1. Benjamin TE, Crasta JE, Suresh AP, Alwinesh MJ, Kanniappan G, Padankatti SM, Nair MK, Russell PS. {{Sensory Profile Caregiver Questionnaire: A Measure for Sensory Impairment Among Children with Developmental Disabilities in India}}. {Indian J Pediatr};2014 (Oct 23)
OBJECTIVE: There is no validated measure for assessing sensory processing among children with Developmental Disorders (DD) in India, and therefore, the authors validated the Sensory Profile Caregiver Questionnaire (SPCQ). METHODS: Parents of 119 children with DD or typical development completed the SPCQ. The diagnosis of DD was confirmed by psychologists using standardized measures. Two experienced occupational therapists independently diagnosed sensory processing dysfunction by consensus as reference standard diagnosis. The convergent and divergent validity were assessed by another rater. The data was analyzed for diagnostic accuracy, reliability and validity appropriately. RESULTS: A total SPCQ score of </= 481 (Sn = 81.58 %, Sp = 85.19 %; AUC = 0.90, z = 14.95; P 0.0001) is appropriate for the diagnosis of sensory processing dysfunction. The inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.87), test- retest reliability (ICC = 0.90), internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.86), section-total correlation, face and content validity for the SPCQ were good. Convergent validity with the Sensory Processing Measure (r = -0.76, P 0.001), and divergent validity with the subscale scores for social skills/ oppositional behavior of ADD-H Comprehensive Teacher Rating Scale (r = 0.32; P 0.1/ r = 0.08; P 0.6) was established. CONCLUSIONS: The SPCQ has adequate psychometric properties for use in the Indian population for identifying sensory processing dysfunction.
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2. Delfs CH, Frampton SE. {{Practical implications of evaluating the efficiency of listener and tact instruction for children with autism}}. {J Appl Behav Anal};2014 (Oct 24)
Recent literature reviews have highlighted the need to better understand the relation between speaker and listener behavior when teaching learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current paper outlines the practical implications of evaluating the emergence of tact and listener behavior during instruction for the opposite relation, as presented in the preceding article « Evaluating the Efficiency of Listener and Tact Instruction for Children with Autism. » Modifications of those procedures for clinical use as well as future directions for research in this area are presented.
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3. Dillen C, Steyaert J, Op de Beeck HP, Boets B. {{Visual Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Embedded Figures and Configural Superiority Tests}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2014 (Oct 24)
The embedded figures test has often been used to reveal weak central coherence in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we administered a more standardized automated version of the embedded figures test in combination with the configural superiority task, to investigate the effect of contextual modulation on local feature detection in 23 adolescents with ASD and 26 matched typically developing controls. On both tasks both groups performed largely similarly in terms of accuracy and reaction time, and both displayed the contextual modulation effect. This indicates that individuals with ASD are equally sensitive compared to typically developing individuals to the contextual effects of the task and that there is no evidence for a local processing bias in adolescents with ASD.
