3-195 - Quantifying the Early ASD Phenotype and Longitudinal Trajectories of Symptom Progression

Session Type: Paper Session

Integrative Statement

The familial risk design, long-term longitudinal studies, and emerging/new quantitative modeling techniques are rapidly advancing our cumulative understanding of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this symposium, we highlight work in these domains. Farmer and colleagues will present an exploratory structural equation modeling technique that promises to elucidate latent profiles of ASD in preschool-aged children. Next, Hutman and colleagues present new data from their high-familial-risk infant-sibling sample on social engagement in the context of a naturalistic play-based parent-child interaction at 18 months, along with predictions of subsequent diagnosis and language level. Miller and colleagues present data suggesting that 6-8 year-old siblings of children with autism, who were recruited as infants and do not meet diagnostic criteria for ASD, subsequently show a range of differences from low-risk school-aged children (also recruited as infants) on a number of important clinical and cognitive features. Finally, Guthrie and colleagues report latent-class growth analyses of subtypes of repetitive behavior measured at 5 time points between 2 and 19 years of age, implicating the heterogeneity in the symptom trajectory over time. In sum, these presentations forecast exciting frontiers in autism research that ultimately promise to affect positive change for individuals with ASD and their families.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Catherine Lord, Cornell College

Individual Presentations

• Emotional and behavioral problems as part of the ASD two-factor phenotype in preschool-aged children - Presenting Author: Cristan Farmer, National Institutes of Health; Whitney Guthrie, Florida State University; Laurie Swineford, National Institutes of Health; Renee Gallo, National Institute of Mental Health; Audrey Thurm, NIMH, Natl Institutes of Health

• Social Initiation and Response During Mother-Child Play in 18-month olds at Risk for Autism Predict Diagnosis and Language Skills - Presenting Author: Ted M Hutman, UCLA; Katherine Guevara, UCLA; Amy Dominguez, UCLA; Gina Yoon, UCLA

• School-age outcomes of infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder - Presenting Author: Meghan Miller, University of California, Davis; Ian Kyle, UC Davis; Gregory S Young, UC Davis; Sally Ozonoff, Uc Davis Health System

• Trajectories of Repetitive Sensorimotor and Insistence on Sameness Behaviors in Autism from Toddlerhood to Young Adulthood - Presenting Author: Whitney Guthrie, Florida State University; Somer L. Bishop, Weill Cornell Medical College; Catherine Lord, Cornell College