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Objectives To identify factors associated with social communication functioning (SCF) in young children diagnosed with ASD in Turkey, an upper-middle income country.Methods Using a cross-sectional design, we recruited children newly diagnosed as ASD aged 24-60months who were admitted to Ankara University School of Medicine Developmental Pediatrics Division (AUDPD) between January 1st 2025-September 1st 2025. All children received a comprehensive developmental assessment including the Expanded Guide for Monitoring Child Development, the Autism Social Communication Functioning: Social Communication and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale–Second Edition (CARS-2).Results Of 661 children admitted to AUDBP as in the study period, 57 (8.6%) were diagnosed as ASD and 41 (6.2%) that aged 2-5 comprised the study sample (87.8% boys) with a median age of 28 (min-max:24-60) months. Almost all children had expressive language delay (97.6%) and 26 (63.4%) had cognitive delay. Daily performance for SCF were Level-IV for 20 (48.8%) children, the best capacity for SCF were at Level-III for 22 (53.7%) children. Daily screen exposure >4 hours was significantly associated with lower level in the capacity of SCF (OR=0.222, 95% CI:0.056–0.889; p=0.028). The CARS scores showed a very strong negative correlation with performance (ρ=-0.713, p=0.001) and a strong negative correlation with capacity of SCF (ρ=-0.610, p=0.001). Severe cognitive delay was correlated with lower performance (ρ=-0.488, p=0.001) and capacity (ρ=-0.470, p=0.002) of SCF.Conclusions We found a gap between young children’s capacity and performance in SCF from Turkey. To improve SCF, family-centred interventions must target lowering screen exposure as well as supporting cognitive and relating development of young children with ASD.