School Functions in Unaffected Siblings of Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Yi-Ling and her team looked at the kids with autism, 50 of their brothers or sisters, and 50 typical kids.

They asked parents and teachers to fill out short checklists about school attitude, work habits, and behavior problems.

All kids were 6-12 years old and attended regular public schools in Taiwan.

The brothers and sisters of kids with autism scored worse on "I like school" and "I follow class rules."

They also had more fights, worries, and attention slips than the typical control group.

The autistic students themselves scored lowest, but the gap between siblings and controls was still clear.

LeFrancois et al. (1993) saw the same pattern 24 years earlier: more behavior problems in autism siblings.

Johnson et al. (2009) seems to disagree—they found extra emotional trouble only when the autistic child also had intellectual disability. The difference is IQ: Yi-Ling excluded low-IQ probands, while A et al. required them.

Dudley et al. (2019) extends the story to teens, showing these siblings still feel higher stress in high school.

When you write a behavior plan for a client, glance at the sibling file too. If the brother hates school or the sister gets sent to the office, share the classroom strategies you already use for autism—visual schedules, token boards, social stories. One quick phone call to the sibling’s teacher can stop small problems from growing into special-ed referrals.