1. Andersson Konke L, Falck-Ytter T, Jones EJH, Goodwin A, Brocki K. Using the Infant Sibling-Design to Explore Associations Between Autism and ADHD Traits in Probands and Temperament in the Younger Siblings. J Autism Dev Disord;2023 (Jun 24)

The purpose of the current study was to use the infant sibling design to explore whether proband traits of autism and ADHD could provide information about their infant sibling’s temperament. This could help us to gain information about the extent to which infant temperament traits are differentially associated with autism and ADHD traits. We used parent-ratings of autistic traits and ADHD traits (CRS-3) in older siblings diagnosed with autism (age range 4 to 19 years), and their infant siblings’ temperament traits (IBQ) at 9 months of age in 216 sibling pairs from two sites (BASIS, UK, and EASE, Sweden) to examine associations across siblings. We found specific, but modest, associations across siblings after controlling for sex, age, developmental level and site. Proband autistic traits were specifically related to low levels of approach in the infant siblings, with infant developmental level explaining part of the variance in infant approach. Proband ADHD traits were specifically related to high levels of infant activity even after controlling for covariates. Our findings suggest that proband traits of autism and ADHD carry information for infant sibling’s temperament, indicating that inherited liability may influence early emerging behaviours in infant siblings. The impact of sex, age, developmental level and site are discussed.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

2. Carmo JC, Filipe CN. Sub-second timing irregularities in a simple motor task in autism spectrum disorder: Preliminary effects of intermittent light stimulation. J Neuropsychol;2023 (Jun 24)

Several authors have contributed extensively to the neurocognitive understanding of timing. In Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on the contrary, internal timing and its functioning is not well understood. In this study, we have adapted a simple finger-tapping motor task, with a timing component, as we aim at understanding whether the processing of time is preserved in this population. We have tested a group of people on the autism spectrum without intellectual disabilities and a control sample recruited from the general population, matched for age, sex, schooling and general cognitive abilities on this task with a learning and testing phase. In the testing phase, we have added two exploratory conditions where participants were exposed to intermittent light stimulation of 4 and 8 Hz. Results show that both in the learning and testing phase, besides troubles in the motor component encountered by the people on the spectrum, their timing component performance was also problematic. This reveals to be especially true for time intervals below the 1 s range, as hypothesized, whereas performance in longer intervals is clearly preserved. It was also observed that the exposure to intermittent light stimulation specifically overcomes the difficulties observed in the autistic group, at the timing components at this millisecond time range. The observed timing difficulties in this group seem to be restricted to the system responsible for the processing of time intervals in the milliseconds range, which helps accommodate disparate findings in the literature.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

3. Guay C, Abouzeid N, Forget J, Boulé M. Acceptability and effects of acquiring an assistance or companion dog for families of children on the autism spectrum. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol;2023 (Jun 24):1-13.

PURPOSE: Assistance and companion dogs have numerous positive effects for family of autistic children, such as supporting their rehabilitation and improving their quality of life. To date, very few studies have compared the effects of both types of dogs. This comparison, considering the limited access to assistance dogs, could be helpful for families wanting to adopt a dog. METHODS: An explanatory sequential design with a mixed-method approach was used. First, 85 parents (n(assistance dogs) = 57; n(companion dogs) = 28) of children aged between 3 and 17 years old (M = 10.73, SD = 3.67) completed an online questionnaire including sociodemographic questions and the Treatment Acceptability Rating Form-Revised (TARF-R). Then, 17 of these participants (n(assistance dogs) = 14; n(companion dogs) = 3) completed a semi-structured interview. RESULTS: The quantitative data analyses showed that parents with assistance dogs were significantly more satisfied: t (83) = -2.12, p = .037, d = 0.49. Significant associations between some sociodemographic variables (e.g., number of children, comorbid condition, reasons for acquiring a dog) and acceptability/satisfaction (TARF-R total scores) were found. The qualitative analysis revealed that families with both dog types observed positive effects. CONCLUSIONS: In brief, having an assistance dog constitutes a significant added value; nevertheless, both types of dogs are appreciated.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

