Advances in Autism : 2018 – Issue 3
1. Portnova G, Maslennikova A, Varlamov A. Same music, different emotions : assessing emotions and EEG correlates of music perception in children with ASD and typically developing peers. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 85-94.
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.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
2. Hatton VA. Staff awareness training : improving knowledge and confidence of autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities in a locked rehabilitation unit. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 95-108.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a training package which was delivered to improve staff members’ knowledge and confidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID). Design/methodology/approach The training was facilitated in a locked rehabilitation unit for adult males, many of whom had diagnoses of ASD and/or ID. With all staff receiving an invite, 25 attended which was the majority of the staff team. This included staff from housekeeping, nursing and catering. Findings To evaluate the effectiveness of the training, a survey and short assessment was administered before and after training. This revealed an improvement in both perceived knowledge and confidence of ASD and ID, as well as actual knowledge. Follow-up interviews also revealed some evidence of sustained learning and practice changes. Research limitations/implications Based on these findings, it is recommended that further face-to-face training is delivered at this locked rehabilitation unit to further improve professional practice. Originality/value This paper provides value to other inpatient settings as it highlights to practitioners how face-to-face training can significantly improve staff members knowledge and confidence of developmental disorders.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
3. Ali S. Autistic spectrum disorder and offending behaviour – a brief review of the literature. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 109-21.
Purpose The purpose of this paper to synthesise much of the existing research on autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and offending behaviour. Design/methodology/approach It considers three key areas, namely, first, a discussion about the nature of ASD and how it might be related to offending behaviour ; second, a brief commentary about the prevalence of this population ; and, finally, an exploration of the effective management and possible treatment outcomes. Findings Methodological limitations have resulted in variable findings which has hindered our understanding of this population. Some of the research is based on small, highly specialist samples making prevalence difficult to measure. The link between ASD and offending is still not well understood, and despite advances in staff training, awareness amongst practitioners remains an underdeveloped area, thus yielding variable treatment outcomes. Originality/value This review continues to demonstrate the urgent need for robust research in order to better understand the link between ASD and offending behaviour, to provide tailored, needs-led interventions, and reduce the risk of offending amongst this group as a whole.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
4. Leaf JB, Ross RK, Cihon JH, Weiss MJ. Evaluating Kupferstein’s claims of the relationship of behavioral intervention to PTSS for individuals with autism. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 122-9.
Purpose Kupferstein (2018) surveyed 460 respondents and found that 46 percent of respondents met the diagnostic threshold for posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to applied-behavior-analysis-based intervention. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation a critical analysis of Kupferstein (2018) including the experimental methods and discussion of the results. Design/methodology/approach The authors evaluated the Kupferstein’s methodological rigor with respect to the use of hypothesis testing, use of indirect measures, selection of respondents, ambiguity in definitions, measurement system, and framing of the experimental question when conducting the correlational analysis in addition to Kupferstein’s analysis and discussion of the results. Findings Based upon the analysis, Kupferstein’s results should be viewed with extreme caution due to several methodological and conceptual flaws including, but not limited to, leading questions used within a non-validated survey, failure to confirm diagnosis, and incomplete description of interventions. Originality/value It is the authors’ hope that this analysis provides caregivers, clinicians, and service providers with a scientific lens which will useful in viewing the limitations and methodological flaws of Kupferstein.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
5. Fteiha M, Bustami GA. Parents’ evaluation of services offered to autistic children. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 130-40.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the assessment by parents of children with autism regarding the services provided by the Center for Special Care in the United Arab Emirates. Design/methodology/approach The surveyed sample included 300 families of children with autism, receiving educational and rehabilitation services, treatment and support services. Findings The results indicated significant differences in the assessment of services provided by centers due to a place of service, nature of diagnosis, child’s age at the time of study and age when first diagnosed. Originality/value Parents taking part in this study expressed an average level of satisfaction with the received services.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
6. T, Kakkar D. Strengthening risk prediction using statistical learning in children with autism spectrum disorder. Advances in Autism. 2018 ; 4(3) : 141-52.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prediction ability in children with ASD in the risk-involving situations and compute the impact of statistical learning (SL) in strengthening their risk knowledge. The learning index and stability with time are also calculated by comparing their performance over three consecutive weekly sessions (session 1, session 2 and session 3). Design/methodology/approach Participants were presented with a series of images, showing simple and complex risk-involving situations, using the psychophysical experimental paradigm. The stimuli in the experiment were provided with different levels of difficulty in order to keep the legacy of the prediction and SL-based experiment intact. Findings The first phase of experimental work showed that children with ASD accurately discriminated the risk, although performed poorly as compared to neurotypical. The attenuated response in differentiating risk levels indicates that children with ASD have a poor and underdeveloped sense of risk. The second phase investigated their capability to extract the information from repetitive patterns and calculated SL stability value in time. The learning curve shows that SL is intact and stable with time (average session r=0.74) in children with ASD. Research limitations/implications The present work concludes that impaired action prediction could possibly be one of the factors underlying underdeveloped sense of risk in children with ASD. Their SL capability shows that risk knowledge can be strengthened in them. In future, the studies should investigate the impact of age and individual differences, by using knowledge from repetitive trials, on the learning rate and trajectories. Practical implications SL, being an integral part of different therapies, rehabilitation schemes and intervention systems, has the potential to enhance the cognitive and functional abilities of children with ASD. Originality/value Past studies have provided evidence regarding the work on the prediction ability in individuals with ASD. However, it is unclear whether the risk-involving/dangerous situations play any certain role to enhance the prediction ability in children with ASD. Also, there are limited studies predicting risk knowledge in them. Based on this, the current work has investigated the risk prediction in children with ASD.
