Associations between early language, motor abilities, and later autism traits in infants with typical and elevated likelihood of autism.
In high-risk infants, only the joint lag of gross motor and receptive language forecasts later autism traits—not expressive or fine motor skills alone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Leyan and colleagues watched babies from 10 to 24 months old. Some babies had an older sibling with autism, so their chances of later traits were higher.
Every few months the team tested fine motor, gross motor, receptive language, and expressive language. They used these scores to see which skills helped each other grow and which mix forecasted later autism traits.
What they found
Fine motor and expressive language boosted each other back-and-forth, but this pairing did not predict later autism traits.
Only the team-up of gross motor delay plus receptive language delay at the same time pointed to higher autism-trait scores down the road.
How this fits with other research
Meier et al. (2012) showed that better receptive and expressive language at ages 2-3 meant fewer restricted and repetitive behaviors later. Leyan agrees that receptive language matters, but adds that gross motor must also be delayed before the red flag pops up.
Sutherland et al. (2017) found smaller vocabulary at age 2 predicted slightly higher adult autistic traits in the general population. Leyan repeats the early-language-to-later-traits link, yet narrows it to the high-risk infant group and spotlights gross motor as the key partner.
Riva et al. (2021) tracked high-risk infants and saw that steady language delay plus fewer gestures foretold later ASD symptoms. Leyan keeps the language focus but swaps gestures for gross motor, showing another early motor signal that can help us spot the same outcome.
Why it matters
When you screen a toddler with autism in the family, pair your language probe with a quick gross-motor checklist. If both are behind, tighten your follow-up schedule and start parent coaching early. Targeting only expressive language or fine motor play may miss the risk marker that matters most.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Slower acquisition of language and motor milestones are common in infants with later autism and studies have indicated that motor skills predict the rate of language development, suggesting these domains of development may be interlinked. However, the inter-relationships between the two domains over development and emerging autistic traits are not fully established. We studied language and motor development using standardized observational and parent-report measures in infants with (n = 271) and without (n = 137) a family history of autism across four waves of data collection from 10 to 36 months. We used Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models to examine contemporaneous and longitudinal associations between language and motor developments in both elevated and typical likelihood groups. We estimated paths between language and motor abilities at 10, 14, 24, and 36 months and autism trait scores at 36 months, to test whether the domains were interrelated and how they related to emerging autism traits. Results revealed consistent bidirectional Expressive Language (EL) and Fine Motor (FM) cross-lagged effects from 10 to 24 and a unidirectional EL to FM effect from 24 to 36 months as well as significantly correlated random intercepts between Gross motor (GM) and Receptive language (RL), indicating stable concurrent associations over time. However, only the associations between GM and RL were associated with later autism traits. Early motor and language are linked, but only gross motor and receptive language are jointly associated with autistic traits in infants with an autism family history.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023 · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12269