4. Gulati S, Hameed B, Olusanya BO, Newton CR. Neurodiversity and humanism in autism: An LMIC health care setting perspective. Autism;2023 (Jul);27(5):1173-1176.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

5. Junttila M, Jussila K, Joskitt L, Ebeling H, Kielinen M, Loukusa S, Miettunen J, Mäntymaa M, Mattila ML. Factor analysis of the autism spectrum screening questionnaire in a population-based child sample. Nord J Psychiatry;2023 (Jun 24):1-10.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate several possible factor structures of the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used the 27-item screening tool for school-aged children in a general population of 8-year-old children (n = 3,538) and compared the occurring solutions to previously published factor models. RESULTS: A one-factor solution and a four-factor solution were identified in Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), while two-, three-, five- and six-factor solutions were rejected. In CFA, our four-factor solution showed the best goodness-of-fit indexes when compared with factor models previously presented by Posserud et al. and Ehlers et al. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate a strong underlying connection between all ASSQ items which is elicited by the one-factor solution. Although as a screening tool, ASSQ is functioning with the unifactorial solution, the four factors can help to identify certain clusters of autism spectrum traits.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

6. Ludyga S, Gerber M, Bruggisser F, Leuenberger R, Brotzmann M, Trescher S, Förster M, Zou L, Herbrecht E, Hanke M. A randomized cross-over trial investigating the neurocognitive effects of acute exercise on face recognition in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res;2023 (Jun 23)

Difficulties in face recognition contribute to social-cognitive problems in autistic children. Evidence on behavioral interventions targeting this cognitive domain is limited. In non-autistic individuals, a single exercise session is known to elicit temporary benefits for several cognitive functions. Our study investigates whether acute aerobic exercise influences face recognition in autistic children. In a randomized order, 29 participants completed a 20-min moderately-intense cycling bout on an ergometer and a control condition. Before and after each condition, participants categorized Mooney faces and instruments during a computerized cognitive task. Simultaneously, the N170 component of event-related potentials and pupil size were recorded using electroencephalography and eyetracking, respectively. As indicated by a greater increase of reaction time in the exercise compared to the control condition, the results revealed impaired face recognition following aerobic exercise. This effect was accompanied by a lower decrease of the positive N170 amplitude and a trend towards a greater constriction of the pupil size in the exercise compared to the control condition. Our findings highlight the interplay of the physiological state and face recognition in autistic children. Exercise-induced impairments in this social-cognitive ability may be due to an interference with the learning effect that is typically seen for the structural encoding of faces.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

7. O’Sullivan J, Bogaarts G, Schoenenberger P, Tillmann J, Slater D, Mesgarani N, Eule E, Kilchenmann T, Murtagh L, Hipp J, Lindemann M, Lipsmeier F, Cheng WY, Nobbs D, Chatham C. Automatic speaker diarization for natural conversation analysis in autism clinical trials. Sci Rep;2023 (Jun 24);13(1):10270.

Challenges in social communication is one of the core symptom domains in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Novel therapies are under development to help individuals with these challenges, however the ability to show a benefit is dependent on a sensitive and reliable measure of treatment effect. Currently, measuring these deficits requires the use of time-consuming and subjective techniques. Objective measures extracted from natural conversations could be more ecologically relevant, and administered more frequently-perhaps giving them added sensitivity to change. While several studies have used automated analysis methods to study autistic speech, they require manual transcriptions. In order to bypass this time-consuming process, an automated speaker diarization algorithm must first be applied. In this paper, we are testing whether a speaker diarization algorithm can be applied to natural conversations between autistic individuals and their conversational partner in a natural setting at home over the course of a clinical trial. We calculated the average duration that a participant would speak for within their turn. We found a significant correlation between this feature and the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) expressive communication score (r = 0.51, p = 7 × 10(-5)). Our results show that natural conversations can be used to obtain measures of talkativeness, and that this measure can be derived automatically, thus showing the promise of objectively evaluating communication challenges in ASD.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

