FACIAL RECOGNITION INSIBLINGS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISTIC DISORDER

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with associated cognitive deficits.
Some of these deficits such as face recognition deficit have been reported in siblings of children with
autism.
Materials & Methods: This study was conducted on twenty (6-14 y/o) siblings of children with autism
referring to child and adolescence clinic of Roozbeh hospital in Tehran in 2008-2009 and twenty (6-
14y/o) health school students. Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed by a psychiatrist, and
K_SADS_PL semi-structure interview in both group. And autistic spectrum symptoms were gathered
and then evaluated by with CARS questioner, IQ scores with Raven's tests, and Benton face
recognition test.
Results: Results of this study showed that there is no significant difference in face recognition test
responses between two groups. But sex and age had a positive correlation with face recognition
ability.
Conclusion: Deficit in face recognition may be an endophenotype of autism but this study does not
demonstrate it.