scholarly journals Improving Emotion Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Computer-Based Training and Hearing Amplification

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 469
Author(s):  
Joan H. Leung ◽  
Suzanne C. Purdy ◽  
Paul M. Corballis
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Emotional Speech ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Perception Training

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social communication, often involving emotional elements of language. This may stem from underlying auditory processing difficulties, especially when incoming speech is nuanced or complex. This study explored the effects of auditory training on social perception abilities of children with ASD. The training combined use of a remote-microphone hearing system and computerized emotion perception training. At baseline, children with ASD had poorer social communication scores and delayed mismatch negativity (MMN) compared to typically developing children. Behavioral results, measured pre- and post-intervention, revealed increased social perception scores in children with ASD to the extent that they outperformed their typically developing peers post-intervention. Electrophysiology results revealed changes in neural responses to emotional speech stimuli. Post-intervention, mismatch responses of children with ASD more closely resembled their neurotypical peers, with shorter MMN latencies, a significantly heightened P2 wave, and greater differentiation of emotional stimuli, consistent with their improved behavioral results. This study sets the foundation for further investigation into connections between auditory processing difficulties and social perception and communication for individuals with ASD, and provides a promising indication that combining amplified hearing and computer-based targeted social perception training using emotional speech stimuli may have neuro-rehabilitative benefits.

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).

Disorder-specific alterations of tactile sensitivity in neurodevelopmental disorders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason He ◽  
Ericka Wodka ◽  
Mark Tommerdahl ◽  
Richard Edden ◽  
Mark Mikkelsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
The Core ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Tactile Detection ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Sensory Processes ◽  
Core Symptoms

Alterations of tactile processing have long been identified in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the extent to which these alterations are disorder-specific, rather than disorder-general, and how they relate to the core symptoms of each disorder, remains unclear. We measured and compared tactile detection, discrimination and order judgment thresholds between a large sample of children with ASD, ADHD, ASD + ADHD combined and typically developing controls. The pattern of results suggested that while difficulties with tactile detection and order judgement were more common in children with ADHD, difficulties with tactile discrimination were more common in children with ASD. Strikingly, subsequent correlation analyses found that the disorder-specific alterations suggested by the group comparisons were also exclusively related to the core symptoms of each respective disorder. These results suggest that disorder-specific alterations of lower-level sensory processes exist and are specifically related to higher-level clinical symptoms of each disorder.

scholarly journals Autism Detection in Children by Combined Use of Gaze Preference and the M-CHAT-R in a Resource-Scarce Setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 994-1006
Author(s):  
Kelly Jensen ◽  
◽  
Sassan Noazin ◽  
Leandra Bitterfeld ◽  
Andrea Carcelen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Early Screening ◽  
Resource Limited Settings ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
Better Than

AbstractMost children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in resource-limited settings (RLS), are diagnosed after the age of four. Our work confirmed and extended results of Pierce that eye tracking could discriminate between typically developing (TD) children and those with ASD. We demonstrated the initial 15 s was at least as discriminating as the entire video. We evaluated the GP-MCHAT-R, which combines the first 15 s of manually-coded gaze preference (GP) video with M-CHAT-R results on 73 TD children and 28 children with ASD, 36–99 months of age. The GP-MCHAT-R (AUC = 0.89 (95%CI: 0.82–0.95)), performed significantly better than the MCHAT-R (AUC = 0.78 (95%CI: 0.71–0.85)) and gaze preference (AUC = 0.76 (95%CI: 0.64–0.88)) alone. This tool may enable early screening for ASD in RLS.

scholarly journals Role of Exclusive Breastfeeding in Conferring Protection in Children At-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Results from a Sibling Case–control Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 09 (01) ◽  
pp. 132-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harshini Manohar ◽  
Madhavapuri Pravallika ◽  
Preeti Kandasamy ◽  
Venkatesh Chandrasekaran ◽  
Ravi Philip Rajkumar
Keyword(s):  
Neural Development ◽  
Exclusive Breastfeeding ◽  
Feeding Practices ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Gut Microflora ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Lower Odds ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Typically Developing Siblings

