scholarly journals Bilingualism, executive function, and the brain: Implications for autism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-51
Author(s):  
Celia Romero ◽  
Lucina Q. Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Adaptive Functioning ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Evidence Based Guidelines

Abstract Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with marked heterogeneity with respect to the development of executive function abilities. The ‘bilingual advantage’ refers to the observation that individuals who speak two languages perform better on executive function tasks than monolinguals under some circumstances. There is not yet consensus, however, as to whether this advantage can be reliably demonstrated, nor is there consensus regarding under which conditions it emerges. Bilingual and monolingual children with ASD have comparable developmental outcomes, particularly in the areas of core ASD symptoms, cognitive function, and language. Still, despite the potential advantages that bilingualism may confer, clinicians commonly advise against providing a bilingual environment for children with ASD. The purpose of the present review is to provide an up-to-date assessment of the limited literature on bilingualism in children with ASD in order to inform evidence-based practice. Studies suggest a potential bilingual advantage in ASD in the areas of nonverbal intelligence quotient, adaptive functioning, and expressive vocabulary. A limited yet growing literature provides preliminary evidence for enhanced executive function ability in some children with ASD. Taken together, current evidence suggests that although a ‘bilingual advantage’ may not be universally present in typical development, it may manifest under specific circumstances, conferring advantage for populations in which executive function is compromised. Further work is needed to develop consistent, evidence-based guidelines around language recommendations for families of children with ASD and to better understand the cognitive and brain mechanisms giving rise to the bilingual advantage in clinical developmental populations.

scholarly journals When Will He Talk? An Evidence-Based Tutorial for Measuring Progress Toward Use of Spoken Words in Preverbal Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jena McDaniel ◽  
C. Melanie Schuele
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Progress Monitoring ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Therapeutic Setting ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Sampling Procedures

Purpose Professionals face substantial challenges determining whether and when children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are not yet using spoken words will use spoken language as their primary means of communication. This tutorial provides speech-language pathologists with practical guidance on how to measure expressive language predictors for progress monitoring and making intervention decisions for children with ASD who are preverbal. Method This tutorial is a repackaging effort that seeks to make the research accessible to clinicians wishing to implement evidence-based practice. Results We describe intentional communication, consonant inventory in communication acts, and responding to joint attention as particularly valuable prelinguistic skills to measure. We explain how and when to efficiently assess progress using published assessments periodically and using brief (5-min) communication samples for more frequent progress monitoring. Conclusions Communication samples can be used to show how a child performs within a therapeutic setting during teaching (treatment data) and outside of the therapeutic setting (generalization probe data). Both types of data are critical for determining whether the child is exhibiting progress and which aspects of intervention are facilitating progress toward use of spoken words. These recommendations also balance the evidence for best practices for progress monitoring and the demands on clinicians' time and effort. To encourage the measurement of prelinguistic skills of children with ASD who are preverbal in clinical practice, we include (a) example data collection documents, (b) examples with hypothetical data and interpretation, and (c) guidance on communication sampling procedures. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13557836

scholarly journals Predicting Receptive–Expressive Vocabulary Discrepancies in Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 1426-1439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jena McDaniel ◽  
Paul Yoder ◽  
Tiffany Woynaroski ◽  
Linda R. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Oral Motor ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Size Discrepancy

PurposeCorrelates of receptive–expressive vocabulary size discrepancies may provide insights into why language development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) deviates from typical language development and ultimately improve intervention outcomes.MethodWe indexed receptive–expressive vocabulary size discrepancies of 65 initially preverbal children with ASD (20–48 months) to a comparison sample from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories Wordbank (Frank, Braginsky, Yurovsky, & Marchman, 2017) to quantify typicality. We then tested whether attention toward a speaker and oral motor performance predict typicality of the discrepancy 8 months later.ResultsAttention toward a speaker correlated positively with receptive–expressive vocabulary size discrepancy typicality. Imitative and nonimitative oral motor performance were not significant predictors of vocabulary size discrepancy typicality. Secondary analyses indicated that midpoint receptive vocabulary size mediated the association between initial attention toward a speaker and end point receptive–expressive vocabulary size discrepancy typicality.ConclusionsFindings support the hypothesis that variation in attention toward a speaker might partially explain receptive–expressive vocabulary size discrepancy magnitude in children with ASD. Results are consistent with an input-processing deficit explanation of language impairment in this clinical population. Future studies should test whether attention toward a speaker is malleable and causally related to receptive–expressive discrepancies in children with ASD.

