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BackgroundLanguage delay is extremely common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet it is unclear whether measurable variation in early language is associated with genetic liability for ASD. Assessment of language development in unaffected siblings of children with ASD can inform whether decreased early language ability aggregates with inherited risk for ASD and serves as an ASD endophenotype.MethodsWe implemented two approaches: (1) a meta-analysis of studies comparing language delay, a categorical indicator of language function, and language scores, a continuous metric, in unaffected toddlers at high and low familial risk for ASD, and (2) a parallel analysis of 350 unaffected 24-month-olds in the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS), a prospective study of infants at high and low familial risk for ASD. An advantage of the former was its detection of group differences from pooled data across unique samples; an advantage of the latter was its sensitivity in quantifying early manifestations of language delay while accounting for covariates within a single large sample.ResultsMeta-analysis showed that high-risk siblings without ASD (HR-noASD) were three to four times more likely to exhibit language delay versus low-risk siblings without ASD (LR-noASD) and had lower mean receptive and expressive language scores. Analyses of IBIS data corroborated that language delay, specifically receptive language delay, was more frequent in the HR-noASD (n = 235) versus LR-noASD group (n = 115). IBIS language scores were continuously and unimodally distributed, with a pathological shift towards decreased language function in HR-noASD siblings. The elevated inherited risk for ASD was associated with lower receptive and expressive language scores when controlling for sociodemographic factors. For receptive but not expressive language, the effect of risk group remained significant even when controlling for nonverbal cognition.ConclusionsGreater frequency of language delay and a lower distribution of language scores in high-risk, unaffected toddler-aged siblings support decreased early language ability as an endophenotype for ASD, with a more pronounced effect for receptive versus expressive language. Further characterization of language development is warranted to refine genetic investigations of ASD and to elucidate factors influencing the progression of core autistic traits and related symptoms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s11689-018-9247-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of students identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with increasing estimates of prevalence still emerging from cohorts monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, dissemination to a school psychology audience about these students' needs has been disparate, with publications being idiosyncratic in the extent to which certain areas have received focused and sustained attention and other areas receiving much less attention. A structured review of the literature examined the extent to which research on children and adolescents with ASD was published within school psychology journals from 2002 through 2012. Results indicate that published studies relating to ASD can be grouped in seven categories, with some being deeply investigated, whereas other topics have been minimally discussed within the field. The most surprising of these findings is the relative lack of publication on the development and psychometric properties of assessment tools used to evaluate students with ASD. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Increases in the prevalence of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Baio, 2014) have garnered increased attention to the needs of this population. Children with ASD have steadily increased in representation among students served via special education since the autism category was added to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990 (Newschaffer, Falb, & Gurney, 2005), resulting in an increased responsibility for services on the part of school psychologists (SPs). As is the case when SPs are providing services related to other student needs, effective, wellimplemented services depend on a robust body of knowledge in all domains relevant to the population to be served. Professional expectations for the practice of school psychology in contemporary schools include the ethical and professional obligation to provide data-based services based on current research and policy (National Association of School Psychologists [NASP], 2010;Ysseldyke et al., 2006). Links between the needs of students with ASD and the services provided by SPs have not been explicitly examined to the degree that they have for students with learning disabilities or behavioral disorders. However, when examined in the context of students with ASD, it becomes clear that the needs of this population draw heavily on competencies possessed by SPs, which, in turn, are built on a scientific foundation derived from publications specific to the profession.Much of what has been developed in best practices in assessment and intervention of ASD has been published outside of the focal school psychology journals. What has been published on ASD within school psychology seems to have been sporadic and spans a variety of topics. SPs' knowledge and perceived competence in serving students with ASD have not been formally evaluated, nor have any studies focused on the extent to which increased recognition of ASD has affected the practice of school psychology. Thus, this rev...

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