1. Becchio C, Mari M, Castiello U. {{Perception of shadows in children with autism spectrum disorders}}. {PLoS One};5(5):e10582.
BACKGROUND: Cast shadows in visual scenes can have profound effects on visual perception. Much as they are informative, they also constitute noise as they are salient features of the visual scene potentially interfering with the processing of other features. Here we asked i) whether individuals with autism can exploit the information conveyed by cast shadows; ii) whether they are especially sensitive to noise aspects of shadows. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twenty high-functioning children with autism and twenty typically developing children were asked to recognize familiar objects while the presence, position, and shape of the cast shadow were systematically manipulated. Analysis of vocal reaction time revealed that whereas typically developing children used information from cast shadows to improve object recognition, in autistic children the presence of cast shadows-either congruent or incongruent-interfered with object recognition. Critically, vocal reaction times were faster when the object was presented without a cast shadow. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that shadow-processing mechanisms are abnormal in autism. As a result, processing shadows becomes costly and cast shadows interfere rather than help object recognition.
2. Blampied M, Johnston L, Miles L, Liberty K. {{Sensitivity to differences between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles in children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Br J Dev Psychol} (Jun);28(Pt 2):483-489.
The sensitivity of male children (5-15 years) with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to the affective state of others was tested using an emotion recognition task. Only children without ASD could reliably differentiate between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles. Results are considered in terms of the social impairments of children with ASD.
3. Farr W, Yuill N, Raffle H. {{Social benefits of a tangible user interface for children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions}}. {Autism} (May 19)
Tangible user interfaces (TUIs) embed computer technology in graspable objects. This study assessed the potential of Topobo, a construction toy with programmable movement, to support social interaction in children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC). Groups of either typically developing (TD) children or those with ASC had group play sessions with Topobo and with LEGO?. We recorded the extent and sequence of different categories of play during these sessions. For both participant groups, there were more social forms of play with Topobo than with LEGO?. More solitary play occurred for LEGO? and more parallel play occurred with Topobo. Topobo was also associated with more time in onlooker and cooperative play in TD. Finally, we observed differences in play sequences between TD and ASC children, and discuss how different play materials might produce specific patterns of play in these two groups.
4. Holland L, Low J. {{Do children with autism use inner speech and visuospatial resources for the service of executive control? Evidence from suppression in dual tasks}}. {Br J Dev Psychol} (Jun);28(Pt 2):369-391.
Three experiments used dual-task suppression methodology to study the use of inner speech and visuospatial resources for mediating central executive performance by children with autism (CWA) and group-matched typically developing (TD) controls. Expt 1 revealed that CWA did not recruit inner speech to facilitate arithmetic task-switching performance: there was no effect of articulatory suppression (AS) on completion time for CWA compared to the TD group. Expt 2 revealed that suppression of visuospatial resources disrupted the task-switching performance of both CWA and TD groups. It also confirmed that the task-switching performance of CWA was significantly slowed by visuospatial compared to AS. Expt 3 showed that CWA also did not employ inner speech, compared to visuospatial resources, for implementing planning movements. Overall, compared to the mixture of representations used by the TD group for problem solving, CWA seemed to use visuospatial working memory resources but not inner speech to service executive control.
5. Jarrold C, Mansergh R, Whiting C. {{The representational status of pretence: evidence from typical development and autism}}. {Br J Dev Psychol} (Jun);28(Pt 2):239-254.
The question of whether understanding pretend play requires meta-representational skill was examined among typically developing children and individuals with autism. Participants were presented with closely equated true and false pretence trials in which they had to judge a protagonist’s pretend reading of a situation, which either matched or differed from their own. Results showed that individuals’ theory of mind abilities determined their performance on false, but not true, pretence trials. These findings imply that meta-representation is involved when an individual has to make sense of a pretend state of mind that differs from their own, but, crucially, they also show that pretend play can often be understood without meta-representational competence.
6. Nadon G, Ehrmann Feldman D, Dunn W, Gisel EG. {{Mealtime Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Typically Developing Siblings: a Comparison Study}}. {Autism} (May 18)
Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have mealtime problems. Diagnosis and the social environment may influence eating behaviours. We examined whether children with ASD have more mealtime problems than their typically developing siblings, and whether age and sex are associated with mealtime problems. Forty-eight families participated in this cross sectional study by completing a questionnaire (Eating Profile) for their child with ASD, 3 to 12 years of age. A second Eating Profile was completed for the sibling nearest in age without ASD. Children with ASD had a mean of 13.3 eating problems, with lack of food variety predominating. Siblings had 5.0 problems. Children with ASD had more eating problems as infants. Older children tended to have fewer problems than younger children. This study points to the importance of screening for mealtime problems. Children with ASD had significantly more mealtime problems than their sibling living in the same social environment.
