Examining restricted and repetitive behaviors in young children with autism spectrum disorder during two observational contexts.
Watching kids in both clinic and home spots doubles your crystal ball for autism outcomes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched toddlers with autism in two places: a clinic playroom and their own homes.
They coded restricted and repetitive behaviors like hand flapping, lining up toys, or staring at fans.
Later they checked which early behaviors best predicted autism scores six months down the road.
What they found
Clinic behaviors forecast later non-verbal and social scores.
Home behaviors forecast later RRB severity.
Each setting gave unique information, so using both spots caught more risk signals.
How this fits with other research
Wilson et al. (2014) also tracked RRBs for 13 months. They saw the same behaviors in typical kids, but Sheri shows the behaviors carry special predictive weight inside autism.
Bruckner et al. (2007) built a lab task for restricted object use; Sheri moves the lens into real-life rooms and links the acts to future social skills.
Morrison et al. (2017) added a body measure: low heart-rate flexibility predicted worse RRBs. Sheri’s home codes line up with that physiologic picture, giving you two cheap tools instead of one.
Why it matters
You can’t see every repetitive sign in one visit. Schedule a clinic observation and send a parent phone clip. Score both. Where you see the behavior tells you what to watch next: clinic quirks flag social delays, home quirks flag growing rigidity.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This prospective study of the FIRST WORDS® Project examined restricted and repetitive behaviors in a sample of 55 toddlers at a mean age of 20 months who were later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Restricted and repetitive behaviors were coded using the Repetitive Movement and Restricted Interest Scales in two video-recorded observation methods-structured sampling procedures in a clinic and naturalistic everyday activities at home. Measures of restricted and repetitive behaviors were higher in the clinic setting than in the home observation, especially for behaviors involving object use. Repetitive movements with objects in the clinic predicted nonverbal developmental scores and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule social affect scores at later follow-up. In contrast, repetitive movements with objects at home significantly predicted later Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule restricted and repetitive behaviors scores. These results support the utility of the Repetitive Movement and Restricted Interest Scales to detect restricted and repetitive behaviors in toddlers and suggest that observations of restricted and repetitive behaviors in clinic and home settings may provide unique and important diagnostic information for improving early detection of autism spectrum disorder.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2014 · doi:10.1177/1362361312463616