1. Daluwatte C, Miles JH, Christ SE, Beversdorf DQ, Takahashi TN, Yao G. {{Atypical Pupillary Light Reflex and Heart Rate Variability in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2012.
We investigated pupillary light reflex (PLR) in 152 children with ASD, 116 typically developing (TD) children, and 36 children with non-ASD neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured simultaneously to study potential impairments in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) associated with ASD. The results showed that the ASD group had significantly longer PLR latency, reduced relative constriction amplitude, and shorter constriction/redilation time than those of the TD group. Similar atypical PLR parameters were observed in the NDD group. A significant age effect on PLR latency was observed in children younger than 9 years in the TD group, but not in the ASD and NDD groups. Atypical HRV parameters were observed in the ASD and NDD groups. A significant negative correlation existed between the PLR constriction amplitude and average heart rate in children with an ASD, but not in children with typical development.
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2. Foster L, Dunn W, Lawson LM. {{Coaching Mothers of Children with Autism: A Qualitative Study for Occupational Therapy Practice}}. {Phys Occup Ther Pediatr}. 2012.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who participated in 10 one-hour coaching sessions. Coaching occurred between an occupational therapist and mother and consisted of information sharing, action, and reflection. Researchers asked 10 mothers six open-ended questions with follow-up probes related to their experiences with coaching. Themes were identified, labeled, and categorized. Themes emerged related to relationships, analysis, reflection, mindfulness, and self-efficacy. Findings indicate that parents perceive the therapist-parent relationship, along with analysis and reflection, as core features that facilitate increased mindfulness and self-efficacy. The findings suggest that how an intervention is provided can lead to positive outcomes, including increased mindfulness and self-efficacy.
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3. Gal E, Ben Meir A, Katz N. {{Development and Reliability of the Autism Work Skills Questionnaire (AWSQ)}}. {Am J Occup Ther}. 2013; 67(1): e1-5.
OBJECTIVE. The Autism Work Skills Questionnaire (AWSQ), a new, comprehensive self-report assessment of a person’s vocational profile, was developed to help produce a good person-job match. This preliminary study was aimed at developing the questionnaire and determining its content validity and internal consistency. METHOD. Forty-six adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD), ages 18-39, were interviewed with the questionnaire. A two-phase study was conducted: (1) constructing the questionnaire and determining its content validity and (2) ascertaining internal consistency reliability. RESULTS. We found that the AWSQ had initial content validity and moderate to high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = .64-.90). CONCLUSION. The AWSQ can be a useful clinical and research tool in occupational therapy for evaluating work skills of adults with HFASD. Further studies with larger samples and including both typically developing individuals and individuals with HFASD are required to further support the questionnaire’s reliability and validity.
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4. Gotham K, Bishop SL, Hus V, Huerta M, Lund S, Buja A, Krieger A, Lord C. {{Exploring the Relationship Between Anxiety and Insistence on Sameness in Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Autism Res}. 2012.
Elevated anxiety symptoms are one of the most common forms of psychopathology to co-occur with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The purpose of this study was to explore the association between anxiety and ASD symptoms, particularly the degree to which the relationship is explained by insistence on sameness (IS) behaviors and/or cognitive ability. The sample included 1429 individuals aged 5:8-18:0 years who participated in the Simons Simplex Collection, a genetic consortium study of ASD. Child Behavior Checklist Anxiety Problems T-scores and Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised « IS » item raw totals were treated as both categorical and continuous measures of anxiety and IS, respectively. Chronological age, verbal intelligence quotient (IQ), and a variety of ASD phenotype-related and other behavioral variables were assessed for potential association with anxiety and IS. Anxiety and IS continuous variables were minimally, although significantly, associated with each other and with chronological age and verbal IQ. Neither anxiety nor IS was associated with other core autism diagnostic scores. Anxiety was associated with a variety of other psychiatric and behavioral symptoms in ASD, including irritability, attention problems, and aggression, while IS was not. Anxiety and IS appear to function as distinct constructs, each with a wide range of expression in children with ASD across age and IQ levels. Thus, both variables could be of use in ASD behavioral research or in dimensional approaches to genetic exploration. Unlike IS, however, anxiety is related to non-ASD-specific behavioral symptoms. Autism Res 2012, : -. (c) 2012 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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5. Gowen E. {{Imitation in autism: why action kinematics matter}}. {Front Integr Neurosci}. 2012; 6: 117.
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6. Hamilton AF. {{Reflecting on the mirror neuron system in autism: A systematic review of current theories}}. {Dev Cogn Neurosci}. 2013; 3: 91-105.
There is much interest in the claim that dysfunction of the mirror neuron system in individuals with autism spectrum condition causes difficulties in social interaction and communication. This paper systematically reviews all published studies using neuroscience methods (EEG/MEG/TMS/eyetracking/EMG/fMRI) to examine the integrity of the mirror system in autism. 25 suitable papers are reviewed. The review shows that current data are very mixed and that studies using weakly localised measures of the integrity of the mirror system are hard to interpret. The only well localised measure of mirror system function is fMRI. In fMRI studies, those using emotional stimuli have reported group differences, but studies using non-emotional hand action stimuli do not. Overall, there is little evidence for a global dysfunction of the mirror system in autism. Current data can be better understood under an alternative model in which social top-down response modulation is abnormal in autism. The implications of this model and future research directions are discussed.
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7. Lerner MD, McPartland JC, Morris JP. {{Multimodal emotion processing in autism spectrum disorders: An event-related potential study}}. {Dev Cogn Neurosci}. 2013; 3: 11-21.
This study sought to describe heterogeneity in emotion processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) via electrophysiological markers of perceptual and cognitive processes that underpin emotion recognition across perceptual modalities. Behavioral and neural indicators of emotion processing were collected, as event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while youth with ASD completed a standardized facial and vocal emotion identification task. Children with ASD exhibited impaired emotion recognition performance for adult faces and child voices, with a subgroup displaying intact recognition. Latencies of early perceptual ERP components, marking social information processing speed, and amplitudes of subsequent components reflecting emotion evaluation, each correlated across modalities. Social information processing speed correlated with emotion recognition performance, and predicted membership in a subgroup with intact adult vocal emotion recognition. Results indicate that the essential multimodality of emotion recognition in individuals with ASDs may derive from early social information processing speed, despite heterogeneous behavioral performance; this process represents a novel social-emotional intervention target for ASD.
