Individual characteristics of students with autism spectrum disorders and school refusal behavior

Autism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Kathrine Munkhaugen ◽  
Tonje Torske ◽  
Elen Gjevik ◽  
Terje Nærland ◽  
Are Hugo Pripp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
School Refusal ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
School Refusal Behavior ◽  
Students With Autism

This study compared social, executive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics of students with autism spectrum disorder who did and did not display school refusal behavior. The participants were 62 students with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability aged 9–16 years attending inclusive schools. Parents first completed questionnaires assessing social and executive functioning as well as emotional and behavioral problems. They then documented their child’s school refusal behavior for a period of 20 days. Compared to students without school refusal behavior (n = 29), students with school refusal behavior (n = 33) were significantly less socially motivated; displayed more deficits in initiating tasks or activities, in generating ideas, responses, or problem-solving strategies; and displayed more withdrawn and depressive symptoms. Assessing social and executive functioning, as well as emotional problems, may help professionals provide tailored interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder and school refusal behavior, which will further be valuable in recognizing characteristics associated with school refusal behavior.

scholarly journals Callous-unemotional traits in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): replication of prevalence estimates and associations with gaze patterns when viewing fearful faces

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Virginia Carter Leno ◽  
Rachael Bedford ◽  
Susie Chandler ◽  
Pippa White ◽  
Isabel Yorke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Cu Traits ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Callous Unemotional

Abstract Research suggests an increased prevalence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and a similar impairment in fear recognition to that reported in non-ASD populations. However, past work has used measures not specifically designed to measure CU traits and has not examined whether decreased attention to the eyes reported in non-ASD populations is also present in individuals with ASD. The current paper uses a measure specifically designed to measure CU traits to estimate prevalence in a large community-based ASD sample. Parents of 189 adolescents with ASD completed questionnaires assessing CU traits, and emotional and behavioral problems. A subset of participants completed a novel emotion recognition task (n = 46). Accuracy, reaction time, total looking time, and number of fixations to the eyes and mouth were measured. Twenty-two percent of youth with ASD scored above a cut-off expected to identify the top 6% of CU scores. CU traits were associated with longer reaction times to identify fear and fewer fixations to the eyes relative to the mouth during the viewing of fearful faces. No associations were found with accuracy or total looking time. Results suggest the mechanisms that underpin CU traits may be similar between ASD and non-ASD populations.

scholarly journals The symptoms of autism including social communication deficits and repetitive and restricted behaviors are associated with different emotional and behavioral problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Hong Tsai ◽  
Kuan-Lin Chen ◽  
Hsing-Jung Li ◽  
Kuan-Hsu Chen ◽  
Chao-Wei Hsu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Repetitive Behaviors ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Association Patterns ◽  
Different Types

AbstractThe aim of the study was to investigate the associations between symptoms of autism and emotional and behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorder from both caregivers’ and clinicians’ perspectives. Three main findings were found in our study. First, the association patterns were similar in the preschool and school-aged children. Second, different association patterns were found from caregivers’ and professionals’ perspectives. From the professionals’ perspective, only repetitive behaviors were associated with behavioral problems, while from the caregivers’ perspective, all symptoms of autism were associated with emotional and behavioral problems. Third, different types of symptoms of autism were associated with different types of emotional and behavioral problems. For example, from the professionals’ perspective, restricted and repetitive behaviors were only associated with hyperactivity and inattention. From the caregivers’ perspective, social emotion was associated with emotional symptoms, and other symptoms of autism were associated with hyperactivity and inattention, as well as with peer problems. The results of our study provided deeper understanding of the relationships between symptoms of autism and emotional and behavioral problems, and the findings could serve as a reference for intervention planning when clinicians approach children with autism spectrum disorder.

Discrepancy in perceived social support among typically developing siblings of youth with autism spectrum disorder

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore S Tomeny ◽  
James A Rankin ◽  
Lorien K Baker ◽  
Sophia W Eldred ◽  
Tammy D Barry
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Behavioral Difficulties ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Siblings

Social support can buffer against stressors often associated with having family members with autism spectrum disorder. This study included 112 parents and typically developing siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. Relations between self-reported typically developing sibling emotional and behavioral problems and discrepancy between social support frequency and importance were examined via polynomial regression with response surface analysis. Typically developing siblings who described social support as frequent and important reported relatively few problems. Typically developing siblings who reported social support as highly important but infrequent exhibited the highest emotional and behavioral difficulties. Thus, typically developing siblings with little support who view support as highly important may be particularly responsive to social support improvement efforts.

scholarly journals Impairments in cognitive empathy and alexithymia occur independently of executive functioning in college students with autism

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1519-1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Ziermans ◽  
Ymke de Bruijn ◽  
Renee Dijkhuis ◽  
Wouter Staal ◽  
Hanna Swaab
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Students With Autism ◽  
The Difference

Reduced empathy and alexithymic traits are common across the autism spectrum, but it is unknown whether this is also true for intellectually advanced adults with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether college students with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulties with empathy and alexithymia, and whether this is associated with their cognitive levels of executive functioning. In total, 53 college students with autism spectrum disorder were compared to a gender-matched group of 29 neurotypical students on cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy and alexithymia. In addition, cognitive performance on executive functioning was measured with computerized and paper-and-pencil tasks. The autism spectrum disorder group scored significantly lower on cognitive empathy and higher on cognitive alexithymia (both d = 0.65). The difference on cognitive empathy also remained significant after controlling for levels of cognitive alexithymia. There were no group differences on affective empathy and alexithymia. No significant relations between executive functioning and cognitive alexithymia or cognitive empathy were detected. Together, these findings suggest that intellectually advanced individuals with autism spectrum disorder experience serious impairments in the cognitive processing of social–emotional information. However, these impairments cannot be attributed to individual levels of cognitive executive functioning.

Factors influencing the probability of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in girls versus boys

Autism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 646-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorieke Duvekot ◽  
Jan van der Ende ◽  
Frank C Verhulst ◽  
Geerte Slappendel ◽  
Emma van Daalen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis

In order to shed more light on why referred girls are less likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than boys, this study examined whether behavioral characteristics influence the probability of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis differently in girls versus boys derived from a multicenter sample of consecutively referred children aged 2.5–10 years. Based on information from the short version of the Developmental, Dimensional and Diagnostic Interview and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 130 children (106 boys and 24 girls) received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.) criteria and 101 children (61 boys and 40 girls) did not. Higher overall levels of parent-reported repetitive and restricted behavior symptoms were less predictive of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in girls than in boys (odds ratio interaction = 0.41, 95% confidence interval = 0.18–0.92, p = 0.03). In contrast, higher overall levels of parent-reported emotional and behavioral problems increased the probability of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis more in girls than in boys (odds ratio interaction = 2.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.13–5.29, p = 0.02). No differences were found between girls and boys in the prediction of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis by overall autistic impairment, sensory symptoms, and cognitive functioning. These findings provide insight into possible explanations for the assumed underidentification of autism spectrum disorder in girls in the clinic.

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