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Cognitive And Language Skills, And Academic Performance Of Siblings Of Children

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Summary of Study Based on results of previous studies conducted by these researchers, a longitudinal study was conducted comparing the development of cognitive and language skills, and academic performance of siblings of children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder (SIB-A) to siblings of children not diagnosed with Autistic Disorder and displaying typical development (SIB-TD). The hypothesis was that SIB-A group would show significant difficulties in cognitive and language development associated with broad autistic phenotype (BAP) as compared to SIB-TD group once they entered school at age 7 years. There were also concerns that children in SIB-A group that did not display BAP-related behavior, would also show difficulties when it came to academic performance due to developmental delays simply from having a sibling with Autistic Disorder. The results were that siblings of children who are diagnosed with Autistic Disorder, whether they display phenotypical autistic behavior or not themselves, demonstrate difficulties in cognitive and language skills, and/or have poorer academic performance on average, than do children who do not have a sibling with Autistic disorder. Two groups of children were compared for this study. The first group, SIB-A consisted of 14 girls and 23 boys: the second group, SIB-TD consisted of 17 girls and 30 boys. Participants were between the ages of 0 and 14 months old at the time of enrolment. All children had an older sibling diagnosed with Autistic

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