1. Alqhazo MT, Hatamleh LS, Bashtawi M. {{Phonological and lexical abilities of Jordanian children with autism}}. {Appl Neuropsychol Child};2018 (Dec 26):1-9.
This study examines phonological and lexical abilities of children with autism in Jordan. JISH Articulation Test (JAT) to measure phonological abilities and JISH School Readiness Screening Test to measure lexical abilities were used in the study. Children with ASD (n = 39) aged 4-8 years and 40 children with typical development were selected to participate in this study. The main finding of this study was that language impairment in both phonological and lexical abilities were noted among Jordanian children with ASD. The results also showed that phonological impairment was greater than lexical impairment. It is concluded that the findings of such study will be helpful to guide experts to provide children with ASD with appropriate educational programs and establish a comprehensive and effective treatment protocols that include phonological and lexical exercises to enhance their speech and language abilities.
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2. Baeza-Velasco C, Cohen D, Hamonet C, Vlamynck E, Diaz L, Cravero C, Cappe E, Guinchat V. {{Autism, Joint Hypermobility-Related Disorders and Pain}}. {Front Psychiatry};2018;9:656.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Joint Hypermobility-Related Disorders are blanket terms for two etiologically and clinically heterogeneous groups of pathologies that usually appears in childhood. These conditions are seen by different medical fields, such as psychiatry in the case of ASD, and musculoskeletal disciplines and genetics in the case of hypermobility-related disorders. Thus, a link between them is rarely established in clinical setting, despite a scarce but growing body of research suggesting that both conditions co-occur more often than expected by chance. Hypermobility is a frequent sign of hereditary disorders of connective tissue (e.g., Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, Marfan syndrome), in which the main characteristic is the multisystem fragility that prone to proprioceptive and motor coordination dysfunction and hence to trauma and chronic pain. Considering the high probability that pain remains disregarded and untreated in people with ASD due to communication and methodological difficulties, increasing awareness about the interconnection between ASD and hypermobility-related disorders is relevant, since it may help identify those ASD patients susceptible to chronic pain.
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3. Barone R, Alaimo S, Messina M, Pulvirenti A, Bastin J, Ferro A, Frye RE, Rizzo R. {{A Subset of Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorders Show a Distinctive Metabolic Profile by Dried Blood Spot Analyses}}. {Front Psychiatry};2018;9:636.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently diagnosed according to behavioral criteria. Biomarkers that identify children with ASD could lead to more accurate and early diagnosis. ASD is a complex disorder with multifactorial and heterogeneous etiology supporting recognition of biomarkers that identify patient subsets. We investigated an easily testable blood metabolic profile associated with ASD diagnosis using high throughput analyses of samples extracted from dried blood spots (DBS). A targeted panel of 45 ASD analytes including acyl-carnitines and amino acids extracted from DBS was examined in 83 children with ASD (60 males; age 6.06 +/- 3.58, range: 2-10 years) and 79 matched, neurotypical (NT) control children (57 males; age 6.8 +/- 4.11 years, range 2.5-11 years). Based on their chronological ages, participants were divided in two groups: younger or older than 5 years. Two-sided T-tests were used to identify significant differences in measured metabolite levels between groups. Naive Bayes algorithm trained on the identified metabolites was used to profile children with ASD vs. NT controls. Of the 45 analyzed metabolites, nine (20%) were significantly increased in ASD patients including the amino acid citrulline and acyl-carnitines C2, C4DC/C5OH, C10, C12, C14:2, C16, C16:1, C18:1 (P: < 0.001). Naive Bayes algorithm using acyl-carnitine metabolites which were identified as significantly abnormal showed the highest performances for classifying ASD in children younger than 5 years (n: 42; mean age 3.26 +/- 0.89) with 72.3% sensitivity (95% CI: 71.3;73.9), 72.1% specificity (95% CI: 71.2;72.9) and a diagnostic odds ratio 11.25 (95% CI: 9.47;17.7). Re-test analyses as a measure of validity showed an accuracy of 73% in children with ASD aged Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
4. Golya N, McIntyre LL. {{Variability in adaptive behaviour in young children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {J Intellect Dev Disabil};2018;43(1):102-111.
Background: Understanding adaptive behaviour variability in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have important implications for early intervention. The purpose of this study was to explore whether autism symptom severity and caregiver depression affected adaptive behaviour in young children with ASD. Method: Data were collected from 60 primary caregivers of children aged 2-6 years with ASD. A factorial multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate if different levels of autism symptom severity and caregiver depression affected communication, socialisation, and daily living skills, after controlling for child age. Results: Findings suggest that only autism symptom severity accounted for significant variance in adaptive behaviour, with socialisation being most impacted. Although more than half of the caregivers reported heightened depressive symptoms, caregiver depression was not related to adaptive behaviour. Conclusions: Findings highlight the level of functional impairment that young children with ASD experience in relation to autism symptom severity.
