Siblings Of Autistic Kids Also At Risk

Some Display Similar Behaviors, Even When They Don't Develop The Disorder, Research Shows

(WebMD)  Toddler siblings of autistic children are more likely to exhibit some of the same atypical social behaviors as their brothers and sisters with autism, even when they don't go on to develop the disorder, new research shows.

The siblings in the study were less likely to seek emotional cues from adults, or respond to those cues, than toddlers who did not have a brother or sister with autism.

The findings bolster the evidence for a strong genetic component to autism and show that siblings of children with the disorder are at high risk for some of the same social functioning deficits as their brothers or sisters.

University of California, San Diego assistant professor of psychology Leslie Carver, Ph.D, presented the findings at the 2007 International Meeting for Autism Research in Seattle.

Studying at-Risk Siblings

The risk that the younger sibling of an autistic child will also develop autism or a related disorder is estimated to be around 2 percent to 8 percent, compared to the latest CDC estimate that 1 in 150 children may have autism or a related disorder.

In an effort to better understand this risk and to identify the earliest behavioral and biomedical markers of autism and related disorders, leading autism researchers and research organizations established the High Risk Baby Siblings Research Consortium in 2003.

"Studying this population should help us identify at-risk children earlier so that we can get them the help they need as early as possible," Alison Singer, of the advocacy group Autism Speaks, tells WebM.D. "It may also give us important clues about the early onset of autism."

In the newly reported sibling research, Carver and colleagues compared the social referencing reactions of toddlers with and without autistic siblings.

Social referencing refers to regulating your own behavior in response to the behavior of others. It is expected that toddlers tend to begin social referencing toward the end of their first year of life.

But this reaction tends to be impaired in children with autism.

The study involved 18 18-month-old siblings of children with autism (deemed high-risk) and 28 18-month-olds with no family history of the disorder (deemed low-risk).

In the behavioral portion of the experiment, the children were presented with three new toys; their caregivers were trained to react to the toys with facial expressions and vocal signals that were positive, negative, or neutral.
The interactions between the toddlers and the caregivers were videotaped.
The high-risk toddlers were found to differ in almost every aspect of social referencing from their lower-risk counterparts. While they looked to adults as quickly to gauge their reactions, they did so about 30 percent less often. And they were less likely to respond to the cues they got from the adults.

Close Monitoring

Andy Shih, Ph.D, who manages the Baby Sibling Research Consortium, says the findings underscore the importance of closely monitoring the high-risk siblings of children with autism.
Shih is chief science officer for Autism Speaks.

"Clearly it is not just the siblings [with autism] who are being affected," he says. "In order to help support families dealing with autism, greater attention needs to be focused on all the children."

Singer's oldest daughter Jodie, now age 10, is autistic, while Jodie's 7-year-old sister Lauren is not.

Singer says her youngest daughter was a late talker who required two and a half years of speech therapy.

"I was, of course, frantic early on," she says. "I watched her like a hawk for signs. Parents who have a child with autism know the red flags,
but all parents need to know the early warning signs of autism."

Autism spectrum disorders include autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome,
and pervasive developmental disorder (including atypical autism). These disorders involve impairmentwith social, communicative, and behavioral skills.

[sy2502]

Every child is exposed to environmental chemicals. If that was the culprit, there would be troves of autistic children out there, especially in polluted cities. And the urban legend of autism being caused by the mercury in the vaccines is just as ridiculous: a portion of fish contains orders of magnitude more mercury than a dose of vaccine. When are we going to realize that there has always been autism as well as other disabilities? The difference is that centuries ago these people would die young and wouldn't pass their genes.

[phoenix1218]

my sons school tried telling me my son has odd, oppositional defiance disorder. I talked to our family doc who had never heard of it before. the school wanted him evaluated right away and I couldn't find anyone. they told me to bring him to the er which i did and the doctor there told me he doesn't have it but that he is just a very imaginative young boy. i told the school and they said they didn't care what the doctor said that they knew he had it. Come on, has anyone heard of ODD? I heard of OCD, ADD, ADHD, etc etc but ODD, come on. It really is in the DSM too but the behaviours they talk about are what I would call normal childhood behaviours. If my doctor hadn't heard of it i am going to take their word over the schools. I think that the school just wants more money. The more kids that go to their school and have problems means more money for them and that is what I think they want, not to help my son learn.

[phoenix1218]

Hold on there! Autism running in families is also proof environmental factors are responsible for the disorder. Why? Because if one child is exposed to a toxic insult in the home - then other children will be too.
Posted by tampareads

How do you explain it over multiple generations especially when during the first few generations NONE of these chemicals were around? You dont' seem to know what you are talking about. I do not know much about the science end of it but I do know that if a kid now has autism due to chemicals and his great grandfather had it too although the kid having it might have to do with genetics his great grandfather would not have it due to chemicals, genetics or anything else you are talking abuot. So tell me and everyone else, how would the great grandfather have gotten it?

