1. Alzrayer NM, Banda DR, Koul R. {{Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities to perform multistep requesting using an iPad}}. {Augment Altern Commun};2017 (Apr 05):1-12.
Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and/or developmental disabilities are unable to meet their daily communication needs with speech alone. These individuals are considered potential candidates for speech-generating devices (SGDs) and mobile technologies with AAC-specific applications. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of systematic instruction on teaching multistep requesting skills using an iPad loaded with Proloquo2Go to children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. The participants in this study were four children between the ages of 8 and 10 years diagnosed with ASD and/or other developmental disabilities. The results indicated that for these participants, the intervention was effective in increasing multistep requesting using the iPad. All participants were successful to varying degrees in navigating across pages and combining symbols to request preferred items. Additionally, the participants demonstrated generalization of newly acquired skills by requesting different preferred items and activities during the generalization probes. Results are discussed and implications for research and practice are presented.
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2. Burke MM, Lee CE, Arnold CK, Owen A. {{The Perceptions of Professionals Toward Siblings of Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities}}. {Intellect Dev Disabil};2017 (Apr);55(2):72-83.
Adult siblings of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) report struggling to navigate the adult disability service delivery system and collaborate with professionals. To date, though, it is unclear how professionals encourage sibling involvement and, accordingly, the facilitators and challenges in working with siblings. For this study, 290 professionals participated in a national web-based survey; participants answered three open-ended questions about ways to involve siblings, positive experiences with siblings, and challenges in working with siblings. Professionals reported person-level and systems-level supports to encourage sibling involvement. Also, professionals reported enjoying working with cohesive families of individuals with IDD and witnessing the benefits that siblings bring to their brothers and sisters with IDD. Challenges in working with siblings included: lack of sibling involvement, systemic barriers, and caregiving burden. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
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3. Curry AE, Yerys BE, Huang P, Metzger KB. {{Longitudinal study of driver licensing rates among adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism};2017 (Apr 01):1362361317699586.
Driving may increase mobility and independence for adolescents with autism without intellectual disability (autism spectrum disorder); however, little is known about rates of licensure. To compare the proportion of adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder who acquire a learner’s permit and driver’s license, as well as the rate at which they progress through the licensing system, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 52,172 New Jersey residents born in the years 1987-1995 who were patients of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia healthcare network 12 years of age; 609 (1.2%) had an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Electronic health records were linked to New Jersey’s driver licensing database (2004-2012). Kaplan-Meier curves and log-binomial regression models were used to determine the age at and rate of licensure, and estimate adjusted risk ratios. One in three adolescents with autism spectrum disorder acquired a driver’s license versus 83.5% for other adolescents and at a median of 9.2 months later. The vast majority (89.7%) of those with autism spectrum disorder who acquired a permit and were fully eligible to get licensed acquired a license within 2 years. Results indicated that a substantial proportion of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder do get licensed and that license-related decisions are primarily made prior to acquisition of a permit instead of during the learning-to-drive process.
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4. Dawson G, Sun JM, Davlantis KS, Murias M, Franz L, Troy J, Simmons R, Sabatos-DeVito M, Durham R, Kurtzberg J. {{Autologous Cord Blood Infusions Are Safe and Feasible in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Results of a Single-Center Phase I Open-Label Trial}}. {Stem Cells Transl Med};2017 (Apr 05)
Despite advances in early diagnosis and behavioral therapies, more effective treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are needed. We hypothesized that umbilical cord blood-derived cell therapies may have potential in alleviating ASD symptoms by modulating inflammatory processes in the brain. Accordingly, we conducted a phase I, open-label trial to assess the safety and feasibility of a single intravenous infusion of autologous umbilical cord blood, as well as sensitivity to change in several ASD assessment tools, to determine suitable endpoints for future trials. Twenty-five children, median age 4.6 years (range 2.26-5.97), with a confirmed diagnosis of ASD and a qualified banked autologous umbilical cord blood unit, were enrolled. Children were evaluated with a battery of behavioral and functional tests immediately prior to cord blood infusion (baseline) and 6 and 12 months later. Assessment of adverse events across the 12-month period indicated that the treatment was safe and well tolerated. Significant improvements in children’s behavior were observed on parent-report measures of social communication skills and autism symptoms, clinician ratings of overall autism symptom severity and degree of improvement, standardized measures of expressive vocabulary, and objective eye-tracking measures of children’s attention to social stimuli, indicating that these measures may be useful endpoints in future studies. Behavioral improvements were observed during the first 6 months after infusion and were greater in children with higher baseline nonverbal intelligence quotients. These data will serve as the basis for future studies to determine the efficacy of umbilical cord blood infusions in children with ASD. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2017.