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5. Khan A, Li K, Madden J. {{Mobile Aid to Assist with Care Decisions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)}}. {J Healthc Eng};2018;2018:9703101.
MyHeifer is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) intervention application aimed at better understanding patients’ behavioral patterns and informing healthcare decisions, easing caregiver burden, and providing an emotional outlet for patients. Children with ASD often struggle with the complexity of human communication because of the array of verbal and nonverbal communication methods at play. Because of this, technological interventions can be a valuable tool for communicating with children with ASD because of their simplicity. Hence the MyHeifer application seeks to provide an uncomplicated environment for children with ASD to express and explore their emotions. Children perform « actions » or « interactions » which are classified as either positive or negative behaviors. Through these interactions, children learn various ways to react to situations. The choices children make are collected and serve as a basis for future healthcare decisions. Because communication is often difficult for children with ASD, utilizing data from past actions or interactions helps caregivers anticipate and understand the challenges to make better emotional and behavioral connections in individual patients in order to address personalized care needs.
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6. Kishore MT, Menon DK, Binukumar B. {{Development of a scale for identifying autism spectrum disorder during early childhood}}. {Indian J Psychiatry};2018 (Oct-Dec);60(4):438-444.
Context: Assessment forms an important part of the early intervention in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, there is not much choice with regard to tools and methods for early identification and assessment of ASD. Aims: The aim is to develop a scale for identifying ASD during infancy and early childhood by mapping empirically supported skill behaviors and excess behaviors. Settings and Design: The study was conducted in community-based organisations and the local communities. Moreover, it employed a post facto research design, with survey method. Materials and Methods: Following the standard procedures to pool items and standardization, a scale was developed and administered to three groups of children (N = 190) including children with autism (n = 100), global developmental delay suggestive of mental retardation (n = 40) and neurotypicals (n = 50) in the age range of 1.5-6 years. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behaviooural Disorders and Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits (BISCUIT) were the gold standards to diagnose ASD. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages, median, and quartile deviation), Pearson’s correlation, Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis, and binary logistic regression analysis with receiver operating characteristic curve were performed. Results: The new scale also demonstrated a high diagnostic efficiency by yielding a hit rate of 0.89, specificity of 0.90, and sensitivity of 0.88. Conclusions: The new scale can be used for early identification of ASD in the Indian population, though further validation with large population is required.
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7. Kovarski K, Siwiaszczyk M, Malvy J, Batty M, Latinus M. {{Faster eye movements in children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism Res};2018 (Dec 26)
Atypical visual exploration of both social and nonsocial scenes is often reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with less precise and longer saccades, potentially reflecting difficulties in oculomotor control. To assess a subset of oculomotor functions in ASD, 20 children with ASD and 21 age-matched typically developing (TD) children (2.6-11.5 years) partook in three tasks of increasing complexity, while no explicit instruction was provided: a prosaccade gap task, a color and a « categorical » visual search tasks (a face among butterflies and vice-versa). In addition to classical saccade metrics, we measured Distance error, (the distance between the target and the closest gaze position) and Time-to-target (the time taken to reach the target). In the prosaccade task, children with ASD were as accurate as TD children, yet faster to reach the stimulus. In the color visual search task, children with ASD were faster but less precise than TD children. In the categorical visual search, while TD children were more precise in orienting their gaze towards the face, children with ASD performed similarly in the two conditions; Time-to-target did not differ. Our results provide contradictory evidence regarding enhanced visual search ability in ASD: when considering response times, enhanced visual search performance was found in one task only, while when considering gaze precision no advantage was found. These three experiments demonstrate that the automatic saccadic system may function more rapidly in children with ASD. Nonetheless, a diminished sensitivity to bottom-up saliency and top-down influence might suppress this advantage in more complex visual environments. Autism Res 2018. (c) 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Three experiments with no instructions were designed to assess oculomotor functions in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In a saccade task, children with ASD were faster than but as accurate as control children. In visual search tasks, accuracy and speed decreased with increasing complexity of visual environment. Children with ASD showed faster automatic visual orientation, but this might hinder exploratory behaviors, leading to difficulties in complex and social situations.
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8. Lambe S, Russell A, Butler C, Fletcher S, Ashwin C, Brosnan M. {{Autism and the transition to university from the student perspective}}. {Autism};2018 (Dec 22):1362361318803935.
