Autistic-like behavior in CHARGE syndrome

Children with CHARGE syndrome frequently exhibit moderate to severe behavior difficulties, and are often diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder, Tourette syndrome, and autism. Hartshorne and Cypher (2004) surveyed parents of 100 children with CHARGE worldwide and confirmed the prevalence of behaviors that are associated with these disorders. They also found behaviors that could be described as typical of persons who are deafblind. The present study examined whether the autistic-like behaviors of children with CHARGE are more similar to those of children who are deafblind, to those of children who are autistic or are unique to CHARGE. Surveys including the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) were mailed to families of 204 children with CHARGE, and 160 usable surveys were returned (78%). Total scores on the ABC for children with CHARGE were significantly different from the norms for those with autism, and those who were deafblind. However, the variance for CHARGE was larger than for the normative groups, and 27.5% of those with CHARGE could be classified as autistic. The pattern of subscale scores for those with CHARGE differed from the other normative groups.