...
By Lydia Smith
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Parents of autistic babies interact with them differently before they are formally diagnosed with autism, a study has found, suggesting they pick up on the children's needs.
Researchers from Emory University, the Marcus Autism Center, and the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta found that the way the adults socially engage with the infants comes before the first signs of autism are recognizable.
This may be because babies later diagnosed with the condition may seek out different types of interactions, and their caregivers adapt to these, the team said.
Read More on Health
"Research shows that caregivers respond to their infants' social cues in ways that are well-timed and well-matched to the needs and abilities of their infants," study author Sarah Shultz, assistant professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told Newsweek.
"Our study was based on this premise—that since caregivers are experts at matching their behaviors to their infants' developing abilities, differences in caregiver behavior may be indicative of differences in infant development."
Autism spectrum disorders affect social interaction and communication. They affect roughly one in 36 children in the U.S. by the age of eight, according to a 2020 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the team studied data from 163 parent and baby pairs. They looked at recordings of interactions between the parent and child taken during the first six months of the infant's life.
The researchers looked for differences between the babies who were later diagnosed with autism and those who were not.
They found that the parents of the autistic children tended to use greetings less frequently, in comparison with parents of neurotypical babies. Additionally, they started to use greetings when babies were older.
...
Crucially, however, the researchers highlight that this is not a sign that the parents were doing anything wrong. Rather, it is likely a sign that the parents were naturally responding and reacting to different ways in which their babies were engaging with them.
"One very important point that we hope to convey is that we do not interpret these differences in caregiver behavior as contributing in any way to the emergence of autism," Shultz said. "To the contrary, we interpret these findings as reflecting caregivers' remarkable ability to fine-tune their behavior to match the needs and abilities of their infant."
For example, a parent may playfully mimic or return an infant's babbling in order to let the child know that back-and-forth communication is possible.
Shultz added: "Future research is needed to determine exactly which infant cues or behavioral differences might have led to the observed differences in caregiver greeting."
In addition, the study found socioeconomic status to be a factor in how parents communicate with their infants, as having a lower household income was associated with fewer caregiver greetings.
Early childhood is a critical period for brain development and previous research has found lower family income to be linked to differences in brain structure and poorer cognition. Higher levels of stress among parents as a result of lower incomes can also affect an infant's social development.
The researchers highlight that their findings warrant a need for financial support among a broader range of supportive resources for parents.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about child development? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines