Early Social and Emotional Development in Toddlers at Genetic Risk for Autism

有自闭症遗传风险的幼儿的早期社交和情感发展

• 批准号: 7941328
• 负责人: SUSAN B CAMPBELL
• 金额: $ 37.32万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-05-03 至 2015-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7941328
• 关键词: Achievement; Address; Affect; Age; Age of Onset; Autistic Disorder; Behavior; Behavioral; Biological Markers; Brain; Caregivers; Child; Child Development; Cognitive; Complement; Complex; Data; Data Quality; Development; Developmental Delay Disorders; Diagnosis; Diagnostic; Differential Diagnosis; Disease; Early Diagnosis; Early identification; Early treatment; Emotional; Emotions; Empathy; Family; Family history of; Functional disorder; Funding; General Population; Genes; Genetic; Genetic Programming; Genetic Risk; Goals; Impairment; Infant; Intervention; Laboratories; Language; Language Delays; Learning; Life; Longitudinal Studies; Measures; Medical; Memory; Motor; Nature; Nervous System Physiology; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Neurologic Process; Neurons; Nursery Schools; Other Genetics; Pattern; Plant Roots; Play; Prevention; Prospective Studies; Protocols documentation; Recurrence; Regulation; Relative (related person); Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Role; Self-control as a personality trait; Siblings; Social Development; Subgroup; Symptoms; System; Toddler; United States National Institutes of Health; Universities; Work; age related; autism spectrum disorder; base; developmental neurobiology; early childhood; early onset; emotion regulation; high risk; high risk infant; infancy; migration; postnatal; prenatal; prospective; public health relevance; sensorimotor system; sex; skills; social; social reciprocity

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is a serious, heritable neurodevelopmental disorder that affects children's functioning in social, emotional, and cognitive domains. Early diagnosis and intervention may ameliorate problems in some children, but autism is difficult to diagnose before age 3. This is because early signs are often subtle; in typical children, development is often uneven; and milder disorders and specific language delays also may be confused with autism in early childhood. Prospective studies of younger siblings of children with an autism diagnosis hold promise, given their higher genetic risk to develop autism or a milder disorder on the autism spectrum (ASD), with recurrence rates as high as 20%. Younger siblings of children with autism (high risk) and age/sex-matched younger siblings of typically developing children (low risk) are currently being studied as part of the Pitt Early Autism Study. The aim of this proposal is to: 1) identify differences between high and low risk toddlers in social-emotional development, focusing on several fundamental aspects of typical development across 18-36 months, that are also known to be impaired in preschool age children with an autism diagnosis, and are especially likely to be disrupted in high risk toddlers who show atypical development; 2) delineate longitudinal trajectories of social-emotional development in high risk toddlers who receive a diagnosis of autism by 36 months and in those who show milder ASD symptoms or language delays, in comparison to high risk toddlers who develop without evident problems and to low risk toddlers; 3) examine profiles of social-emotional, cognitive, communicative, and attentional development in high risk children with and without a later diagnosis and in low risk children. Early social-emotional reciprocity with primary caregivers, the emergence of empathy, the development of pretend play and self-other representation, and the regulation of behavior and negative emotion, salient developmental tasks of toddlerhood, will be assessed. Cross- sectional and longitudinal analyses will delineate group differences and trajectories of typical and atypical development as a function of diagnosis at 36 months. Findings have implications for the early identification and treatment of children with autism and will contribute to differential diagnosis of autism, ASD, and language delay as distinct from typical, but uneven development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Social reciprocity, empathy, and pretend play are major achievements of toddlerhood, but are impaired or absent in young children with autism. This prospective longitudinal study, which began in infancy, will examine early social and emotional development in high risk toddlers who have an older sibling with an autism diagnosis and compare them to toddlers with a typically developing older sibling at 22, 28, and 34 months. This work will contribute to early identification and early intervention for children with autism, and also help to differentiate early social markers of autism from those of other developmental delays and typical, but uneven, development.

描述（由申请人提供）：自闭症是一种严重的遗传性神经发育障碍，影响儿童的社交、情感和认知功能。早期诊断和干预可能会改善一些儿童的问题，但自闭症在 3 岁之前很难诊断。这是因为早期症状通常很微妙；对于典型的儿童来说，发育往往是不平衡的；较轻微的疾病和特定的语言发育迟缓也可能与幼儿期的自闭症相混淆。 对诊断为自闭症儿童的弟弟妹妹进行的前瞻性研究有望带来希望，因为他们患自闭症或自闭症谱系 (ASD) 上的较轻微疾病的遗传风险较高，且复发率高达 20%。作为皮特早期自闭症研究的一部分，目前正在研究自闭症儿童（高风险）的弟弟妹妹和正常发育儿童（低风险）的年龄/性别匹配的弟弟妹妹。该提案的目的是：1）确定高风险幼儿和低风险幼儿在社交情感发展方面的差异，重点关注 18-36 个月内典型发展的几个基本方面，这些方面在被诊断为自闭症的学龄前儿童中也受到损害，并且在表现出非典型发展的高风险幼儿中尤其可能受到干扰； 2) 与没有明显问题的高风险幼儿和低风险幼儿相比，描绘 36 个月时被诊断为自闭症的高风险幼儿以及表现出较轻 ASD 症状或语言发育迟缓的高风险幼儿的社会情感发展的纵向轨迹； 3) 检查有或没有后来诊断的高风险儿童和低风险儿童的社会情感、认知、沟通和注意力发展概况。将评估与主要照顾者的早期社会情感互惠、同理心的出现、假装游戏和自我他人表征的发展、行为和负面情绪的调节、幼儿期的显着发展任务。横断面和纵向分析将描述群体差异以及典型和非典型发育轨迹作为 36 个月时诊断的函数。研究结果对自闭症儿童的早期识别和治疗具有重要意义，并将有助于对自闭症、自闭症谱系障碍和语言发育迟缓进行鉴别诊断，以区别于典型但不平衡的发育。 公共卫生相关性：社会互惠、同理心和假装游戏是幼儿期的主要成就，但在患有自闭症的幼儿中却受到损害或缺乏。这项从婴儿期开始的前瞻性纵向研究将检查有兄弟姐妹被诊断为自闭症的高风险幼儿的早期社交和情感发展，并将他们与有正常发育的兄弟姐妹的幼儿在 22、28 和 34 个月时进行比较。这项工作将有助于对自闭症儿童进行早期识别和早期干预，也有助于将自闭症的早期社会标志与其他发育迟缓和典型但不平衡的发育标志区分开来。