Simple Executive Function as an endophenotype of autism-ADHD, and differing associations between simple versus complex Executive Functions and autism/ADHD traits.

Autism and ADHD are associated with difficulties with Executive Functions (EFs), but the prevalence and nature of these difficulties in early development is not well understood. In this longitudinal study, 107 children with a family history of autism and/or ADHD (FH-autism/ADHD), and 24 children with No-FH-autism/ADHD completed multiple EF tasks (5 at age 2 years, 7 at age 3 years). Parents reported on their child's autism- (Q-CHAT at age 2, SRS-2 at age 3), and ADHD-related traits (CBCL DSM-ADHD scale, both ages).

Investigating the Predictive Validity of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 in Children at Elevated Likelihood for Autism.

This study examined the recurrence rate of autism in siblings at elevated likelihood (EL) and the predictive validity of the Q-CHAT and ADOS-2 at 14 and 24 months (m) for a clinical best estimate (CBE) autism diagnosis at 3 years. 331 EL-siblings (47.9% girls) from the prospective longitudinal EuroSibs study underwent ADOS-2 assessments and caregivers completed the Q-CHAT at 14 m and 24 m.

Parent-mediated intervention in infants with an elevated likelihood for autism reduces dwell time during a gaze-following task.

Cognitive markers may in theory be more sensitive to the effects of intervention than overt behavioral measures. The current study tests the impact of the Intervention with the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings-Video Interaction for Promoting Positive Parenting (iBASIS-VIPP) on an eye-tracking measure of social attention: dwell time to the referred object in a gaze following task. The original two-site, two-arm, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) of this intervention to increase parental awareness, and responsiveness to their infant, was run with infants who have an elevated familial likelihood for autism (EL).

Mid-childhood autism sibling recurrence in infants with a family history of autism.

Autism sibling recurrence in prospective infant family history studies is ~20% at 3 years but systematic follow-up to mid-childhood is rare. In population and clinical cohorts autism is not recognized in some children until school-age or later. One hundred and fifty-nine infants with an older sibling with autism underwent research diagnostic assessments at 3 years and mid-childhood (6 to 12 years (mean 9)).

The roles of sensory hyperreactivity and hyporeactivity in understanding infant fearfulness and emerging autistic traits.

Background: Existing evidence indicates that atypical sensory reactivity is a core characteristic of autism, and has been linked to both anxiety (and its putative infant precursor of fearfulness) and repetitive behaviours. However, most work has used cross-sectional designs and not considered the differential roles of hyperreactivity and hyporeactivity to sensory inputs, and is thus limited in specificity.

Methods: 161 infants with and without an elevated likelihood of developing autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were followed from 10 to 36 months of age.

Three year outcomes in infants with a family history of autism and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Background: Most research on early outcomes in infants with a family history (FH) of autism has focussed on categorically defined autism, although some have language and developmental delays. Less is known about outcomes in infants with a FH of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods: Infants with and without a FH of autism and/or ADHD, due to a first-degree relative with either or both conditions, were recruited at 5 or 10 months.

Cortical responses to social stimuli in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD: A prospective cross-condition fNIRS study.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are highly prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions that often co-occur and present both common and distinct neurodevelopmental profiles. Studying the developmental pathways leading to the emergence of ASD and/or ADHD symptomatology is crucial in understanding neurodiversity and discovering the mechanisms that underpin it. This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate differences in cortical specialization to social stimuli between 4- to 6-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD.

Associations between early language, motor abilities, and later autism traits in infants with typical and elevated likelihood of autism.

Slower acquisition of language and motor milestones are common in infants with later autism and studies have indicated that motor skills predict the rate of language development, suggesting these domains of development may be interlinked. However, the inter-relationships between the two domains over development and emerging autistic traits are not fully established. We studied language and motor development using standardized observational and parent-report measures in infants with (n = 271) and without (n = 137) a family history of autism across four waves of data collection from 10 to 36 months.

Infant sleep predicts trajectories of social attention and later autism traits.

Background: Children with neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience sleep disturbances, but little is known about when these sleep differences emerge and how they relate to later development.

Methods: We used a prospective longitudinal design in infants with a family history of ASD and/or ADHD to examine infant sleep and its relation to trajectories of attention and later neurodevelopmental disorders. We formed factors of Day and Night Sleep from parent-reported measures (including day/night sleep duration, number of naps in the day, frequency of night awakenings and sleep onset problems).

Infant excitation/inhibition balance interacts with executive attention to predict autistic traits in childhood.

Background: Autism is proposed to be characterised by an atypical balance of cortical excitation and inhibition (E/I). However, most studies have examined E/I alterations in older autistic individuals, meaning that findings could in part reflect homeostatic compensation. To assess the directionality of effects, it is necessary to examine alterations in E/I balance early in the lifespan before symptom emergence.

Modulation of EEG theta by naturalistic social content is not altered in infants with family history of autism.

Theta oscillations (spectral power and connectivity) are sensitive to the social content of an experience in typically developing infants, providing a possible marker of early social brain development. Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting early social behaviour, but links to underlying social brain function remain unclear. We explored whether modulations of theta spectral power and connectivity by naturalistic social content in infancy are related to family history for autism.

Understanding the nature of face processing in early autism: A prospective study.

Dimensional approaches to psychopathology interrogate the core neurocognitive domains interacting at the individual level to shape diagnostic symptoms. Embedding this approach in prospective longitudinal studies could transform our understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Such designs require us to move beyond traditional group comparisons and determine which domain-specific alterations apply at the level of the individual, and whether they vary across distinct phenotypic subgroups.

