Language Impairment and Early Social Competence in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of DSM-5 Profiles

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2014-11, Vol.44 (11), p.2797-2808
• Main Authors: Bennett, T. A., Szatmari, P., Georgiades, K., Hanna, S., Janus, M., Georgiades, S., Duku, E., Bryson, S., Fombonne, E., Smith, I. M., Mirenda, P., Volden, J., Waddell, C., Roberts, W., Vaillancourt, T., Zwaigenbaum, L., Elsabbagh, M., Thompson, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antisocial Behavior; At Risk Persons; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Child, Preschool; Comparative Analysis; Delayed Speech; Demographic aspects; Developmental disorders; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Female; Humans; Infantile autism; Interpersonal Competence; Language; Language Acquisition; Language Aptitude; Language Development Disorders - diagnosis; Language Development Disorders - psychology; Language disorders; Language Impairments; Language Skills; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Retardation; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Preschool Children; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Receptive Language; Risk factors; Severity (of Disability); Severity of Illness Index; Social aspects; Social Development; Social Skills; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Vineland Social Maturity Scale; Young Children
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2138-2

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and structural language impairment (LI) may be at risk of more adverse social-developmental outcomes. We examined trajectories of early social competence (using the Vineland-II) in 330 children aged 2–4 years recently diagnosed with ASD, and compared 3 subgroups classified by: language impairment (ASD/LI); intellectual disability (ASD/ID) and ASD without LI or ID (ASD/alone). Children with ASD/LI were significantly more socially impaired at baseline than the ASD/alone subgroup, and less impaired than those with ASD/ID. Growth in social competence was significantly slower for the ASD/ID group. Many preschool-aged children with ASD/LI at time of diagnosis resembled “late talkers” who appeared to catch up linguistically. Children with ASD/ID were more severely impaired and continued to lag further behind.