Development of socio-communicative skills in 9- to 12-month-old individuals with fragile X syndrome

• This study is among the first to assess communicative forms and functions in 9- to 12-month-old infants later diagnosed with fragile X syndrome (FXS).
• All children later diagnosed with FXS had a limited gestural repertoire.
• The overall repertoire of communicative forms (e.g., babbling) appears to be limited.
• All participants were observed to express ‘Attention to self’ and ‘Answering’.
• The functions ‘Requesting action’, ‘Requesting information’, ‘Choice making’, and ‘Imitating’ were never observed.

We investigated the early socio-communicative development of individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS) by undertaking a retrospective analysis of family videos. Videos were analyzed to identify existing communicative forms and functions. Analyses were undertaken on seven children who were later diagnosed with FXS. The children were filmed when they were 9–12 months old and before being diagnosed. Fourteen different communicative forms and six different communicative functions were observed. All participants were observed to express the functions of ‘Attention to self’ and ‘Answering’, but none indicated ‘Requesting action’, ‘Requesting information’, ‘Choice making’, or ‘Imitating’. Results suggest that children with FXS may have a limited range of communicative forms and functions when they are from 9 to 12 months of age. However, further research is necessary to gain a specific developmental profile of socio-communicative forms and functions in FXS.