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Language abilities of siblings of children with autism
Author(s) -
Pilowsky Tammy,
Yirmiya Nurit,
Shalev Ruth S.,
GrossTsur Varda
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/1469-7610.00175
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , developmental psychology , language development , language delay , developmental disorder , mental age , intelligence quotient , cognition , psychiatry
Background: Language abilities of siblings of children with autism were examined to explore the possibility that language abilities are behavioral markers specific to the genetic liability for autism, as part of the broader phenotype. Method: Language abilities were compared among 27 siblings of children with autism, 23 siblings of children with mental retardation of unknown etiology (MR), and 22 siblings of children with developmental language disorders (DLD). Groups were matched by siblings’ age, gender, birth order, family size, ethnicity, family income and by probands’ gender and mental age. Results: Siblings of children with autism achieved higher scores than siblings of children with DLD on receptive, expressive, and total language scales of the Children's Evaluation of Language Fundamentals and on verbal IQ. Moreover, within the DLD group, school problems in the domains of reading and arithmetic were more prevalent than within the other two groups. Only 2 siblings of children with autism received clinical diagnoses based on DSM‐IV criteria compared to 3 siblings of children with MR and 7 siblings of children with DLD. Conclusions: After excluding data of the diagnosed siblings, no differences in language abilities could be discerned among the groups, except that more siblings in the DLD group were identified as having language difficulties. In summary, although language deficits characterize autism, siblings of children with autism were not found to demonstrate deficits in language skills assessed by formal language tests, IQ, or academic skills.