scholarly journals Attachment and autism spectrum conditions: Exploring Mary Main’s coding notes

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-93
Author(s):  
Barry Coughlan ◽  
Tess Marshall-Andon ◽  
Julie Anderson ◽  
Sophie Reijman ◽  
Robbie Duschinsky
Keyword(s):  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Disorganized Attachment ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Main Frequency ◽  
Behavioral Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Attachment Pattern

Distinguishing autism spectrum behaviors from behaviors relating to disorganized attachment can be challenging. There is, for instance, a notable overlap between both conditions in terms of behaviors deemed stereotypical. In addition, there are also similarities regarding some atypical social overtures. Responding to this overlap has been the subject for much debate in the literature. Disorganized attachment was first introduced and conceptualized by the attachment researcher, Mary Main. Main is considered the leading authority on coding this phenomenon. During the course of archival research, we obtained Main’s notes on coding attachment in a group of 15 children with autism spectrum conditions (hereafter ASC). Drawing on these texts, this article explores Main’s reasoning when making distinctions between ASC and attachment at the behavioral level. Our approach is informed by Chang’s argument for the potential of “history as complementary science.” Analysis indicates that, for Main, frequency and timing were important differential factors when attributing a behavior to either ASC or the child’s attachment pattern.

‘Obsessions' in children with autism or Asperger syndrome

1999 ◽  
Vol 175 (5) ◽  
pp. 484-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Baron-Cohen ◽  
Sally Wheelwright
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Style ◽  
Tourette Syndrome ◽  
Folk Psychology ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Folk Physics ◽  
Free Theory ◽  
The Subject

BackgroundWe report a survey of the content of obsessions in children with autism spectrum conditions. We use the term obsessions' narrowly, to indicate strong, repetitive interests. We predicted that obsessions would not cluster randomly, but rather would occur significantly more often in the domain of ‘folk physics' (an interest in how things work), and significantly less often in the domain of ‘folk psychology’ (an interest in how people work). These predictions were tested relative to a control group of 33 children with Tourette syndrome.AimsTo examine the content of autistic obsessions, and to test the theory that these reflect an evolved cognitive style of good folk physics alongside impaired folk psychology.MethodNinety-two parents returned a questionnaire designed to determine the subject of their child's obsessional interests. The results were analysed in terms of core domains of cognition.ResultsBoth predictions were confirmed.ConclusionsThese results suggest that impaired folk psychology and superior folk physics are part of the cognitive phenotype of autism. A content-free theory of obsessions is inadequate.

scholarly journals Robots in special education: reasons for low uptake

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Maria Jose Galvez Trigo ◽  
Penelope Jane Standen ◽  
Sue Valerie Gray Cobb
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the main reasons for low uptake of robots in special education (SE), obtained from an analysis of previous studies that used robots in the area, and from interviewing SE teachers about the topic. Design/methodology/approach An analysis of 18 studies that used robots in SE was performed, and the conclusions were complemented and compared with the feedback from interviewing 13 SE teachers from Spain and the UK about the reasons they believed caused the low uptake of robots in SE classrooms. Findings Five main reasons why SE schools do not normally use robots in their classrooms were identified: the inability to acquire the system due to its price or availability; its difficulty of use; the low range of activities offered; the limited ways of interaction offered; and the inability to use different robots with the same software. Originality/value Previous studies focussed on exploring the advantages of using robots to help children with autism spectrum conditions and learning disabilities. This study takes a step further and looks into the reasons why, despite the benefits shown, robots are rarely used in real-life settings after the relevant study ends. The authors also present a potential solution to the issues found: involving end users in the design and development of new systems using a user-centred design approach for all the components, including methods of interaction, learning activities and the most suitable type of robots.

scholarly journals Expressive prosody in children with autism spectrum conditions

