1. Balogh R, Wood J, Lunsky Y, Isaacs B, Ouellette-Kuntz H, Sullivan W. {{Care of adults with developmental disabilities: Effects of a continuing education course for primary care providers}}. {Can Fam Physician};2015 (Jul);61(7):e316-323.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of an interdisciplinary, guideline-based continuing education course on measures related to the care of adults with developmental disabilities (DD). DESIGN: Before-and-after study with a control group. SETTING: Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-seven primary care providers (physicians, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners). INTERVENTION: Participants either only received reference material about primary care of people with DD (control group) or participated in a continuing education course on primary care of people with DD in addition to receiving the reference material (intervention group). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants reported on 5 key measures related to care of adults with DD: frequency of using guidelines, frequency of performing periodic health examinations, frequency of assessing patients who present with behaviour changes, level of comfort while caring for adults with DD, and knowledge of primary care related to adults with DD. RESULTS: Over time, the intervention group showed significant increases in 4 of the 5 key measures of care compared with the control group: the frequency of guideline use (P < .001), frequency of assessment of patients’ behaviour change (P = .03), comfort level in caring for people with DD (P = .01), and knowledge of primary care related to adults with DD (P = .01). CONCLUSION: A continuing education course on primary care of adults with DD is a useful interdisciplinary model to train health professionals who provide primary care services to these patients.
2. Carter Leno V, Charman T, Pickles A, Jones CR, Baird G, Happe F, Simonoff E. {{Callous-unemotional traits in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Br J Psychiatry};2015 (Sep 17)
BackgroundPeople with callous-unemotional traits and also those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display sociocognitive difficulties. However, the frequency and neurocognitive correlates of callous-unemotional traits within individuals with ASD are unknown.AimsTo determine the prevalence of callous-unemotional traits in individuals with ASD and test their association with behavioural and cognitive measures.MethodParents of 92 adolescents with ASD completed the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD) for callous-unemotional traits. Adolescents participated in tasks of emotion recognition, theory of mind and cognitive flexibility.ResultsIn total 51% (n = 47) scored above a cut-off expected to identify the top 6% on the APSD. Of these 17% (n = 8) had concurrent conduct problems. Regression analyses found callous-unemotional traits were associated with specific impairment in fear recognition but not with theory of mind or cognitive flexibility.ConclusionsAdolescents with ASD show high rates of callous-unemotional traits but, unlike in the general population, these are not strongly associated with conduct problems. The relationship of callous-unemotional traits to impairments in fear recognition suggests similar affective difficulties as in individuals with callous-unemotional traits without ASD.
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3. Demopoulos C, Hopkins J, Lewine JD. {{Relations Between Nonverbal and Verbal Social Cognitive Skills and Complex Social Behavior in Children and Adolescents with Autism}}. {J Abnorm Child Psychol};2015 (Sep 19)
Although there is an extensive literature on domains of social skill deficits in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), little research has examined the relation between specific social cognitive skills and complex social behaviors in daily functioning. This was the aim of the present study. Participants were 37 (26 male and 11 female) children and adolescents aged 6-18 years diagnosed with ASD. To determine the amount of variance in parent-rated complex social behavior accounted for by the linear combination of five directly-assessed social cognitive variables (i.e., adult and child facial and vocal affect recognition and social judgment) after controlling for general intellectual ability, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. The linear combination of variables accounted for 35.4 % of the variance in parent-rated complex social behavior. Vocal affect recognition in adult voices showed the strongest association with complex social behavior in ASD. Results suggest that assessment and training in vocal affective comprehension should be an important component of social skills interventions for individuals with ASD.
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4. Freyberg J, Robertson CE, Baron-Cohen S. {{Reduced perceptual exclusivity during object and grating rivalry in autism}}. {J Vis};2015 (Sep 1);15(13):11.
The dynamics of binocular rivalry may be a behavioral footprint of excitatory and inhibitory neural transmission in visual cortex. Given the presence of atypical visual features in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), and the growing evidence in support of the idea of an imbalance in excitatory/inhibitory neural transmission in animal and genetic models of ASC, we hypothesized that binocular rivalry might prove a simple behavioral marker of such a transmission imbalance in the autistic brain. In support of this hypothesis, we previously reported a slower rate of rivalry in ASC, driven by longer transitional states between dominant percepts. We tested whether atypical dynamics of binocular rivalry in ASC are specific to certain stimulus features. 53 participants (26 with ASC, matched for age, sex, and IQ) participated in a binocular rivalry experiment in which the dynamics of rivalry were measured at two levels of stimulus complexity, low (grayscale gratings) and high (colored objects). Individuals with ASC experienced a slower rate of binocular rivalry, driven by longer transitional states between dominant percepts. These exaggerated transitional states were present at both low and high levels of stimulus complexity (gratings and objects), suggesting that atypical binocular dynamics in autism are robust with respect to stimulus choice. Interactions between stimulus properties and rivalry dynamics in autism indicate that achromatic grating stimuli produce stronger group differences. These results confirm the finding of atypical dynamics of binocular rivalry in ASC. These dynamics were present for stimuli of both low and high levels of visual complexity, suggesting a pervasive imbalance in competitive interactions throughout the visual system of individuals with ASC.