ABSTRACTBackground: Gut microflora influences neural development through complex mechanisms. Feeding practices, especially breastfeeding influence gut microbiome and thereby play a pivotal role in immune and neural development. Current understandings of the role of healthy distal gut microflora in the development of immune and neural systems provide insights into immunological mechanisms as one of the possible etiologies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies have shown that optimal breastfeeding is associated with lower odds of being at-risk for ASD and children with ASD are suboptimally breastfed. Methods: The feeding practices of children with ASD (n = 30) was compared to their typically developing siblings as matched controls (n = 30). Information regarding feeding practices was collected from mothers through a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: About 43.3% of children with ASD received exclusive breastfeeding, whereas 76.7% of their typically developing siblings were exclusively breastfed. Exclusive breastfeeding was associated with lower odds for ASD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.166; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.025–0.65), while early introduction of top feeds was associated with higher odds (OR = 6; 95% CI = 1.33–55.19). Difficulties in breastfeeding were attributed to child-related factors in 13.2% of the children. Conclusion: Children with ASD are suboptimally breastfed compared to their typically developing siblings. Exclusive breastfeeding may confer protection in vulnerable children. Further studies on larger prospective sample are required to establish the association.

Assessment and treatment of anxiety in children and adolescents with ASD: a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celal Perihan ◽  
Mack D. Burke ◽  
Lisa Bowman-Perrott ◽  
Joel Bocanegra
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Implementation Fidelity ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Children With Asd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of current studies that assess and treat anxiety symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More specifically the study aimed to answer the following questions: What are the qualities of the current studies using cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) to treat anxiety symptoms in children with ASD? Did studies make necessary modifications and adaptations to CBTs according to the evidence-based strategies and implement these versions of CBTs with precise fidelity? Were the selected measurements appropriate for assessing the anxiety symptoms in children with ASD? Design/methodology/approach A systematic review protocol was developed from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Moher et al., 2009). A rubric was adapted based on the CEC (Council for Exceptional Children; Cook, 2014) group comparison studies standards and the Evaluative Method for Determining EBP in Autism (Reichow et al., 2007). The 3-point Likert Scale (Chard et al., 2009) was adapted to score each study based on the rubric. Findings CBT is a first-line treatment with significant mixed results. Current studies use adapted versions of existing CBTs for children with ASD without reporting empirical evidence to these adaptations and changes. Reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue in the treatment of anxiety. Anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms in children with ASD. Research limitations/implications The first limitation of this study was including a variety of studies across CBT programs and types of anxiety symptoms. Types of anxiety and CBT treatments may require separate analyses with specific indicators. Due to the limited studies, reviews could not be analyzed across types of CBT programs. The second limitation was the types of studies. Most of the studies were pilot studies. Pilot studies might use various instruments and CBTs components for making selections to produce the best effects and results. The final limitation was the lack of examination of the data analysis process. Originality/value These findings are important because due to the variety of changes or adaptation to CBTs, inappropriate implementations and failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms of children with ASD may cause significant differences in treatment responses and outcomes. The study demonstrated that the majority of the studies used adapted versions of existing CBTs without reporting empirical evidence for these adaptations and changes. The findings have shown that reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue. Moreover, the majority of studies had used anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children, not for children with ASD.

scholarly journals Early screening of autism spectrum disorder using cry features

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Khozaei ◽  
Hadi Moradi ◽  
Reshad Hosseini ◽  
Hamidreza Pouretemad ◽  
Bahareh Eskandari
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Early Screening ◽  
Classification Approach ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

AbstractDue to the importance of automatic and early autism screening, in this paper, a cry-based screening approach for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is introduced. During the study, we realized that the ASD specific features are not necessarily observable among all children with ASD and among all instances of each child. Therefore, we proposed a new classification approach to be able to find such features and their corresponding instances. We tested the proposed approach and found two features that can be used to distinguish groups of children with ASD from Typically Developing (TD) children. In other words, these features are present in subsets of children with ASD not all of them. The approach has been tested on a dataset including 14 boys and 7 girls with ASD and 14 TD boys and 7 TD girls, between 18 to 53 months old. The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of the proposed approach for boys were 85.71%, 100%, and 92.85%, respectively. These measures were 71.42%, 100%, and 85.71% for girls, respectively.

