This prospective study examined object exploration behavior in 66 12-month-old infants, of whom nine were subsequently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Previous investigations differ on when the repetitive behaviors characteristic of autism are first present in early development. A task was developed that afforded specific opportunities for a range of repetitive uses of objects and was coded blind to outcome status. The autism/ASD outcome group displayed significantly more spinning, rotating, and unusual visual exploration of objects than two comparison groups. The average unusual visual exploration score of the autism/ASD group was over four standard deviations above the mean of the group with no concerns at outcome. Repetitive behaviors at 12 months were significantly related to cognitive and symptomatic status at 36 month outcome. These results suggest that repetitive or stereotyped behaviors may be present earlier than initially thought in very young children developing the autism phenotype.
Baranek, G. (1999) `Autism during Infancy: A Retrospective Video Analysis of Sensory-Motor and Social Behaviors at 9-12 Months of Age', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders29: 213-24.
2.
Baron-Cohen, S., Allen, J. & Gillberg, C. (1992) `Can Autism be Detected at 18 Months? The Needle, the Haystack, and the CHAT', The British Journal of Psychiatry161 (6): 839-43.
3.
Berument, S.K., Rutter, M., Lord, C., Pickles, A. & Bailey, A. (1999) `Autism Screening Questionnaire: Diagnostic Validity' , The British Journal of Psychiatry175: 444-51.
4.
Bruckner, C.T. & Yoder, P. (2007) `Restricted Object Use in Young Children with Autism' , Autism11 (2): 161-71.
5.
Chawarska, K. & Volkmar, F. (2005) `Autism in Infants and Toddlers', in F. Volkmar, A. Klin & R. Paul (eds) Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, pp. 223-46. New York: Wiley.
6.
Chawarska, K., Klin, A., Paul, R. & Volkmar, F. (2007) `Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Second Year: Stability and Change in Syndrome Expression', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry48 (2): 128-38.
7.
Corsello, C., Hus, V., Pickles, A., Risi, S., Cook, E.H., Leventhal, B.L. & Lord, C. (2007) `Between a ROC and a Hard Place: Decision Making and Making Decisions About Using the SCQ', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry48: 932-40.
8.
Cox, A., Klein, K., Charman, T., Baird, G., Baron-Cohen, S., Swettenham, J., Drew, A. & Wheelwright, S. (1999) `Autism Spectrum Disorders at 20 and 42 Months of Age: Stability of Clinical and ADI-R Diagnosis', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry40 (5): 719-32.
9.
Dawson, G., Munson, J., Estes, A., Osterling, J., Mcpartland, J., Toth, K., Carver, L. & Abbott, R. (2002) `Neurocognitive Function and Joint Attention Ability in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder versus Developmental Delay' , Child Development73: 345-58.
10.
Dietz, C., Swinkels, S., Van Daalen, E., Van Engeland, H. & Buitelaar, J.K. (2006) `Screening for Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Children Aged 14-15 Months. II: Population Screening with the Early Screening of Autistic Traits Questionnaire (ESAT), Design and General Findings', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders36 (6): 713-22.
11.
Evans, D.W., Leckman, J.F., Carter, A., Reznick, J.S., Henshaw, D., King, R.A. & Pauls, D. (1997) `Ritual, Habit, and Perfectionism: The Prevalence and Development of Compulsive-Like Behavior in Normal Young Children', Child Development68 (1): 58-68.
12.
Haist, F., Adamo, M., Westerfield, M., Courchesne, E. & Townsend, J. (2005) `The Functional Neuroanatomy of Spatial Attention in Autism Spectrum Disorder', Developmental Neuropsychology27: 425-58.
13.
Johnson, C.P., Myers, S.M. & The Council On Children With Disabilities (2007) `Identification and Evaluation of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders', Pediatrics120: 1183-215.
14.
Loh, A., Soman, T., Brian, J., Bryson, S.E., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., Smith, I.M. & Zwaigenbaum, L. (2007) `Stereotyped Motor Behaviors Associated with Autism in High-Risk Infants: A Pilot Videotape Analysis of a Sibling Sample', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders37 (1): 25-36.
15.
Lord, C. (1995) `Follow-Up of Two-Year-Olds Referred for Possible Autism', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry36 (8): 1365-82.
16.
