Book Description

"Children with autism experience deficits in social and communication skills compared to their typically developing peers. Quality parental behaviors during dyadic interactions and children's expressive language ability could be important predictors of peer social competence during early childhood, especially for children with autism. This study examines the relations between parental behaviors, child expressive language ability, and peer social competence for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a comparison group of typically developing (TD) children. Secondary data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative longitudinal study following a sample of children born in the U.S. in 2001 from birth through kindergarten entry, were analyzed. Two subgroups of young children with and without a parent-reported diagnosis of autism were analyzed to understand the relative importance of parental behaviors and child expressive language ability in explaining peer social competence in kindergarten. Parental sensitivity, parental emotional supportiveness, and parental stimulation of cognitive development were hypothesized to particularly increase peer social competence for children with autism, relative to typically developing children. Additionally, it was hypothesized that parental intrusiveness, may have a lower negative impact, or possibly even a positive impact, on peer social competence, when autism is present, relative to typically developing children. Parent and child behaviors were examined using a dyadic and interactive Two Bags Task. Child expressive language ability was measured using parent reports of children's expressive vocabulary usage. Peer social competence was measured from teacher responses to five items from the Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Behavior Scales--Second Edition (PKBS-2). Results showed between- and within-group differences across time for ASD and TD groups. Children with autism demonstrated lower peer social competence in kindergarten, compared to their typically developing peers. Main effects were found for child expressive language ability and parental intrusiveness on peer social competence in kindergarten. Specifically, child expressive language ability (at both waves 2 and 3) was positively associated with peer social competence such that higher levels of child expressive language ability were associated with greater peer competence in kindergarten. Parental intrusiveness (at both waves) was negatively associated with peer social competence, such that higher parental intrusiveness was associated with less peer social competence in kindergarten. Positive interaction effects were also found for autism and parental stimulation of cognitive development (at wave 3) as well as autism and child expressive language ability (at both waves) on peer social competence in kindergarten. Thus, for children with autism, parental stimulation of cognitive development (at wave 3) and child expressive language ability (at both waves) had stronger positive impacts on peer social competence in kindergarten, relative to typically developing children. Results of the present study are discussed in terms of potential interventions for improving the quality of parent-child interactions and the importance of fostering language and peer social competence during early childhood for children with autism."--Abstract from author supplied metadata