Early mother-infant interactions in families with an older child diagnosed with autism
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The functional architecture of mother-infant communication in infants at high risk for autism: identification of early intervention targets for mitigation of autism symptom trajectories
IRAS ID
320811
Contact name
Leonardo De Pascalis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 18 days
Research summary
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a common, enduring neurodevelopmental disorder affects 1% of children. It affects many areas of personal and social functioning, among which interpersonal relationships and communication, and emotion processing and regulation. While reliable ASD diagnosis is generally only achievable after the age of 2, earlier signs of impairment in crucial areas of development have been found, in studies on infants (ASD-sibs) at high familial autism-risk due to having a sibling with ASD. Given the central role for early social development of parent-infant interactions, early support for these may be an effective pre-emptive strategy in modifying initial symptom trajectories, especially if targeted at modifying specific characteristics of these interactions, known to affect ASD-impaired areas of development. Recent studies on very early mother-infant communication have evidenced the important role, for promoting later infant development, of two specific kinds of maternal responses to infant social cues: positive marking (singling out, ‘marking’ an infant behaviour with ‘attention-attracting’ and positive emotional feedback), and mirroring (imitation of the original infant behaviour). These maternal behaviours promote development in ASD-affected domains, and thus represent an ideal, specific target for early interventions aimed at mitigating symptom trajectories in infants at high-risk for ASD. Before trialling the efficacy of promoting early maternal mirroring and positive marking of infant social cues, studies need to test whether these maternal and infant behaviours show atypical patterns in the early life of ASD-sibs. The present project, therefore, aims to investigate early mother-infant interactions in ASD-sibs, and compare them with previously collected data on typically developing infants.
Mothers participating in the study will be visited in their home at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 weeks of infant life, to videorecord 5 minutes of mother-infant face-to-face interaction. During visits (lasting ~30/45 minutes), mothers will also complete questionnaires on their depressive and anxious symptomatology.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
23/WS/0082
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion