Pascal Lenoir

Blind Ratings of Early Symptoms of Autism Based upon Family Home Movies

Ratings of family home movies of 12 infants (0 to 2 years old) who were later diagnosed as autistic and 12 normal infants were performed by two diagnosis-blind psychiatrists with Infant Behavior Summarized Evaluation scale. The objective was to identify early symptoms of autism and their intensity and frequency before and after 1 year of age. Several pathological types of behavior related to socialization, communication, motility, and attention were noted during the first year of infant life and differentiated autistic and normal groups. These same differentiating behaviors, observed again in the second year, were more intense and associated with other pathological types of behavior, in particular, gaze avoidance, hypoactivity, and absence of emotional expressions. Analysis of the evolution of behavioral pathology in autistic children as a group during the 2 first years of life confirms the persistence of and the increase in some types of abnormality related to socialization, communication, motility, and attention functions. The limitations and values of this study concerning the early identification of autistic symptoms and functional impairments from home movies for diagnosis and establishing individualized treatment program are discussed.

Interaction and imitation deficits from infancy to 4 years of age in children with autism A pilot study based on videotapes

The present study investigated the influence of developmental level on interaction and imitation in infants and young children with autism on the basis of family videos and filmed consultation. The sample comprised 18 children with autism divided into groups according to their developmental quotient (DQ > 50 and DQ < 50). A quantitative evaluation was performed on video observations at four periods (10-12 months, 16-18 months, 24-26 months, after 4 years) using scales appropriate for the evaluation of interaction and imitation impairments. The findings showed that, at a very early age, infants later diagnosed as having autistic disorder show different intensities of interaction and imitation deficits according to developmental level.

Behaviour profiles in a population of infants later diagnosed as having autistic disorder.

Abstract.In order to complement findings in the field of early autism and in the context of our studies on the quantitative neurobiological evaluation of patients with autism, we studied a large population of infants later diagnosed as having autistic disorder, using multivariate descriptive statistical methods. The population included 74 infants between six and 35 months, evaluated with the Infant Behavioural Summarised Evaluation (IBSE) scale. Thirteen of the 33 items of the IBSE scale were selected according to previous studies on older patients with autistic disorder. Correspondence analysis was applied to these 13 items, followed by a classical cluster analysis. This procedure permitted the identification of four different profiles which were distinguished on the basis of five main behaviours: activity, auditory perception, sensorimotility, eye contact and use of objects. These profiles are similar to those identified in older children with autism. This study provides an objective description of early clinical markers of the heterogeneity in autism and thus contributes to the description of the onset of autistic disorder. It identified more precise clinical subtyping which will be valuable for future bioclinical studies.