Correlation patterns between pretend play and playfulness in children with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, and typical development

Purpose Most toddlers with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental delays receive early intervention at home and may not participate in a clinic-based communication evaluation. However, there is limited research that has prospectively examined communication in very young children with and without autism in a home-based setting. This study used granular observational coding to document the communicative acts performed by toddlers with autism, developmental delay, and typical development in the home environment. Method Children were selected from the archival database of the FIRST WORDS Project ( N = 211). At approximately 20 months of age, each child participated in everyday activities with a caregiver during an hour-long, video-recorded, naturalistic home observation. Inventories of unique gestures, rates per minute, and proportions of types of communicative acts and communicative functions were coded and compared using a one-way analysis of variance. Concurrent and prospective relationships between rate of communication and measures of social communication, language development, and autism symptoms were examined. Results A total of 40,738 communicative acts were coded. Children with autism, developmental delay, and typical development used eight, nine, and 12 unique gestures on average, respectively. Children with autism used deictic gestures, vocalizations, and communicative acts for behavior regulation at significantly lower rates than the other groups. Statistically significant correlations were observed between rate of communication and several outcome measures. Conclusion Observation of social communication in the natural environment may improve early identification of children with autism and communication delays, complement clinic-based assessments, and provide useful information about a child's social communication profile and the family's preferred activities and intervention priorities. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14204522

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Neural Correlates of Face and Object Recognition in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Delay, and Typical Development

Child Development ◽

10.1111/1467-8624.00433 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 73 (3) ◽

pp. 700-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 315

Author(s):

Geraldine Dawson ◽

Leslie Carver ◽

Andrew N. Meltzoff ◽

Heracles Panagiotides ◽

James McPartland ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Object Recognition ◽

Young Children ◽

Developmental Delay ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Typical Development ◽

Young Children With Autism

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Auditory event-related potentials and associations with sensory patterns in children with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, and typical development

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361319893196 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (5) ◽

pp. 1093-1110

Author(s):

Franc CL Donkers ◽

Mike Carlson ◽

Sarah E Schipul ◽

Aysenil Belger ◽

Grace T Baranek

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Developmental Delay ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Sensory Response ◽

Typical Development ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Related Potentials

Atypical sensory response patterns are common in children with autism and developmental delay. Expanding on previous work, this observational electroencephalogram study assessed auditory event-related potentials and their associations with clinically evaluated sensory response patterns in children with autism spectrum disorder ( n = 28), developmental delay ( n = 17), and typical development ( n = 39). Attention-orienting P3a responses were attenuated in autism spectrum disorder relative to both developmental delay and typical development, but early sensory N2 responses were attenuated in both autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay relative to typical development. Attenuated event-related potentials involving N2 or P3a components, or a P1 × N2 interaction, were related to more severe hyporesponsive or sensory-seeking response patterns across children with autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay. Thus, although attentional disruptions may be unique to autism spectrum disorder, sensory disruptions appear across developmental delay and are associated with atypical sensory behaviors.

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Are there anthropometric and body composition differences between children with autism spectrum disorder and children with typical development? Analysis by age and spectrum severity in a school population

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361320987724 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136236132098772

Author(s):

Patricia Esteban-Figuerola ◽

Paula Morales-Hidalgo ◽

Victoria Arija-Val ◽

Josefa Canals-Sans

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

School Age Children ◽

School Age ◽

Typical Development ◽

Height Ratio ◽

Waist Height Ratio

Overweight and obesity have been reported to be more prevalent in populations with autism spectrum disorder than in children with typical development. The aim of this study was to compare the anthropometric status of children with autism spectrum disorder (diagnosed and subclinical) and children with typical development and analyse which variables can affect the anthropometric and health status of children with autism spectrum disorder. We present a two-phase epidemiological study in a school population of two age groups which assesses autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, anthropometric data and bioelectrical impedance analysis. From an initial sample of 3,713 children, 79 with autism spectrum disorder, 42 with subclinical autism spectrum disorder and 350 with typical development participated in the study. Pre-schoolers with autism spectrum disorder were taller than pre-schoolers with typical development. School-age children with autism spectrum disorder showed a significantly higher body mass index and rate of overweight/obesity than children with typical development (63.4% vs 46.3%). No significant differences were found for bioelectrical impedance analysis, but school-age children with autism spectrum disorder showed a significantly higher waist circumference, waist/height ratio and cardiovascular risk than children with typical development. The quality of the diet was lower in children with autism spectrum disorder than in children with typical development. Multiple regression analyses showed that having autism spectrum disorder and internalizing psychological problems were associated with waist/height ratio and high cardiovascular risk in school-age children. Lay abstract This study makes a comparison between the growth status of pre-school and school-age children with autism spectrum disorder and typical development children. Pre-schoolers with autism spectrum disorder were taller than children with typical development. School-age children with autism spectrum disorder were more overweight/obese, had more body fat and a greater waist circumference and waist/height ratio than children with typical development. The presence of autism spectrum disorder and internalizing problems was associated with cardiovascular risk in school-age children.

