Identifying Early Indicators for Autism in Self-Regulation Difficulties

Abstract

Researchers have suggested that individuals with autism have difficulties with self-regulation in early infancy, which may represent an early risk factor for autism. In this study, the authors explored self-regulatory behavior in young children who were later diagnosed with autism. Parents of children diagnosed with autism (n = 65) retrospectively reported on their children's self-regulatory difficulties at 1 year of age using the Temperament and Atypical Behavior Scale (TABS). One-year-olds with typical development (n = 120) from the TABS norming efforts served as the comparison group. Results indicate children diagnosed with autism exhibited significantly more self-regulatory difficulties at 1 year of age than did the comparison group. In addition, 86% of the parents reported that their children exhibited self-regulatory difficulties consistent with a diagnosis of regulatory disorder at 1 year of age.

Temperament and its Relationship to Autistic Symptoms in a High-Risk Infant Sib Cohort

“…These studies implicate very early differences in attention and affect (Baranek 1999;Dawson et al 2000;Maestro et al 1999Maestro et al , 2002Maestro et al , 2005Maestro et al , 2006Rutherford 2005). Using retrospective parent reports, Gomez and Baird (2005) found that children with ASD were rated as having been more detached, hypersensitive, impulsive, under-responsive and dysregulated as infants. Also based on retrospective parent reports, children with ASD were distinguished during the first year largely by higher negative emotional reactivity and low motivation to interact with others (e.g.…”

“…bBailey et al (2000) cBaranek (1999) dBerthoz and Hilll (2005) eBieberich and Morgan (1998;2004) fBradley et al (2004),Bradley and Isaacs (2006) g Bryson et al (2007) h Capps et al (1993) i Clifford et al (2007) j Evans et al (2005) k Hill (2004) l Hepburn and Stone (2006) m Janes (2001) n Joseph and Tager-Flusberg (1997) oKasari et al (1990) pKonstantareas and Stewart (2006) qLandry (2000) rLoveland et al (1994) s tSoderstrom et al (2002) uThede and Coolidge (2007) vGomez and Baird (2005) wWatson et al (2007) xYirmiya et al (1989) yZwaigenbaum et al (2005) …”

Self-Regulation, Dysregulation, Emotion Regulation and Their Impact on Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Abilities in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…As several authors have drawn attention to the fact that infants and young children diagnosed as presenting ASD display deficits in self-regulation or dysregulation in their activity, and in early emotion regulation, these specificities represent an early risk factor of severe autism and of intense behaviour disorders that need to be detected as soon as possible (Adrien, 2005;Bagnato & Neisworth, 1999;De Gangi et al, 1993Gomez & Baird, 2005;Nader-Grosbois, 2007b;Whitman, 2004). It is indispensable to proceed to regular longitudinal assessments in the course of early development and during childhood by focusing on inter-and intra-individual variability, using instruments founded on an integrative model of functioning and development of atypical children and combining various sources of information from professionals and other people around the children (Greenspan & Meisels, 1999).…”

Assessment of Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Infancy: A Systematic Review

“…Internal consistency was high, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha of .83 and .85 for the screener and assessment tools, respectively (Judge 2003, 2004). Split-half reliability of the assessment tool was .95 for the combined sample and .88 for the sample without developmental delay (Gomez and Baird 2005). Additionally, a factor analysis provided support for the proposed 4 factors (Bagnato et al 1999).…”