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To What Extent Do Joint Attention, Imitation, and Object Play Behaviors in Infancy Predict Later Communication and Intellectual Functioning in ASD?

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Abstract

The extent to which early social communication behaviors predict later communication and intellectual outcomes was investigated via retrospective video analysis. Joint attention, imitation, and complex object play behaviors were coded from edited home videos featuring scenes of 29 children with ASD at 9–12 and/or 15–18 months. A quantitative interval recording of behavior and a qualitative rating of the developmental level were applied. Social communication behaviors increased between 9–12 and 15–18 months. Their mean level during infancy, but not the rate of change, predicted both Vineland Communication scores and intellectual functioning at 3–7 years. The two methods of measurement yielded similar results. Thus, early social communicative behaviors may play pivotal roles in the development of subsequent communication and intellectual functioning.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by grants from NICHD (Grant number: HD42168) and Cure Autism Now. We would like to thank Raheleh Tschoepe, Connie Wang, Beth Schultz, and John Bulluck for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. We would also like to thank all families who participated and staff who collected data.

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  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Kenneth K. Poon

  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Linda R. Watson, Grace T. Baranek & Michele D. Poe

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Correspondence to Kenneth K. Poon.

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Table 6 Operational definitions for developmental rating of social communication behaviors
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Poon, K.K., Watson, L.R., Baranek, G.T. et al. To What Extent Do Joint Attention, Imitation, and Object Play Behaviors in Infancy Predict Later Communication and Intellectual Functioning in ASD?. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 1064–1074 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1349-z

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