scholarly journals Longitudinal prediction of language emergence in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Edmunds ◽  
Lisa V. Ibañez ◽  
Zachary Warren ◽  
Daniel S. Messinger ◽  
Wendy L. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Motor Imitation ◽  
New Information ◽  
Language Growth ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

AbstractThis study used a prospective longitudinal design to examine the early developmental pathways that underlie language growth in infants at high risk (n = 50) and low risk (n = 34) for autism spectrum disorder in the first 18 months of life. While motor imitation and responding to joint attention (RJA) have both been found to predict expressive language in children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development, the longitudinal relation between these capacities has not yet been identified. As hypothesized, results revealed that 15-month RJA mediated the association between 12-month motor imitation and 18-month expressive vocabulary, even after controlling for earlier levels of RJA and vocabulary. These results provide new information about the developmental sequencing of skills relevant to language growth that may inform future intervention efforts for children at risk for language delay or other developmental challenges.

Exploring Growth in Expressive Communication of Infants and Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
pp. 105381512199557
Author(s):  
Jay Buzhardt ◽  
Anna Wallisch ◽  
Dwight Irvin ◽  
Brian Boyd ◽  
Brenda Salley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Progress Monitoring ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
Early Communication ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Language Growth

One of the earliest indicators of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is delay in language and social communication. Despite consensus on the benefits of earlier diagnosis and intervention, our understanding of the language growth of children with ASD during the first years of life remains limited. Therefore, this study compared communication growth patterns of infants and toddlers with ASD to growth benchmarks of a standardized language assessment. We conducted a retrospective analysis of growth on the Early Communication Indicator (ECI) of 23 infants and toddlers who received an ASD diagnosis in the future. At 42 months of age, children with ASD had significantly lower rates of gestures, single words, and multiple words, but significantly higher rates of nonword vocalizations. Children with ASD had significantly slower growth of single and multiple words, but their rate of vocalization growth was significantly greater than benchmark. Although more research is needed with larger samples, because the ECI was designed for practitioners to monitor children’s response to intervention over time, these findings show promise for the ECI’s use as a progress monitoring measure for young children with ASD. Limitations and the need for future research are discussed.

scholarly journals Response to changing contingencies in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1239-1248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie B. Northrup ◽  
Klaus Libertus ◽  
Jana M. Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Spectrum Disorder

Computational Measurement of Motor Imitation and Imitative Learning Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey J. Zampella ◽  
Evangelos Sariyanidi ◽  
Anne G. Hutchinson ◽  
G. Keith Bartley ◽  
Robert T. Schultz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Imitative Learning ◽  
Motor Imitation

scholarly journals Prenatal Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Fetal Cortisol Exposure Predicts Child ASD Symptoms

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Ram ◽  
Mariann A. Howland ◽  
Curt A. Sandman ◽  
Elysia Poggi Davis ◽  
Laura M. Glynn
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Developmental Disorder ◽  
Maternal Plasma ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Fetal Exposure ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

The etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is multifactorial, complex, and likely involves interactions among genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. With respect to environmental influences, a growing literature implicates intrauterine experiences in the origin of this pervasive developmental disorder. In this prospective longitudinal study, we examined the hypothesis that fetal exposure to maternal cortisol may confer ASD risk. In addition, because ASD is four times more prevalent in males than in females, and because sexually dimorphic responses to intrauterine experiences are commonly observed, we examined whether or not any associations differ by fetal sex. Maternal plasma cortisol was measured at 15, 19, 25, 31, and 37 weeks’ gestation in a sample of 84 pregnant women. ASD symptoms were assessed in their 5-year-old children with the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). Fetal exposure to lower levels of maternal cortisol was associated with higher levels of ASD symptoms only among boys. The observed hypocortisolemic profile exhibited by these mothers may indicate a risk factor that precedes the stress of caregiving for a child with ASD and may not be solely a consequence of the stress of caregiving, as previously thought. These findings confirm the value of examining prenatal hormone exposures as predictors of ASD risk and support the premise that altered prenatal steroid exposures may play a role in the etiology of ASD.

scholarly journals Resistance to temptation in toddlers at genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 1018-1027
Author(s):  
Susan B Campbell ◽  
Jessie B Northrup ◽  
Amy B Tavares
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
High Risk Children

Children with autism spectrum disorder often demonstrate difficulties with self-regulation, although studies of this construct in young children with autism spectrum disorder are limited. In this study, developmental changes were examined using a measure of self-regulation appropriate for young children, resistance to temptation. At 22, 28, and 34 months, toddlers with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (high risk) and toddlers with typically developing older siblings (low risk) were presented with an appealing toy and instructed not to touch it. Observers coded whether or not children touched the toy and the strategies they used to resist touching it. At 36 months, children were assessed for autism spectrum disorder, yielding three groups: high risk children with autism spectrum disorder, high risk children without autism spectrum disorder, and low risk children. At 22 months, most children, regardless of group, touched the forbidden toy; at 28 and 34 months, many high risk children without autism spectrum disorder and low risk children resisted the temptation to touch the toy, whereas most of the children with autism spectrum disorder did not. Differences in delay strategies were also evident. Some, but not all group differences, were accounted for by differences in language ability. Results highlight one early index of impulse control that differentiates children with emerging autism spectrum disorder from age-mates prior to the third birthday.

scholarly journals Cross-modal generalization of receptive and expressive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 239694151882449
Author(s):  
Pumpki L Su ◽  
George Castle ◽  
Stephen Camarata
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Target Words