[phoenix1218]

babblerem,
I am sorry your family seems to all have autism (or some form of it, mild & strong). I am glad you have succeeded in life and it gives me great hope for my nephew as he is autistic. No doctor has written him off but with your son having been written off and oing on to suucceed in life by graduating from college in computer science.

I agree with babblerem about the vaccines. There isn't enough consistent proof.

Blaming environmental issues has no basis in fact as of yet. If, as the first poster claims, it is something in the house itself that "all the children" are exposed to, than why do some children experience symptoms at birth, why do children who are military dependants and move all over the united states still have autism? That theory falls apart when you take into account that many people have moved to a larger home by the time they are ready for a second child. Grasping at straws doesn't solve anything. Quit trying to lay blame and deal with the fact that you passed on bad genes.

[babblerem]

When my son was a child (he could not speak until he was 10) he was diagnosed as profoundly auistic. He is now 53. Doctors confirm that I am mildly autistic - perhaps Aspergers. In retrospect it has been realised that so was my father - all his life he was considered 'eccentric'.

I do not believe that all these new chemicals have much to do with autism, but that it is at least almost purely due to genetics. You see my dad was born in 1898, and I was born in 1926, before all these chemicals were used. For instance, neither he, nor my son or I had MMR injections. Several of my dad's relatives had similar symptoms and were considered very eccentric or mentally reatarded, as in those days th term 'autism' had yet to be 'discovered'. By the way, despite my son's diagnosis and the fact that I was told by doctors that he was 'a write-off' when he was a child, he eventually became a University graduate in computer science.

[mtredhawk200]

I own 10 horses, 2 dogs and a cat, all of whom receive 6 to 8 vaccines yearly. Animal vaccines are still manufactured with thimerosol, ect. The diseases that we vaccinate for are deadly. I haven't seen any neurological damage in my animals, and I'd sure see it quickly in my horses, I ride them! I think that children are starting to be exposed to foods with dye and chemicals, environmental chemicals and a slew of toxins. Maybe vaccines are a red herring.

[gaye5]

billysmith6 and tampareads I agree with you guys, with drugs and drs being the fourth cause of death in america how on earth can we trust them..and dont the pharmeuctical companies also make the drugs we pour into our homes..I would love to know your thoughts on that one..
Plus, tampareads you have missed out the ingredients in immmunisations.. here are just a few..
* Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)
* Phenol also known as carbolic acid (this is used as a disinfectant, dye)
* Formaldehyde a known cancer causing agent
* Aluminum which is associated with Alzheimer disease and seizures also cancer producing in laboratory mice
- -( it is used as an additive to promote antibody response)
* Thimerosal (used as a mercury disinfectant/preservative) can result in brain injury and autoimmune disease
* Neomycin, Streptomycin (used as antibiotic) have caused allergic reactions in some people

These vaccines are grown and strained through animal or human tissues like monkey kidney tissue, chicken embryo, embryonicguinea pig cells, calf serum, human diploid cells
(the dissected organs of aborted fetuses as in the case of rubella, hepatitis A, and chickenpox vaccines)
Children in a family are more likely to be allergic to the same things thus they are more likely to be allergic to things in the imminizations..

[tampareads]

Hold on there! Autism running in families is also proof environmental factors are responsible for the disorder. Why? Because if one child is exposed to a toxic insult in the home - then other children will be too. Neurotoxic harm can come from indoor pest control - flea bombs - mosquito repellants - new building construction materials (vinyl, paints, carpeting) and benzene-based suntan lotions. Even fragrances such as perfumes and colognes contain the documented neurotoxic chemical ingredient "musk ambrette." Add to this, chlorine based disinfectants with the windows closed - new mattresses containing neurotoxic flame retardants. Fabric softeners contain a petroleum based chemical to coat clothes with a "greasy" chemical film which we interpret as "soft." Our children then sleep on sheets covered with this stuff along with highy fragranced detergents. The bottom line - all of these factors can weaken a child's brain development, genetic integrity and natural defenses such as liver detoxification enzymes and the brain's amazing defense known as the blood brain barrier. Once a child is born who has been exposed to "too many" of these toxic insults, he/she then has a "genetic predisposition." (Genes are easily damaged by environmental factors.) This genetically predisposed child then grows up in a home full of toxic insults and we then wonder why autism, learning disabilities and ADD are increasing year after year? For more information on this go to www.chem-tox.com