Face-Viewing Patterns in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Speaking up for the Role of Language Comprehension

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 2246-2252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Åsberg Johnels ◽  
Christopher Gillberg ◽  
Terje Falck-Ytter ◽  
Carmela Miniscalco
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speaking Up ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Short Films ◽  
Young Children With Autism

Purpose The aim was to examine whether viewing patterns toward the mouth, eyes, and nonmouth–noneyes areas differed between young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children when viewing a person speaking. The role of language comprehension in such viewing patterns was also examined. Method Eleven children with ASD (approximately 4.5 years old) and 29 TD toddlers (approximately 2.5 years old) participated. The groups were matched on language comprehension raw scores from the Reynell Developmental Language Scales III. All children viewed short films of a woman speaking while their eye movements were recorded with eye-tracking equipment. Results Children with ASD spent proportionally less time viewing the mouth and more time viewing the nonmouth–noneyes areas. Time viewing the eyes did not differ between groups. Increased mouth viewing was associated with lower language comprehension in the group with ASD. Conclusion Variability in language comprehension is an important factor to monitor when interpreting face-viewing patterns in young children with ASD, particularly with regard to mouth viewing. The results may help explain divergent findings in this field of research.

Disfluency Characteristics Observed in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Preliminary Report

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura W. Plexico ◽  
Julie E. Cleary ◽  
Ashlynn McAlpine ◽  
Allison M. Plumb
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Young Children With Autism ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Developmental Stuttering

This descriptive study evaluates the speech disfluencies of 8 verbal children between 3 and 5 years of age with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Speech samples were collected for each child during standardized interactions. Percentage and types of disfluencies observed during speech samples are discussed. Although they did not have a clinical diagnosis of stuttering, all of the young children with ASD in this study produced disfluencies. In addition to stuttering-like disfluencies and other typical disfluencies, the children with ASD also produced atypical disfluencies, which usually are not observed in children with typically developing speech or developmental stuttering. (Yairi & Ambrose, 2005).

scholarly journals Altered Metabolism of Mothers of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Control Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hollowood-Jones ◽  
James B. Adams ◽  
Devon M. Coleman ◽  
Sivapriya Ramamoorthy ◽  
Stephan Melnyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Conjugated Molecules ◽  
Metabolic Analysis ◽  
Transsulfuration Pathway ◽  
Young Children With Autism ◽  
One Carbon Metabolism

Abstract Background: Previous research studies have demonstrated abnormalities in the metabolism of mothers of young children with autism.Method: Metabolic analysis was performed on blood samples from 30 mothers of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD-M) and from 29 mothers of young typically-developing children (TD-M). Targeted metabolic analysis focusing on the folate one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and the transsulfuration pathway (TS) as well as broad metabolic analysis were performed. Statistical analysis of the data involved both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.Results: Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in 5 metabolites from the folate one-carbon metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway and differences in an additional 48 metabolites identified by broad metabolic analysis, including lower levels of many carnitine-conjugated molecules. Multivariate analysis with leave-one-out cross-validation allowed classification of samples as belonging to one of the two groups of mothers with 93% sensitivity and 97% specificity with five metabolites. Furthermore, each of these five metabolites correlated with 8-15 other metabolites indicating that there are five clusters of correlated metabolites. In fact, all but 5 of the 50 metabolites with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were associated with the five identified groups. Many of the abnormalities appear linked to low levels of folate, vitamin B12, and carnitine-conjugated molecules.Conclusions: Mothers of children with ASD have many significantly different metabolite levels compared to mothers of typically developing children at 2-5 years after birth.

scholarly journals Parent-reported feeding and swallowing difficulties of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (aged 3 to 5 years) compared to typically developing peers: a South African study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 524-532
Author(s):  
Mari Viviers ◽  
Marguerite Jongh ◽  
Lindsay Dickonson ◽  
Roxanne Malan ◽  
Tamaryn Pike
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Young Children ◽  
South African ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Swallowing Difficulties ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

Background: Research on aspects of neurodevelopment such as feeding and swallowing difficulties in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is limited in low and middle income countries such as South Africa. Method: A descriptive comparative group design was used to investigate feeding and swallowing difficulties of young children with ASD in comparison to typically developing peers. The Brief Autism Mealtime Behavioural Inventory (BAMBI) was used. Results: Findings indicated a significant difference in the severity of feeding and swallowing difficulties between the two groups. Difficulties such as food selectivity, sensory processing difficulties, oral-motor difficulties and symptoms of dysphagia were iden- tified. The findings added to the existing global literature on feeding and swallowing difficulties in young children with ASD but provide a unique first perspective on these difficulties in South African children with ASD. Conclusion: Findings also highlighted the use of the BAMBI as an adjunct clinical tool to encourage comprehensive parental report during feeding assessment in this population. Cultural adaptation of the BAMBI for future use in African countries should be considered. A better local understanding of the parental perspective on the multidimensional nature of the feeding and swallowing difficulties displayed by young children with ASD was obtained. Keywords: Parent-reported feeding; swallowing difficulties; Autism Spectrum Disorders; South Africa. 