Background and aims Word learning is an area that poses a particular challenge to children with autism spectrum disorder. A unique challenge for this population is generalization of learned skills across new learning contexts. In clinical settings, a common assumption in teaching vocabulary for children with autism spectrum disorder is that learning in one modality will generalize incidentally to untreated modalities, but very few studies have evaluated the validity of this assumption. The purpose of this study was to investigate receptive and expressive word acquisition and cross-modal generalization in children with autism spectrum disorder. Methods A single-case parallel treatments design was used to compare word learning and cross-modal generalization in children with autism spectrum disorder. Ten children with autism spectrum disorder were taught unfamiliar vocabulary words in a combined storybook and play intervention. For each child, half of the target words were trained expressively and the other half were trained receptively by random assignment. No direct cross-modal instruction was delivered. A series of probe sessions were completed to assess participants’ within-modal learning and cross-modal generalization of vocabulary learning. Results All children learned target words in both receptive and expressive conditions, as evidenced by an average of 80% accuracy across three trials at the end of each intervention. Overall, cross-modal generalization was higher for the expressive-to-receptive direction than for the receptive-to expressive direction. Nine out of ten children demonstrated successful cross-modal generalization on the expressive-to-receptive probes and only three children demonstrated successful cross-modal generalization on the receptive-to-expressive probes. Large variability was observed with regard to number of intervention sessions needed to reach mastery criterion and there were individual patterns of word learning. Conclusion Contrary to the assumption that vocabulary learning will be “automatically” generalized across modalities, results from this study indicate that cross-modal generalization at the word level is not automatic nor consistent in children with autism spectrum disorder, particularly in the receptive-to-expressive direction. Implications The finding that more children demonstrated expressive-to-receptive generalization than the opposite direction suggests that targeting expressive vocabulary first with the goal of incidentally increasing receptive vocabulary may be more efficient than starting with the receptive modality. Additionally, the finding that not all children demonstrated successful expressive-to-receptive cross-modal generalization indicates that teaching vocabulary in the expressive modality exclusively does not guarantee receptive understanding in this population. We recommend that practitioners periodically monitor children’s vocabulary learning in both modalities or set an explicit generalization goal to ensure complete learning of trained words.

scholarly journals Use of Longitudinal EEG Measures in Estimating Language Development in Infants With and Without Familial Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol L. Wilkinson ◽  
Laurel J. Gabard-Durnam ◽  
Kush Kapur ◽  
Helen Tager-Flusberg ◽  
April R. Levin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Risk Status ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Frequency Bands ◽  
Eeg Power ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

Language development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) varies greatly among affected individuals and is a strong predictor of later outcomes. Younger siblings of children with ASD have increased risk of ASD, but also language delay. Identifying neural markers of language outcomes in infant siblings could facilitate earlier intervention and improved outcomes. This study aimed to determine whether electroencephalography (EEG) measures from the first 2 years of life can explain heterogeneity in language development in children at low and high risk for ASD, and whether associations between EEG measures and language development are different depending on ASD risk status or later ASD diagnosis. In this prospective longitudinal study, EEG measures collected between 3 and 24 months were used in a multivariate linear regression model to estimate participants’ 24-month language development. Individual baseline longitudinal EEG measures included (1) the slope of EEG power across 3 to 12 months or 3 to 24 months of life for six canonical frequency bands, (2) the estimated EEG power at 6 months of age for the same frequency bands, and (3) terms representing the interaction between ASD risk status and EEG power measures. Modeled 24-month language scores using EEG data from either the first 2 years (Pearson p = 0.70, 95% CI [0.595, 0.783], p = 1 × 10−18) or the first year of life (Pearson p = 0.66, 95% CI [0.540, 0.761], p = 2.5 × 10−14) were highly correlated with observed scores. All models included significant interaction effects of risk on EEG measures, suggesting that EEG-language associations are different depending on risk status, and that different brain mechanisms affect language development in low- versus high-risk infants.

scholarly journals Emerging Executive Functioning and Motor Development in Infants at High and Low Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya St. John ◽  
Annette M. Estes ◽  
Stephen R. Dager ◽  
Penelope Kostopoulos ◽  
Jason J. Wolff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Spectrum Disorder

scholarly journals Development of attention from birth to 5 months in infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Bradshaw ◽  
Ami Klin ◽  
Lindsey Evans ◽  
Cheryl Klaiman ◽  
Celine Saulnier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
At Risk ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Spectrum Disorder

AbstractSocial-communication skills emerge within the context of rich social interactions, facilitated by an infant's capacity to attend to people and objects in the environment. Disruption in this early neurobehavioral process may decrease the frequency and quality of social interactions and learning opportunities, potentially leading to downstream deleterious effects on social development. This study examined early attention in infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are at risk for social and communication delays. Visual and auditory attention was mapped from age 1 week to 5 months in infants at familial risk for ASD (high risk; N = 41) and low-risk typically developing infants (low risk; N = 39). At 12 months, a subset of participants (N = 40) was administered assessments of social communication and nonverbal cognitive skills. Results revealed that high-risk infants performed lower on attention tasks at 2 and 3 months of age compared to low-risk infants. A significant association between overall attention at 3 months and developmental outcome at 12 months was observed for both groups. These results provide evidence for early vulnerabilities in visual attention for infants at risk for ASD during a period of important neurodevelopmental transition (between 2 and 3 months) when attention has significant implications for social communication and cognitive development.

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