Influence of Early Social-Communication Behaviors on Maladaptive Behaviors in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

We investigated the relationships between early social-communication behaviors and maladaptive behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Fiſty-three children with both intellectual disabilities and devel- opmental disorders including ASD participated in the current study. The results of a stepwise multiple regres- sion showed that frequency of initiating joint attention and rate of positive affect expression were independent negative predictors of internalizing problems; severity of ASD symptom and frequency of requests were positive predictors, and rate of positive affect expression was a negative predictor, of v-scale score for externalizing prob- lems. These results demonstrated that different types of early social-communication behaviors influence different kinds of maladaptive behaviors in children with ASD. In particular, positive affect expression with communica- tion was a negative predictor of both internalizing and externalizing problems. It is critical that we explore how maladaptive behaviors develop in children with ASD, with a particular focus on the development of early social- communication.