Automated Measures to Understand Communication Opportunities for Young Children With Autism in the Community: A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Little ◽  
Joanne P. Rojas ◽  
Anna Bard ◽  
Ying Luo ◽  
Dwight Irvin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Social Communication Skills ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Young Children With Autism

Community participation is vital to children’s development and provides opportunities to practice social communication skills. Although previous studies suggest that young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience decreased community participation, there is little empirical evidence on the precise patterns of participation that may influence social communication opportunities. Therefore, this pilot study investigated the communication among families of children with ASD ( n = 5) versus typical development (TD; n = 5) across various community locations. We used automated, objective measures: the Language ENvironmental Analysis (LENA) system™ to measure the amount of communication and integrated this with a Global Positioning System (GPS; that is, Qstarz™) to measure community location. Results showed that families of children with ASD and TD spent a similar amount of time in community locations; however, there were differences in the amount of adult talk directed toward children with ASD versus TD across community locations. Findings suggest that automated measures may be successfully integrated to quantify social communication during community participation.

scholarly journals Altered Metabolism of Mothers of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Control Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hollowood-Jones ◽  
James B. Adams ◽  
Devon M. Coleman ◽  
Sivapriya Ramamoorthy ◽  
Stephan Melnyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Conjugated Molecules ◽  
Metabolic Analysis ◽  
Transsulfuration Pathway ◽  
Young Children With Autism ◽  
One Carbon Metabolism

Abstract Background: Previous research studies have demonstrated abnormalities in the metabolism of mothers of young children with autism.Method: Metabolic analysis was performed on blood samples from 30 mothers of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD-M) and from 29 mothers of young typically-developing children (TD-M). Targeted metabolic analysis focusing on the folate one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and the transsulfuration pathway (TS) as well as broad metabolic analysis were performed. Statistical analysis of the data involved both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.Results: Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in 5 metabolites from the folate one-carbon metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway and differences in an additional 48 metabolites identified by broad metabolic analysis, including lower levels of many carnitine-conjugated molecules. Multivariate analysis with leave-one-out cross-validation allowed classification of samples as belonging to one of the two groups of mothers with 93% sensitivity and 97% specificity with five metabolites. Furthermore, each of these five metabolites correlated with 8-15 other metabolites indicating that there are five clusters of correlated metabolites. In fact, all but 5 of the 50 metabolites with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were associated with the five identified groups. Many of the abnormalities appear linked to low levels of folate, vitamin B12, and carnitine-conjugated molecules.Conclusions: Mothers of children with ASD have many significantly different metabolite levels compared to mothers of typically developing children at 2-5 years after birth.

scholarly journals Detecting Feeding Problems in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. W. G. van Dijk ◽  
M. E. Buruma ◽  
E. M. A. Blijd-Hoogewys
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Feeding Problems ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Young Children With Autism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Child Health

AbstractFeeding problems are prevalent in children with ASD. We investigated whether the Montreal Children’s Hospital Feeding Scale (MCH-FS, Ramsay et al. in Pediatrics and Child Health 16:147–151, 2011) can be used for young children with ASD. Participants (1–6 years) were selected from a clinical ASD sample (n = 80) and a general population sample (n = 1389). Internal consistency was good in both samples. In general, parents of children with ASD reported more feeding problems than those from the population sample. The response patterns on the individual items was highly similar. There was a slight increase in symptoms with age in the population sample, but not in the ASD sample. These results suggest that the MCH-FS can be used in populations that include children with ASD.

scholarly journals Are Children With Autism More Likely to Retain Object Names When Learning From Colour Photographs or Black-and-White Cartoons?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheriece K. Carter ◽  
Calum Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Mutual Exclusivity ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
First Time

Abstract For the first time, this study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children matched on language comprehension (M age equivalent =  ~ 44 months) are more likely to retain words when learning from colour photographs than black-and-white cartoons. Participants used mutual exclusivity to fast map novel word-picture relationships and retention was assessed following a 5-min delay. Children with ASD achieved significantly greater retention accuracy when learning from photographs rather than cartoons and, surprisingly, responded more accurately than TD children when learning from photographs. Our results demonstrate that children with ASD benefit from greater iconicity when learning words from pictures, providing a data-grounded rationale for using colour photographs when administering picture-based interventions.

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