Early Cues from Parent-Child Interaction: Comparisons Among Young Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder and Children not Diagnosed with a Disability.

Researchers studied how young children (1.5-3.9 years) with autism, language delays, and typical development interact with their parents. They found children with autism had the most difficulties with social skills, while children with language delays had some challenges with responding and showing empathy. Parents of autistic children also showed different parenting patterns. These interaction differences might help identify children who need support earlier.

This comparative study examined parent-child interactions among 280 children aged 1.5-3.9 years, including 30 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 48 with developmental language disorder (DLD), and 202 typically developing children. Using video-recorded observations and the IRS-C assessment tool, researchers found significant differences in social competence and parenting attributes across groups. Children with ASD demonstrated the lowest general social competence compared to both DLD and typically developing groups. Children with DLD showed reduced responsiveness and empathy compared to typically developing peers.

Notably, caregivers of children with ASD also exhibited lower parenting attributes. The findings suggest parent-child interaction patterns could serve as early indicators for screening and identification purposes.

Parent-child interaction patterns may serve as valuable early screening indicators for ASD and DLD. Findings support incorporating interaction assessments into early identification protocols and highlight the importance of family-centered interventions that address both child social competence and parenting strategies in autism and language disorder contexts.

Study limitations include unclear methodology details, potential observer bias in video-based assessments, cross-sectional design limiting causal inferences, and possible selection bias. The abstract lacks information about diagnostic criteria, inter-rater reliability, and specific assessment protocols used.

Over the past ten years, there has been a significant improvement in the sensibility and specificity of the earlier diagnosis of ASD. However, parenting traits were relatively explored among children with different disabilities. We aimed to clarify the characteristics of parent-child interaction among children with ASD and DLD, compared with children not diagnosed with a disability. The study recruited 280 children aged 1.5-3.9 years (30 children with ASD, 48 children with DLD, and 202 TD children) and their primary caregivers.

Parent-child interaction was measured based on video recordings and observation. One-way ANOVA was used for the comparison of IRS-C scores among the three groups, and the t-test was used for pairwise comparisons; effect size was also calculated. Children's age and sex were further considered as grouping category in our analyses. All comparison models were adjusted by demographic background (i.e. child age and sex, sibling, main caregiver, mother education, and family annual income).

Children with ASD showed the lowest level of general social competence compared to children with DLD (d = 1.298, P < 0.001) and TD group (d = 1.833, P < 0.001). Children with DLD showed less responsiveness (d = 0.780, P < 0.001) and less empathy (d = 0.706, P < 0.001) than TD children. Caregivers of children with ASD also showed the lowest level of parenting attributes relative to caregivers of children with DLD (d = 0.978, P < 0.001) and caregivers of TD children (d = 0.860, P < 0.001). The child- and parent-related traits also varied by child age and sex.

We posit that parent-child interaction necessitates greater attention with respect to early screening and identification.