7. Nakano T, Tanaka K, Endo Y, Yamane Y, Yamamoto T, Nakano Y, Ohta H, Kato N, Kitazawa S. {{Atypical gaze patterns in children and adults with autism spectrum disorders dissociated from developmental changes in gaze behaviour}}. {Proc Biol Sci} (May 19)
Eye tracking has been used to investigate gaze behaviours in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, traditional analysis has yet to find behavioural characteristics shared by both children and adults with ASD. To distinguish core ASD gaze behaviours from those that change with development, we examined temporo-spatial gaze patterns in children and adults with and without ASD while they viewed video clips. We summarized the gaze patterns of 104 participants using multidimensional scaling so that participants with similar gaze patterns would cluster together in a two-dimensional plane. Control participants clustered in the centre, reflecting a standard gaze behaviour, whereas participants with ASD were distributed around the periphery. Moreover, children and adults were separated on the plane, thereby showing a clear effect of development on gaze behaviours. Post hoc frame-by-frame analyses revealed the following findings: (i) both ASD groups shifted their gaze away from a speaker earlier than the control groups; (ii) both ASD groups showed a particular preference for letters; and (iii) typical infants preferred to watch the mouth rather than the eyes during speech, a preference that reversed with development. These results highlight the importance of taking the effect of development into account when addressing gaze behaviours characteristic of ASD.
8. van Santen JP, Prud’hommeaux ET, Black LM, Mitchell M. {{Computational prosodic markers for autism}}. {Autism} (May 18)
We present results obtained with new instrumental methods for the acoustic analysis of prosody to evaluate prosody production by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Typical Development (TD). Two tasks elicit focal stress – one in a vocal imitation paradigm, the other in a picture-description paradigm; a third task also uses a vocal imitation paradigm, and requires repeating stress patterns of two-syllable nonsense words. The instrumental methods differentiated significantly between the ASD and TD groups in all but the focal stress imitation task. The methods also showed smaller differences in the two vocal imitation tasks than in the picture-description task, as was predicted. In fact, in the nonsense word stress repetition task, the instrumental methods showed better performance for the ASD group. The methods also revealed that the acoustic features that predict auditory-perceptual judgment are not the same as those that differentiate between groups. Specifically, a key difference between the groups appears to be a difference in the balance between the various prosodic cues, such as pitch, amplitude, and duration, and not necessarily a difference in the strength or clarity with which prosodic contrasts are expressed.
9. Wallace S, Parsons S, Westbury A, White K, White K, Bailey A. {{Sense of presence and atypical social judgments in immersive virtual environments: Responses of adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders}}. {Autism} (May 18)
Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) are potentially powerful educational resources but their application for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is under researched. This study aimed to answer two research questions: (1) Do children with ASD experience IVEs in different ways to typically developing children given their cognitive, perceptual and sensory differences? and (2) Can an IVE accurately simulate ecologically valid social situations? Ten children with ASD and 14 typically developing (TD) adolescents all aged 12-16 years experienced three different IVEs. They completed self-report questionnaires on their sense of ‘presence’ in the IVEs and rated ‘social attractiveness’ of a virtual character in socially desirable and undesirable scenarios. The children with ASD reported similar levels of presence to their TD peers and no negative sensory experiences. Although TD adolescents rated the socially desirable character as more socially attractive than the undesirable character, adolescents with ASD rated the two characters as equally socially attractive. These findings suggest that children with ASD do not experience IVEs in different ways to their TD counterparts and that the IVEs are realistic enough to simulate authentic social situations. This study paints a very encouraging picture for the potential uses of IVEs in assessing and educating individuals with ASD.
10. Whalen C, Moss D, Ilan AB, Vaupel M, Fielding P, Macdonald K, Cernich S, Symon J. {{Efficacy of TeachTown: : Basics computer-assisted intervention for the Intensive Comprehensive Autism Program in Los Angeles Unified School District}}. {Autism} (May 18)
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) has shown increased popularity recently and there are many studies showing promise for this approach for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, there are no between-subject studies to date assessing the efficacy of CAI with this population. In this study, 47 preschool and K-1 students in ASD classrooms participated from Los Angeles Unified School District. TeachTown: Basics, a CAI program which also includes supplementary off-computer activities, was implemented over 3 months for approximately 20 minutes per day on the computer and 20 minutes per day in supplementary TeachTown: Basics activities. Compared to the students in the control group, the TeachTown: Basics students showed more improvement overall on language and cognitive outcome measures. In addition, students who used TeachTown: Basics demonstrated significant progress overall in the software and those students who used the program for more time demonstrated larger gains within the software and in outcome measures. Although not conclusive, these findings offer possibilities for the use of CAI for remediating many deficits for children with ASD and other special needs. In addition, CAI may offer solutions to schools and parents with insufficient funds for more expensive treatments.