Executive Function, Social Emotional Learning, and Social Competence in School-Aged Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 265-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Berard ◽  
Lynn Loutzenhiser ◽  
Phillip R. Sevigny ◽  
Dennis P. Alfano
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Social Emotional Learning ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Emotional Learning ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Child Social Competence ◽  
Children With Asd

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an aetiologically complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social functioning. Children with ASD display a wide range of social competence and more variability in social domains as compared with either communication or repetitive behaviour domains. There is limited understanding of factors that contribute to the heterogeneity of social abilities in ASD. A modified version of McKown and colleagues’ social competence model was used to examine social competence in 49 8- to 13-year-old boys with ASD without cognitive disability. The relations between executive function (EF), social emotional learning (SEL), and parent reports of child social competence were examined. Results showed that EF but not SEL predicted parent-reported child social competence. Although many interventions target SEL skills, these findings support specifically targeting EF in both assessment and interventions of school-aged children with ASD.

Context counts

Gesture ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley B. de Marchena ◽  
Inge-Marie Eigsti
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Communicative Gestures ◽  
Social Communicative

Co-speech gestures in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are poorly understood. Historically, all gestures were thought to be reduced in this social-communicative disorder; however, reduced gestures have not been consistently demonstrated in the empirical literature. Just as protodeclarative pointing is reduced in young children with ASD, while protoimperative pointing is not, the varied functions of co-speech gesture may explain these mixed findings. Verbally fluent adolescents with ASD (n = 18) and controls (n = 18) completed a narrative task and a standardized executive function task. Gestures on the narrative task, which serve a wide range of social and cognitive functions, were reduced in ASD. Gestures on the executive function task, which serve primarily cognitive functions, were increased in ASD. Gesture function may be the best predictor of the presence or absence of gesture in ASD. Despite reduced social-communicative gestures, individuals with ASD may benefit from gesture’s internal, cognitive functions.

scholarly journals Peculiarity of Efficiency Assessment for Educational and Psychological Interventions Used with Children with ASD

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-67
Author(s):  
A.B. Sorokin ◽  
E.Yu. Davydova ◽  
A.V. Khaustov
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Efficiency Assessment ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Individual

Timely identification of appropriate intervention is prerequisite for amelioration of deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is a complicated choice because of the high heterogeneity of ASD manifestations and insufficient state of knowledge about intervention efficiency. The article introduces an approach that will allow professionals who plan educational and psychological interventions for children with ASD and caregivers to assess the methods in terms of their congruence with the evidence-based criteria. Such assessment is conducted based on published experimental data. The article presents characteristics that are worth considering while making an informed decision about the preferred intervention. They include formal features, such as sample sizes, study length, compliance with the target group description, and validity, as well as subjective criteria that enable appropriate choice of intervention at the individual level.

scholarly journals Glutathione S-Transferase Polymorphisms and Clinical Characteristics in Autism Spectrum Disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanja Mandic-Maravic ◽  
Marija Mitkovic-Voncina ◽  
Marija Pljesa-Ercegovac ◽  
Ana Savic-Radojevic ◽  
Miroslav Djordjevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Clinical Characteristics ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Adaptive Functioning ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Gst Polymorphisms ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a heterogeneous group of developmental disorders, with different levels of symptoms, functioning, and comorbidities. Recent findings suggested that oxidative stress and genetic variability in glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) might increase the risk of ASD development. We aimed to determine whether GST polymorphisms influence the severity of symptoms as well as the cognitive and adaptive abilities in children with ASD.Methods: The sample included 113 ASD cases. All participants were genotyped for GSTA1, GSTM1, GSTT1, and GSTP1 polymorphisms. The clinical characteristics were determined with Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) in all of the participants. In non-verbal participants, we explored the adaptive functioning using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale II, while in verbal participants, we used the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI).Results: It was shown that the GSTA1*CC genotype was a predictor of a lower non-verbal communication impairment as well as of a lower chance of having seizures during life. GSTM1-active genotype predicted a higher adaptive functioning. The predictive effect of GSTA1, GSTM1, and GSTT1 genotype was moderated by exposure during pregnancy (maternal smoking and medication). The GSTP1*IleIle genotype was significantly associated to a better cognitive functioning in children with ASD.Conclusion: Besides the complex gene-environment interaction for the specific risk of developing ASD, there is also a possible complexity of interactions between genetic and environmental factors influencing the level of symptoms and impairment in people with ASD. Detoxification and antioxidant enzymes, such as GSTA1, might contribute to the core of this complexity.

scholarly journals Implementation of an Elemental Diet in Five Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Presenting with Gastrointestinal Disease: A Brief Report

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Kelly Barnhill ◽  
Kelly Barnhill ◽  
Alan Gutierrez ◽  
Alan Gutierrez ◽  
Amy Potts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Gastrointestinal Disease ◽  
Elemental Diet ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Nutritional Deficiencies ◽  
Anthropometric Measures ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Evidence Based Guidelines ◽  
Study Participants

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired communication and social interaction. Children with ASD are frequently diagnosed with gastrointestinal (GI) issues, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gastroesophageal reflux, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation, although the association between ASD and GI conditions is unclear. Underlying nutritional deficiencies are more common in children with ASD, and increase the risk of them developing medical conditions secondary to the behavioral diagnosis. This objective of this study was to examine the use of an elemental diet (ED) in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease in 5 children with ASD ages 2-21 years of age. In the study participants, the ED was well-tolerated with improvements in anthropometric measures, nutritional markers, and/or GI functioning reported after 12 weeks of intervention. Further research to advance the development of specific evidence-based guidelines in the management and treatment of gastrointestinal concerns in the ASD population is warranted.

