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An important aspect of understanding biologic and environmental risks for autism involves documenting regression of social and language skills. To identify patterns of onset of autism spectrum disorder, these investigators compared data from home videos and parent interviews regarding 52 children diagnosed with an autistic disorder (age range, 23–59 months) and 23 typically developing children (age range, 12–42 months).
The videos contained 3199 segments of social interactions from when the children were 6 to 24 months old. Trained personnel used standardized scales to score four behaviors (gaze, smiling, vocalization, and communicative pointing). Mothers completed comprehensive interviews focusing on behavior in the same time frame. The res…