1. Adachi K, Murai Y, Teramoto A. {{Infantile cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma with autism spectrum disorder}}. {J Nihon Med Sch};2012;79(3):228-231.
The etiology of autism remains unclear, but relationships to cerebellar factors have been reported. We report 2 cases of infantile cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma in children with autism spectrum disorder. Cerebellar tumors may be related to the pathogenesis of autism.
2. Braun JM. {{Endocrine disrupting compounds, gonadal hormones, and autism}}. {Dev Med Child Neurol};2012 (Jul 13)
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3. Brundage SB, Whelan CJ, Burgess CM. {{Brief Report: Treating Stuttering in an Adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 12)
Stuttering and autism can co-occur and when they do it presents a significant communication challenge. This study examined the effectiveness of a modified version of the fluency rules program (FRP; Runyan and Runyan, Stuttering and related disorders of fluency, in 2007) to reduce stuttering frequency in a man with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participant’s percentage of stuttered words (%SW) was calculated during conversational interactions with multiple conversation partners both within and outside of the clinic treatment sessions. Visual inspection methods revealed a reduction in %SW from an average of 14.5 %SW during baseline to 2.07 %SW during the withdrawal phase. The mean baseline reduction in %SW from baseline to the second treatment phase was 91.8 %. The FRP holds promise for reducing %SW in persons with ASD who stutter.
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4. Fisher B, Dezort C, Nordli DR, Berg AT. {{Routine developmental and autism screening in an epilepsy care setting}}. {Epilepsy Behav};2012 (Jul 10)
Developmental delay (delay) and co-morbidities like autism are common in children with epilepsy. We assessed the yield of routine screening for delay and autism in a hospital-based program. Parents completed developmental and autism screeners for 65 children (average age=2.5y; 38(58%) boys). Forty-nine (75%) were established epilepsy patients, and 16 (25%) were new patients. For development, 47 (72%) children screened positive and 8 (12%) had borderline results. Twenty-four (37%) scored positive for autism, all of whom also screened positive for developmental delay. Delays and neurologic deficits accounted for the positive autism results in 20 of the 24. Developmental findings were confirmatory (already receiving services) in 32/55 (58%) children and actionable in 17 (31%) (requiring further evaluation). Referrals for further evaluations were made for most with actionable findings. The yield of routine screening of children in a tertiary center is sufficiently high to support its use and to consider screening of all children seen with epilepsy.
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5. Gardiner E, Iarocci G. {{Unhappy (and happy) in their own way: A developmental psychopathology perspective on quality of life for families living with developmental disability with and without autism}}. {Res Dev Disabil};2012 (Jul 10);33(6):2177-2192.
Research on families living with developmental disability generally and autism specifically is dominated by a deficit view that elicits an elaborate representation of problems and risks without the benefit of considering families’ potential for adaptation and resilience. A central tenet of developmental psychopathology is that the study of adaptive and maladaptive development is mutually informative. Specifically, one can examine resilience within the context of adversity and the multiple processes and pathways to adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes. We believe these concepts can also be extended to the study of families living with developmental disability as they transition through the family lifecycle. This paper provides an overview of the family quality of life (FQOL) construct, including its conceptualization and measurement, and a review of studies on FQOL among families of children with various developmental disabilities. Special attention is given to families of children with autism, as this is a circumstance characterized by unique adversity. We suggest benefits from adopting a developmental psychopathology perspective, and illustrate how relevant concepts can inform our methodologies as we move forward. We will demonstrate how such an integrated, systemic, and temporal approach will help generate more refined questions on FQOL among families caring for a child with developmental disability in order to provide the specific answers needed to directly inform policy and clinical practice.
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6. Gomez-Duran EL, Martin-Fumado C, Litvan L, Campillo M, Taylor PJ. {{Matricide by Failure to Act in Autism}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 13)
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7. Gotts SJ, Simmons WK, Milbury LA, Wallace GL, Cox RW, Martin A. {{Fractionation of social brain circuits in autism spectrum disorders}}. {Brain};2012 (Jul 11)
Autism spectrum disorders are developmental disorders characterized by impairments in social and communication abilities and repetitive behaviours. Converging neuroscientific evidence has suggested that the neuropathology of autism spectrum disorders is widely distributed, involving impaired connectivity throughout the brain. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that decreased connectivity in high-functioning adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder relative to typically developing adolescents is concentrated within domain-specific circuits that are specialized for social processing. Using a novel whole-brain connectivity approach in functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that not only are decreases in connectivity most pronounced between regions of the social brain but also they are selective to connections between limbic-related brain regions involved in affective aspects of social processing from other parts of the social brain that support language and sensorimotor processes. This selective pattern was independently obtained for correlations with measures of social symptom severity, implying a fractionation of the social brain in autism spectrum disorders at the level of whole circuits.
