Abstract
Purpose
Early childhood is a critical period for optimizing developmental outcomes. Although early social-communication differences may be observable before a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), clinical diagnosis often occurs around age three. This study compared retrospective home-video indicators of pre-pragmatic, receptive-language, and expressive-language behaviors in infants aged 0-12 months who were later diagnosed with ASD and typically developing (TD) peers. The aim was to identify group-level candidate early behavioral indicators rather than to evaluate diagnostic or screening accuracy.Methods
A single-center retrospective case-control design was used. Home videos recorded from birth to 12 months were analyzed for 30 children (ASD, n = 15; TD, n = 15). Communication behaviors were coded as present or absent using structured checklists across three domains: receptive language (61 items), expressive language (41 items), and pre-pragmatic skills (19 items). Item-level between-group differences were tested using two-sided Fisher's exact tests; effect sizes were estimated as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied within each domain.Results
Of the 121 assembled outcomes, 120 were analyzable. Overall, 63 of 120 items (52.5%) differed between groups at p Conclusions
Infants later diagnosed with ASD showed lower endorsement across a broad range of pre-pragmatic and early language behaviors, particularly in receptive language. These findings identify candidate early behavioral indicators and support the potential adjunctive value of retrospective home-video review in developmental history taking. They do not validate a screening or diagnostic method.