--- title: 1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too description: It's not easy being the brother or sister of an autistic child. "Typical" siblings sometimes feel embarrassed by or responsible for their autistic sib, or... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-10-14T20:57:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:30:17.936Z article:section: Health og:title: 1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too og:description: It's not easy being the brother or sister of an autistic child. "Typical" siblings sometimes feel embarrassed by or responsible for their autistic sib, or... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ffed591050782e/698a953bd075336940e77129/autismcropped.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: Eight year old twins, Kyle and Ian Brown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too twitter:description: It's not easy being the brother or sister of an autistic child. "Typical" siblings sometimes feel embarrassed by or responsible for their autistic sib, or... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ffed591050782e/698a953bd075336940e77129/autismcropped.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # 1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 14, 2010 8:57 PM UTC  374821 07: Autistic eight year old twins, Kyle and Ian Brown play by the pool inLong Beach, California June 15, 2000\. Autism is effecting more families than ever and tends to effect more boys than girls. The twins have to be looked after constantly because they climb on furniture and tend to wonder off on their own. Until recently their parents thought they would have to put them in an institution, but an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) School opened in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Lara Jo Regan/Liaison Agency) 374821 07: Autistic eight year old twins, Kyle and Ian Brown play by the pool inLong Beach, California June 15, 2000\. Autism is effecting more families than ever and tends to effect more boys than girls. The twins have to be looked after constantly because they climb on furniture and tend to wonder off on their own. Until recently their parents thought they would have to put them in an institution, but an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) School opened in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Lara Jo Regan/Liaison Agency) Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 14, 2010 8:57 PM UTC It’s not easy being the brother or sister of an autistic child. “Typical” siblings sometimes feel embarrassed by or responsible for their autistic sib, or may feel jealous of all the attention he gets. Now researchers have found that the siblings of autistic children are affected in another way: up to 20% of these brothers and sisters may have subtler autism-related symptoms of their own.more (**More on Time.com**:[ Autistic Kids: The Sibling Problem](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1698128,00.html)). The new study involved nearly 3,000 children in 1,235 families with at least one autistic child. All the families had participated in a larger online registry of 35,000 autism-affected families called the Interactive Autism Network. Of the families included in the current study, 10.9% had more than one child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This is consistent with previous research showing that siblings of autistic children are at much higher risk of having an ASD than other children — 22 times higher than children without affected siblings. But what surprised the researchers was that an additional 20% of the siblings of autistic children showed language delays, and half of these kids had subtle speech problems that are characteristic of autism, such as reversing pronouns or using invented words. The rate of these subtle problems was higher in girls than in boys, and the study’s author suggests that when such mild traits are taken into consideration, the ratio of autism-affected boys to girls would be about 3 to 2 — which contrasts with the currently accepted ratio of four boys with autism for every girl. (**More on Time.com:** [6 Tips for Traveling With an Autistic Kid](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1893554%5F1893556,00.html)). The findings add to the evidence for some kind of genetic basis of autism. [CNN reports](http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/08/siblings-of-kids-with-autism-have-language-delays/): --- > “” --- Constantino’s research also suggests that parents should be aware of speech or social problems in the unaffected siblings of autistic children. Constantino and Dr. Scott Hunter, director of pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Chicago Medical Center, spoke with [HealthDay](http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/644301.html): --- > “” --- The findings were published in the November issue of the _American Journal of Psychiatry._ For more information on autism spectrum disorders, click [here](http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html) and [here](http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm). **More on Time.com:** [PHOTOS — Inside a School for Autistic Children](http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1947608,00.html) [The Mysterious Case of Donald T, Autism’s First Diagnosis](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/14/the-mysterious-case-of-donald-t/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/"},"headline":"1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too","datePublished":"2010-10-14T20:57:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:30:17.936Z","description":"It's not easy being the brother or sister of an autistic child. \"Typical\" siblings sometimes feel embarrassed by or responsible for their autistic sib, or...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/","keywords":["Autism","siblings"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ffed591050782e/698a953bd075336940e77129/autismcropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6ffed591050782e/698a953bd075336940e77129/autismcropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Eight year old twins, Kyle and Ian Brown","caption":"Eight year old twins, Kyle and Ian Brown","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7143877/1-in-5-kids-with-an-autistic-sibling-show-subtle-symptoms-too/","name":"1 in 5 Kids With an Autistic Sibling Show Subtle Symptoms Too"}}]}] ```