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5. English MC, Maybery MT, Visser TA. {{Reduced Pseudoneglect for Physical Space, but not Mental Representations of Space, for Adults with Autistic Traits}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Apr 03)
Neurotypical individuals display a leftward attentional bias, called pseudoneglect, for physical space (e.g. landmark task) and mental representations of space (e.g. mental number line bisection). However, leftward bias is reduced in autistic individuals viewing faces, and neurotypical individuals with autistic traits viewing ‘greyscale’ stimuli, suggestive of atypical lateralization of attention in autism. We investigated whether representational pseudoneglect for individuals with autistic traits is similarly atypically lateralized by comparing biases on a greyscales, landmark, and mental number line task. We found that pseudoneglect was intact only on the representational measure, the mental number line task, suggesting that mechanisms for atypical lateralization of attention in individuals with autistic traits are specific artefacts of processing physically visual stimuli.
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6. Golden D, Getchell N. {{Physical Activity Levels in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder When Playing Active and Sedentary Xbox Kinect Videogames}}. {Games Health J};2017 (Apr 04)
OBJECTIVE: We compare physical activity during bouts of sedentary videogaming (SVG), active videogaming (AVG), and paced walking in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to determine the effectiveness of AVG in providing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Participants included nine males (8-11 years old) with ASD and eight age-matched males who were typically developing. Both groups had anthropometric and motor proficiency (Movement Assessment Battery for Children II) measures taken before testing. Participants attended three randomly assigned acquisition sessions: 20 minutes of paced walking at 4.5 metabolic equivalents, AVG, and SVG. Videogaming occurred on an Xbox(R) Kinect. An Actical accelerometer provided activity counts (AC) and percentage of time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA). These were compared using 3 x 2 repeated measures analysis of variance for each measure. RESULTS: Main effects for conditions existed for %MVPA (P < 0.0001) and AC (P < 0.0001). Post hoc Bonferroni comparisons indicated that AVG had significantly higher AC (P < 0.001) and % MVPA (P < 0.001) than SVG, but was significantly lower than paced walking (AC P < 0.001; %MVPA P < 0.01). Overall, participants spent 76.25% of their time in MVPA during AVG compared to 99.4% during paced walking and 2.31% in SVG. No main effects for groups or group by condition interaction effects were found for either measure. CONCLUSIONS: AVG may provide an appealing means by which all individuals can increase their overall physical activity levels, although AVG should not be seen as a replacement for walking or other forms of PA. Although further research is necessary, the finding that both groups performed similarly in AVG suggests that games can potentially be played without modifications or adaptations to gaming units, which may provide several advantages in terms of social/cost/ease of accessing unit. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
7. Guy MW, Richards JE, Tonnsen BL, Roberts JE. {{Neural correlates of face processing in etiologically-distinct 12-month-old infants at high-risk of autism spectrum disorder}}. {Dev Cogn Neurosci};2017 (Mar 16)
Neural correlates of face processing were examined in 12-month-olds at high-risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including 21 siblings of children with ASD (ASIBs) and 15 infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS), as well as 21 low-risk (LR) controls. Event-related potentials were recorded to familiar and novel face and toy stimuli. All infants demonstrated greater N290 amplitude to faces than toys. At the Nc component, LR infants showed greater amplitude to novel stimuli than to their mother’s face and own toy, whereas infants with FXS showed the opposite pattern of responses and ASIBs did not differentiate based on familiarity. These results reflect developing face specialization across high- and low-risk infants and reveal neural patterns that distinguish between groups at high-risk for ASD.
