1. Cassella MD, Sidener TM, Sidener DW, Progar PR. {{Response interruption and redirection for vocal stereotypy in children with autism: a systematic replication}}. {J Appl Behav Anal};2011 (Spring);44(1):169-173.
This study systematically replicated and extended previous research on response interruption and redirection (RIRD) by assessing instructed responses of a different topography than the target behavior, percentage of session spent in treatment, generalization of behavior reduction, and social validity of the intervention. Results showed that RIRD produced substantial decreases in vocal stereotypy. Limitations of this study were that behavior reduction did not generalize to novel settings or with novel instructors and that appropriate vocalizations did not improve.
2. Cheng Y, Chou KH, Fan YT, Lin CP. {{ANS: Aberrant Neurodevelopment of the Social Cognition Network in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {PLoS One};2011;6(4):e18905.
BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by aberrant neurodevelopment. Although the ASD brain undergoes precocious growth followed by decelerated maturation during early postnatal period of childhood, the neuroimaging approach has not been empirically applied to investigate how the ASD brain develops during adolescence. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We enrolled 25 male adolescents with high functioning ASD and 25 typically developing controls for voxel-based morphometric analysis of structural magnetic resonance image. Results indicate that there is an imbalance of regional gray matter volumes and concentrations along with no global brain enlargement in adolescents with high functioning ASD relative to controls. Notably, the right inferior parietal lobule, a role in social cognition, have a significant interaction of age by groups as indicated by absence of an age-related gain of regional gray matter volume and concentration for neurodevelopmental maturation during adolescence. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The findings indicate the neural correlates of social cognition exhibits aberrant neurodevelopment during adolescence in ASD, which may cast some light on the brain growth dysregulation hypothesis. The period of abnormal brain growth during adolescence may be characteristic of ASD. Age effects must be taken into account while measures of structural neuroimaging have been clinically put forward as potential phenotypes for ASD.
3. Dozier CL, Iwata BA, Worsdell AS. {{Assessment and treatment of foot-shoe fetish displayed by a man with autism}}. {J Appl Behav Anal};2011 (Spring);44(1):133-137.
Results of a functional analysis indicated that a man diagnosed with autism engaged in bizarre sexual behavior in the presence of women wearing sandals. Several treatments proved to be ineffective or impractical. By contrast, a response-interruption/time-out procedure quickly eliminated the problem behavior in multiple settings.
4. Riviere V, Becquet M, Peltret E, Facon B, Darcheville JC. {{Increasing compliance with medical examination requests directed to children with autism: effects of a high-probability request procedure}}. {J Appl Behav Anal};2011 (Spring);44(1):193-197.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a high-probability (high-p) request sequence as a means of increasing compliance with medical examination tasks. Participants were children who had been diagnosed with autism and who exhibited noncompliance during general medical examinations. The inclusion of the high-p request sequence effectively increased compliance with medical examination tasks. In addition, the procedure was efficient, could be implemented by parents and medical professionals, and did not involve aversive procedures.