8. Rozenblat S, Shimshoni Y, Lebowitz ER, Perez M, Koller J. A Pilot Trial of SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) in Autism. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev;2023 (Jun 23)

Family accommodation describes changes parents make to their behavior, intended to alleviate their child’s distress, which stems from a psychopathology. In anxiety, studies show that accommodation alleviates distress in the short term but is associated with increased symptom severity, greater functional impairment, poorer treatment outcomes, increased caregiver burden and disruption to family functioning longitudinally. Research shows high prevalence of family accommodation of anxiety in autism. While the most common treatments for anxiety in autism are cognitive-behavior therapy and pharmacology, research is limited and other approaches must be considered. Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is a parent-based, manualized treatment for anxiety targeting family accommodation, which has been found to be acceptable and efficacious in treating childhood anxiety. This pilot trial examined the feasibility, acceptability, treatment-satisfaction, and preliminary efficacy of SPACE for anxiety in autism. Parents of 15 autistic children (ages 6-10 years) with at least average cognitive abilities exhibiting high levels of anxiety participated in 13 weekly sessions of SPACE. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed through enrollment, attrition rates, and adverse events. Of 26 eligible families, 22 (84.62%) elected to participate, 15 of whom (68.18%) completed treatment. Parents rated the treatment as highly satisfactory. Anxiety symptom severity and family accommodation were significantly reduced following treatment, with 86.66% of participants showing reliable change post-treatment, and this reduction was preserved at 2-month follow-up. This study provides preliminary evidence that SPACE is feasible, acceptable, satisfactory, and produces improvement in anxiety in the autistic population.Trial registration number: NCT04747262 Date of registration: February 10, 2021.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

9. Schuwerk T, Sodian B. Differences in self-other control as cognitive mechanism to characterize theory of mind reasoning in autistic and non-autistic adults. Autism Res;2023 (Jun 23)

In cognitive science, altered Theory of Mind is a central pillar of etiological models of autism. Yet, recent evidence, showing comparable Theory of Mind abilities in autistic and non-autistic people, draws a more complex picture and renders previous descriptions of Theory of Mind abilities in autism and their role in autistic symptomatology insufficient. Here, we addressed self-other control as a potential candidate cognitive mechanism to explain subtle Theory of Mind reasoning differences between autistic and non-autistic adults. We investigated flexible shifting between another’s and one’s own congruent or incongruent points of view, an ability that is important for reciprocal social interaction. Measuring response accuracy and reaction time in a multiple-trial unexpected location false belief task, we found evidence for altered self-other control in Theory of Mind reasoning in autistic adults, with a relative difficulty in flexibly considering the other’s perspective and less interference of the other’s incongruent viewpoint when their own perspective is considered. Our results add to previous findings that social cognitive differences are there but subtle and constitute one step further in characterizing Theory of Mind reasoning in autism and explaining communication and interaction difficulties with non-autistic people in everyday life.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)

10. Vincent J, Ralston K. Uncovering employment outcomes for autistic university graduates in the United Kingdom: An analysis of population data. Autism;2023 (Jun 23):13623613231182756.

International research suggests that more autistic people are entering higher education. Currently, very little is known about this group in the United Kingdom, for example, we have little information about how many autistic people enrol at UK-based higher education institutions, their backgrounds, the academic programmes they study and what they do once they have graduated. Our study tries to explore these issues by comparing outcomes between autistic students, other disabled students and non-disabled students. We use population data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency in the United Kingdom, which included 1,326,416 graduates across the years 2012-2018. Our findings indicate that the degree subjects studied at university by autistic students are more diverse than often people think. We also found that graduates go on to work in a range of employment sectors following graduation but often experience worse outcomes in terms of access to full-time work and worse pay. We argue that universities and colleges must focus greater attention on developing better employment transition support for autistic students and graduates.

Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)