Trajectories of imitation skills in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract Background Imitation skills play a crucial role in social cognitive development from early childhood. Many studies have shown a deficit in imitation skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Little is known about the development of imitation behaviors in children with ASD. This study aims to measure the trajectories of early imitation skills in preschoolers with ASD and how these skills impact other areas of early development. Methods For this purpose, we assessed imitation, language, and cognition skills in 177 children with ASD and 43 typically developing children (TD) aged 2 to 5 years old, 126 of which were followed longitudinally, yielding a total of 396 time points. Results Our results confirmed the presence of an early imitation deficit in toddlers with ASD compared to TD children. The study of the trajectories showed that these difficulties were marked at the age of 2 years and gradually decreased until the age of 5 years old. Imitation skills were strongly linked with cognitive and language skills and level of symptoms in our ASD group at baseline. Moreover, the imitation skills at baseline were predictive of the language gains a year later in our ASD group. Using a data-driven clustering method, we delineated different developmental trajectories of imitation skills within the ASD group. Conclusions The clinical implications of the findings are discussed, particularly the impact of an early imitation deficit on other areas of competence of the young child.

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Trajectories of imitation skills in preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

10.1101/2021.03.24.21254258 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Irene Pittet ◽

Nada Kojovic ◽

Martina Franchini ◽

Marie Schaer

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Developmental Trajectories ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

The Impact

Imitation skills play a crucial role in social cognitive development from early childhood. Many studies have shown a deficit in imitation skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Little is known about the development of imitation behaviors in children with ASD. This study aims to measure the trajectories of early imitation skills in preschoolers with ASD and how these skills impact other areas of early development. For this purpose, we assessed imitation, language and cognition skills in 177 children with ASD and 43 typically developing children (TD) aged 2 to 5 years old, 126 of which were followed longitudinally, yielding a total of 396 time-points. Our results confirmed the presence of an early imitation deficit in toddlers with ASD compared to TD children. The study of the trajectories showed that these difficulties were marked at the age of two years, and gradually decreased until the age of 5 years old. Imitation skills were strongly linked with cognitive, language skills and level of symptoms in our ASD group at baseline. Moreover, the imitation skills at baseline were predictive of the language gains a year later in our ASD group. Using a data-driven clustering method, we delineated different developmental trajectories of imitation skills within the ASD group. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed, particularly the impact of an early imitation deficit on other areas of competence of the young child.

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Verbal fluency in bilingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.15023.gon ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (3-4) ◽

pp. 460-475 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero ◽

Aparna Nadig

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

The Impact

Abstract We examine the impact of bilingualism on verbal fluency in four groups of school-age (5 to 10 years-old) children: 13 Typically-developing (TYP) monolingual children, 13 TYP bilingual children, 13 monolingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and 13 bilingual children with ASD. Participants were matched on chronological age and nonverbal IQ. Verbal fluency was examined via the word association subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-4; Semel et al., 2003). The bilingual ASD group performed unexpectedly well on the verbal fluency task, not differing from the typically-developing groups, but outperforming the monolingual ASD group with respect to number of correct words produced. These findings are in line with previous research on bilingual children with ASD (e.g., Hambly & Fombonne, 2012) and taken together suggest that bilingualism does not have a negative impact on the lexical-semantic skills of children with ASD.

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Postural control and emotion in children with autism spectrum disorders

Translational Neuroscience ◽

10.1515/tnsci-2017-0022 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nathalie Gouleme ◽

Isabelle Scheid ◽

Hugo Peyre ◽

Magali Seassau ◽

Anna Maruani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

Postural Control ◽

Postural Sway ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Fixation Time ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Spectrum Disorders

AbstractAutism Spectrum Disorders subjects (ASD) are well known to have deficits in social interaction. We recorded simultaneously eye movements and postural sway during exploration of emotional faces in children with ASD and typically developing children (TD). We analyzed several postural and ocular parameters. The results showed that all postural parameters were significantly greater in children with ASD; ASD made significantly fewer saccades and had shorter fixation time than TD, particularly in the eyes, and especially for unpleasant emotions. These results suggest that poor postural control of ASD and their impaired visual strategies could be due to a lack of interest in social cognition, causing a delay in the development of the cortical areas, and thus could have an effect on their postural control.

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

Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders ◽

10.1044/ffd20.2.42 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 42-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

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).

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GENDER, AGE, CHILD STATE: PERCEPTUAL STUDY OF SPEECH OF 8-9 YEAR OLD TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN, CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND DOWN SYNDROME

Theoretical and Applied Linguistics ◽

10.22250/2410-7190_2020_6_3_61_76 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 61-76

Author(s):

ELENA E. LYAKSO ◽

◽

OLGA V. FROLOVA ◽

ALEKSANDR S. NIKOLAEV ◽

VIKTOR A. GORODNYI ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Spectrum Disorders

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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

African Health Sciences ◽

10.4314/ahs.v20i1.59 ◽

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.

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