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8. Hall SE, Riccio CA. {{Complementary and alternative treatment use for autism spectrum disorders}}. {Complement Ther Clin Pract};2012 (Aug);18(3):159-163.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have rapidly become one of the more frequent reasons for seeking diagnosis and treatment. Depending on health care services available, the standard treatment options are often limited; many parents turn to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches. CAM treatments and some of the factors that may contribute to parents’ decisions to use CAM treatments were examined using a web-based survey. Four general factors emerges as influencing the decision-making processes of parents/caregivers – severity, child acceptance of the treatment, marital status, and educational level. Notably, research support did not emerge as contributing to variance for CAM use.
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9. Hayes SA, Watson SL. {{The Impact of Parenting Stress: A Meta-analysis of Studies Comparing the Experience of Parenting Stress in Parents of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 13)
Researchers commonly report that families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience more parenting stress than families of typically developing (TD) children or those diagnosed with other disabilities [e.g., Down syndrome (DS), cerebral palsy, intellectual disability]. The authors reexamined the research using comparison groups to investigate parenting stress and conducted a meta-analysis to pool results across studies. The experience of stress in families of children with ASD versus families of TD children resulted in a large effect size. Comparisons between families of children of ASD and families with other disabilities also generated a large effect size however, this result should be interpreted with caution as it may be associated with the specific experience of parenting a child with DS.
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10. Kliemann K. {{Commentary on « Long-term Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, Combined with Augmentative Communication are Related to Uncinate Fasciculus Integrity in Autism » Pardini, M., Elia, M., Garaci, R., Guida, S., Coniglione, F., Krueger, F., Benassi, F., & Gialloreti, E. (2011)}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 13)
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11. Sudhinaraset A, Kuo A. {{Parents’ Perspectives on the Role of Pediatricians in Autism Diagnosis}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 13)
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12. Tilford JM, Payakachat N, Kovacs E, Pyne JM, Brouwer W, Nick TG, Bellando J, Kuhlthau KA. {{Preference-Based Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of Generic Instruments}}. {Pharmacoeconomics};2012 (Aug 1);30(8):661-679.
Background: Cost-effectiveness analysis of pharmaceutical and other treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has the potential to improve access to services by demonstrating the value of treatment to public and private payers, but methods for measuring QALYs in children are under-studied. No cost-effectiveness analyses have been undertaken in this population using the cost-per-QALY metric. Objective: This study describes health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) outcomes in children with ASDs and compares the sensitivity of two generic preference-based instruments relative to ASD-related conditions and symptoms. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional with prospectively collected outcome data that were correlated with retrospectively assessed clinical information. Subjects were recruited from two sites of the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) in the US: a developmental centre in Little Rock, Arkansas, and an outpatient psychiatric clinic at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Children that met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for an ASD by a multidisciplinary team evaluation were asked to participate in a clinical registry. Families of children with an ASD that agreed to be contacted about participation in future research studies as part of the ATN formed the sampling frame for the study. Families were included if the child with the ASD was between 4 and 17 years of age and the family caregiver spoke English. Eligible families were contacted by mail to see if they would be interested in participating in the study with 150 completing surveys. HR-QOL outcomes were described using the Health Utilities Index (HUI) 3 and the Quality of Well-Being Self-Administered (QWB-SA) scale obtained by proxy via the family caregiver. Results: Children were diagnosed as having autistic disorder (76%), pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified [PDD-NOS] (15%), and Asperger’s disorder (9%). Average HUI3 and QWB-SA scores were 0.68 (SD 0.21, range 0.07-1) and 0.59 (SD 0.16, range 0.18-1), respectively. The HUI3 score was significantly correlated with clinical variables including adaptive behaviour (rho = 0.52; p < 0.001) and cognitive functioning (rho = 0.36; p < 0.001). The QWB-SA score had weak correlation with adaptive behaviour (rho = 0.25; p < 0.001) and cognitive functioning (rho = 0.17; p < 0.005). Change scores for the HUI3 were larger than the QWB-SA for all clinical measures. Scores for the HUI3 increased 0.21 points (95% CI 0.14, 0.29) across the first to the third quartile of the cognitive functioning measure compared with 0.05 (95% CI -0.01, 0.11) for the QWB-SA. Adjusted R2 values also were higher for the HUI3 compared with the QWB-SA across all clinical measures. Conclusions: The HUI3 was more sensitive to clinical measures used to characterize children with autism compared with the QWB-SA score. The findings provide a benchmark to compare scores obtained by alternative methods and instruments. Researchers should consider incorporating the HUI3 in clinical trials and other longitudinal research studies to build the evidence base for describing the cost effectiveness of services provided to this important population.
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13. Walton KM, Ingersoll BR. {{Improving Social Skills in Adolescents and Adults with Autism and Severe to Profound Intellectual Disability: A Review of the Literature}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2012 (Jul 13)
Social skills are important treatment targets for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) across the lifespan. However, few treatments are available for adolescents and adults with ASD who also have severe to profound intellectual disability (S/PID). Several social skill interventions have been described that may improve social skills in this population, including video modeling, developmental, peer-mediated, behavioral, and structured teaching interventions. However, significant challenges in research design and methodology exist across these studies. This paper reviews research examining social skill interventions for youth and adults with ASD and S/PID and points out weaknesses and challenges in this literature. We propose a developmental framework of adapting early childhood interventions for use with youth and adults with ASD and S/PID as one starting point for intervention development.
