Pilot Study of a Parent Guided Website Access Package for Early Intervention Decision-Making for Autism Spectrum Disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Carlon ◽  
Mark Carter ◽  
Jennifer Stephenson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Children With Asd

A pilot study of the effectiveness of guided access to websites that provide information on intervention options for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was conducted with 12 parents of preschool-aged children with ASD. Guided access to reliable websites that included information about the efficacy of interventions for ASD (Raising Children Network, 2006–2014; Research Autism, 2006–2014) was provided in the format of a DVD presentation. The guidelines for choosing interventions provided on the Raising Children Network (2009) website were reiterated and assistance was provided with navigation and interpretation of the sites. Participants reported the guided access to reliable websites as useful and also reported an increased level of confidence in making intervention decisions after using the package. However, the guided access did not appear to influence the factors that parents considered important in decision-making, their understanding of the level of research support for interventions, nor their desire to use different interventions. Implications for future research and attempts to disseminate information to parents are discussed.

Remote Microphone System Use in Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Disorder in the Classroom: A Pilot Efficacy Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Mary Alice Keller ◽  
Anne Marie Tharpe ◽  
James Bodfish
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Data Points

Purpose The present pilot study aimed to provide estimates of the feasibility and efficacy of a remote microphone (RM) system as an augmentative intervention to improve the functional listening performance of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and language disorder. Method Eight children with ASD and language disorder participated. Efficacy of the RM system was determined by evaluating participants' functional listening performance, as measured by an observational measure in RM-off and RM-on conditions. Responses were evaluated at the individual level using an alternating conditions design. Results Adequate feasibility was demonstrated as all participants were able to complete tasks in the RM-on condition. A subset of participants showed significant improvements in their functional listening performance in the RM-on condition, as demonstrated by visual inspection and effect sizes (nonoverlapping data points and percentage of data points exceeding the mean), indicating that there may be important sources of individual differences in responses to RM use in children with ASD. Conclusion The results of this pilot study provide support for future research on RM systems to target functional listening performance in children with ASD and language disorder.

Listening to Bedouin fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Manor-Binyamini
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
Children With Asd

Although children across the world experience autism spectrum disorder (ASD), most research on ASD has been conducted using Western cultural perspectives and has focused primarily on mothers, leaving significant gaps in the literature. This study aimed to address these gaps by exploring the experiences of fathers raising children with ASD in a Bedouin community. To this end, a sample of 19 fathers of children (aged 6–15 years) with ASD living in recognized and unrecognized Bedouin settlements in the Negev participated in ethnographic, semi-structured interviews designed to investigate their experiences with raising a child with ASD in their community. Two major themes emerged: the challenges that Bedouin fathers of children with ASD face, and the influence of socio-demographic and cultural characteristics on their experience. Findings reflect the complex experiences of fathers raising children with ASD in the Bedouin community, stemming from their socio-cultural context and the limited knowledge and support services that are available in the community for these children. This article concludes with recommendations on how to enhance professional sensitivity and provide more culturally tailored services for parents of children with ASD.

Stability of Variables Derived From Measures of Multisensory Function in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kacie Dunham ◽  
Jacob I. Feldman ◽  
Yupeng Liu ◽  
Margaret Cassidy ◽  
Julie G. Conrad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Listening In Noise ◽  
The Stability

Abstract Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display differences in multisensory function as quantified by several different measures. This study estimated the stability of variables derived from commonly used measures of multisensory function in school-aged children with ASD. Participants completed: a simultaneity judgment task for audiovisual speech, tasks designed to elicit the McGurk effect, listening-in-noise tasks, electroencephalographic recordings, and eye-tracking tasks. Results indicate the stability of indices derived from tasks tapping multisensory processing is variable. These findings have important implications for measurement in future research. Averaging scores across repeated observations will often be required to obtain acceptably stable estimates and, thus, to increase the likelihood of detecting effects of interest, as it relates to multisensory processing in children with ASD.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Anxiety and Stress in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Review of Literature

2020 ◽  
pp. 121-127
Author(s):  
Katelynn Jolly ◽  
Professor Tonya Huber
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Maternal Mental Health ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Health State ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Information Research