Altered theta-beta ratio in infancy associates with family history of ADHD and later ADHD-relevant temperamental traits.

Background: Uncovering the neural mechanisms that underlie symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) requires studying brain development prior to the emergence of behavioural difficulties. One new approach to this is prospective studies of infants with an elevated likelihood of developing ADHD.

Methods: We used a prospective design to examine an oscillatory electroencephalography profile that has been widely studied in both children and adults with ADHD - the balance between lower and higher frequencies operationalised as the theta-beta ratio (TBR).

A prospective study of associations between early fearfulness and perceptual sensitivity and later restricted and repetitive behaviours in infants with typical and elevated likelihood of autism.

Restricted interests and repetitive behaviours are central to the diagnosis of autism and can have profound effects on daily activities and quality of life. These challenges are also linked to other co-occurring conditions such as anxiety and sensory sensitivities. Here, we looked at whether early emerging signs of anxiety and sensory problems appear before symptoms of autism by studying infants with a family history of autism, as these infants are more likely to develop autism themselves.

Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT). A population screening study with follow-up: the case for multiple time-point screening for autism.

Objective: This is a prospective population screening study for autism in toddlers aged 18-30 months old using the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT), with follow-up at age 4.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Luton, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the UK.

Behavioural Measures of Infant Activity but Not Attention Associate with Later Preschool ADHD Traits.

Mapping infant neurocognitive differences that precede later ADHD-related behaviours is critical for designing early interventions. In this study, we investigated (1) group differences in a battery of measures assessing aspects of attention and activity level in infants with and without a family history of ADHD or related conditions (ASD), and (2) longitudinal associations between the infant measures and preschool ADHD traits at 3 years. Participants ( = 151) were infants with or without an elevated likelihood for ADHD (due to a family history of ADHD and/or ASD).

Attentive brain states in infants with and without later autism.

Early difficulties in engaging attentive brain states in social settings could affect learning and have cascading effects on social development. We investigated this possibility using multichannel electroencephalography during a face/non-face paradigm in 8-month-old infants with (FH, n = 91) and without (noFH, n = 40) a family history of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An event-related potential component reflecting attention engagement, the Nc, was compared between FH infants who received a diagnosis of ASD at 3 years of age (FH-ASD; n = 19), FH infants who did not (FH-noASD; n = 72) and noFH infants (who also did not, hereafter noFH-noASD; n = 40).

Developmental Paths to Anxiety in an Autism-Enriched Infant Cohort: The Role of Temperamental Reactivity and Regulation.

The aim of this study was to explore the associations between temperamental reactivity and regulation and the emergence of anxiety traits in a longitudinal sample of infants enriched for later ASD. Parents of 143 infants who were at high- and low-risk for ASD rated their child's temperament traits when they were 9, 15 and 24 months old; they rated anxiety and ASD traits when they were 36 months old. The findings suggest that behavioural inhibition may be an early predictor of later anxiety in children with and without ASD and that lower levels of effortful control in children who later develop ASD may contribute to the higher expression of anxiety within this population.

Look duration at the face as a developmental endophenotype: elucidating pathways to autism and ADHD.

Identifying developmental endophenotypes on the pathway between genetics and behavior is critical to uncovering the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental conditions. In this proof-of-principle study, we explored whether early disruptions in visual attention are a unique or shared candidate endophenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We calculated the duration of the longest look (i.

Leveraging epigenetics to examine differences in developmental trajectories of social attention: A proof-of-principle study of DNA methylation in infants with older siblings with autism.

Preliminary evidence suggests that changes in DNA methylation, a widely studied epigenetic mechanism, contribute to the etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, data is primarily derived from post-mortem brain samples or peripheral tissue from adults. Deep-phenotyped longitudinal infant cohorts are essential to understand how epigenetic modifications relate to early developmental trajectories and emergence of ASD symptoms.

Comparison of Parent Questionnaires, Examiner-Led Assessment and Parents' Concerns at 14 Months of Age as Indicators of Later Diagnosis of Autism.

Parents participating in a prospective longitudinal study of infants with older siblings with autism completed an autism screening questionnaire and were asked about any concerns relating to their child's development, and children were administered an interactive assessment conducted by a researcher at 14 months. Scores on the parent questionnaire were highest for children later diagnosed with autism. Parental concerns and scores from the examiner-led assessment distinguished children with later developmental difficulties (both autism and other developmental atypicalities) from those who were developing typically.

Infant regulatory function acts as a protective factor for later traits of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder but not callous unemotional traits.

Background: Reduced executive functions (EF) are commonly associated with developmental conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, ASD; attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD), although EF seems to be typical in children with callous unemotional (CU) traits.

Randomised trial of a parent-mediated intervention for infants at high risk for autism: longitudinal outcomes to age 3 years.

Background: There has been increasing interest in the potential for pre-emptive interventions in the prodrome of autism, but little investigation as to their effect.

Methods: A two-site, two-arm assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a 12-session parent-mediated social communication intervention delivered between 9 and 14 months of age (Intervention in the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings-Video Interaction for Promoting Positive Parenting), against no intervention. Fifty-four infants (28 intervention, 26 nonintervention) at familial risk of autism but not otherwise selected for developmental atypicality were assessed at 9-month baseline, 15-month treatment endpoint, and 27- and 39-month follow-up.