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8. Ketelaars MP, In’t Velt A, Mol A, Swaab H, Bodrij F, van Rijn S. {{Social attention and autism symptoms in high functioning women with autism spectrum disorders}}. {Res Dev Disabil};2017 (Apr 01);64:78-86.
BACKGROUND: Research has suggested a different, less visible, clinical manifestation of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in females. There is, however, limited research into possible underlying mechanisms explaining the female phenotype. AIMS: This study investigates social attention in females with ASD. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: 26 women diagnosed with ASD and 26 typical female controls were shown three video clips containing intense emotions. Social attention was assessed by measuring eye fixation patterns during the video clips. Autism symptoms were assessed using the informant reported Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). OUTCOME AND RESULTS: Results show normal time to first fixation to the face, but lower fixation duration to the face in women with ASD. Analyzing the visual patterns further, there were similar impairments in fixation to mouth, eyes and other facial areas. Relating social attention to autism symptoms revealed several significant correlations within the ASD group. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Women with ASD show abnormalities in social attention and these abnormalities are related to level of autism symptoms. In contrast to other studies which investigate male dominated ASD samples, a hyperfocus to the mouth area could not be found.
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9. Lo BH, Klopper F, Barnes EH, Williams K. {{Agreement between concern about autism spectrum disorder at the time of referral and diagnosis, and factors associated with agreement}}. {J Paediatr Child Health};2017 (Apr 04)
AIM: This study examined the level of agreement between referral reason and diagnostic outcome for pre-school aged children showing developmental delays and differences. In particular, the level of agreement when there was concern about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was investigated. METHODS: Clinical records for children (n = 677) assessed for developmental concerns at a multidisciplinary assessment clinic in Sydney, Australia, were examined. Referral reason and diagnostic outcome were compared. Referral sources and factors including age, developmental level and language functioning, were explored for potential association with the consistency between referral reason and diagnosis. RESULTS: Approximately 30% of children referred for developmental assessment with ASD concern were not diagnosed with ASD. Agreement between referral reason and diagnosis was similar regardless of referral source and child age. Of children where diagnostic outcome was discordant with referral reason, 24% had delayed language. Variability in cognitive or developmental profiles was common (64%), regardless of diagnostic outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Referral for ASD diagnostic assessments in the cases where ASD is not the primary cause for a child’s difficulties increases pressure on assessment services, can delay access to ASD-specific intervention services for children who do have ASD, and can contribute to parent anxiety unnecessarily. The current evidence that a substantial minority of children were referred for ASD diagnostic assessments when ASD was not the primary cause for the difficulties emphasises the value of adopting a developmental differences framework, focusing on dimensions of behaviour and functioning, rather than an autism-specific service structure.
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10. Lunsky Y, R PH, Weiss JA, A MP, Hutton S, White K. {{Comparative Effects of Mindfulness and Support and Information Group Interventions for Parents of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Apr 03)
This study evaluated two community based interventions for parents of adults with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. Parents in the mindfulness group reported significant reductions in psychological distress, while parents in the support and information group did not. Reduced levels of distress in the mindfulness group were maintained at 20 weeks follow-up. Mindfulness scores and mindful parenting scores and related constructs (e.g., self-compassion) did not differ between the two groups. Results suggest the psychological components of the mindfulness based group intervention were effective over and above the non-specific effects of group processes and informal support.
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11. Luo J, Feng Q, Wei L, Luo M. {{Optogenetic activation of dorsal raphe neurons rescues the autistic-like social deficits in Shank3 knockout mice}}. {Cell Res};2017 (Apr 04)
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12. Schlebusch L, Dada S, Samuels AE. {{Family Quality of Life of South African Families Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Apr 03)
This article describes the family quality of life among families who are raising a young child with autism spectrum disorder. Survey research was conducted with 180 families of children with autism spectrum disorder who were receiving disability-related services in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The principle measure used was the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale to assess five subdomains: family interaction, parenting, emotional well-being, material/physical well-being, and disability-related support. Results indicated that families felt the most satisfied with disability-related support and the least satisfied with the family’s emotional well-being. Family income, family type, and the severity level of autism were significantly associated with how satisfied families felt about their quality of life.
