Social interaction and early communication in the infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders: a review of the literature

Abstract

The siblings of children diagnosed with the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher risk than the average infantile population of later developing the disorder, between 5 and 10 %. On the other hand, some of these siblings have shown to have difficulties in the social early interactions, independently of being eventually diagnosed. Are these types of conducts, which aren’t necessarily linked to the disorder, commonly observable in children with ASD’s siblings? A bibliographical review of the most recent investigations is presented in this article to explore the latest findings in response to this question. The main conclusions talk about a different or disrupted early communication pattern, already observable in the second trimester of life. These areas include joint attention, language, facial gestures and play. Some authors have called this communicative profile with the name of the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP).

Keywords

• comunicación temprana
• tea
• hermanos
• población infantil de riesgo
• diagnóstico temprano