Neuropsychological Functioning of Siblings of Children with Autism, Siblings of Children with Developmental language Delay, and Siblings of Children with Mental Retardation of Unknown Genetic Etiology

Abstract

Neuropsychological functioning of 30 siblings of children with autism (AU-S), 28 siblings of children with mental retardation of (MR-S), and 30 siblings of children with developmental language delay (DLD-S) was compared. Two siblings, both AU-S, received diagnoses of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). More siblings with cognitive disabilities were found in DLD-S than in AU-S. However, these differences disappeared after excluding diagnosed siblings or after accounting for family membership. In sum, despite the elevated incidence of PDD among AU-S, the neuropsychological functioning of the remaining siblings did not convey specific characteristics related to the genetic risk associated with autism, in contrast to the cognitive functioning of the DLD-S, which did reflect a genetic risk.

Autistic Traits Below the Clinical Threshold: Re-examining the Broader Autism Phenotype in the 21st Century

“…However, these studies contrast with others that provide mixed or negative support for other kinds of generativity tasks such as verbal/ design fluency (e.g. Delorme et al 2007;Pilowsky et al 2007;Schmidt et al 2008).…”

“…Likewise, Losh et al (2009) reported no significant differences on the Tower of Hanoi and Trail Making Test between BAP parents/probands and controls and Pilowsky et al (2007) found no differences in performance on the Tower of Hanoi and Word Associations Test (Semel et al 1995) between autism siblings and two clinical control groups (siblings of children with learning disabilities and developmental language delay). These studies contrast with early findings by Ozonoff et al (1993) who reported significant differences in performance on the Tower of Hanoi between the siblings of children with autism and two clinical control groups.…”

“…When reading and spelling performance has been assessed in autism relatives, differences in test scores have not been consistently found compared to control groups (e.g. Pilowsky et al 2007;Schmidt et al 2008; see 'language ability' section). Finally Landa et al (1991) found significant differences between parents of autistic probands and parents of Down Syndrome probands on a measure of spontaneous narrative discourse.…”

Language abilities in preschool-aged siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders – preliminary report

“…A study by Pilowsky et al (2003) revealed similar levels of language skills among siblings of children with ASD and siblings of children with intellectual disabilities of unknown aetiology. In another publication, these researchers likewise reported similar levels of neurocognitive functioning in these groups (Pilowsky, Yirmiya, Gross-Tsur, & Shalev, 2007). However, it needs to be added that whereas Ben-Yizhak et al (2011) reported no differences between the siblings of pre-school children with ASD and the control group in terms of ability to read and school achievements, they did observe difficulties with pragmatic use of language among siblings of children with ASD.…”

Quando não há mais espaço - um estudo sobre a fratria das crianças autistas

“…Em um outro estudo -embora dentro da mesma perspectiva (Pilowsky, Yirmiya, Gross-Tsur & Shalev, 2007) -temos que, além do aumento da taxa de autismo dentro dessas famílias, existe na fratria de um autista um leque de aptidões cognitivas, linguísticas, sociais e de déficits comportamentais similares, embora menos graves, que os observados no autismo.…”