1. Betancur C, Sakurai T, Buxbaum JD. {{The emerging role of synaptic cell-adhesion pathways in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders}}. {Trends Neurosci};2009 (Jun 19)
Recent advances in genetics and genomics have unveiled numerous cases of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) associated with rare, causal genetic variations. These findings support a novel view of ASDs in which many independent, individually rare genetic variants, each associated with a very high relative risk, together explain a large proportion of ASDs. Although these rare variants impact diverse pathways, there is accumulating evidence that synaptic pathways, including those involving synaptic cell adhesion, are disrupted in some subjects with ASD. These findings provide insights into the pathogenesis of ASDs and enable the development of model systems with construct validity for specific causes of ASDs. In several neurodevelopmental disorders frequently associated with ASD, including fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome and tuberous sclerosis, animal models have led to the development of new therapeutic approaches, giving rise to optimism with other causes of ASDs.
2. Estes A, Munson J, Dawson G, Koehler E, Zhou XH, Abbott R. {{Parenting stress and psychological functioning among mothers of preschool children with autism and developmental delay}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):375-387.
Parents of children with developmental disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), are at risk for high levels of distress. The factors contributing to this are unclear. This study investigated how child characteristics influence maternal parenting stress and psychological distress. Participants consisted of mothers and developmental-age matched preschool-aged children with ASD (N = 51) and developmental delay without autism (DD) ( N = 22). Evidence for higher levels of parenting stress and psychological distress was found in mothers in the ASD group compared to the DD group. Children’s problem behavior was associated with increased parenting stress and psychological distress in mothers in the ASD and DD groups. This relationship was stronger in the DD group. Daily living skills were not related to parenting stress or psychological distress. Results suggest clinical services aiming to support parents should include a focus on reducing problem behaviors in children with developmental disabilities.
3. Geurts HM, Begeer S, Stockmann L. {{Brief Report: Inhibitory Control of Socially Relevant Stimuli in Children with High Functioning Autism}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (Jun 19)
The current study explored whether inhibitory control deficits in high functioning autism (HFA) emerged when socially relevant stimuli were used and whether arousal level affected the performance. A Go/NoGo paradigm, with socially relevant stimuli and varying presentation rates, was applied in 18 children with HFA (including children with autism or Asperger syndrome) and 22 typically developing children (aged 8-13 years). Children with HFA did not show inhibitory control deficits compared to the control group, but their performance deteriorated in the slow presentation rate condition. Findings were unrelated to children’s abilities to recognize emotions. Hence, rather than a core deficit in inhibitory control, low arousal level in response to social stimuli might influence the responses given by children with HFA.
4. Glazebrook C, Gonzalez D, Hansen S, Elliott D. {{The role of vision for online control of manual aiming movements in persons with autism spectrum disorders}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):411-433.
Recent studies suggest motor skills are not entirely spared in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous reports demonstrated that young adults with ASD were able to land accurately on a target despite increased temporal and spatial variability during their movement. This study explored how a group of adolescents and young adults with an ASD used vision and proprioception to land successfully on one of two targets. Participants performed eye movements and/or manual reaching movements, either with or without vision. Although eye movements were executed in a similar timeframe, participants with ASD took longer to plan and execute manual reaching movements. They also exhibited significantly greater variability during eye and hand movements, but were able to land on the target regardless of the vision condition. In general, individuals with autism used vision and proprioception. However, they took considerably more time to perform movements that required greater visual-proprioceptive integration.
5. Kim J, Wigram T, Gold C. {{Emotional, motivational and interpersonal responsiveness of children with autism in improvisational music therapy}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):389-409.
Through behavioural analysis, this study investigated the social-motivational aspects of musical interaction between the child and the therapist in improvisational music therapy by measuring emotional, motivational and interpersonal responsiveness in children with autism during joint engagement episodes. The randomized controlled study (n = 10) employed a single subject comparison design in two different conditions, improvisational music therapy and toy play sessions, and DVD analysis of sessions. Improvisational music therapy produced markedly more and longer events of ;joy’, ;emotional synchronicity’ and ;initiation of engagement’ behaviours in the children than toy play sessions. In response to the therapist’s interpersonal demands, ;compliant (positive) responses’ were observed more in music therapy than in toy play sessions, and ;no responses’ were twice as frequent in toy play sessions as in music therapy. The results of this exploratory study found significant evidence supporting the value of music therapy in promoting social, emotional and motivational development in children with autism.