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13. Schwartz DD, Katzenstein JM, Highley EJ, Stabley DL, Sol-Church K, Gripp KW, Axelrad ME. {{Age-related differences in prevalence of autism spectrum disorder symptoms in children and adolescents with Costello syndrome}}. {Am J Med Genet A};2017 (Apr 04)
Dysregulation of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in Costello syndrome (CS) may contribute to increased risk for autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined prevalence of ASD symptoms in 14 individuals (six females) age 1-18 years with molecularly confirmed CS. Caregivers completed the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) for ages 0-4 years (n = 7), and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) for ages 4 and older (n = 7). Age was associated with meeting ASD criteria: 5/7 (71.4%) younger children met the ASD cut-off on the MCHAT, compared to 0/7 older children on the SCQ. The following medical and developmental factors were strongly associated with ASD criteria on the M-CHAT: having a gastrostomy tube at time of assessment, not eating solid food, not walking, and not being toilet trained. Two children who met stricter ASD criteria had significantly lower adaptive functioning and were physically much more impaired. Among older participants, SCQ subscale scores in communication, socialization, and repetitive behavior domains were comparable to the typically-developing normative sample. ASD symptoms were highly elevated in younger CS individuals. Older children did not differ from typically developing samples in prevalence of ASD symptoms. CS individuals may appear to fall on the autism spectrum in early childhood due to severe feeding and orthopedic problems that improve by age four, suggesting many of these children may eventually emerge out of an ASD presentation.
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14. Sertcelik M, Ugur C, Sahin Akozel A, Gurkan CK. {{A Child with Kabuki Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Noro Psikiyatr Ars};2016 (Sep);53(3):280-282.
Kabuki syndrome (KS) is characterized by skeletal abnormalities, short stature, characteristic facial features, postnatal growth delay, and mental retardation. There are only a few case reports that present the coexistence of KS with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the literature. Herein we present the case of a boy with KS and ASD and discuss the possible shared etiologies. A 4-year-old boy was brought by his parents with complaints of no speech, hyperactivity, enuresis complex, temper tantrum, self-injury, and harming people or objects. We determined the lack of speech and eye contact, stereotypical behavior, and impaired social interaction and diagnosed him with autism and severe mental retardation via a psychiatric assessment. He had been followed up by pediatricians until he was 2 years old. Pediatricians noted his long eyelids with eversion of the lateral third of the lower eyelid, depressed nasal tip, short stature, long palpebral fissures, brachydactyly, and fetal finger pads in their physical examination. The boy who has an operated ventral septal defect and seizures was diagnosed with KS when he was 5 years old. We recommended his parents to apply to a special education agency and kindergarten for him. Our case is a new example of the coexistence of KS and ASD in addition to the very few cases in the literature. Genetic analyses conducted in the existence of specific genetic syndromes, such as KS, may provide opportunities for understanding the genetic etiology of ASD and new scope in terms of novel treatment approaches.
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15. Williamson HJ, Perkins EA, Levin BL, Baldwin JA, Lulinski A, Armstrong MI, Massey OT. {{Implementation of Medicaid Managed Long-Term Services and Supports for Adults With Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities in Kansas}}. {Intellect Dev Disabil};2017 (Apr);55(2):84-96.
Many adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) can access health and long-term services and supports (LTSS) through Medicaid. States are reforming their Medicaid LTSS programs from a fee-for-service model to a Medicaid managed LTSS (MLTSS) approach, anticipating improved quality of care and reduced costs, although there is limited evidence of MLTSS effectiveness. This study’s objective was to contribute to the growing MLTSS research literature by describing MLTSS implementation in Kansas for adults with IDD. Thirty-one stakeholders completed in-depth semi-structured interviews, representing state or regional groups, service coordination providers, and family caregivers. Findings identify key aspects of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ new MLTSS regulations in the design and implementation of MLTSS programs.
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16. Wood SJ. {{Autism and schizophrenia: one, two or many disorders?}}. {Br J Psychiatry};2017 (Apr);210(4):241-242.
Autism and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia co-occur more frequently than would be expected by chance alone. Exactly why this should be remains unclear, but a better understanding would have important implications for diagnosis, treatment and for biological explanations of both conditions.
