Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Language Delays in their Parents when Children

AIM: To assess the relationship between ASD in children and the language delays in their parents when children. METHODS: A total of 54 children were evaluated for ASD and the level of their language development in the National Center for Growth, Development and Rehabilitation of Children in Tirana, Albania. Both their parents were also evaluated for ASD and also retrospectively were accurately evaluated if they had any language delay as children. Language delay was defined as: no words spoken until 18 up to 20 months of age and normal language development after 54 months of age. They were chosen randomly and signed a consent form of participation in the study. All ASD subjects met the criteria of DSM-IV and were given the diagnosis using ADOS and ADI-R tests. All ASD children were children diagnosed with infantile autism and PDD-NOS. Children with Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder were excluded from the study. RESULTS: From the total of 108 parents, both mothers and fathers of children with ASD, 21 of them had language delay as children (19%). From the total of 54 children in 18 of them only one parent had language delay as children (33%), in 3 children both mother and father had language delay (5.5%). From the total of 21 parents with language delay in 15 subjects was the father who had the language delay (71