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The Development of Young Siblings of Children with Autism from 4 to 54 Months

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Abstract

Cognitive and language skills of 39 siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) and 39 siblings of typically developing children (SIBS-TD) at ages 4, 14, 24, 36, and 54 months were compared. Twelve of the 39 SIBS-A revealed a delay in cognition and/or language (including one child diagnosed with autism) compared to only two SIBS-TD. Developmental trajectories revealed that the cognitive differences disappeared by age 54 months, but some differences in language ability remained. Thus, most SIBS-A were well-functioning, but some revealed cognitive and/or language difficulties during the preschool years. Even these siblings by and large caught up by the age of 54 months, with receptive and expressive language abilities remaining an area of difficulty for some earlier identified siblings.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), grants number 94–66/3 and 97-00073, awarded to NY and MS. We are grateful to the families who took part, for their cooperation. We also thank Tammy Pilowsky, Simon Baron-Cohen, and Ruth Feldman for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel

    Ifat Gamliel & Nurit Yirmiya

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Marian Sigman

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  1. Ifat Gamliel
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  2. Nurit Yirmiya
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Correspondence to Nurit Yirmiya.

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Gamliel, I., Yirmiya, N. & Sigman, M. The Development of Young Siblings of Children with Autism from 4 to 54 Months. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 171–183 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0341-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0341-5

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