Communication and Social Deficits in Relatives of Individuals with SLI and Relatives of Individuals with ASD

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 156 - 167
• Main Authors: Pickles, Andrew, St Clair, Michelle C., Conti-Ramsden, Gina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.01.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adults; Antisocial Behavior; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic spectrum disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Care and treatment; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Chromosome aberrations; Communication; Communication Problems; Comparative Analysis; Delayed Speech; Developmental disorders; Diachronic Linguistics; Diagnosis; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Down Syndrome; Down Syndrome - psychology; Down's syndrome; Etiology; Evidence; Families & family life; Family (Sociological Unit); Family - psychology; Family Influence; Female; First degree relatives; Humans; Infantile autism; Interpersonal Competence; Language; Language disorders; Language Disorders - psychology; Language Impairments; Language Usage; Male; Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Memory; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurology; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Parents; Parents - psychology; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Phonology; Pragmatics; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Short Term Memory; Siblings; Siblings - psychology; Social aspects; Social Behavior; Specific language impairment; Speech Impairments; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Triads; Young Adult; United Kingdom > UK; Familial deficits; Specific language impairment (SLI); Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Communication and social difficulties in ASD; Down’s syndrome (DS); Chromosomal aberration; Trisomy; Down's syndrome (DS); Aneuploidy; Developmental disorder; Down syndrome; Specific language disorder; Language disorder; Autism spectrum disorder; Autism; Communication disorder; Pervasive developmental disorder
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-012-1556-2

We investigate two aspects of the autism triad, communication and social difficulties, in relatives of specific language impairment (SLI) probands (with and without additional autistic symptomatology) as compared to relatives of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Down’s syndrome (DS) probands. Findings involving 726 first degree relatives of 85 SLI, 99 ASD and 36 DS probands revealed a higher rate of communication difficulties in relatives of both subgroups of SLI probands compared to ASD and DS relatives. Similar levels of social deficits were found in relatives of SLI + ASD and ASD probands. There was a higher than would be expected rate (4.3 %) of ASD, particularly in siblings of SLI + ASD probands. Communication and social deficits appear to breed true in SLI and ASD.