title: Differences in object sharing between infants at risk for autism and typically developing infants from 9 to 15 months of age.
abstract: Object sharing abilities of infants at risk for autism (AR infants) and typically developing (TD) infants were compared from 9 to 15 months of age. Specifically, we examined the effects of infants' locomotor abilities on their object sharing skills. 16 TD infants and 16 AR infants were observed during an "object sharing" paradigm at crawling and walking ages. Overall, AR walking infants demonstrated lower rates of object sharing with caregivers compared to TD walking infants. Specifically, AR walking infants had lower rates of giving and approaches toward caregivers compared to TD walking infants. AR walking infants also had lower step rates toward task-appropriate targets, i.e. caregivers and objects compared to TD walking infants. No group differences in object sharing were observed at crawling ages. Object sharing could be a valuable context for early identification of delays in infants at risk for developing Autism spectrum disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics and Movement Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
authors.forename: Sudha M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics and Movement Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA; Physical Therapy Program, Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Center for Health Intervention and Prevention, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. Electronic address: abhat@udel.edu.
authors.forename: Anjana N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Bhat
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D066107:Social Skills; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology
keywords: At-risk infants; Autism spectrum disorder; Locomotion; Object sharing; Perceptuo-motor impairments; Social impairments