Investigating the association between socioeconomic status and language skills in children with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delays

Numerous studies have reported that socioeconomic status (SES) predicts language skills in typically developing children. However, this association has been less systematically studied in children with developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other developmental delays (DD). In the present study, we examined the association between SES, operationalized as maternal education attainment and health insurance status, and receptive and expressive language skills in a sample of children from lower SES, racial/ethnic minority families at increased ‘clinical risk’ for ASD based on early screening. Neither maternal education attainment nor health insurance status were significantly associated with children's language skills. Expressive and receptive language skills were significantly higher in children with DD compared to children with ASD. Findings differ from previously published work, highlighting the importance of study replication. Further research is needed to understand why the association between SES and children's language skills might vary across samples.

Highlights

• Examined association between socioeconomic status (SES) and language skills in children at ‘clinical risk’ for autism based on early screening.
• Found no associations between measures of SES and children's language skills.
• Results differ from previously published work, highlighting the importance of replicating studies with lower SES, racial/ethnic minority families.