1. Auert EJ, Trembath D, Arciuli J, Thomas D. {{Parents’ expectations, awareness, and experiences of accessing evidence-based speech-language pathology services for their children with autism}}. {Int J Speech Lang Pathol};2012 (Apr);14(2):109-118.
Abstract The aim of this study was to explore the expectations, awareness, and experiences of parents in their efforts to access evidence-based speech-language pathology (SLP) services for their children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Four focus groups were conducted with 20 parents of pre school aged children with ASD and transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Two themes emerged to account for the participants’ expectations, awareness, and experiences. The two themes, « Speech-language pathology: More than just a business », and « Parents and power », represented the complex interaction between factors including the parents’ access to information, their involvement in the therapy process, and their sense of empowerment. The parents in this study expressed a strong desire for evidence-based practice (EBP) to be employed. However, the parents had different views on how EBP should be achieved. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of involving parents in therapeutic relationships as partners in the decision-making process. This means providing parents with comprehensive information, including research evidence to support the clinical decisions that need to be made, and respecting parents’ preferences in the therapy process.
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2. Bagby MS, Dickie VA, Baranek GT. {{How sensory experiences of children with and without autism affect family occupations}}. {Am J Occup Ther};2012 (Jan-Feb);66(1):78-86.
We used a grounded theory approach to data analysis to discover what effect, if any, children’s sensory experiences have on family occupations. We chose this approach because the existing literature does not provide a theory to account for the effect of children’s sensory experiences on family occupations. Parents of six children who were typically developing and six children who had autism were interviewed. We analyzed the data using open, axial, and selective coding techniques. Children’s sensory experiences affect family occupations in three ways: (1) what a family chooses to do and not to do; (2) how the family prepares; and (3) the extent to which experiences, meaning, and feelings are shared.
3. Becker MM, Wagner MB, Bosa CA, Schmidt C, Longo D, Papaleo C, Riesgo RS. {{Translation and validation of Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) for autism diagnosis in Brazil}}. {Arq Neuropsiquiatr};2012 (Mar);70(3):185-190.
OBJECTIVE: To translate into Brazilian Portuguese the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), an extremely useful diagnostic tool in autism. METHODS: A case-control study was done to validate the ADI-R. After being translated, the interview was applied in a sample of 20 patients with autism and 20 patients with intellectual disability without autism, in order to obtain the initial psychometric properties. RESULTS: The internal consistency was high, with a of Crombach of 0.967. The validity of criterion had sensitivity and specificity of 100%, having as a gold standard the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. The interview had high discriminant validity, with higher scores in the group of patients with autism, as well as high interobserver consistency, with median kappa of 0.824. CONCLUSION: The final version of ADI-R had satisfactory psychometric characteristics, indicating good preliminary validation properties. The instrument needs to be applied in bigger samples in other areas of the country.
4. Carotenuto M, Esposito M, D’Aniello A, Rippa CD, Precenzano F, Pascotto A, Bravaccio C, Elia M. {{Polysomnographic findings in Rett syndrome: a case-control study}}. {Sleep Breath};2012 (Mar 7)
PURPOSE: Rett syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder mainly affecting females and usually linked to mutations in the methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene, with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 10,000 live female births. Clinical features which usually become more apparent over time include breathing dysfunction, seizures, spasticity, peripheral vasomotor disturbance, scoliosis, growth retardation, and hypotrophic feet, with a great variety of presentations. The clear immaturity in brainstem mechanisms is expressed by the presence of early sleep disorders such as nocturnal awakenings, bruxism, and difficulty falling asleep, and no conclusive findings were derived from the few polysomnographic studies about the sleep macrostructural aspects. The aim of this study is to analyze the sleep macrostructural parameters, the nocturnal respiratory characteristic, and the presence of periodic limb movements in a sample of children affected by Rett syndrome. MATERIALS: Thirteen Rett subjects underwent a polysomnographic study, and the findings were compared with those obtained by a group of 40 healthy children. RESULTS: The Rett group shows a great impairment in sleep macrostructural and respiratory parameters, with a higher percentage of pathological periodic limb movements than the controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study may be considered a report about the ventilatory impairment during sleep in Rett syndrome and the first approach to the macrostructural aspects of sleep supported by the PSG data that could be considered mandatory for a better comprehension of this very complex syndrome.