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E.H., Leventhal, B.L., Dilavore, P.C., Pickles, A. & Rutter, M. (2000) `The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic: A Standard Measure of Social and Communication Deficits Associated with the Spectrum of Autism', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders30: 205-23.
17.
Mottron, L., Mineau, S., Martel, S., Bernier, C.S., Berthiaume, C., Dawson, M., Lemay, M., Palardy, S., Charman, T. & Faubert, J. (2007) `Lateral Glances Toward Moving Stimuli among Young Children with Autism: Early Regulation of Locally Oriented Perception?', Development and Psychopathology19: 23-36.
18.
Mullen, E.M. (1995) Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Circle Pines, MN: AGS.
19.
Mundy, P. & Neal, R. (2001) `Neural Plasticity, Joint Attention and Autistic Developmental Pathology', in L. Glidden (ed.) International Review of Mental Retardation Research, pp. 139-68. Amsterdam: American Press.
20.
Nadig, A.S., Ozonoff, S., Young, G.S., Rozga, A., Sigman, M. & Rogers, S.J. (2007) `A Prospective Study of Response to Name in Infants at Risk for Autism', Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine161 (4): 378-83.
21.
Osterling, J. & Dawson, G. (1994) `Early Recognition of Children with Autism: A Study of First Birthday Home Videotapes', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders24 (3): 247-57.
22.
Palomo, R., Belinchon, M. & Ozonoff, S. (2006) `Autism and Family Home Movies: A Comprehensive Review', Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics27: S59-S68.
23.
Reznick, J.S., Baranek, G.T., Reavis, S., Watson, L.R. & Crais, E.R. (2007) `A Parent-Report Instrument for Identifying One-Year-Olds at Risk for an Eventual Diagnosis of Autism: The First Year Inventory', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders37 (9): 1691-710.
24.
Richler, J., Bishop, S.L., Kleinke, J.R. & Lord, C. (2007) `Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders37: 73-85.
25.
Schultz, R. (2005) `Developmental Deficits in Social Perception in Autism: The Role of the Amygdala and Fusiform Face Area', International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience23: 125-41.
26.
Stone,W.L.,Lee,E.B.,Ashford,L.,Brissie,J.,Hepburn,S.L.,Coonrod,E.E. & Weiss, B. (1999) `Can Autism Be Diagnosed Accurately in Children under 3 & WEISS, B. (1999) 'Can Autism Be Diagnosed Accurately in Children under 3 Years?'Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry40: 219-26.
27.
Swettenham, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Charman, T., Cox, A., Baird, G., Drew, A., Rees, L. & Wheelwright, S. (1998) `The Frequency and Distribution of Spontaneous Attention Shifts between Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Autistic, Typically Developing, and Nonautistic Developmentally Delayed Infants', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry39: 747-53.
28.
Thelen, E. (1979) `Rhythmical Stereotypies in Normal Human Infants' , Animal Behavior27 (3): 699-715.
29.
Townsend, J., Westerfield, M., Leaver, E., Makeig, S., Tzyy-Ping, J., Pierce, K. & Courchesne, E. (2001) `Event-Related Brain Response Abnormalities in Autism: Evidence for Impaired Cerebello-Frontal Spatial Attention Networks', Cognitive Brain Research11: 127-45.
30.
Turner, M. (1999) `Annotation: Repetitive Behavior in Autism: A Review of Psychological Research', Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry40 (6): 839-49.
31.
Werner, E. & Dawson, G. (2005) `Validation of the Phenomenon of Autistic Regression Using Home Videotapes', Archives of General Psychiatry62 (8): 889-95.
32.
Werner, E., Dawson, G., Munson, J. & Osterling, J. (2005) `Variation in Early Developmental Course in Autism and Its Relation with Behavioral Outcome at 3-4 Years of Age', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders35 (3): 337-50.
33.
Wetherby, A.M., Allen, L., Cleary, J., Kublin, K. & Goldstein, H. (2002) `Validity and Reliability of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile with Very Young Children' , Journal of Speech and Language Hearing Research45 (6): 1202-18.
34.
Wetherby, A.M., Woods, J., Allen, L., Cleary, J., Dickinson, H. & Lord, C. (2004) `Early Indicators of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Second Year of Life', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders34 (5): 473-93.
35.
Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J. & Szatmari, P. (2005) `Behavioral Manifestations of Autism in the First Year of Life', International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience23: 143-52.