scholarly journals 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

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. 

scholarly journals Adaptation to Vocal Expressions and Phonemes Is Intact in Autism Spectrum Disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-381
Author(s):  
Patricia E. G. Bestelmeyer ◽  
Bethan Williams ◽  
Jennifer J. Lawton ◽  
Maria-Elena Stefanou ◽  
Kami Koldewyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Adaptation Mechanism ◽  
Identity Recognition ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vocal Expressions

Several recent studies have demonstrated reduced visual aftereffects, particularly to social stimuli, in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This putative impairment of the adaptive mechanism in ASD has been put forward as a possible explanation for some of the core social problems experienced by children with ASD (e.g., facial emotion or identity recognition). We addressed this claim in children with ASD and typically developing children by using an established methodology and morphed auditory stimulus set for eliciting robust aftereffects to vocal expressions and phonemes. Although children with ASD were significantly worse at categorizing the vocal expressions compared with the control stimuli (phoneme categorization), aftereffect sizes in both tasks were identical in the two participant groups. Our finding suggests that the adaptation mechanism is not universally impaired in ASD and is therefore not an explanation for the social perception difficulties in ASD.

Same music, different emotions: assessing emotions and EEG correlates of music perception in children with ASD and typically developing peers

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galina Portnova ◽  
Alexandra Maslennikova ◽  
Anton Varlamov
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Self Reports

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess emotional response to music and its EEG correlates in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Design/methodology/approach Six musical fragments eliciting emotional states of calmness/serenity, sadness and anxiety/fear were presented to children with ASD (n=21, aged 5–9) and typically developing (TD) peers (n=21), while 19-channel EEG was recorded. Emotion self-reports were assessed using visual analogous scales. Findings Children with ASD assessed most music fragments similarly to their TD peers, with likelihood of EEG oscillatory patterns closely corresponding to emotion self-reports. Somewhat contrary to the expectations, a major difference was observed for one fragment only, which was identified as sad by TD children and adult neurotypical raters, but found “angry and frightening” by children with ASD, with EEG oscillatory response confirming greater cortical activation, particularly for the right hemisphere. Research limitations/implications The data suggest that children with ASD may have emotional reactions to music either similar or highly aberrant compared to TD peers, rather than having general difficulties in assessing emotions. The data should be confirmed by further studies, ideally involving high functioning adult autists. Practical implications The findings may increase the understanding of autists’ difficulties in perceiving prosodic nuances and reading emotional cues. The results can be taken into consideration when developing music-based interventions. Originality/value The findings show that music may be perceived by children with ASD in a unique way, which may be difficult to predict by neurotypical raters.

scholarly journals Salivary Cytokine Profile as a Possible Predictor of Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 3101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Samborska-Mazur ◽  
Anna Kostiukow ◽  
Izabela Miechowicz ◽  
Dorota Sikorska ◽  
Rafał Rutkowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorders ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein 1 ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Cytokine Levels ◽  
Factor Α ◽  
Gait Disturbances

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by neurodevelopmental disorders and alterations in immune function and cytokine levels. The aim of this study is to determine the salivary levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), Regulated on Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed and Secreted (RANTES), and Eotaxin in children with ASD and in healthy controlsto assess their predictive potential. We explored correlations between the cytokine levels and the neurodevelopmental disorders related to ASD. The study comprised 19 children with ASD and 19 typically developing (TD) ones. We analyzed salivary levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, MCP-1, RANTES, and eotaxin on Luminex with custom-designed 7-plex kits. The level of RANTES in ASD children was significantly lower than those of TD. In TDs, the salivary levels of IL-1β, MCP-1, and TNFα correlated positively with age. In ASD, the cytokine levels did not correlate with age. There were statistically significant differences between the RANTES level and aggression and gait disturbances, between IL-8 level and fixations/stimulations, and between IL-1β level and no active speech. The levels of the cytokine detected can manifest both systemic and local changes related to ASD. The cytokine pattern cannot be used as a sole ASD predictor, but the salivary levels may be helpful in categorizing the ASD subtype.

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