Comparative Analysis of Crying in Children with Autism, Developmental Delays, and Typical Development

Abstract

Crying behavior and mother-infant interactions during episodes of crying were coded using the Cry Observation Codes and then compared for 48 mother-infant dyads of children with autism, children with developmental delays, and typically developing children. At 1 year of age, children who would later be diagnosed with autism showed a different pattern of cry compared to the children in the comparison groups; specifically, their cries had less waveform modulation and more dysphonation. Maternal reactions to the crying of infants later diagnosed with autism were qualitatively different from the responses to cries of the other children of the same age (fewer tactile or vestibular stimulation and more verbal production). Implications of the study are described.

Physiological and self-report responses of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to children crying

“…This is an expected result, as children with ASD express atypical patterns of distress vocalization, such as higher f0 (Esposito et al, , 2011Esposito, Nakazawa, et al, 2013;Esposito & Venuti, 2009a, 2010aOller et al, 2010;Sheinkopf et al, 2012). Moreover, these results are in line with those of previous studies which indicate that adults felt mainly uneasiness and negative states while listening to ASD crying episodes and felt more positive mental states while listening to crying episodes of TD children (Esposito & Venuti, 2008, 2009a, 2009bVenuti et al, 2012).…”

“…Consequently, it is possible that parents fail to recognize the child's need and give adequate feedback. In line with this idea, a previous study investigated qualitatively different maternal reactions to the crying of infants later diagnosed with ASD compared to cries of typically developing infants and infants with developmental delays (Esposito & Venuti, 2009a). The authors suggested that parents might find difficult to understand the meaning of crying episodes and might not know how to react (Esposito & Venuti, 2009a).…”

“…In line with this idea, a previous study investigated qualitatively different maternal reactions to the crying of infants later diagnosed with ASD compared to cries of typically developing infants and infants with developmental delays (Esposito & Venuti, 2009a). The authors suggested that parents might find difficult to understand the meaning of crying episodes and might not know how to react (Esposito & Venuti, 2009a). Similar results were found in a fMRI study in adults; Venuti et al (2012) reported that cries of children with ASD, compared to those of typically developing children, elicited increased activity in brain regions associated with emotional processing, suggesting that ASD cries may elicit more negative feelings and may be perceived as more arousing compared to cries of TD children.…”

“…shorter inter-bout pauses, fewer utterances (Esposito, Nakazawa, Venuti, & Bornstein, 2012;Esposito et al, 2011;Esposito, Nakazawa, et al, 2013;Esposito & Venuti, 2009a, 2010aOller et al, 2010;Sheinkopf et al, 2012). Mostly, the literature in this field focused on crying of infants (such as 1-year old or new-borns).…”

“…A recent study examined the acoustic characteristics of cries of 6-month-old infants at high risk of ASD (siblings of children with ASD) and found that they produced cries with higher and more variable f0 than infants not at risk for ASD (Sheinkopf et al, 2012). In addition to atypical patterns of distress vocalization, a number of studies focused on how listeners observe this cry type and showed that adults perceive cries of infants with atypical development differently compared to those of typically developing children (Esposito & Venuti, 2008, 2009aVenuti et al, 2012).…”