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Cognitive abilities in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the cognitive profiles of children with autistic spectrum disorder and of their healthy siblings (Siblings). With the term cognitive profile, we indicate the relationship extant among the values of verbal and performance subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The conducted statistical analyses indicated that, although siblings showed a normal intelligent quotient and did not differ in this aspect from typically developing group, their cognitive profile was amazingly similar to that of their relatives affected by autism. A k-means clustering analysis on the values of single subtests further confirmed this result, showing a clear separation between typically developing children on the one side, and autistics and their siblings on the other. We suggest that the common cognitive profile observed in autistic children and their siblings could represent a marker of liability to autism and, thus, a possible intermediate phenotype of this syndrome.

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Acknowledgments

VG, PA and CC were supported by ERC Grant Cogsystem to GR, contract no. 250013. We thank Dr. Fabio Sambataro and Sonia Boria for critical reading and for their remarks on previous versions of the manuscript. A special thanks to the staff of the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry of Empoli, of the rehabilitation center for autism “Centro Mai Soli” in Genova, of the Institute of Rehabilitation “Village Eugenio Litta,” Grottaferrata, Roma, and of the Autism Center of Parma for their invaluable collaboration in data collection. We also thank the staff and families of IV Circolo “Risorgimento - San Berardo” primary school in Teramo for providing the control group. Last but not least, thanks to all the children and their families for the availability and patience.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Sezione di Fisiologia, Università di Parma, Via Volturno, 39/E, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Valentina Gizzonio, Pietro Avanzini, Cristina Campi & Giacomo Rizzolatti

  2. Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Volturno, 39/E, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Maddalena Fabbri-Destro & Giacomo Rizzolatti

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  1. Valentina Gizzonio
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  2. Pietro Avanzini
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  3. Maddalena Fabbri-Destro
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  4. Cristina Campi
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  5. Giacomo Rizzolatti
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Correspondence to Giacomo Rizzolatti.

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Gizzonio, V., Avanzini, P., Fabbri-Destro, M. et al. Cognitive abilities in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders. Exp Brain Res 232, 2381–2390 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3935-8

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