scholarly journals A New Evaluation Technique Through Serious Games for Children with ASD

Author(s):  
Najoua Tahiri ◽  
Mohamed El Alami

Assessment at preschool age plays a crucial role in the process of learning especially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), whom encounter communication difficulties as exchanging thoughts or information by speech, writing or nonverbal expression. Therefore, a welldesigned assessment method is necessary in order to guide learning and serve as a powerful tool to reinforce children's motivation to learn. Information about what a child with ASD knows, understands and is able to do is used by tutors to adjust their teaching strategies. All assessment methods have different purposes before, during or after instruction. Besides, formative assessment is the most recommended type that helps improving children's learning and it takes place during the learning process. Also, serious games provide a context for assessing a broader range of skills and constructs compared to traditional assessment approaches. In this article, we propose a new technique for evaluating the degree of concept's assimilation of children with ASD through serious games. It allows identifying concepts that children are struggling to understand and skills they are having difficulty acquiring.

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte DiStefano ◽  
Connie Kasari

While a large number of preschool age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use no or little spoken language, only a portion will remain minimally verbal into elementary school. Determining whether a child is likely to remain minimally verbal past the preschool years is of great importance to families and clinicians, and can inform intervention efforts. Evidence from both behavioral and neuroimaging studies provide support for the idea that minimally verbal children with ASD have specific and unique expressive language deficits and are not simply at an earlier stage of language development. Intervention that focuses on pre-linguistic skills, such as joint attention, gestures, and vocalizations can be effective to increase language in pre- and minimally verbal children with ASD. The use of speech generating devices (SGD) has also been shown to support spoken language development in this population. Although many preschool aged children with ASD are using no or very little language, many of these children are in fact pre-verbal, and will continue to develop language skills. Targeted intervention, including a focus on pre-linguistic communication and SGD, will help support their language development.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliana L. Ajodan ◽  
Elysha Clark-Whitney ◽  
Benjamin Silver ◽  
Melanie R. Silverman ◽  
Audrey Southerland ◽  
...  

Accumulating evidence suggests that when parents are actively involved in therapy, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have better outcomes, yet it is unknown whether children with ASD significantly alter their social behaviour with their parent versus a clinician. During a semi-naturalistic, face-to-face interaction, young children (N = 27, ages 18-60 months) with ASD demonstrated greater duration and frequency of eye contact with their parent compared to a clinician. Children also made more eye contact during snack versus interactive play with both their parent and the clinician, which is consistent with our prior work. The findings suggest that despite social communication difficulties associated with ASD, children with ASD demonstrated increased social gaze with their parent.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliana L. Ajodan ◽  
Elysha Clark-Whitney ◽  
Benjamin Silver ◽  
Melanie R. Silverman ◽  
Audrey Southerland ◽  
...  

Accumulating evidence suggests that when parents are actively involved in therapy, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have better outcomes, yet it is unknown whether children with ASD significantly alter their social behaviour with their parent versus a clinician. During a face-to-face interaction, young children (N = 27, ages 18-60 months) with ASD demonstrated longer durations and higher frequencies of eye contact with their parent compared to a clinician. Children also made more eye contact during snack versus interactive play with both their parent and the clinician, which is consistent with our prior work. The findings suggest that despite social communication difficulties associated with ASD, children with ASD demonstrated increased eye contact with their parent.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura W. Plexico ◽  
Julie E. Cleary ◽  
Ashlynn McAlpine ◽  
Allison M. Plumb

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).


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Philofsky

AbstractRecent prevalence estimates for autism have been alarming as a function of the notable increase. Speech-language pathologists play a critical role in screening, assessment and intervention for children with autism. This article reviews signs that may be indicative of autism at different stages of language development, and discusses the importance of several psychometric properties—sensitivity and specificity—in utilizing screening measures for children with autism. Critical components of assessment for children with autism are reviewed. This article concludes with examples of intervention targets for children with ASD at various levels of language development.


Author(s):  
Hafize Otcu Temur ◽  
Ismail Yurtsever ◽  
Gozde Yesil ◽  
Rasul Sharifov ◽  
Fatih Temel Yilmaz ◽  
...  

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder in which neurological basis is largely unknown. The Corpus Callosum (CC) is the main commissure that connects the cerebral hemispheres. Previous evidence suggests the involvement of the CC in the pathophysiology of autism. Aim: The aim of our study is to assess whether there were any changes in Corpus Callosum (CC) area and volume and to reveal the relationship between Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) features in genu and splenium of corpus callosum in children with ASD. Methods: Eighteen patient and 15 controls were recruited. The volumetric sagittal TI images were used to provide measurements of midsagittal corpus callosum surface area while FA, MD, RD, and ADC values were extracted from genu and splenium of corpus callosum after which the correlation in the area and volume in ASD children was examined. Results: CC area and volume in children with ASD were decreased than controls. FA values obtained from the genu and splenum of CC were significantly lower and RD values were significantly higher. A positive correlation was observed between the FA of the genu and splenium and area and volume of the CC. There was a negative correlation between ADC, MD and RD of CC and area and volume measurements. Conclusion: The conclusions in the interrelations of morphometric and DTI data may demonstrate a likelihood of damages in the axons and cortical neurons. The results showed that there existed microstructural damages from the DTI findings. Furthermore, the decrease in FA could be a representation of the reduction in the myelination in nerve pathways, impaired integrity, reduced axonal density, and organization. Indeed, the changes in volumetric and microstructural of CC could be useful in evaluating underlying pathophysiology in children with autism.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faihan Alotaibi ◽  
Nabil Almalki

<p class="apa">The present study sought to examine parents’ perceptions of early interventions and related services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Saudi Arabia. In this study a survey was distributed to a sample of 80 parents with children who have ASD. Parents also were asked open-ended questions to enable them to provide suggestions. The findings indicate that parents have varying perceptions of early interventions and related services. However, they seem to agree that these services are important in assisting their children. Accordingly, parents have suggested that the government needs to increase these services by providing more centers for children with ASD in Saudi Arabia, providing more specialists to deal with children with ASD, promoting inclusion in regular schools and providing more information on early intervention.</p>


Author(s):  
Ana Gentil-Gutiérrez ◽  
José Luis Cuesta-Gómez ◽  
Paula Rodríguez-Fernández ◽  
Jerónimo Javier González-Bernal

(1) Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently have difficulties in processing sensory information, which is a limitation when participating in different contexts, such as school. The objective of the present study was to compare the sensory processing characteristics of children with ASD in the natural context of school through the perception of professionals in the field of education, in comparison with neurodevelopmental children (2) Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study as conducted with study population consisting of children between three and ten years old, 36 of whom were diagnosed with ASD and attended the Autismo Burgos association; the remaining 24 had neurotypical development. The degree of response of the children to sensory stimuli at school was evaluated using the Sensory Profile-2 (SP-2) questionnaire in its school version, answered by the teachers. (3) Results: Statistically significant differences were found in sensory processing patterns (p = 0.001), in sensory systems (p = 0.001) and in school factors (p = 0.001). Children with ASD who obtained worse results. (4) Conclusions: Children with ASD are prone to present sensory alterations in different contexts, giving nonadapted behavioral and learning responses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 994-1006
Author(s):  
Kelly Jensen ◽  
◽  
Sassan Noazin ◽  
Leandra Bitterfeld ◽  
Andrea Carcelen ◽  
...  

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.


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