Frontiers in Psychology (Oct 2016)

Pre-linguistic vocal trajectories at 6-18 months of age as early markers of autism

  • Natasha Chericoni,
  • Daniele De Brito Wanderley,
  • Valeria Costanzo,
  • Andrea Diniz Goncalves,
  • Marluce Leitgel Gille,
  • Erika Parlato,
  • David Cohen,
  • Fabio Apicella,
  • Sara Calderoni,
  • Filippo Muratori

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01595
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7

Abstract

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This study explores pre-linguistic vocal trajectories in infants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during caregiver-infant interaction. Home videos were obtained from 10 infants with ASD and 10 typically developing infants (TD), covering three time periods: 0-6 months (T1, 47 video sequences), 6-12 months (T2, 47 video sequences), and 12-18 months (T3, 48 video sequences). In total 142 video sequences were analyzed. Vocalizations, long reduplicated babbling, 2-syllable babbling, and first words were investigated longitudinally. Face-gazing was also analyzed, to evaluate the social quality of vocal behaviors. Results show a lower rate of vocalizations in the ASD group at T2, and a lower rate of first words at T3, compared to the TD group. However, the prevalence of non-social babbling, appeared higher in the ASD group. The implications of these findings for screening programs are discussed.

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