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Early Predictors of Emotional Knowledge and Expression in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Many studies have documented the importance of emotional knowledge for later social competence in typical children (e.g., Denham, 1986; Dunn & Cutting, 1999; Schultz, Izard, Ackerman, & Youngstrom, 2001). However, less is known about the factors that lead to the development of these skills, or the growth trajectories of these skills in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Objectives:
The aims of this longitudinal study were: (1) to examine the specificity and uniqueness of emotional knowledge and expression in autism spectrum disorders, and (2) to identify if joint attention skills in early development are predictive of greater emotional knowledge and increased positive reported expression of emotions at an older age.
Methods:
The initial sample consisted of 135 children: 37 with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, 66 with Down syndrome, and 32 with other developmental delays. At entry children were rated on initiations and responses to joint attention at a mean age of 3.17 years. The ASD sample was primarily Caucasian (65%) and male (84%) with a mean mental age of 24.81 months. At follow-up, 122 of the original children were assessed again, at a mean age of 10.7 years, on emotional labeling, identification, expression, and empathy.
Results:
The ASD group had a lower rate of responding to joint attention at entry (p<.02). Follow-up ANOVAs were used to compare the three groups on the emotional knowledge and expression measures and no significant differences were found between the ASD group and the other two diagnostic groups. A regression analysis found that early initiations of nonverbal joint attention gestures at entry predicted greater parent reported positive emotional expression (p<.03), holding diagnostic groups constant with a coefficient of determination equal to .224.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that improvements in joint attention at a young age may have long-term consequences for later expressive affect in children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. These data are consistent with other research that has found concurrent associations between joint attention and positive affect (Kasari et al., 1990) and increases in positive affect due to joint attention training (Lawton & Kasari, 2012).