Neural correlates of face processing associated with development of social communication in 12-month infants with familial risk of autism spectrum disorder

Background Differences in face processing in individuals with ASD is hypothesized to impact the development of social communication skills. This study aimed to characterize the neural correlates of face processing in 12-month-old infants at familial risk of developing ASD by (1) comparing face-sensitive event-related potentials (ERP) (Nc, N290, P400) between high-familial-risk infants who develop ASD (HR-ASD), high-familial-risk infants without ASD (HR-NoASD), and low-familial-risk infants (LR), and (2) evaluating how face-sensitive ERP components are associated with development of social communication skills. Methods 12-month-old infants participated in a study in which they were presented with alternating images of their mother’s face and the face of a stranger (LR = 45, HR-NoASD = 41, HR-ASD = 24) as EEG data were collected. Parent-reported and laboratory-observed social communication measures were obtained at 12 and 18 months. Group differences in ERP responses were evaluated using ANOVA, and multiple linear regressions were conducted with maternal education and outcome groups as covariates to assess relationships between ERP and behavioral measures. Results For each of the ERP components (Nc [negative-central], N290, and P400), the amplitude difference between mother and stranger (Mother-Stranger) trials was not statistically different between the three outcome groups (Nc p = 0.72, N290 p = 0.88, P400 p = 0.91). Marginal effects analyses found that within the LR group, a greater Nc Mother-Stranger response was associated with better expressive language skills on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, controlling for maternal education and outcome group effects (marginal effects dy/dx = 1.15; p < 0.01). No significant associations were observed between the Nc and language or social measures in HR-NoASD or HR-ASD groups. In contrast, specific to the HR-ASD group, amplitude difference between the Mother versus Stranger P400 response was positively associated with expressive (dy/dx = 2.1, p < 0.001) and receptive language skills at 12 months (dy/dx = 1.68, p < 0.005), and negatively associated with social affect scores on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (dy/dx = − 1.22, p < 0.001) at 18 months. Conclusions In 12-month-old infant siblings with subsequent ASD, increased P400 response to Mother over Stranger faces is positively associated with concurrent language and future social skills.

Development of a Social Communication Questionnaire (QSC-ID) for People With Intellectual Disability in a Deaf Sample: A Pilot and Feasibility Study

Background: Social communication (SC) includes the use and interpretation of verbal and non-verbal messages within a social context and thus requires more than knowledge of language. Social communication skills are essential for connecting and engaging with others, and SC deficits are often associated with emotional and behavioral problems. There is a lack of feasible instruments for assessing SC skills in individuals with intellectual disability (ID).Methods: A questionnaire on social communication in adults with ID (QSC-ID) comprising 20 Likert-scaled items was developed and completed on behalf of participants (n = 52) from three Austrian therapeutic living communities for people with ID and deafness by their living- and working-facility key caregivers. The sample of adults with hearing loss was considered ideal for the development of a measure of SC that is not restricted to a specific communication mode or overly related with language skills.Results: The preliminary results showed high construct validity. Correlations were high between SC and language, social skills, and severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), moderate between SC and adaptive skills, and non-verbal intelligence and, as expected, low between SC and motor skills. Interrater reliability was found to be good or at least acceptable for all items. Total raw scores were well-distributed over the whole range—Cut-offs based on the 10th and 20th percentile are suggested to identify atypical and borderline SC skills. Caregiver feedback and completeness of data suggest that the questionnaire is highly feasible.Conclusion: Questionnaire on social communication in adults with ID is an easy-to-use caregiver-reported questionnaire for use with individuals with mild to severe forms of ID. Initial testing of validity looks promising. Further validation in populations with typical hearing is required. Due to substantial correlations between SC and structural language skills the calculation of specific SC cut-offs for different levels of linguistic skills should be considered when sufficient data is available.

Analysis of sensorimotor abilities and nervous system properties of players of different e-sports disciplines

The article presents the results of the study of the properties of the nervous system, the speed of simple and complex reactions, short-term visual memory of first-person shooter CS: GO and multiplayer battle arena DOTA 2. Relevance of the description of individual typological personality traits of participants relationships with indicators of gaming activity is associated with the possibility of creating psychodiagnostic tools to determine the propensity to certain disciplines of e-sports, the development of psychological foundations to improve the effectiveness of training and competitive activities of e-sportsmen based on their individuality, prevention of psychological risks of e-sports. Purpose: to identify and analyze individual sensorimotor abilities and properties of the nervous system of players who prefer different e-sports genres. Research methods: theoretical analysis of literature sources, pedagogical testing, methods of mathematical statistics. The study involved e-sports players Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (n = 18) and DOTA 2 (n = 10) aged 18-20 years. According to the playing experience, the number of playing hours per week, the regularity of participation in competitions and their level, these players were classified as amateurs. It is established that the main factors determining the effectiveness of e-sports are sensorimotor coordination, nervous system properties, cognitive properties, technical and tactical skills, social communication skills and more. In games of both genres, the speed of simple and complex reactions has been found to be important, but it is most effective in combination with a high level of technical and tactical training. Analysis of the results of the study showed that players in different e-sports disciplines have some differences in sensorimotor abilities, but at the level of amateurs guilt does not have a significant difference. At the same time, they have significant differences in the type of nervous system.