Objective: Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are likely to develop and experience stress and anxiety due to the overwhelming amount of new information, research on their child’s needs, and coping with everyday hardships. Method: This systematic review analyzed seven recent research articles related to the anxiety and stress in mothers raising children with ASD. Studies were limited to a focus on maternal mental health experiences raising a child with ASD. Findings: All studies examined show a sample of mothers that have anxiety while raising children with ASD. Researchers employed different methodologies in measuring these mothers’ anxiety at either one or two points in time. The strengths and weaknesses of each study were reviewed. Some studies even reported a direct effect concerning the way mothers interact with others and their children as a result of their mental health state. Limitations in most of the studies reviewed showed a smaller sample size than originally intended. Conclusion: While there are many studies that focus on children with ASD, there is a lack of research on the mental health state of their parents, specifically mothers. These parents take on the role of being a provider, advocate, and channel between their children and a world that is rarely accessible to them. Research in this area can greatly benefit new mothers experiencing this, and all parents that may have an unhealthy mental state when dealing with the responsibility and work it takes raising a child with a disability.

scholarly journals Exploring a Role for Parental Mental Health in Perception and Reports of Pain on Behalf of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Luke P. Grosvenor ◽  
Daniel G. Whitney ◽  
Heather E. Volk ◽  
M. Daniele Fallin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Maternal Mental Health ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parent Mental Health ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes ◽  
Children With Asd

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher prevalence of pain compared to those without ASD. Pain is a leading cause of morbidity and disability worldwide and may contribute to adverse health outcomes in people with ASD, thus warranting further research on this special population. The present study used data from 1,423 children with ASD and 46,023 children without ASD and their mothers from the combined 2016-2017 National Survey of Children’s Health. Mothers reported child pain and ASD status and their own mental health status. Mothers reporting a status of “Fair or Poor” were considered as having maternal mental health conditions (MMHCs) for the purposes of this study. Children with and without ASD who had mothers with MMHCs had higher odds of pain compared to children with mothers without MMHCs. These increased odds did not attenuate as a result of controlling for co-occurring neurological conditions, which have been associated with increased pain in children with ASD. Thus, parent mental health may alter perception and/or reports of pain on behalf of children with and without ASD. Future research should include more detailed assessments of parent mental health and clinical assessments of children in order to explore the role of parent mental health in the experiences of pain and other symptoms present in children with ASD.

Assessing Signed Language Development in Deaf/Signing Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Aaron Shield ◽  
Deborah Mood ◽  
Nicole Salamy ◽  
Jonathan Henner
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Behavioral Norms ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Signed Language

In this chapter, the authors discuss assessment of signed language development in deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) signing children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The development of sign in D/HH children with ASD is an area of growing research, with recent papers describing how the language profile of such children is both similar to and different from hearing/speaking children with ASD. The authors highlight the difficulties of assessing signed language in this population, focusing on a lack of tests designed specifically for D/HH children. Furthermore, they describe how variations in degree of exposure to sign at home and different behavioral norms in the Deaf community complicate identification and assessment. Finally, the authors suggest some directions for possible future research.

Parent and Child Factors Predicting Early Intervention Choices of Australian Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Sarah Carlon ◽  
Mark Carter ◽  
Jennifer Stephenson ◽  
Naomi Sweller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Child Factors

AbstractExtant research addressing implicit factors related to intervention decisions made by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited and findings have been inconsistent. In the present study, 74 parents of preschoolers with ASD were surveyed regarding intervention use. The possible relationships between implicit parent factors (education level, age, causal beliefs about ASD, complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] use, and family income) and child factors (time since diagnosis, and perceived severity of ASD), and the number and type of interventions used were examined. Consistent with previous research, only a small number of significant relationships were found, including that family income, parent use of CAM, mother’s education, parent belief in an unknown aetiology of ASD, and time since child’s diagnosis were all related to the number of interventions used. Some specific findings of previous research were not replicated in the present study (e.g., neither beliefs in environmental aetiology of ASD nor parent education levels were related to the use of specific CAM interventions), indicating that factors affecting decision-making may not be consistent across samples. Nevertheless, future research including an expanded range of possible implicit factors with more diverse samples may provide a more accurate predictive model of parent decision-making.

