No evidence of atypical attentional disengagement in autism: A study across the spectrum

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 677-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Ellie Wilson ◽  
David Saldaña
Keyword(s):  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Attentional Disengagement ◽  
Verbal Iq ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Fixation Offset ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

The ability to disengage attention and reengage elsewhere has been proposed as a fundamental deficit in the autism spectrum, potentially disrupting development of higher cognitive domains. Eye-movements were recorded while 16 autism spectrum children of mixed ability, and 18 typically developing age-matched controls, completed the Gap–Overlap paradigm. A significant difference in latency to fixate target was found between Gap and Overlap conditions. A significant interaction with group was due to autism spectrum participants’ shorter latencies to fixate target in the Gap condition, but similar group responses in the Overlap condition. Considerable within-group variability emerged. We predicted that attentional disengaging would be related to specific features of the phenotype; however, there was no evidence of an association with receptive language, non-verbal IQ, sensory behaviors, or autistic severity in autism spectrum or typically developing groups. In conclusion, while atypical visual attention mechanisms may be a feature of autism spectrum, this is not explained by impaired visual disengaging but is more likely due to increased susceptibility of visual fixation offset cueing. Despite best efforts, nine additional autism spectrum children could not complete testing, and data from a further six were unusable; more work is needed to develop research methods that enable individuals across the spectrum to participate.

scholarly journals Assessing language skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane King ◽  
Olympia Palikara
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Adolescents With Autism ◽  
Evaluative Language ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
Adolescents With Asd

Language abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are variable and can be challenging to ascertain with confidence. This study aimed to compare and evaluate different forms of language assessment: standardized language testing, narrative analysis and parent/teacher reports. 14 adolescents with ASD and 14 typically developing adolescents matched on age, gender and nonverbal ability were assessed using a number of standardized assessments for receptive and expressive language skills, a standardized narrative test, two experimental narrative assessments and a parent/teacher report measure of pragmatics. The findings were that, although adolescents with ASD scored within the normal range on expressive and receptive language, their performance on narrative tasks revealed difficulties with both structural and evaluative language. It should be noted that both teachers and parents rated the pragmatic language skills of the young people with ASD as significantly lower than those of the typically developing group but parents were more likely than teachers to additionally identify difficulties in speech and syntax. The implications of these results for professionals in terms of assessing the language skills of adolescents with ASD and for the planning of appropriate intervention are discussed.

scholarly journals Does Autism Affect Children’s Identification of Ownership and Defence of Ownership Rights?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calum Hartley ◽  
Nina Harrison ◽  
John J. Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
The Self ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Ownership Rights

AbstractThis study investigated how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts children’s ability to identify ownership from linguistic cues (proper nouns vs. possessive pronouns) and their awareness of ownership rights. In comparison to typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive language (M age equivalents: 53–56 months), children with ASD were less accurate at tracking owner-object relationships based on possessive pronouns and were less accurate at identifying the property of third parties. We also found that children with ASD were less likely to defend their own and others’ ownership rights. We hypothesise that these results may be attributed to differences in representing the self and propose that ASD may be characterised by reduced concern for ownership and associated concepts.

scholarly journals Does autism affect children’s identification of ownership and defence of ownership rights?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calum Hartley ◽  
Nina Harrison ◽  
John J Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
The Self ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Ownership Rights

This study investigated how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts children’s ability to identify ownership from linguistic cues (proper nouns vs. possessive pronouns) and their awareness of ownership rights. In comparison to typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive language (M age equivalents: 53-56 months), children with ASD were less accurate at tracking owner-object relationships based on possessive pronouns and were less accurate at identifying the property of third parties. We also found that children with ASD were less likely to defend their own and others’ ownership rights. We hypothesise that these results may be attributed to differences in representing the self and propose that ASD may be characterised by reduced concern for ownership and associated concepts.

scholarly journals Atypical and Non-spontaneous Attentional Control in “just Look” Tasks for Face Recognition in ASD Children Revealed by Gaze Tracking Pupillometry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuka Murofushi ◽  
Masaya Kubota ◽  
Ishiguro Akira ◽  
Itaru Hayakawa ◽  
Hiroshi Ozawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Pupil Diameter ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Attentional Disengagement ◽  
Gaze Tracking ◽  
Attentional Function ◽  
Geometric Patterns

Abstract We hypothesized that abnormalities in social interaction and executive function may be related to fluctuations in pupil diameter, which reflect norepinephrine activity in terms of attentional function. We adopted “just look” tasks to examine spontaneous changes in attention. Twenty children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 39 typically developing (TD) controls participated. Intragroup comparisons of differences in pupil diameter changes during a shift from a scrambled image to the original image (task 1-a), fixation on faces, letters, and geometric patterns (task 1-b), and pupil diameter changes during a shift from a nonsense image to a face-like image (task 2) were performed. In task 1-a, ASD children had prolonged pupil dilation after the shift in images, whereas the pupil contracted in TD children, indicating deficits in attentional disengagement in ASD children. In task 1-b, ASD children preferred geometric patterns over faces. In task 2, the rate of pupillary dilatation during the shift in images was lower in ASD children than in TD children. Therefore, ASD children appear to have abnormalities in spontaneous attention to faces, which function automatically in TD children. In conclusion, atypical attentional function may contribute to the manifestation of abnormalities in social interaction and executive control in ASD.

scholarly journals Compreensão de construções passivas em crianças com perturbação do espectro do autismo