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5. Hasanzadeh E, Mohammadi MR, Ghanizadeh A, Rezazadeh SA, Tabrizi M, Rezaei F, Akhondzadeh S. {{A Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Trial of Ginkgo biloba Added to Risperidone in Patients with Autistic Disorders}}. {Child Psychiatry Hum Dev};2012 (Mar 6)
Ginkgo biloba has been reported to affect the neurotransmitter system and to have antioxidant properties that could impact the pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Based on these studies, we decided to assess the effectiveness of Ginkgo biloba extract (Ginko T.D., Tolidaru, Iran) as an adjunctive agent to risperidone in the treatment of autism. Forty-seven outpatients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of autism ages between 4 and 12 years were assigned to this double blinded clinical trial and were randomly divided into two groups. One group received risperidone plus Ginko T.D and the other received risperidone plus placebo. The dose of risperidone was 1-3 mg/day and the dose of Ginko T.D. was 80 mg/day for patients under 30 kg and 120 mg/day for patients above 30 kg. Patients were assessed using Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC-C) rating scale and the side effect check list every 2 weeks until the endpoint. None of the 5 subscales of ABC-C rating scale showed significant differences between the two groups. Incidents of side effects were not significantly different between the two groups. Adding Ginkgo biloba to risperidone did not affect the treatment outcome of ADs. Nevertheless, further observations are needed to confirm this result.
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6. Hayward DA, Shore DI, Ristic J, Kovshoff H, Iarocci G, Mottron L, Burack JA. {{Flexible Visual Processing in Young Adults with Autism: The Effects of Implicit Learning on a Global-Local Task}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Mar 6)
We utilized a hierarchical figures task to determine the default level of perceptual processing and the flexibility of visual processing in a group of high-functioning young adults with autism (n = 12) and a typically developing young adults, matched by chronological age and IQ (n = 12). In one task, participants attended to one level of the figure and ignored the other in order to determine the default level of processing. In the other task, participants attended to both levels and the proportion of trials in which a target would occur at either level was manipulated. Both groups exhibited a global processing bias and showed similar flexibility in performance, suggesting that persons with autism may not be impaired in flexible shifting between task levels.
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7. Metcalfe SA, Archibald AD, Genet Couns GD. {{Fragile X population carrier screening}}. {Genet Med};2012 (Mar);14(3):350.
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8. Morsanyi K, Handley SJ. {{Reasoning on the Basis of Fantasy Content: Two Studies with High-Functioning Autistic Adolescents}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Mar 6)
Reasoning about problems with empirically false content can be hard, as the inferences that people draw are heavily influenced by their background knowledge. However, presenting empirically false premises in a fantasy context helps children and adolescents to disregard their beliefs, and to reason on the basis of the premises. The aim of the present experiments was to see if high-functioning adolescents with autism are able to utilize fantasy context to the same extent as typically developing adolescents when they reason about empirically false premises. The results indicate that problems with engaging in pretence in autism persist into adolescence, and this hinders the ability of autistic individuals to disregard their beliefs when empirical knowledge is irrelevant.
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9. Park CJ, Yelland GW, Taffe JR, Gray KM. {{Morphological and syntactic skills in language samples of pre school aged children with autism: Atypical development?}}. {Int J Speech Lang Pathol};2012 (Apr);14(2):95-108.
Abstract This study investigated whether children with autism have atypical development of morphological and syntactic skills, including whether they use rote learning to compensate for impaired morphological processing and acquire grammatical morphemes in an atypical order. Participants were children aged from 3-6 years who had autism (n = 17), developmental delay without autism (n = 7), and typically-developing children (n = 19). Language samples were taken from participants during the administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and transcripts were coded using the Index of Productive Syntax, and for usage of Brown’s grammatical morphemes. Participants were also administered an elicitation task requiring the application of inflections to non-words; the Wugs Task. The main finding of this study was that children with autism have unevenly developed morphological and syntactic sub-skills; they have skills which are a combination of intact, delayed, and atypical. It was also found that children with autism and children with developmental delays can acquire and use morphological rules. The implications of these findings are that, in order to maximize language acquisition for these children, clinicians need to utilize comprehensive language assessment tools and design interventions that are tailored to the child’s strengths and weaknesses.
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10. Sadiq FA, Slator L, Skuse D, Law J, Gillberg C, Minnis H. {{Social use of language in children with reactive attachment disorder and autism spectrum disorders}}. {Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry};2012 (Mar 3)
Children with a diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder (RAD) appear to show difficulties in social understanding. We aimed to compare the pragmatic language functioning of children with (RAD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Assessments were made in three groups of children aged 5-8 years, with verbal IQ estimates in the normal range: 35 with a RAD diagnosis, 52 with an ASD diagnosis and 39 with typical development. The Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC) was used to compare their pragmatic language skills, and ADI-R algorithms were used to compare autistic symptomatology, according to parent report. According to the CCC, the RAD group demonstrated significant problems in their use of context, rapport and social relationships with a degree of severity equivalent to children in the ASD comparison group. More than 60% of the group with RAD met ADI-R clinical criteria on the Use of Language and Other Social Communication Skills subscale, 46% on the Reciprocal Social Interaction subscale, and 20% had significant repetitive and stereotyped behaviours. Children with RAD appear to be at least as impaired as children with ASD in certain domains of social relatedness, particularly in their pragmatic language skills.
