Infants with Autism Smile Less at 1 Year of Age

Published September 12, 2014 in Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

A new study reports that by the time they turn 1, infants who are later diagnosed with autism smile less often than those who do not develop the disorder. That suggests that reduced smiling may be an early risk marker for the disorder. In the study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, researchers examined 22 typically developing infants with no family history of autism and 44 infant siblings of children with the disorder. These so-called baby sibs have an increased risk for autism. In the new study, half of the 44 baby sibs later developed autism. The results of this study are important because clinicians often struggle to identify those baby sibs who will later develop autism versus those who may display autism-like traits but wont develop the disorder.

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/blog/2014/infants-with-autism-smile-less-at-1-year-of-age

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