1. Bilaver LA, Cushing LS, Cutler AT. {{Prevalence and Correlates of Educational Intervention Utilization Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2015 (Sep 21)
This study examined the prevalence and correlates of educational intervention utilization among U.S. preschool aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prior to recent policy changes. The analysis was based on a nationally representative longitudinal survey of children receiving special education services during the 2003-2004 school year. All children with parent or teacher identified ASD over a 3-year study period were analyzed. Outcomes included utilization of speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavior therapy, and mental health services by service sector. The analysis revealed low rates of behavioral therapy and mental health services. Parents reported that the overwhelming majority of services were received inside school only. This study identified gaps in the provision of services for young children with ASD.
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2. Chiu TA, Anagnostou E, Brian J, Chau T, Kushki A. {{Specificity of autonomic arousal to anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism Res};2015 (Sep 21)
Anxiety is one of the most concerning comorbidities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to its high prevalence, negative impact on physical and psychological well-being, and interaction with core deficits of ASD. Current assessment and treatment of anxiety, which rely on the observation of behavior and self-reports, are often ineffective as ASD is associated with deficits in communication and diminished introspective ability. In this light, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity has been suggested as a marker of physiological arousal associated with anxiety. However, physiological arousal measured by ANS indices also occurs with other cognitive and emotional processes, and it is unclear whether anxiety-related arousal can be differentiated from that related to other cognitive processes. To address this gap, we investigated the use of linear and nonlinear classification techniques for differentiating anxiety-related arousal from arousal due to three cognitive processes (attention, inhibitory control, and social cognition) and physical activity based on electrocardiography signal features. Our results indicate that over 80% classification accuracy can be achieved, suggesting that ANS response can be used as a specific marker of anxiety-related arousal in a subgroup of children with ASD who demonstrate an increase in heart rate in response to anxiogenic stimuli. Autism Res 2015. (c) 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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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. 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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5. Lageix F, Nicaise-Roland P, Houlier M, Zylberberg P, Dubrel M, Heulin M, Fain O, Lachassinne E, Heron B, Chollet-Martin S, Mekinian A, de Pontual L. {{[Association between the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder in childhood]}}. {Arch Pediatr};2015 (Sep 16)
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between the presence of antiphospholipid (APL) antibodies and the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in childhood. METHODS: A prospective, monocentric case-control study from February 2012 to August 2014 comparing the APL antibodies of children with ASD (group 1) and children without ASD (group 2). RESULTS: Group 1 consisted of 44 children with ASD defined by clinical, genetic, metabolic, and morphological criteria. Group 2 consisted of 26 control children without ASD. One of children with ASD (2.3 %) had persistent anticardiolipin (ACL) antibodies, five of them (11.4 %) had persistent APL antibodies, one of them (2.3 %) had antiannexin V (AAV) antibodies, and two of them (4.5 %) had antiphosphatidylethanolamine (APE) antibodies. Two of the control children (7.7 %) had persistent APL antibodies. None of them had persistent ACL, AAV, or APE antibodies. Comparing group 1 and 2 children, no significant difference was found between the presence and the titers of conventional and non conventional antibodies (P<0.05). Furthermore, one mother of an autistic child (3 %) had persistent APL antibodies. CONCLUSION: ASD had no significant relation with the presence of APL antibodies.
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6. Mazefsky CA. {{Emotion Regulation and Emotional Distress in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Foundations and Considerations for Future Research}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2015 (Sep 21)
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often associated with emotional distress and psychiatric comorbidities. Atypical emotion regulation (ER) may underlie these accompanying features. This special issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders presents a series of mechanistic and applied papers on ER and emotional experiences in ASD. Important concepts for future research are discussed, including how to conceptualize emotion dysregulation in ASD, the importance of capturing variability in emotion dysregulation in ASD studies, and the promise of intervention approaches that target ER impairments. This special issue highlights the growing emphasis on ER and emotional distress in ASD, and aims to encourage continued research in this area given the potential for this line of inquiry to lead to improved outcomes.
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7. Sullivan JM, Badimon A, Schaefer U, Ayata P, Gray J, Chung CW, von Schimmelmann M, Zhang F, Garton N, Smithers N, Lewis H, Tarakhovsky A, Prinjha RK, Schaefer A. {{Autism-like syndrome is induced by pharmacological suppression of BET proteins in young mice}}. {J Exp Med};2015 (Sep 21)
Studies investigating the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) point to genetic, as well as epigenetic, mechanisms of the disease. Identification of epigenetic processes that contribute to ASD development and progression is of major importance and may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Here, we identify the bromodomain and extraterminal domain-containing proteins (BETs) as epigenetic regulators of genes involved in ASD-like behaviors in mice. We found that the pharmacological suppression of BET proteins in the brain of young mice, by the novel, highly specific, brain-permeable inhibitor I-BET858 leads to selective suppression of neuronal gene expression followed by the development of an autism-like syndrome. Many of the I-BET858-affected genes have been linked to ASD in humans, thus suggesting the key role of the BET-controlled gene network in the disorder. Our studies suggest that environmental factors controlling BET proteins or their target genes may contribute to the epigenetic mechanism of ASD.
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8. Ueyama Y. {{A Bayesian Model of the Uncanny Valley Effect for Explaining the Effects of Therapeutic Robots in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {PLoS One};2015;10(9):e0138642.
One of the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired reciprocal social interaction, especially in processing emotional information. Social robots are used to encourage children with ASD to take the initiative and to interact with the robotic tools to stimulate emotional responses. However, the existing evidence is limited by poor trial designs. The purpose of this study was to provide computational evidence in support of robot-assisted therapy for children with ASD. We thus propose an emotional model of ASD that adapts a Bayesian model of the uncanny valley effect, which holds that a human-looking robot can provoke repulsion and sensations of eeriness. Based on the unique emotional responses of children with ASD to the robots, we postulate that ASD induces a unique emotional response curve, more like a cliff than a valley. Thus, we performed numerical simulations of robot-assisted therapy to evaluate its effects. The results showed that, although a stimulus fell into the uncanny valley in the typical condition, it was effective at avoiding the uncanny cliff in the ASD condition. Consequently, individuals with ASD may find it more comfortable, and may modify their emotional response, if the robots look like deformed humans, even if they appear « creepy » to typical individuals. Therefore, we suggest that our model explains the effects of robot-assisted therapy in children with ASD and that human-looking robots may have potential advantages for improving social interactions in ASD.