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4. Elmose M, Happe F. {{Being Aware of Own Performance: How Accurately Do Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Judge Own Memory Performance?}}. {Autism Res};2014 (Oct 22)
Self-awareness was investigated by assessing accuracy of judging own memory performance in a group of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with a group of typically developing (TD) children. Effects of stimulus type (social vs. nonsocial), and availability of feedback information as the task progressed, were examined. Results overall showed comparable levels and patterns of accuracy in the ASD and TD groups. A trend level effect (p = 061, d = 0.60) was found, with ASD participants being more accurate in judging own memory for nonsocial than social stimuli and the opposite pattern for TD participants. These findings suggest that awareness of own memory can be good in children with ASD. It is discussed how this finding may be interpreted, and it is suggested that further investigation into the relation between content, frequency, and quality of self-awareness, and the context of self-awareness, is needed. Autism Res 2014, : -. (c) 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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5. George B, Padmam MS, Nair MK, Leena ML, Russell PS. {{CDC Kerala 13: Antenatal, Natal and Postnatal Factors Among Children (2-6 y) with Autism – A Case Control Study}}. {Indian J Pediatr};2014 (Oct 24)
OBJECTIVES: To compare antenatal, natal and postnatal factors among children between 2-6 y of age with autism and a control group of normal children. METHODS: One hundred and forty three confirmed cases of 2-6 y-old children with autism, attending autism clinic of Child Development Centre, who had a CARS score of >/= 30 were included in the study. Two hundred normal children in the same age group were recruited from the well-baby/immunization clinic of SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Data was collected using a structured pre-piloted questionnaire consisting of 21 antenatal, 8 natal and 6 postnatal risk factors. RESULTS: The multivariate analysis on antenatal, natal and postnatal possible risk factors for autism showed statistically significant high odds ratios for (i) excess fetal movement (OR = 11.44; 95 % CI: 2.85 – 45.98); (ii) maternal respiratory infection/asthma (OR = 6.11; 95 % CI: 1.56-24.02; (iii) maternal vaginal infection (OR = 5.20; 95 % CI: 1.72 – 15.73); (iv) maternal hypothyroidism (OR = 4.25; 95 % CI: 1.38-13.07) and (v) family history of neuro-developmental disorders (OR = 2.90; 95 % CI: 1.72 – 4.88). CONCLUSIONS: This case control study involving 143 children between 2 and 6 y with autism as per CARS criteria and a control group of 200 normal children has shown that excess fetal movement, maternal respiratory infection/asthma, maternal vaginal infection, maternal hypothyroidism and family history of neuro-developmental disorders are possible risk factors for autism.
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6. Mazza M, Pino MC, Mariano M, Tempesta D, Ferrara M, De Berardis D, Masedu F, Valenti M. {{Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Front Hum Neurosci};2014;8:791.
The broad construct of empathy incorporates both cognitive and affective dimensions. Recent evidence suggests that the subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) show a significant impairment in empathic ability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cognitive and affective components of empathy in adolescents with ASD compared to controls. Fifteen adolescents with ASD and 15 controls underwent paper and pencil measures and a computerized Multifaceted Empathy Test. All measures were divided into mentalizing and experience sharing abilities. Adolescents with ASD compared to controls showed deficits in all mentalizing measures: they were incapable of interpreting and understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. Instead, in the sharing experience measures, the adolescents with ASD were able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they express emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do so when the emotional valence is negative. These results were confirmed by the computerized task. In conclusion, our results suggest that adolescents with ASD show a difficulty in cognitive empathy, whereas the deficit in affective empathy is specific for the negative emotional valence.
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7. Sasson NJ, Faso DJ, Parlier M, Daniels JL, Piven J. {{When Father Doesn’t Know Best: Selective Disagreement Between Self-Report and Informant Report of the Broad Autism Phenotype in Parents of a Child with Autism}}. {Autism Res};2014 (Oct 22)
The Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) is a reliable tool for identifying three autism-related traits-social aloofness, pragmatic language abnormalities and rigid personality-within families of a person with autism and the general population. Although little is known concerning agreement between self-report and informant report versions of the BAPQ, identifying individual characteristics affecting agreement between the two can highlight important considerations for maximizing its yield, particularly when only one version is administered. Here, analysis of self-report and informant report of the BAPQ completed by 444 parents of a child with autism revealed moderate to strong agreement between the two versions for all three broad autism phenotype (BAP) traits when the self-reporting parent did not possess the trait being assessed. In contrast, disagreement selectively occurred when the assessed parent was positive for the BAP trait being rated. This pattern was driven primarily by fathers who were positive for a BAP trait endorsing lower levels of that trait relative to informant report. This discrepancy did not occur for mothers, nor did it occur for fathers lacking BAP traits. Because this pattern was specific to fathers positive for BAP traits, it likely reflects selective « blind spots » in their self-reporting and not poorer self-reporting by fathers more broadly, nor a general tendency of overreporting by informant mothers. The presence of BAP traits in informing parents, however, largely did not reduce agreement between self-report and informant report. In sum, self-report may underestimate the presence of BAP traits in fathers but is generally consistent with informant report for mothers. Autism Res 2014, : -. (c) 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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8. Schore AN. {{Early interpersonal neurobiological assessment of attachment and autistic spectrum disorders}}. {Front Psychol};2014;5:1049.
