The current study examined the relationship between early language ability and autistic-like traits in adulthood, utilising data from 644 participants from a longitudinal study of the general population. Language performance at 2 years was measured with the Language Development Survey (LDS), and at 20 years the participants completed the…

The present study sought to examine imitation difficulties as a risk factor for autism. Imitation aptitude was examined in 86 preschoolers suspected of autism (1.9-4.5 years) using the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS). Differences between imitation, language, motor age-equivalents and nonverbal mental age were used to predict the…

The validity of the calibrated severity scores on the ADOS as reported by Gotham et al. (J Autism Dev Disord 39: 693-705, "2009"), was investigated in an independent sample of 1248 Dutch children with 1455 ADOS administrations (modules 1, 2 and 3). The greater comparability between ADOS administrations at different times, ages and in…

Later-born siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (Sibs-ASD) are at elevated risk for social impairments. Two putative predictors of later social impairment--measures of responding to joint attention and weighted triadic communication--were examined in a sample of 43 Sibs-ASD who were followed from 15 to 34 months of age. Results…

Examination of 53 children with autism supported the validity of the subtypes "aloof" and "active-but-odd" as predictors of behavior across language/communication, reciprocal social interaction, and stereotyped behavior/restricted interest domains. Partial support for an intermediate, "passive" subtype was garnered. (Author/JDD)