2020 ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Raquel Costa ◽  
Maria Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Selection Task ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Verbal Iq ◽  
Children With Asd

This investigation aims to study the comprehension of passives in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research on passives is sparse and remains inconclusive. Fourteen Portuguese speaking children with ASD (between ages 7 and 13), including children with low and high non-verbal IQ, were compared to four typically developing (TD) children. The comprehension of various types of passives (short vs long, eventive vs psychological) was assessed via a picture selection task. Most children with ASD showed difficulties with passive constructions as compared to controls and to previous studies with Portuguese TD children. The results are in line with the ones we find in studies with this population conducted in other languages. Furthermore, difficulties with passives were dissociated from nonverbal abilities.

scholarly journals The use of prosody during syntactic processing in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 867-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua John Diehl ◽  
Carlyn Friedberg ◽  
Rhea Paul ◽  
Jesse Snedeker
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Adolescents With Autism ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

AbstractIn this study, we employed an eye-gaze paradigm to explore whether children (ages 8–12) and adolescents (ages 12–18) with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are able to use prosodic cues to determine the syntactic structure of an utterance. Persons with ASD were compared to typically developing (TD) peers matched on age, IQ, gender, and receptive language abilities. The stimuli were syntactically ambiguous but had a prosodic break that indicated the appropriate interpretation (feel the frog … with the feathervs.feel … the frog with the feather). We found that all groups were equally sensitive to the initial prosodic cues that were presented. Children and teens with ASD used prosody to interpret the ambiguous phrase as rapidly and efficiently as their TD peers. However, when a different cue was presented in subsequent trials, the younger ASD group was more likely to respond in a manner consistent with the initial prosodic cue rather than the new one. Eye-tracking data indicated that both younger groups (ASD and TD) had trouble shifting their interpretation as the prosodic cue changed, but the younger TD group was able to overcome this interference and produce an action consistent with the prosodic cue.

scholarly journals Corpus Callosum Volumes in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Gender-Associated Differences and Clinical Correlations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Bin Qin ◽  
Longlun Wang ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Cui Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Clinical Features ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Autism Symptoms ◽  
Verbal Iq ◽  
A Prospective Study ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background: Gender differences in clinical features is a prominent feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the corpus callosum (CC) is the largest commissural tract connecting the left and right hemispheres associated with autism symptoms. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between gender-associated clinical features and CC size in children aged 2-4 years.Methods: A prospective study of 100 children aged 2-4 years, including 50 cases with ASD (ASD group) and 50 cases with typically developing (TD group) who were matched with equivalent samples of ASD, were recruited with assessments of demographic data (gender, age, and body mass index [BMI]), clinical features (full-scale/verbal/performance IQ, ADOS, and ADI-R), and CC size measured by Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data.Results: The mid-posterior CC (MPCC), anterior-middle CC (AMCC), and total CC (TCC) volumes in ASD were higher than that in TD, and the significance these sub-regions volumes between ASD-Females and ASD-Males was existed in ASD group (all P < 0.05). Analogously, the mean of verbal IQ score in ASD-Males was significantly higher than in ASD-Females, but the scores of ADOS communication (AC) and ADOS total (AT) were lower in ASD-Males (all P < 0.05). AC and AT scores were significantly and positively related to MPCC, AMCC and TCC volumes (all P < 0.05), but verbal IQ score was significantly and negatively associated with MPCC, AMCC and TCC volumes (all P < 0.05). In ASD-Males and -Females, both AC and AT scores increase with the change of MPCC, AMCC and TCC volumes, but VIQ decline.Conclusion: The language ability, including communication and verbal IQ, of ASD aged 2-4 years old has gender differences, which may be related to the CC size, especially the MPCC and AMCC.

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).

Examining the Role of Language in Play Among Children With and Without Developmental Disabilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 795-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Short ◽  
Rachael Cooper Schindler ◽  
Rita Obeid ◽  
Maia M. Noeder ◽  
Laura E. Hlavaty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Play Skills ◽  
Critical Aspect ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Better Than

Purpose Play is a critical aspect of children's development, and researchers have long argued that symbolic deficits in play may be diagnostic of developmental disabilities. This study examined whether deficits in play emerge as a function of developmental disabilities and whether our perceptions of play are colored by differences in language and behavioral presentations. Method Ninety-three children participated in this study (typically developing [TD]; n = 23, developmental language disorders [DLD]; n = 24, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]; n = 26, and autism spectrum disorder [ASD]; n = 20). Children were videotaped engaging in free-play. Children's symbolic play (imagination, organization, elaboration, and comfort) was scored under conditions of both audible language and no audible language to assess diagnostic group differences in play and whether audible language impacted raters' perception of play. Results Significant differences in play were evident across diagnostic groups. The presence of language did not alter play ratings for the TD group, but differences were found among the other diagnostic groups. When language was audible, children with DLD and ASD (but not ADHD) were scored poorly on play compared to their TD peers. When language was not audible, children with DLD were perceived to play better than when language was audible. Conversely, children with ADHD showed organizational deficits when language was not available to support their play. Finally, children with ASD demonstrated poor play performance regardless of whether language was audible or not. Conclusions Language affects our understanding of play skills in some young children. Parents, researchers, and clinicians must be careful not to underestimate or overestimate play based on language presentation. Differential skills in language have the potential to unduly influence our perceptions of play for children with developmental disabilities.

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