University provides individuals with the opportunity to develop greater independence in living skills and social networks, while also gaining valuable qualifications. Despite a high proportion of autistic individuals aspiring to attend university, many either do not seek or gain entry or drop out prematurely. Although some steps have been taken to develop effective support, a recent review highlighted the scarcity of research into programmes designed to support autistic students transitioning to university. In addition, few studies have examined the views of autistic students themselves. This study investigated the perspectives of autistic students transitioning to university. Three focus groups were conducted with 25 autistic students preparing to start university. Participants were asked about their hopes for starting university, as well as their worries and concerns. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, from which five main themes were identified: The Social World, Academic Demands, Practicalities of University Living, Leaving the Scaffolding of Home and Transition to Adulthood. The results provide an important account of the challenges autistic students face when transitioning to university, as well as their aspirations. These findings have a number of practical implications.
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9. Odriozola P, Dajani DR, Burrows CA, Gabard-Durnam LJ, Goodman E, Baez AC, Tottenham N, Uddin LQ, Gee DG. {{Atypical frontoamygdala functional connectivity in youth with autism}}. {Dev Cogn Neurosci};2018 (Dec 7)
Functional connectivity (FC) between the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex underlies socioemotional functioning, a core domain of impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although frontoamygdala circuitry undergoes dynamic changes throughout development, little is known about age-related changes in frontoamygdala networks in ASD. Here we characterize frontoamygdala resting-state FC in a cross-sectional sample (ages 7-25) of 58 typically developing (TD) individuals and 53 individuals with ASD. Contrary to hypotheses, individuals with ASD did not show different age-related patterns of frontoamygdala FC compared with TD individuals. However, overall group differences in frontoamygdala FC were observed. Specifically, relative to TD individuals, individuals with ASD showed weaker frontoamygdala FC between the right basolateral (BL) amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). These findings extend prior work to a broader developmental range in ASD, and indicate ASD-related differences in frontoamygdala FC that may underlie core socioemotional impairments in children and adolescents with ASD.
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10. Praphatthanakunwong N, Kiatrungrit K, Hongsanguansri S, Nopmaneejumruslers K. {{Factors associated with parent engagement in DIR/Floortime for treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Gen Psychiatr};2018;31(2):e000009.
Background: The Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based model (DIR/Floortime) is one of the well-known therapies for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in which its main principle is to promote holistic development of an individual and relationships between the caregivers and children. Parental engagement is an essential element to DIR/Floortime treatment and involved with various factors. Finding those supporting factors and eliminating factors that might be an obstacle for parental engagement are essential for children with ASD to receive the full benefits of treatment. Aim: To examine the association between parents, children and provider and service factors with parental engagement in DIR/Floortime treatment. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of parents with children aged 2-12 years who were diagnosed with ASD. Data were collected using a parent, child, provider and service factors questionnaire. Patient Health Questionaire-9, Clinical Global Impressions-Severity and Childhood Autism Rating Scale were also used to collect data. For parent engagement in DIR/Floortime, we evaluated quality of parental engagement in DIR/Floortime and parent application of DIR/Floortime techniques at home. Finally, Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement and Functional Emotional Developmental Level were used to assess child development. Results: Parents who were married, had lower income and higher knowledge of DIR/Floortime theory were more likely to have higher parent engagement (chi(2)=4.43, p=0.035; chi(2)=13.1, p<0.001 and chi(2)=4.06, p=0.044 respectively). Furthermore, severity of the diagnosis and the continuation of the treatment significantly correlated with parent engagement (chi(2)=5.83, p=0.016 and chi(2)=4.72, p=0.030 respectively). It was found that parents who applied the techniques for more than 1 hour/day, or had a high-quality parent engagement, significantly correlated with better improvement in child development (t=-2.03, p=0.049; t=-2.00, p=0.053, respectively). Conclusion: Factors associated with parents, children, and provider and service factors had a significant correlation with parent engagement in DIR/Floortime in which children whose parents had more engagement in DIR/Floortime techniques had better improvement in child development. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
11. Shen HY, Huang N, Reemmer J, Xiao L. {{Adenosine Actions on Oligodendroglia and Myelination in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Front Cell Neurosci};2018;12:482.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder. Independent of neuronal dysfunction, ASD and its associated comorbidities have been linked to hypomyelination and oligodendroglial dysfunction. Additionally, the neuromodulator adenosine has been shown to affect certain ASD comorbidities and symptoms, such as epilepsy, impairment of cognitive function, and anxiety. Adenosine is both directly and indirectly responsible for regulating the development of oligodendroglia and myelination through its interaction with, and modulation of, several neurotransmitters, including glutamate, dopamine, and serotonin. In this review, we will focus on the recent discoveries in adenosine interaction with physiological and pathophysiological activities of oligodendroglia and myelination, as well as ASD-related aspects of adenosine actions on neuroprotection and neuroinflammation. Moreover, we will discuss the potential therapeutic value and clinical approaches of adenosine manipulation against hypomyelination in ASD.
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12. Song H, Kwon MK, Park M, Chung H. {{Basic auditory processing in the children with autistic features}}. {Appl Neuropsychol Child};2018 (Dec 24):1-10.
