Parents’ perspective on the social traits observed in school-age children with autism and children with Williams syndrome

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders and those with Williams syndrome often have impairments in social behaviors. These two neurodevelopmental disorders are often reputed to be on the opposite ends of the social spectrum, with autistic individuals being socially avoidant and those with Williams syndrome highly social. Most research on children with autism and Williams syndrome has focused on preschool and younger school-age children. The current study assessed school-age children between the ages of 7–14 years with high-functioning autism, Williams syndrome, and neurotypical developing peers. Parents completed the Salk Institute Sociability Questionnaire and the Social Responsiveness Scale, to provide unique insights into social functioning and tap into different behavioral areas, social approach behaviors, and social responsiveness. This study provides additional evidence that young children with autism and Williams syndrome continue to show divergent social-behavioral tendencies at school-age, despite controlling for age and intellect. Results of this study better elucidate disparities as well as commonalities across school-age children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their typically developing peers, providing insight into everyday social functioning.

Keywords:

• Autism
• high functioning autism
• Williams syndrome
• sociability
• parental questionnaires

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the staff at the Project in Cognitive and Neural Development (University of California, San Diego) for helping with data collection and members of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies for their assistance. The authors are particularly grateful to the children and their families for their participation in this investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). The funding sources had no role in study design or execution and were not involved in writing this article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants NINDS/NIMH [P50NS22343], as well as the SDSU NIH Training Grant-Neurocognitive Approaches to Communication Disorders [T32DC7361].