There is now a strong if not urgent call in both the attachment and autism literatures for updated, research informed, clinically relevant interventions that can more effectively assess the mother infant dyad during early periods of brain plasticity. In this contribution I describe my work in regulation theory, an overarching interpersonal neurobiological model of the development, psychopathogenesis, and treatment of the early forming subjective self system. The theory models the psychoneurobiological mechanisms by which early rapid, spontaneous and thereby implicit emotionally laden attachment communications indelibly impact the experience-dependent maturation of the right brain, the « emotional brain. » Reciprocal right-lateralized visual-facial, auditory-prosodic, and tactile-gestural non-verbal communications lie at the psychobiological core of the emotional attachment bond between the infant and primary caregiver. These affective communications can in turn be interactively regulated by the primary caregiver, thereby expanding the infant’s developing right brain regulatory systems. Regulated and dysregulated bodily based communications can be assessed in order to determine the ongoing status of both the infant’s emotional and social development as well as the quality and efficiency of the infant-mother attachment relationship. I then apply the model to the assessment of early stages of autism. Developmental neurobiological research documents significant alterations of the early developing right brain in autistic infants and toddlers, as well profound attachment failures and intersubjective deficits in autistic infant-mother dyads. Throughout I offer implications of the theory for clinical assessment models. This work suggests that recent knowledge of the social and emotional functions of the early developing right brain may not only bridge the attachment and autism worlds, but facilitate more effective attachment and autism models of early intervention.
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9. Singleton CJ, Ashwin C, Brosnan M. {{Physiological Responses to Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Neurotypical Adults With High and Low Levels of Autistic Traits: Implications for Understanding Nonsocial Drive in Autism Spectrum Disorders}}. {Autism Res};2014 (Oct 24)
Researchers have suggested that the two primary cognitive features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a drive toward nonsocial processing and a reduced drive toward social processing, may be unrelated to each other in the neurotypical (NT) population and may therefore require separate explanations. Drive toward types of processing may be related to physiological arousal to categories of stimuli, such as social (e.g., faces) or nonsocial (e.g., trains). This study investigated how autistic traits in an NT population might relate to differences in physiological responses to nonsocial compared with social stimuli. NT participants were recruited to examine these differences in those with high vs. low degrees of ASD traits. Forty-six participants (21 male, 25 female) completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) to measure ASD traits before viewing a series of 24 images while skin conductance response (SCR) was recorded. Images included six nonsocial, six social, six face-like cartoons, and six nonsocial (relating to participants’ personal interests). Analysis revealed that those with a higher AQ had significantly greater SCR arousal to nonsocial stimuli than those with a low AQ, and the higher the AQ, the greater the difference between SCR arousal to nonsocial and social stimuli. This is the first study to identify the relationship between AQ and physiological response to nonsocial stimuli, and a relationship between physiological response to both social and nonsocial stimuli, suggesting that physiological response may underlie the atypical drive toward nonsocial processing seen in ASD, and that at the physiological level at least the social and nonsocial in ASD may be related to one another. Autism Res 2014, : -. (c) 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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10. Weiss JA, Thomson K, Chan L. {{A Systematic Literature Review of Emotion Regulation Measurement in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Autism Res};2014 (Oct 24)
Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are a potential common factor underlying the presentation of multiple emotional and behavioral problems in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To provide an overview of how ER has been studied in individuals with ASD, we conducted a systematic review of the past 20 years of ER research in the ASD population, using established keywords from the most comprehensive ER literature review of the typically developing population to date. Out of an initial sampling of 305 studies, 32 were eligible for review. We examined the types of methods (self-report, informant report, naturalistic observation/ behavior coding, physiological, and open-ended) and the ER constructs based on Gross and Thompson’s modal model (situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation). Studies most often assessed ER using one type of method and from a unidimensional perspective. Across the 32 studies, we documented the types of measures used and found that 38% of studies used self-report, 44% included an informant report measure, 31% included at least one naturalistic observation/behavior coding measure, 13% included at least one physiological measure, and 13% included at least one open-ended measure. Only 25% of studies used more than one method of measurement. The findings of the current review provide the field with an in-depth analysis of various ER measures and how each measure taps into an ER framework. Future research can use this model to examine ER in a multicomponent way and through multiple methods. Autism Res 2014, : -. (c) 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
