Early Symptoms of Autistic Disorders in Korean Children: Retrospective Findings for 1- and 2-Year-Old Children

 Background:   Generally, it has been recommended that the diagnosis of autistic disorders be reserved until age 3-4 years because the three core deficits of autistic disorders can be identified reliably after 3 years old (Bryson, 2007; Coonrod & Stone, 2005, Chawarska & Volkmar, 2005). However, many researchers have reported that early symptoms of autistic disorders could be identified relatively early (Baranek, 1999; Werner et al., 2000; Maestro et al., 2001, 2002; Osterling, Dawson, & Munson, 2002). These early symptoms have been reported through parent’s retrospective reports (Chawarska & Volkmar, 2005). Early identification is very important because it has the potential to improve intervention outcomes (Stone et al., 2000; Wetherby et al., 2004).

 Objectives: This study aimed to compare the occurrence of early symptoms in Korean children among three groups (autism, intellectual disability, and typically developing children) through retrospective parent reports. We used a Korean translation of the First Year Inventory (Watson et al., 2007). Additionally, we aimed to compare the results with the findings in English speaking children. 

Methods: Thirty parents who have children with (a) autistic disorders (AD; n=10), (b) intellectual disabilities (ID; n=10), and (c) normal development (ND; n=10) participated in the study. The groups were matched for chronological age. The children’s age range was 3;0 through 8;10. Parents were asked to reflect on their children’s behaviors when they were age one- and two-years while completing the FYI-retrospective version. The FYI includes eight constructs and is divided into two domains; social communication (social orienting and receptive communication, social affective engagement, imitation, expressive communication) and sensory-regulatory functions (sensory processing, regulatory patterns, reactivity, repetitive play & behavior). The total risk score and the risk points in the 2 domains and each of 8 constructs were calculated based on Reznick et al. (2007) and Watson et al. (2007).

 Results: Data will be further analyzed using SPSS but preliminary results are reported herein. There were significant differences among the three groups in total risk score (1-year-olds, F_{(2, 29)}=5.536, p<.05; 2-year-olds, F_{(2, 29)}=12.514, p<.001) and risk points on social communication domains (1-year-olds, F_{(2, 29)}=6.175, p<.01;  2-year-olds, F_{(2, 29)}=12.685, p<.001). However, there were no group differences in the risk point on sensory-regulatory domain at either age.

 Conclusions: Results indicated that Korean children with autistic disorders could be distinguished from children with normal development at 1 year of age. The parents reported early symptoms of autistic disorders in social communication but not in the sensory regulatory domain. And the symptoms became more salient at age 2 years. Results of the current study also indicate that the Korean version of the FYI could be used in screening developmental delay in children under two years old. Validation with a larger prospective sample is clearly indicated.