scholarly journals EFFECT OF VISUAL-CUEING ON TWO-LEGGED HOPPING VARIABILITY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A PILOT STUDY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Lidstone ◽  
Janet S. Dufek
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Motor Variability ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Visual Cueing

ABSTRACTBackgroundMotor deficits in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are highly prevalent. High variability of motor output is commonly reported in children with ASD. Visual cueing using an exergame may be an effective intervention to reduce motor variability in children with ASD.AimTo examine the effect of visual cueing on two-legged hopping variability in children with ASD.MethodsFour children with ASD and six age-matched TD controls performed three 20-s hopping trials with no visual cueing (no cue = NC) and with a 2 Hz visual cue (visual cue = VC). Three-dimensional kinematic data of the sacrum marker and ground reaction force were collected during each hopping trial. Variability was determined using the intra-trial coefficient of variation (CoV) of hopping frequency, hop height, and negative sacral displacementResultsA marginally significant interaction between GROUP (ASD/TD) and CUE type (NC/VC) was observed for hopping frequency variability (p = 0.06) indicating greater impairment in the ASD group vs. TD group with visual vs. no-cueing. The main effect of group showed a statistically significant difference in hopping frequency (p = 0.037), hopping frequency variability (p = 0.008), and negative sacrum displacement variability (p = 0.04).ConclusionThis pilot study confirmed high motor variability in the amplitude and frequency of repetitive movements in children with ASD. However, visual cueing was ineffective at reducing the variability of motor output in children with autism.

scholarly journals Parenting Goals: Links with Parenting Strategies in Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth O’Nions ◽  
Francesca Happé ◽  
Julie Segers ◽  
Essi Viding ◽  
Ilse Noens
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autonomy Support ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parenting Strategies ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
Parenting Goals

Abstract Objectives Parenting goals describe the outcomes that parents aim for when interacting with their child. They have received little attention in research with caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study explored different types (dimensions) of parenting goals reported by caregivers of children with ASD, investigated links between these parenting goals and child characteristics, and explored whether parenting goals were linked to reported use of particular parenting strategies. Methods Data from 161 caregivers of children with ASD aged 7–18 years revealed two goal dimensions: “Norm Adherence Goals” (i.e. the perceived importance of the child cooperating with the parent, respecting their authority, and behaving well in public); and “Autonomy Support and Relationship Goals” (i.e. the perceived importance of promoting the child’s resilience, wellbeing, and the quality of the parent-child relationship). Results Parents who reported that norm adherence goals were particularly important to them were more likely to endorse parenting strategies such as setting rules, using rewards, and giving punishments. These parents also reported using less “Accommodation” (e.g. making allowances for their child, being flexible, avoiding triggers). Autonomy support and relationship goals were very strongly endorsed by nearly all parents, and we therefore could not find strong links between the importance of these goals and parenting strategies. Conclusion These findings suggest that parenting goals might be importantly linked to parenting strategies and could be considered in personalizing interventions in clinical practice. Given that parents’ cognitions about their child’s behaviour and their role as parents likely interact with and influence their parenting goals, we argue that future research should investigate parenting goals, cognitions, and behaviours in parallel.

Parent Report of Communication Skills of Jamaican Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny M. Burton ◽  
Karla N. Washington ◽  
Maureen Samms-Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Home Literacy Environment ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Asd

Most research related to communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been obtained from monolingual English-speaking children from high-income countries. Based on questionnaires completed by parents, this pilot study aimed to describe the communication characteristics of six children with ASD living in Jamaica. Parents had concerns about their child’s speech intelligibility, expressive language, and social communication. All children were reported to speak using Standard Jamaican English (SJE). Exposure to SJE and Jamaican Creole (JC) was reported by half of the parents. Emergent literacy was considered a relative strength. All parents reported that their child could recite the alphabet and identify some letters and that family members also helped their child print and read letters or words. Other aspects of the home literacy environment and early literacy skills were varied. Information from this group provides some insights into communication skills in children with ASD from Caribbean backgrounds.

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