Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders: Play behaviors with infant siblings and social responsiveness

To inform how indices of maternal behaviors may improve parent-mediated interventions designed to mitigate autism spectrum disorder risk, the present study explored maternal social responsiveness ratings and social behaviors during dyadic play interactions.

Dyads were recruited from families with at least one older child with autism spectrum disorder (high-risk group, n = 90) or families with no history of autism spectrum disorder (low-risk group, n = 62). As part of a prospective study, interactions were coded when infant siblings were 6, 9, and 12 months of age, for gaze, affect, vocalizations, and multimodal bids or responses (i.e. social smiles). Maternal social responsiveness was indexed via the Social Responsiveness Scale.