The Effects of Mother-Mediated Social StoriesTM at Home on the Social Interaction of a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract Background: This study examined the social synchronization in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when responding to others’ joint attention. Social synchronization refers to an individuals’ temporal coordination during social interactions, which has been found to play a crucial role in social development. Deficient joint attention has been repeatedly found in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, and previous studies have demonstrated various explanations about it. In a more recent perspective, joint attention could be associated with spontaneous social motor synchronization, and it is possible to explore social synchronization as a pathway to understanding the impairments of joint attention in children with ASD.Methods: Forty-one children aged 5 to 8 with ASD and 43 age-matched typically developing (TD) children watched a video to completed the response to joint attention (RJA) tasks, during which their gaze data were collected. The synchronization of gaze-shift behaviors between children and the female model in the video was measured with the cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA). Results: We found that children with ASD had the ability, to some extent, to synchronize their gaze shifts with the female model in the video during RJA tasks. However, compared to the TD children, children with ASD displayed lower levels of synchronization and longer latency in this synchronized behavior. Limitations: The RJA task in our study was not a real social interaction task but rather a one-way interaction. Social interaction between two persons through live video or a natural scenario should be further explored. Besides, additional work is necessary to determine whether our findings generalize to individuals across the full autism spectrum. Conclusion: These findings provide a new avenue to deepen our understanding of the impairments of joint attention in children with ASD. Notably, the analytic method can be further applied to explore the social synchronization of numerous other social interactive behaviors in ASD. Additionally, the impairment of social synchronization may be a new implicit indicator for the evaluation of autism and can be utilized to screen children with ASD along with other indicators.

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A Case Study of the Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Changes of Social Interaction of an Elementary School Student with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Special Education ◽

10.31863/jse.2019.08.35.2.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 1-29

Author(s):

Hye Bin Ko ◽

Eun Kyung Kim

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Elementary School ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Animal Assisted Therapy ◽

Elementary School Student

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Assessment and Treatment of Selective Mutism in a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Clinical Case Studies ◽

10.1177/1534650120983451 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 153465012098345

Author(s):

Mirela Cengher ◽

Joy C. Clayborne ◽

Adrianna E. Crouch ◽

Julia T. O’Connor

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Environmental Variables ◽

Behavioral Interventions ◽

Selective Mutism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Future Research ◽

Assessment And Treatment

Over 60% of children diagnosed with selective mutism are also diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Previous research established that behavioral interventions are effective at increasing speech in children with both diagnoses. However, few studies conducted assessments to determine environmental variables that inhibit speech, and such assessments are necessary for the development of effective and efficient treatments. This case study describes an assessment that evaluated the function(s) of selective mutism. The results confirmed that the participant did not talk to avoid social interaction and that mutism occurred primarily in the presence of multiple, unfamiliar people. Our first treatment focused on increasing tolerance for social interaction, demonstrated by an increase in speech production in the presence of unfamiliar people. Our second treatment focused on increasing qualitative aspects of the participant’s speech (i.e., both responses and initiations). Finally, we taught the participant’s parents to implement the treatment in naturalistic settings, and the participant demonstrated generalization of treatment effects across people and settings. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

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Renaming schizophrenia: 5 × 5

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences ◽

10.1017/s2045796018000586 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (03) ◽

pp. 254-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sinan Guloksuz ◽

Jim van Os

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Well Being ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Long Run ◽

The Social ◽

Technical Features ◽

In The Beginning

AbstractThere had been a long way to go before we felt comfortable about even discussing the issues revolving around the concept of ‘schizophrenia’, let alone reckoning on mere semantic revision. In this editorial, we aim to extend our discussion on the reasons behind the slow death of the concept of ‘schizophrenia’ and the benefits of changing the name and embracing a spectrum approach with an umbrella psychosis spectrum disorder (PSD) category (similar to autism spectrum disorder) that goes further than a mere semantic revision. We attempted to cover the topic of the renaming by providing five most pertinent points categorised under five domains: reasons, signals, challenges, promises and steps for the change. Admittedly, even a modest revision, such as classifying all psychotic disorder categories under an umbrella category of PSD, and abolishing the term schizophrenia requires careful deliberation and some effort in the beginning, but the revision is well worth the effort considering the benefits in the long run. Renaming a particular form of mental suffering should be accompanied by a broader debate of the entire diagnosis-evidence-based-practice (EBP)-symptom-reduction model as the normative factor driving the content and organisation of mental health services that may be detached from patients’ needs and reality, overlooks the trans-syndromal structure of mental difficulties, appraises the significance of the technical features over the relational and ritual components of care, and underestimates the lack of EBP group-to-individual generalisability. Individuals may make great strides in attaining well-being by accommodating to living with mental vulnerabilities through building resilience in the social and existential domains. Changing the name and the concept of ‘schizophrenia’, which goes beyond a mere semantic revision, may become the first step that allows catalysation of the process of modernising psychiatric science and services worldwide.

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