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. 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 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. Deficit in face recognition may be an endophenotype of autism but this study does not demonstrate it.