Abnormal Activation of the Social Brain Network in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An fMRI Study

Purpose Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. Method In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Conclusion Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7324013

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Online multiplayer games for the social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder: a resource for inclusive education

International Journal of Inclusive Education ◽

10.1080/13603116.2018.1426051 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 209-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bessie G. Stone ◽

Kathy A. Mills ◽

Beth Saggers

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Multiplayer Games ◽

The Social

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Enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder by employing a mechatronic training kit

Paladyn Journal of Behavioral Robotics ◽

10.1515/pjbr-2019-0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ramya S. Moorthy ◽

Kritika Iyer ◽

R. Hari Krishnan ◽

S. Pugazhenthi

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Psychomotor Skills ◽

The Social ◽

Skill Deficits ◽

Hand Coordination

AbstractPrevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children has been increasing over the years. These children, when compared to typically growing children, face challenges in leading a day-to-day life. Other than the social interactions, communication and cognitive skills, psychomotor skill deficits are also found in them. This paper focuses on enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with ASD by employing a mechatronic training kit. Training using this kit aims at developing skills like ‘palmar grasp’, ‘wrist rotation’ and ‘eye-hand coordination’. Trials were conducted with six children with autism aged between four and nine years. Significant improvements were seen in these children both in skills and in behaviour after the training. Thus, teaching psychomotor skills to children with autism using the newly developed mechatronic door training kit is found to be working and the results are encouraging.

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Computer- and Robot-Assisted Therapies to Aid Social and Intellectual Functioning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina55080440 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (8) ◽

pp. 440 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Joan DiPietro ◽

Arpad Kelemen ◽

Yulan Liang ◽

Cecilia Sik-Lanyi

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Social Skills ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Computer Assisted ◽

Robot Assisted ◽

The Past ◽

Children With Asd ◽

The Social

Background and objectives: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social interactions, a core feature of the disorder. Social skills therapy has been shown to be helpful. Over the past several years, computer-assisted and robot-assisted therapies have been infiltrating the social skills teaching environment. Rapid progress in the field of technology, especially in the robotics area, offers tremendous possibilities for innovation and treatment or even education for individuals with ASD. This paper’s purpose is to drive awareness of these innovative interventions in order to support the social lives of children with ASD. The aims of the paper are identifying (1) the types of Information Technology platforms that are being evaluated in computer and robot-assisted therapies for children with ASD; (2) the various disciplines or professions studying and utilizing these computer and robot-assisted social skill therapies; (3) the outcomes being evaluated in each trial; and (4) if results demonstrate benefits to children with autism. Materials and Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were searched for clinical trials published over the past five years. Search terms incorporated the subject intersection of autism, and computer or robot-assisted therapy. Results were mined for pediatric populations only and study designs establishing controlled comparisons. Results: Eighteen unique international studies were identified that utilize robot interventions (11 studies) and serious computer game interventions (seven studies). Most demonstrated promising results in improving outcomes for children with ASD. Study implications reveal a rapidly evolving assistive technology for ASD social skills therapy. Conclusions: These interventions show considerable promise, but more effectiveness and cost effectiveness research of high quality should be carried out with larger numbers of children. Also, further studies are necessary to evaluate these technologies’ effectiveness amongst adults with ASD and within unique subsets of the higher functioning autism population.

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