Siblings of autistic children: their adjustment and performance at home and in school.
Brothers and sisters of autistic children usually develop normally, so routine screening for problems is often unnecessary.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at brothers and sisters of autistic children. They checked grades, self-esteem, and behavior at home and at school. No extra teaching was given; they just watched how the kids were doing.
What they found
The siblings scored like typical kids on every measure. Boys and girls did the same, and family size made no difference. In short, the brothers and sisters were adjusting fine without special help.
How this fits with other research
Wallander et al. (1983) had already shown you can train siblings to teach autism skills and everyone gains. Mates (1990) now says most siblings do okay even without that training, so mass screening may waste time.
Tsai et al. (2018) later added culture to the story: UK families felt supported, Taiwanese families felt judged. The 1990 picture of "normal adjustment" holds, but the feelings around it change by country.
King et al. (2018) found nearly half of autistic children themselves show high happiness and self-esteem. Taken together, positive profiles appear in both the child with autism and the brothers and sisters.
Why it matters
You can stop assuming every sibling is at risk. Use your clinical hours to teach skills only when you see real problems. Save screening time for families who ask for help or show clear stress.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Remove automatic sibling check-ups from your intake packet; add optional parent-request boxes instead.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The research examined the adjustment of siblings of autistic children. The relationship between sex and family size of the siblings and the sibling's performance on achievement, self-concept, home behavior, and school behavior was examined. Six 2 x 2 analyses of variance were completed. Results indicated that there was little variance as a function of sex or family size. Overall the sibling's performance was not suggestive of needing special intervention. These results are discussed in terms of how they relate to previous findings and implications for clinical intervention and future research.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1990 · doi:10.1007/BF02216059