This study aimed inhibition mechanisms of auditory processing in the group with autistic features. Thirty-two children (autistic group = 16, typically developing [TD] group = 16) received neuropsychological tests, IQ test and experimental tasks. Both groups showed similar performances except the processing speed index. The results showed that the group with autistic features had less inhibition of return (IOR) than the TD group. However, we did not get a statistically significant group difference in the auditory Go-NoGo task. These results might be attributed to a ceiling effect due to an adjustment failure of a difficulty level instead of showing that the group with autistic features would have intact inhibitory or pitch discriminative function problems. In conclusion, this study showed that the group with autistic features could have an inhibitory processing difficulty in both auditory and visual IOR tasks even when their general cognitive functions are relatively intact. This study presented a possibility that the group with autistic features might have a basic inhibitory function problem, but these findings should be investigated in the further study with enough samples. In addition, we are going to revise the auditory Go-NoGo task and verify the feasibility as a tool to detect ASD in an early stage in the following study.
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13. Sung C, Connor A, Chen J, Lin CC, Kuo HJ, Chun J. {{Development, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of an employment-related social skills intervention for young adults with high-functioning autism}}. {Autism};2018 (Dec 22):1362361318801345.
This article details the iterative development, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week work-related social skills intervention, Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training, for young adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. In this mixed-methods study, pre- and post-intervention surveys, interviews, and functional measures were used to gather information on the program’s feasibility, user acceptability, practicality, and preliminary efficacy. Results indicate that Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training graduates showed significant improvements in work-related social skills knowledge, social functioning, and social/empathy self-efficacy. Participants and group facilitators also reported high satisfaction with program activities, training modalities, frequency, and duration of the intervention. Results support expanded use of group-based, work-related, social skills interventions for young adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, these findings, though preliminary, suggest that manualized, empirically based programs like Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training promote improved social functioning, self-confidence, engagement, and adherence to training, as well as broader impacts, including improved sense of belonging and greater employability in this traditionally underserved population.
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14. Tsang V, Chu PCK. {{Comparing Eye-tracking Data of Children with High-functioning ASD, Comorbid ADHD, and of a Control Watching Social Videos}}. {J Vis Exp};2018 (Dec 7)(142)
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are known to have sensory-perceptual processing deficits that weaken their abilities to attend and perceive social stimuli in daily living contexts. Since daily social episodes consist of subtle dynamic changes in social information, any failure to attend to or process subtle human nonverbal cues, such as facial expression, postures, and gestures, might lead to inappropriate social interaction. Traditional behavioral rating scales or assessment tools based on static social scenes have limitations in capturing the moment-to-moment changes in social scenarios. An eye-tracking assessment, which can be administered in a video-based mode, is therefore preferred, to augment clinical observation. In this study, using the single-case comparison design, the eye-tracking data of three participants, a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), another with comorbid attention deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and a neurotypical control, are captured while they view a video of social scenarios. The eye-tracking experiment has helped answer the research question: How does social attention differ between the three participants? By predefining areas of interest (AOIs), their visual attention on relevant or irrelevant social stimuli, how fast each participant attends to the first social stimuli appearing in the videos, for how long each participant continues to attend to those stimuli within the AOIs, and the gaze shifts between multiple social stimuli appearing concurrently in the same social scene are captured, compared, and analyzed in a video-based eye-tracking experiment.
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15. Wang X, Tao J, Qiao Y, Luo S, Zhao Z, Gao Y, Guo J, Kong J, Chen C, Ge L, Zhang B, Guo P, Liu L, Song Y. {{Gastrodin Rescues Autistic-Like Phenotypes in Valproic Acid-Induced Animal Model}}. {Front Neurol};2018;9:1052.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an immensely challenging developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, restricted/repetitive behavior, and anxiety. GABAergic dysfunction has been postulated to underlie these autistic symptoms. Gastrodin is widely used clinically in the treatment of neurological disorders and showed to modulate GABAergic signaling in the animal brain. The present study aimed to determine whether treatment with gastrodin can rescue valproic acid (VPA) induced autistic-like phenotypes, and to determine its possible mechanism of action. Our results showed that administration of gastrodin effectively alleviated the autistic-associated behavioral abnormalities as reflected by an increase in social interaction and decrement in repetitive/stereotyped behavior and anxiety in mice as compared to those in untreated animals. Remarkably, the amelioration in autistic-like phenotypes was accompanied by the restoration of inhibitory synaptic transmission, alpha5 GABAA receptor, and type 1 GABA transporter (GAT1) expression in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) of VPA-treated mice. These findings indicate that gastrodin may alleviate the autistic symptoms caused by VPA through regulating GABAergic synaptic transmission, suggesting that gastrodin may be a potential therapeutic target in autism.