scholarly journals Cognitive, Language, and Behavioral Outcomes in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders Exposed to Early Comprehensive Treatment Models: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bijun Shi ◽  
Weijia Wu ◽  
Meixia Dai ◽  
Jingjing Zeng ◽  
Jingyin Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Functioning ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Natural Experiments ◽  
Summary Estimate ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Treatment Models ◽  
Meta Regression

Background: Early comprehensive treatment models (CTMs) have been developed as effective treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Numerous studies have suggested that CTMs can improve short-term outcomes, but little is known about precise outcome information in childhood. The current meta-analysis reviewed studies reporting broader outcomes in children with ASD who had ever participated in a CTM and examined the predictors of developmental gains.Methods: We searched eight databases up to June 13, 2019, for relevant trials and natural experiments. Longitudinal studies were selected if they investigated the outcomes of CTMs. Two meta-analyses were undertaken to provide a summary estimate of change in treatment outcomes and to evaluate the effect of CTMs; one used the standardized mean change between the pretest and posttest, and the other was a classical meta-analysis. Stratified and random-effects meta-regression analyses were performed to search for outcome differences among studies.Results: Eighteen intervention studies (involving 495 children with ASD) met all the inclusion criteria: 12 used early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI), and two used the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). Outcomes were categorized into three parts: cognitive, language and behavioral (e.g., adaptive functioning and symptomatology). Overall, most children with ASD who had ever participated in an early CTM made gains in many areas of functioning, especially in terms of symptom- and language-related outcomes. Stratified analyses indicated that the ESDM displayed the largest effect on IQ improvement (ES = 1.37, 95% CI: 0.95 to 1.80), while EIBI was more effective for symptom reduction (ES = −1.27, 95% CI: −1.96 to −0.58). Further, meta-regression suggested that interventions with parent involvement, higher intensity, and longer treatment hours yielded greater improvements in IQ and social adaptive functioning, respectively.Conclusion: The results demonstrate a positive association between CTMs and better prognosis in childhood, especially regarding symptoms, and language. However, most extant research involves small, non-randomized studies, preventing definitive conclusions from being drawn. Clearly, the outcomes of children with ASD are still far from normal, especially with respect to adaptive functioning, and the four mediating variables pertaining to treatment elements can affect their gains, including approach, implementer, intensity, and total treatment hours.Systematic Review Registration: [www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO], identifier [CRD42019146859].

scholarly journals Pediatric Tuina in children with autism spectrum disorder: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Feng ◽  
Jun Yu ◽  
Wu Li ◽  
Tao Li ◽  
Quanrui Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Conventional Treatment ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Clinical Treatment ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Pediatric Tuina ◽  
Conventional Treatment Group ◽  
Children With Asd

Abstract Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by repetitive stereotypical behaviour and communication disorders. Currently, it lacks a specific clinical treatment method. Pediatric Tuina is a recent therapy in traditional Chinese medicine; however, there have been studies on the treatment of children with ASD by Tuina. Nonetheless, it remains uncommon given the lack of large-scale evidence-based medical studies. This study aims to compare the efficacy of Tuina and conventional treatment in children with ASD. Methods Eligible children will be randomly divided into the pediatric Tuina plus conventional treatment group or conventional treatment group based on a random table at a ratio of 1:1. Effectiveness will be evaluated using a scale; moreover, the primary outcome will be the Childhood Autism Rating Scale. The secondary outcome will be the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist. All participants will be assessed on the scale by a third party not involved in the study. Baseline values of the participants will be determined at the registration time. Outcomes will be evaluated after the 30th treatment session. The follow-up period will last for 6 post-treatment months. Discussion This study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Tuina in ASD treatment, which could provide reliable evidence-based findings to improve clinical treatment. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (CHICTR), ChiCTR2000040452. Registered on 28 November 2020

Preliminary Evidence That Motor Planning Is Slower and More Difficult for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder During Motor Cooperation

Motor Control ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Breanna E. Studenka ◽  
Kodey Myers
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Motor Planning ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Sequence Versus

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit impairment in helping someone else with a motor action, which may arise from impairment in selecting and preparing motor responses. Five children with ASD and five typically developing children performed a cooperative motor planning task that required them to reach for, lift, and hand an object (hammer or stick) to a researcher. The response, movement, and grasp time were measured. Children with ASD grasped the object longer on trials where they helped, indicating that the action was planned in sequence versus as a whole (i.e., prior to the onset of movement). The hammer object elicited a quicker response than the stick, suggesting the facilitation of planning by tools with inherent action properties. Finally, the increased helping of children with ASD was not mirrored by changes in the response, movement, or grasp time.

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