A Relationship Between Early Language Skills and Adult Autistic-Like Traits: Evidence from a Longitudinal Population-Based Study

Abstract

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 Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Vocabulary size at 2 years was negatively associated with Total AQ score, as well as scores on the Communication, and Social Skills subscales. Adults who had been late talkers were also more likely to have 'high' scores on the Communication subscale. This is the first study to show an association between early language ability and autistic-like traits in adulthood.

Identifying Childhood Expressive Language Features That Best Predict Adult Language and Communication Outcome in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Of note, vocabulary is also an important predictive variable in typical and atypical child language development. Armstrong et al (2017) found that expressive vocabulary size at 2 years of age predicts the presence of autisticlike traits in adulthood in the general population. Rescorla (2005) found that, in late talkers and typically developing children, vocabulary at 2 years of age was the only significant predictor (when compared with socioeconomic status, nonverbal cognition, and receptive language skills) of vocabulary, grammar, verbal memory, and reading comprehension in adolescence; in the same study, vocabulary at 6 years of age was the most significant predictor (when compared with grammatical, phonological, and reading skills) of vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension in adolescence.…”

Relations Between Bilingualism and Autistic-Like Traits in a General Population Sample of Primary School Children

“…Specifically, ALTs include difficulties in social communication/interaction and restricted interests or repetitive behaviours, which lie on a continuum below the clinical threshold. These traits have been extensively studied in the general population monolingual samples (Constantino and Todd 2003 ; Ronald et al 2005 ; Armstrong et al 2017 ). For instance, a study by Constantino and Todd ( 2003 ) looked at autistic-like traits in a group of 788 twin pairs (age range 7–15 years).…”

“…Furthermore, the study offered reliable support to the approaches that investigate autistic-like traits as a continuous variable in general population samples. In addition to SRS, other self-report and parental questionnaires, such as, for instance, the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), have reliably been used in the general population samples to quantify ALTs (see Baron-Cohen et al 2001 ; Armstrong et al 2017 ).…”

Relations between bilingualism and autistic-like traits in a general population sample of primary school children

“…Specifically, ALTs include difficulties in social communication/interaction and restricted interests or repetitive behaviours, which lie on a continuum below the clinical threshold. These traits have been extensively studied in the general population monolingual samples (Constantino and Todd 2003;Ronald et al 2005;Armstrong et al 2017). For instance, a study by Constantino and Todd (2003) looked at autistic-like traits in a group of 788 twin pairs (age range 7-15 years).…”

“…Furthermore, the study offered reliable support to the approaches that investigate autistic-like traits as a continuous variable in general population samples. In addition to SRS, other self-report and parental questionnaires, such as, for instance, the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ), have reliably been used in the general population samples to quantify ALTs (see Baron-Cohen et al 2001;Armstrong et al 2017).…”