Agreement Between Parental Report and Clinician Observation of Infant Developmental Skills

Understanding the convergence between parent report and clinician observation measures of development is important and became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic as clinician contact with families was significantly limited. Previous research points to inconsistencies in the degree of agreement between parents and clinicians and very little research has examined these associations for infants within the first year of life. This study investigated the association between parent report and clinician observation measures of social communication and motor skills in 27 young infants who were assessed at 9 and 12 months of age. Results suggest a strong relation between clinician and parent rated motor skills, but weak to moderate associations between clinician and parent rated communication skills. Infant temperament played a significant role in parent ratings of infant communication. Together, these results provide support for data collection via parent report or clinician observation of infant motor skills, but suggest that multiple measures of infant communication may be helpful to obtain high-quality, perhaps more accurate, assessment social-communication skills. Specifically, multiple parent report measures along with an observation of parent-infant interactions will likely provide a more rich and accurate characterization of infant social-communication abilities.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SELF-TRANSCENDENCE AMONG MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

The research problem lies in the following questions: What is the nature of the correlation between social communication skills and self-transcendence among middle school teachers, and does this relationship differ according to gender? Therefore, the current research aims to identify: 1-The social communication skills of middle school teachers. 2- Self-transcendence among middle school teachers. 3- The relationship between social communication skills and self- transcendence among middle school teachers 4 - The difference in the relationship between social communication skills and self-transcendence among middle school teachers according to the gender variable (male - female).For the purpose of verifying this, the scale of social communication skills prepared by Al-Samadoni and built according to the Reggio model, which includes (32) items, as well as the scale of self-transcendence prepared by Abdel Wahab, which includes (57) items, was used. The two scales were applied to a sample of (120) chosen by the random cluster method ,The results of the research showed that the social communication skills of middle school teachers were respectively social control, social expression and social sensitivity. As for self transcendence, it appeared that they enjoy a high level of self-transcendence, and that there is a statistically significant relationship between social communication skills and self-transcendence, and there are no differences in the relationship Between social communication skills and self-transcendence can be traced back to the gender variable, and in light of these results, the current research reached a set of recommendations and suggestions. Keywords: Social Communication Skills, Self-Transcendence, Middle School Teachers.

Teachers’ Awareness and Needs of the School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists

Objectives: Recently, as the population of various students in school classrooms has increased, the need for intervention on various communication problems has been emphasized. This study aims to provide basic data for legislative proposals for speech and language services in schools by investigating teachers’ perceptions and demands for establishment of school-based service delevery in speech-language pathology (SLP) in Korea.Methods: Using a Google survey, teachers at kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools were questioned regarding their perception and demand for school SLP, with a total of 141 teachers responding.Results: The types of communication problems for the students in charge were 37.3% for multicultural families, 33.3% for slow learners, and 27% for children with other communication problems. Among the difficulties in communication among students, social communication skills accounted for 40.6%, followed by literacy with 22.7%, articulation with 16.4%, and vocabulary with 9.4%. More than 80% of teachers answered that there were students who had difficulty participating in class. Among them, 73.9% had the most difficulty in understanding the contents of the class, 32.2% of teachers’ instructions, and 17.4% of class presentations. In addition, it was found that more than half of the teachers interfered with the class or felt a work burden due to students who had difficulty participating in the class. Therefore, for this reason, 96.5% of teachers thought that having experts to help students would reduce their work burden and help children.Conclusion: Our outcomes demonstrated that teachers recognized the need for professional support at school sites, and mandatory placement of school SLP could provide students and parents with programs that could help improve their academic achievement or social communication skills.

A Systematic Review of Play-Based Interventions Targeting the Social Communication Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Educational Contexts

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience social communication difficulties which can be compounded by increased social demands and expectations of the school environment. Play offers a unique context for social communication development in educational settings. This systematic review aimed to synthesize play-based interventions for the social communication skills of children with ASD in educational contexts and identified nine studies. Overall, studies in this review provided a promising evidence base for supporting social communication skills through play in education for children with ASD. The review also highlighted gaps in research on play-based interventions for the social communication skills of children with ASD within naturalistic educational settings.

Use of Mobile Social Story Maps in the Development of Cognitive and Social Skills of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of animated and non-animated mobile social story maps using the mobile learning environment that the authors developed. An application using the story map method based on social stories was developed. Mobile social story map was presented with animated and non-animated narrative and the effectiveness and efficiencies of the two methods on both listening comprehension and social communication skills were compared using an alternating treatments design. The participants of the study consisted of three children aged between 6 and 7 years with an ASD diagnosis. Research findings showed that mobile social story maps contribute to the development of social communication skills and listening comprehension skills of participants with an ASD. The results indicated that two methods were equally effective in improving social communication skills, but in improving listening comprehension skills, animated supported stories were more effective for one of the three participants. Also, animated narrative-supported mobile social story maps were more efficient for two participants.