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The contribution of platelets to peripheral BDNF elevation in children with autism spectrum disorder

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-97367-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Cristan A. Farmer ◽

Audrey E. Thurm ◽

Bianca Honnekeri ◽

Paul Kim ◽

Susan E. Swedo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Platelet Count ◽

Developmental Delay ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Typical Development ◽

Platelet Counts ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Standardized Mean Difference ◽

Serum Bdnf

AbstractBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a key peptide in neurocognitive development, has been reported to be elevated in the serum of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a few studies, however, no differences or the converse have been documented. As a secondary analysis of a natural history study, we examined differences in ELISA serum BDNF between a group of children aged 1 to 9 years (69% white) with ASD (n = 94) and those with typical development (n = 52) or non-ASD developmental delay (n = 21), while accounting for the potential confounding effects of platelet quantity. Platelet counts were measured within 4 h of blood draw using an automated cell counter. Taqman single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays were used to genotype 11 SNPs within the BDNF locus. Unadjusted mean BDNF concentration was higher in children with ASD than in children with typical development (standardized mean difference = 0.23; 95% CI 0.07, 0.38), but not children with non-ASD developmental delay. The magnitude of this difference was reduced after adjusting for platelet count (standardized mean difference = 0.18; 95% CI 0.02, 0.33). Although some BDNF SNPs were related to BDNF concentration, the distributions of these genotypes did not differ across diagnostic groups. This study replicates previous work suggesting that average serum BDNF concentration is higher in ASD compared to typical development, and extends that work by highlighting the potentially confounding role of platelet counts. The etiology of platelet count differences warrants further elucidation. Nonetheless, our results suggest that elevation in BDNF may be partially explained by higher platelet counts in children with ASD, an association that should be considered in future analysis and interpretation.Registration: NCT00298246

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Differences in sensory responses among children with autism spectrum disorder and typical development: Links to joint attention and social competence

Infant and Child Development ◽

10.1002/icd.2117 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. e2117 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andrew J. Dakopolos ◽

Laudan B. Jahromi

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Competence ◽

Joint Attention ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Typical Development ◽

Sensory Responses

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Comparing sleep patterns between children with autism spectrum disorder and children with typical development: A matched case–control study

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361320936827 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (8) ◽

pp. 2298-2303

Author(s):

Andy CY Tse ◽

CCW Yu ◽

Paul H Lee

Keyword(s):

Body Mass Index ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Body Mass ◽

Sleep Onset ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Case Control ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Typical Development ◽

Matched Case

Children with autism spectrum disorder are often reported to have more sleep deficits and poorer sleep quality compared with children with typical development. However, most previous studies have serious methodological limitations, such as varying sample sizes in the comparison groups, wide age range of participants, and body mass index not matched between participants. This study investigated whether sleep patterns differed between children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development using a carefully matched case–control design and incorporating both actigraphy and sleep log assessments. A total of 78 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were matched with 78 typical development controls in this study. The matched variables included age, gender, and body mass index. The results showed that children with autism spectrum disorder had shorter sleep duration, reduced sleep efficiency, longer sleep-onset latency, and longer wake after sleep onset than children with typical development ( ps < 0.05). Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underlying these sleep deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder. Lay abstract This study compared the sleep pattern between children with autism spectrum disorders and children with typical development using a matched case–control design (matched age, gender, and body mass index). Significant differences were found in night-time sleep duration (total amount of sleep at night), sleep efficiency (percentage of time spent asleep), sleep-onset latency (length of time that it takes to transit from awake to asleep), and wake after sleep onset (total amount of time spent awake after defined sleep onset). Findings showed that children with autism spectrum disorder had poorer sleep quality than children with typical development. Mechanisms underlying the differences should be further explored in order to develop an effective treatment intervention.

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