6. Nicholas JS, Carpenter LA, King LB, Jenner W, Charles JM. {{Autism Spectrum Disorders in Preschool-Aged Children: Prevalence and Comparison to a School-Aged Population}}. {Ann Epidemiol};2009 (Jun 19)
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and case characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) among 4-year-olds and to compare findings to previous prevalence estimates for 8-year-olds in the same geographic area. METHODS: South Carolina (SC) has been a participant in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s active, population-based, multiple-site ASD surveillance network for 8-year-olds since 2000. The 8-year-old methodology, designed to identify children both with and without prior diagnosis, was applied in SC with modification to include information sources for younger children. RESULTS: The ASD prevalence among 4-year-olds in 2006 was 8.0 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.1-9.9), or 1 in 125. In comparison, ASD prevalence among 8-year-olds in the same geographic area was 7.6 (95% CI, 5.7-9.5) in 2000 and 7.0 (95% CI 5.1-8.9) in 2002. Developmental concerns were documented at earlier ages across time, and while most cases received services, only 20% to 29% received services specific to ASD. CONCLUSIONS: Findings should provide useful information for the planning of health/education policies and early intervention strategies for ASD.
7. Sheppard E, Ropar D, Mitchell P. {{Perceiving the impossible: How individuals with autism copy paradoxical figures}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):435-452.
Mottron and colleagues found that individuals with autism were less affected by geometric impossibility than comparison participants on a copying task. The current experiment sought to determine whether a local perceptual style could account for this. Participants with and without autism copied possible and impossible geometric figures. Geometric impossibility had a larger effect on drawing time for comparison participants than for those with autism. However, participants with autism did not use more localized drawing strategies. Strength of impossibility effect was associated with a global strategy amongst comparison participants but this relationship was not found amongst participants with autism. The findings suggest that differences in high-level conceptual processing may account for group differences in effects of impossibility.
8. Smith RA, Farnworth H, Wright B, Allgar V. {{Are there more bowel symptoms in children with autism compared to normal children and children with other developmental and neurological disorders?: A case control study}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):343-355.
There is considerable controversy as to whether there is an association between bowel disorders and autism. Using a bowel symptom questionnaire we compared 51 children with autism spectrum disorder with control groups of 35 children from special school and 112 from mainstream school. There was a significant difference in the reporting of certain bowel symptoms (constipation, diarrhoea, flatulence) and food faddiness between the autism group and the mainstream school control group. There was no significant difference between the autism group and children in the special schools except for faddiness, which is an autism specific symptom and not a bowel symptom. This study confirms previously reported findings of an increase in bowel symptoms in children with autism. It would appear, however, that this is not specifically associated with autism as bowel symptoms were reported in similar frequency to a comparison group of children with other developmental and neurological disorders.
9. White SJ, Burgess PW, Hill EL. {{Impairments on « open-ended » executive function tests in autism}}. {Autism Res};2009 (Jun 17)
The executive function (EF) theory of autism has received much support recently from a growing number of studies. However, executive impairments have not always been easy to identify consistently and so novel « ecologically valid » tests have been designed which tap into real-life scenarios that are relevant to and representative of everyday behavior. One characteristic of many of these tasks is that they present the participant with an « ill-structured » or « open-ended » situation. Here, we investigated the possibility that tasks with greater degrees of open-endedness might prove more sensitive to detecting executive impairment in autism. Forty-five children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were compared to 27 age- and IQ-matched control children on a range of cognitive tests of EF. Group differences were found on half of the tasks, with the greatest degree of impairment detected on the more open-ended tasks. The ASD group also performed more poorly on a simple control condition of a task. Detailed consideration of task performance suggested that the ASD group tended to create fewer spontaneous strategies and exhibit more idiosyncratic behavior, which particularly disadvantaged them on the more open-ended tasks. These kinds of behaviors have been reported in studies of neurological patients with frontal lobe involvement, prima facie suggesting a link between the scientific fields. However, we suggest that this behavior might equally result from a poor understanding of the implicit demands made by the experimenter in open-ended test situations, due to the socio-communicative difficulties of these children.
10. Wiggins LD, Rice CE, Baio J. {{Developmental regression in children with an autism spectrum disorder identified by a population-based surveillance system}}. {Autism};2009 (Jul);13(4):357-374.
This study evaluated the phenomenon of autistic regression using population-based data. The sample comprised 285 children who met the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) case definition within an ongoing surveillance program. Results indicated that children with a previously documented ASD diagnosis had higher rates of autistic regression than children who met the ASD surveillance definition but did not have a clearly documented ASD diagnosis in their records (17-26 percent of surveillance cases). Most children regressed around 24 months of age and boys were more likely to have documented regression than girls. Half of the children with regression had developmental concerns noted prior to the loss of skills. Moreover, children with autistic regression were more likely to show certain associated features, including cognitive impairment.These data indicate that some children with ASD experience a loss of skills in the first few years of life and may have a unique symptom profile.