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5. Gonsiorowski A, Williamson RA, Robins DL. {{Brief Report: Imitation of Object-Directed Acts in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2015 (Sep 19)
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) imitate less than typically developing (TD) children; however, the specific features and causes of this deficit are still unclear. The current study investigates the role of joint engagement, specifically children’s visual attention to demonstrations, in an object-directed imitation task. This sample was recruited from an early ASD screening study, which allows for an examination of these behaviors prior to formal diagnosis and ASD-specific intervention. Children with ASD imitated less than TD children; children with other developmental delays showed no significant difference from the two other screen-positive groups. Additionally, only the ASD group showed decreased visual attention, suggesting that early visual attention plays a role in the social learning of children with ASD.
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6. Grove R, Baillie A, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Hoekstra RA. {{Exploring the quantitative nature of empathy, systemising and autistic traits using factor mixture modelling}}. {Br J Psychiatry};2015 (Sep 17)
BackgroundAutism research has previously focused on either identifying a latent dimension or searching for subgroups. Research assessing the concurrently categorical and dimensional nature of autism is needed.AimsTo investigate the latent structure of autism and identify meaningful subgroups in a sample spanning the full spectrum of genetic vulnerability.MethodFactor mixture models were applied to data on empathy, systemising and autistic traits from individuals on the autism spectrum, parents and general population controls.ResultsA two-factor three-class model was identified, with two factors measuring empathy and systemising. Class one had high systemising and low empathy scores and primarily consisted of individuals with autism. Mainly comprising controls and parents, class three displayed high empathy scores and lower systemising scores, and class two showed balanced scores on both measures of systemising and empathy.ConclusionsAutism is best understood as a dimensional construct, but meaningful subgroups can be identified based on empathy, systemising and autistic traits.
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7. Koehne S, Hatri A, Cacioppo JT, Dziobek I. {{Perceived interpersonal synchrony increases empathy: Insights from autism spectrum disorder}}. {Cognition};2015 (Sep 19);146:8-15.
This study investigated the effect of unilateral interpersonal synchrony on empathy in two simple leader-follower finger tapping communication tasks in individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In unilateral synchronization, one individual within a dyad (the follower) unilaterally adjusts his or her movements to entrain to the movements of the other (the leader). Perceived synchrony, i.e., being followed by a synchronous virtual partner when leading an interaction, increased subjective cognitive empathy (understanding other’s mental states) towards the virtual follower in participants without, but not those with ASD. In the ASD group, the degree of produced synchrony, i.e., entrainment to the virtual leader when following in an interaction, was associated with higher cognitive empathy performance as measured with external objective tasks. These results point to a mediating role for interpersonal synchronization in cognitive empathy, a mechanism that seems attenuated, yet not absent, in ASD.
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8. Nacera H, Sarot A. {{[School inclusion of autistic children in adapted classes]}}. {Soins Pediatr Pueric};2015 (Sep-Oct);36(286):43-47.
A study was carried out into the subjective experience of the main people concerned by the schooling of autistic children in an inclusion classroom: the children, the parents and the teaching professionals. It highlights the need to take into account the transferential dimension of the pedagogical relationships. It also offers interesting perspectives with regard to clinical applications concerning the role of the school psychologist in supporting the professionals as well as the families.
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9. Venker CE, Bolt DM, Meyer A, Sindberg H, Weismer SE, Tager-Flusberg H. {{Parent Telegraphic Speech Use and Spoken Language in Preschoolers with ASD}}. {J Speech Lang Hear Res};2015 (Sep 18)
Purpose: There is considerable controversy regarding whether to use telegraphic or grammatical input when speaking to young children with language delays, including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined telegraphic speech use in parents of preschoolers with ASD and associations with children’s spoken language one year later. Method: Parent-child dyads (n = 55) participated when children were, on average, 3 (Time 1) and 4 years old (Time 2). The rate at which parents omitted obligatory determiners was derived from transcripts of parent-child play sessions; measures of children’s spoken language were obtained from these same transcripts. Results: Telegraphic speech use varied substantially across parents. Higher rates of parent determiner omissions at Time 1 were significantly associated with lower lexical diversity in children’s spoken language at Time 2, even when controlling for children’s baseline lexical diversity and nonverbal IQ. Findings from path analyses supported the directionality of effects assumed in our regression analyses, although these results should be interpreted with caution due to the limited sample size. Conclusions: Telegraphic input may have a negative impact on language development in young children with ASD. Future experimental research is needed to directly investigate how telegraphic input affects children’s language learning and processing.
