Abstract
This study compared the executive function and theory-of-mind abilities of siblings of autistic individuals to those of siblings of learning-disabled controls. Three different analyses of the dependent measures provided convergent support for a potential subclinical marker in the executive function domain. No group differences in theory-of-mind abilities were found. However, power analyses revealed that the measures employed in this study, which are typically used with autistic individuals, were not sufficiently sensitive to detect any group differences that might exist in “unaffected” family members. Suggestions for future research are provided, including the need to develop more sensitive tasks that produce larger effects and measure more elementary cognitive operations.
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Preparation of this article was supported in part by a National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH46035-01 to Sally Rogers and Sally Ozonoff, and by an NIMH RSDA (MH00419) and MERIT award (MH38820) to Bruce Pennington. We gratefully acknowledge Joseph Piven for his suggestions for data analysis, John Flavell for sharing his measures with us, Larry Epstein and Chris Saiz for aid in data collection, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Ozonoff, S., Rogers, S.J., Farnham, J.M. et al. Can standard measures identify subclinical markers of autism?. J Autism Dev Disord 23, 429–441 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046049
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046049