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Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by social-communicative deficits and repetitive behaviors. Complementing behavioral (i.e., The Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) scores) and physiological markers (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), heart rate (HR)) may improve early identification of ASD and provide insights into the neurobiological mechanisms contributing to early ASD symptoms. Younger siblings of a child with ASD (ASIBs) had significantly higher AOSI Total Scores and AOSI Marker Scores in comparison to Low Risk Controls (LRCs). RSA significantly decreased from a Baseline to AOSI for both groups, but only for the ASIB group was a negative correlation observed between RSA suppression and AOSI Marker Scores. Furthermore, the ASIB group was divided based on 24-month ASD outcomes (ASIB-ASD and ASIB-NonASD). At 12 months of age, these three groups differed significantly in both AOSI Total Score and AOSI Marker Score. Although a stepwise pattern emerged in regards to behavioral and physiological markers, no significant differences between groups were found. ASIBs have a different behavioral but not physiological profile than the LRCs. When the ASIB group was divided based on 24 month ASD outcomes, the ASIB-ASD exhibited the most divergent behavioral and physiological profile from the LRCs; however, the ASIB-NonASD also exhibited an a noticeably different profile from the LRCs.

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