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Peppé ◽  
Joanne Cleland ◽  
Fiona Gibbon ◽  
Anne O’Hare ◽  
Pastora Martínez Castilla
Keyword(s):  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions

scholarly journals Fostering Socio-Emotional Competencies in Children with Autism using a Parent-Assisted Serious Game: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Kirst ◽  
Robert Diehm ◽  
Katharina Bögl ◽  
Sabine Wilde-Etzold ◽  
Christiane Bach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Multicenter Rct ◽  
Autism Symptomatology

Objective: Serious games (SGs) are a promising means of fostering socio-emotional skills in children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, alexithymia and emotional empathy have not yet been addressed adequately, and there is a lack of randomized controlled trials (RCT) to investigate skill maintenance and the transfer to functional behavior. Method: The manualized, parent-assisted SG Zirkus Empathico (ZE) was tested against an active control group, in a six-week multicenter RCT. Eighty-two children aged 5-10 years with ASC were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and three-month follow-up. Parent-rated empathy and emotion recognition skills were defined as the primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes included measures of emotional awareness, emotion regulation, autism social symptomatology (Social Responsiveness Scale), and subjective therapy goals. Results: Training effects were observed after the intervention for empathy (d = 0.71) and emotion recognition (d = 0.50), but not at follow-up. Moderate effects on emotional awareness, emotion regulation, and autism social symptomatology were indicated by the short and mid-term assessments. Parents reported treatment goal attainment and positive training transfer. Conclusion: While a six-week training with ZE failed to induce lasting changes in empathy and emotion recognition, it may be effective for improving emotion regulation and mitigate alexithymia and general autism symptomatology.

Studying pupillary light reflex in young children with autism spectrum disorders

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dinalankara M. R. Dinalankara
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Pupillary Light Reflex ◽  
Light Reflex ◽  
Pupillary Light ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Pupillary light reflex (PLR) is a phenomenon wherein the pupil size changes according to retina illumination. PLR of adults and children has been investigated in various studies. However, its significance in the medical care of young children and infants has been limited due to the lack of reliable instrumentation. Traditional PLR devices need to restrain subject or have to be worn on the head, which is not suitable for young children. A remote PLR measuring device was developed which allows the subject to sit far from the device during the PLR test. The device can capture high resolution images at a high sample rate similar to what can be found in a desktop system, but without the need for a restraint. The device follows the subject by tracking their eye movements during the PLR test. The device has been used to test PLR in typical developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), who were between ages of two to six years old. It was found that PLR latency in children with ASDs was longer than in typical developing children. The PLR constriction of the ASD subjects was slightly smaller than the TD subjects, but that difference was not statistically significant in our test. Moreover, the base pupil radius increased and latency decreased with age in the TD children but not in the ASD group. We found that PLR parameters are associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction. TD children with abnormal sweating issues showed a larger PLR constriction and smaller base pupil radius. We found that children with ASD did not show such differences. However, constriction time is negatively correlated with the normalized high frequency component of heart rate variability power spectrum in the ASD group, but not in the TD group. Nine TD children and eight ASD children were tested again 1-1.5 years from their first test date. The PLR parameter differences between the first and second tests were calculated, and we found that latency difference was negatively correlated to base pupil radius difference. Moreover, constriction difference was found to be positively correlated to the base pupil radius difference in TD children, but not in the ASD group. Remote PLR device camera setup was changed to capture the test subject's motion by a one camera while the other camera captures a high resolution pupil image. Because the two cameras are off axis, 3D location of the eye position is directly calculated using stereo vision base method, which helped to remove the need of physical measurement. The entire space occupied by the new rPLR device is about 50% of the previous device.

scholarly journals Utilization and medical costs of outpatient rehabilitation among children with autism spectrum conditions in Taiwan

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsing-Jung Li ◽  
Chi-Yuan Chen ◽  
Ching-Hong Tsai ◽  
Chao-Chan Kuo ◽  
Kung-Heng Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Children With Autism ◽  
Medical Costs ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Autism Spectrum Conditions ◽  
Outpatient Rehabilitation
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