About Autism in Cornelia de Lange Syndrome

Autism in Cornelia de Lange Syndrome

There are three core deficits that are currently used to diagnose the presence of autism:

1. Impairment in reciprocal social interaction.
2. Impairment in verbal and non-verbal communication.
3. Presence of restricted and repetitive behaviours.

The diagnosis of autism will only be made if all three of these impairments are present.

Two instruments that measure the presence of these three impairments are the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale.

According to this graph individuals with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome do not show significantly increased levels of impairment on communication, socialisation and the presence of repetitive behaviour compared to other individuals with intellectual disabilities. According to this, ‘levels of autism’ are no different between the two groups.

In contrast to Graph 1, this graph indicates that individuals with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome show significantly increased occurrence of severe autism compared to other individuals with intellectual disabilities. More research is needed to establish the relationship between autism and Cornelia de Lange Syndrome.