1. Baker JK, Fenning RM, Erath SA, Baucom BR, Moffitt J, Howland MA. {{Sympathetic Under-Arousal and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Abnorm Child Psychol};2017 (Jul 24)
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly exhibit co-occurring externalizing behavior problems, which can impede learning opportunities and contribute significantly to caregiver stress. Substantial theory and research has linked under-arousal of the sympathetic nervous system to increased externalizing problems in children without ASD, but under-arousal has not been considered as an explanatory mechanism for individual differences among children with ASD. We tested the notion that lower electrodermal activity (EDA) would predict more externalizing problems in children with ASD, and considered the degree to which parent co-regulatory support could buffer this risk. Forty children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 11 years and their primary caregivers participated in a laboratory visit that included various play, compliance, and problem-solving regulatory tasks. EDA was measured through wireless wrist sensors, parental scaffolding was observed during a dyadic problem-solving task, and parents rated their children’s externalizing behavior problems. As predicted, low EDA during the compliance-oriented tasks directly predicted higher child externalizing problems. Parental scaffolding moderated the link between under-arousal during the problem-solving regulatory tasks and externalizing problems such that the relation was observed in the context of low, but not high, support. Implications for relevant theories (e.g., fearlessness theory, stimulation-seeking theory) are discussed, and the potential for psychophysiological patterns to inform intervention with these children is considered.
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2. Del Cole CG, Caetano SC, Ribeiro W, Kummer A, Jackowski AP. {{Adolescent adaptive behavior profiles in Williams-Beuren syndrome, Down syndrome, and autism spectrum disorder}}. {Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health};2017;11:40.
BACKGROUND: Adaptive behavior can be impaired in different neurodevelopmental disorders and may be influenced by confounding factors, such as intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic classification. Our main objective was to verify whether adaptive behavior profiles differ in three conditions-Williams Beuren syndrome (WBS), Down syndrome (DS), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as compared with healthy controls (HC) and with each other. Although the literature points towards each disorder having a characteristic profile, no study has compared profiles to establish the specificity of each one. A secondary objective was to explore potential interactions between the conditions and socioeconomic status, and whether this had any effect on adaptive behavior profiles. METHODS: One hundred and five adolescents were included in the study. All adolescents underwent the following evaluations: the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and the Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that the WBS group performed better than the DS group in the communication domain, beta = -15.08, t(3.45), p = .005, and better than the ASD group in the socialization domain, beta = 8.92, t(-2.08), p = .013. The DS group also performed better than the ASD group in socialization, beta = 16.98, t(-2.32), p = .024. IQ was an important confounding factor, and socioeconomic status had an important effect on the adaptive behavior of all groups. CONCLUSIONS: There is a heterogeneity regarding adaptive behavior profiles in WBS, DS, and ASD. These data are important to better design specific strategies related to the health and social care of each particular group.
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3. Galilee A, Stefanidou C, McCleery JP. {{Atypical speech versus non-speech detection and discrimination in 4- to 6- yr old children with autism spectrum disorder: An ERP study}}. {PLoS One};2017;12(7):e0181354.
Previous event-related potential (ERP) research utilizing oddball stimulus paradigms suggests diminished processing of speech versus non-speech sounds in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, brain mechanisms underlying these speech processing abnormalities, and to what extent they are related to poor language abilities in this population remain unknown. In the current study, we utilized a novel paired repetition paradigm in order to investigate ERP responses associated with the detection and discrimination of speech and non-speech sounds in 4- to 6-year old children with ASD, compared with gender and verbal age matched controls. ERPs were recorded while children passively listened to pairs of stimuli that were either both speech sounds, both non-speech sounds, speech followed by non-speech, or non-speech followed by speech. Control participants exhibited N330 match/mismatch responses measured from temporal electrodes, reflecting speech versus non-speech detection, bilaterally, whereas children with ASD exhibited this effect only over temporal electrodes in the left hemisphere. Furthermore, while the control groups exhibited match/mismatch effects at approximately 600 ms (central N600, temporal P600) when a non-speech sound was followed by a speech sound, these effects were absent in the ASD group. These findings suggest that children with ASD fail to activate right hemisphere mechanisms, likely associated with social or emotional aspects of speech detection, when distinguishing non-speech from speech stimuli. Together, these results demonstrate the presence of atypical speech versus non-speech processing in children with ASD when compared with typically developing children matched on verbal age.
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4. McClellan L, Dominick KC, Pedapati EV, Wink LK, Erickson CA. {{Lurasidone for the treatment of irritability and anger in autism spectrum disorders}}. {Expert Opin Investig Drugs};2017 (Aug);26(8):985-989.
INTRODUCTION: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication as well as restricted patterns of behaviors and interests. Irritability marked by tantrums, self-injury and aggression occurs frequently in youth with ASD, causing significant parent and caregiver distress. Atypical antipsychotics have been the most studied drug class targeting irritability in ASD. Risperidone and aripiprazole are Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved atypical antipsychotics for treatment of irritability in youth with ASD. However, other atypical antipsychotics, such as lurasidone, are often considered for off-label use in the treatment of irritability, whether because of tolerability issues with risperidone and aripiprazole or because of the drug-refractory nature of this symptom cluster. Areas covered: Following a comprehensive review of the literature this article summarizes information on the efficacy and tolerability of lurasidone as a potential off label treatment of irritability in children and adolescents with ASD. Available data included a 6 week randomized, blind, fixed dose, placebo-controlled study and a case study. Expert opinion: To date the safety and tolerability of lurasidone in treating irritability in youth with ASD has yet to be established with, lurasidone being the only antipsychotic with published negative placebo-controlled results.
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5. Parr JR. {{Does developmental regression in autism spectrum disorder have biological origins?}}. {Dev Med Child Neurol};2017 (Jul 24)
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6. Wakusawa K, Nara C, Kubota Y, Tomizawa Y, Taki Y, Sassa Y, Kobayashi S, Suzuki-Muromoto S, Hirose M, Yokoyama H, Nara T, Kure S, Mori N, Takei N, Kawashima R. {{Intra-individual cognitive imbalance in ASD between perceptual reasoning and ambiguity-solving related to tool use: Comparison among children exhibiting ASD, AD/HD, and typical development}}. {Brain Dev};2017 (Jul 24)
OBJECTIVE: Several studies have suggested that objective deficits in the processing of abstract information in conjunction with an enhanced ability to process concrete information is a definitive characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, this cognitive imbalance is not necessarily clear in high-functioning autistic individuals who do not display absolute differences relative to typically developing (TD) populations. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify this cognitive tendency in high-functioning autistic individuals using intra-individual cognitive comparisons. METHODS: The reaction times (RTs) of TD children, children with ASD, and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) (n=17 in each group, mean age=11.9years, age range=9.8-15.8years) were compared using the Which/How-to-Apply Tools (W/HAT) test, which consists of tasks requiring the adaptive use of novel tools and familiar tools in atypical and typical situations. Differences in RTs between the atypical and typical trials ([A-T]) were used to assess intra-individual cognitive imbalances. RESULTS: As predicted, the [A-T] scores of the ASD group were significantly higher than those of the TD group even though the RTs in the atypical and typical trials did not differ. Additionally, the [A-T] values were significantly higher in the ASD group than in the AD/HD group, which indicates that the cognitive imbalance was specific to ASD individuals. No significant interaction was detected between the trial and subject group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study demonstrate that a cognitive imbalance in ASD individuals may enhance the current understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder, which is found in a range of individuals, including those with obvious cortical dysfunction to those with only intra-individual imbalances.
