A group of researchers affiliated with the University of California Davis and the University of California Los Angeles examined whether very young children respond when their names are called. They found that infants at risk for autism (their older siblings have autism), when compared with infants who were not at high risk of developing the autism, required more calls of their names before responding.
A Prospective Study of Response to Name in Infants at Risk for Autism
Aparna S. Nadig, PhD; Sally Ozonoff, PhD; Gregory S. Young, PhD; Agata Rozga, MA; Marian Sigman, PhD; Sally J. Rogers, PhD
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161:378-383.
Objective To assess the sensitivity and specificity of decreased response to name at age 12 months as a screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental delays.
Design Prospective, longitudinal design studying infants at risk for ASD.
Setting Research laboratory at university medical center.
Participants Infants at risk for autism (55 six-month-olds, 101 twelve-month-olds) and a control group at no known risk (43 six-month-olds, 46 twelve-month-olds). To date, 46 at-risk infants and 25 control infants have been followed up to 24 months.
Intervention Experimental task eliciting response-to-name behavior.
Main Outcome Measures Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Mullen Scales of Early Learning.
Results At age 6 months, there was a nonsignificant trend for control infants to require a fewer number of calls to respond to name than infants at risk for autism. At age 12 months, 100% of infants in the control group “passed,” responding on the first or second name call, while 86% in the at-risk group did. Three fourths of children who failed the task were identified with developmental problems at age 24 months. Specificity of failing to respond to name was 0.89 for ASD and 0.94 for any developmental delay. Sensitivity was 0.50 for ASD and 0.39 for any developmental delay.
Conclusions Failure to respond to name by age 12 months is highly suggestive of developmental abnormality but does not identify all children at risk for developmental problems. Lack of responding to name is not universal among infants later diagnosed with ASD and/or other developmental delays. Poor response to name may be a trait of the broader autism phenotype in infancy.
Link to the abstract that I’ve reproduced here.
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Such studies underscore the need for early behavior analytic intervention where the specific skill: attending to name, for example, can be defined, measured, taught, and reinforced. Does it take away the “autism”? Perhaps not. But a child responding to his name is inevitably more reinforcing/less frustrating for caretakers and more likely to be ready for school, 2 things that increase the child’s chances of being perceived as teachable and successful.