests that the relations between joint attention and social–behavioral outcomes may reflect the role of executive self-regulatory processes in the development of joint attention. To test this hypothesis two studies were conducted. The first, cross-sectional study examined the development of responding to joint attention (RJA) skill in terms of increasing executive efficiency of responding between 9 and 18 months of age. The results indicated that development of RJA was characterized by a decreased latency to shift attention in following another person\u27s gaze and head turn, as well as an increase in the proportion of correct RJA responses exhibited by older infants. The second study examined the longitudinal relations between 12-month measures of responding to joint attention and 36-month attention regulation in a delay of gratification task. The results indicated that responding to joint attention at 12-months was significantly related to children\u27s use of three types of self-regulation behaviors while waiting for a snack reward at 36 months of age. These observations are discussed in light of a developmental theory of attention regulation and joint attention in infancy

Individual Differences and the Development of Joint Attention in Infancy

This study examined the development of joint attention in 95 infants assessed between 9 and 18 months of age. Infants displayed significant test – retest reliability on measures of following gaze and gestures (responding to joint attention, RJA) and in their use of eye contact to establish social attention coordination (initiating joint attention, IJA). Infants displayed a linear, increasing pattern of age-related growth on most joint attention measures. However, IJA was characterized by a significant cubic developmental pattern. Infants with different rates of cognitive development exhibited different frequencies of joint attention acts at each age, but did not exhibit different age-related patterns of development. Finally, 12-month RJA and 18-month IJA predicted 24-month language after controlling for general aspects of cognitive development

SPARK: A US Cohort of 50,000 Families to Accelerate Autism Research

The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) has launched SPARKForAutism. org, a dynamic platform that is engaging thousands of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and connecting them to researchers. By making all data accessible, SPARK seeks to increase our understanding of ASD and accelerate new supports and treatments for ASD