1. Landon J, Shepherd D, Goedeke S. {{Predictors of Satisfaction with Life in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Nov 30)
This study examined the relationships between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, care-related activities, and satisfaction with life (SWL) in 184 parents caring for a child with ASD in New Zealand. The relationships between coping styles and SWL were also examined. The parents’ SWL scores indicated they were slightly dissatisfied with their lives. A stepwise linear regression showed three predictors (care-related health problems, carer esteem and financial difficulties) explained 47% of the variance in SWL scores. Several coping styles were associated with lowered SWL, and only emotional support was related to increased SWL. The regression model provides a focus for monitoring parental wellbeing, and stresses the importance of recognition and support for the substantial responsibilities parents of children with ASD face.
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2. Mirfakhraie R. {{The association between FOXP3 gene variations and autism: True or false positive?}}. {Gene};2017 (Nov 30);635:1-2.
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3. Nuske HJ, Hedley D, Tseng CH, Begeer S, Dissanayake C. {{Emotion Regulation Strategies in Preschoolers with Autism: Associations with Parent Quality of Life and Family Functioning}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Nov 30)
Children with autism experience challenges with emotion regulation. It is unclear how children’s management of their emotions is associated with their family’s quality of life. Forty-three preschoolers with autism and 28 typically developing preschoolers were coded on emotion regulation strategies used during low-level stress tasks. Parents reported on their quality of life and family functioning, and their child’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. More externalizing behaviors across groups and use of two emotion regulation strategies (self-soothing, deep exhalation) in the autism group predicted lower family quality of life. Findings suggest that children’s emotional outbursts and reduced use of passive comforting strategies are linked to lower family quality of life.
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4. Rutherford M, Burns M, Gray D, Bremner L, Clegg S, Russell L, Smith C, O’Hare A. {{Improving Efficiency and Quality of the Children’s ASD Diagnostic Pathway: Lessons Learned from Practice}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Nov 30)
The ‘autism diagnosis crisis’ and long waiting times for assessment are as yet unresolved, leading to undue stress and limiting access to effective support. There is therefore a significant need for evidence to support practitioners in the development of efficient services, delivering acceptable waiting times and effectively meeting guideline standards. This study reports statistically significant reductions in waiting times for autism diagnostic assessment following a children’s health service improvement programme. The average wait between referral and first appointment reduced from 14.2 to 10.4 weeks (t(21) = 4.3, p < 0.05) and between referral and diagnosis shared, reduced from 270 to 122.5 days, (t(20) = 5.5, p < 0.05). The proportion of girls identified increased from 5.6 to 2.7:1. Methods reported include: local improvement action planning; evidence based pathways; systematic clinical data gathering and a training plan. This is a highly significant finding for many health services wrestling with the challenges of demand and capacity for autism diagnosis and assessment. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
5. Sapey-Triomphe LA, Moulin A, Sonie S, Schmitz C. {{The Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire: Validation of a French Language Version and Refinement of Sensory Profiles of People with High Autism-Spectrum Quotient}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Nov 30)
Sensory sensitivity peculiarities represent an important characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We first validated a French language version of the Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) (Robertson and Simmons in J Autism Dev Disord 43(4):775-784, 2013). The GSQ score was strongly positively correlated with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) (r = 0.81, p < 10(-6), n = 245). We further examined sensory profiles of groups with high versus low AQ. The high AQ group scored higher at the GSQ than the low AQ group for every sensory modality. Moreover, the high AQ group showed greater consistency in their patterns of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity between sensory modalities, and stronger correlations between hyper and hyposensitivity. Results are discussed in the context of theories accounting for atypical sensory perception in ASD. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
6. van der Miesen AIR, de Vries ALC, Steensma TD, Hartman CA. {{Autistic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2017 (Nov 30)
Studies have shown an increase of symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in gender dysphoria (GD). Various hypotheses try to explain this possible co-occurrence (e.g., a role of resistance to change, stereotyped behaviors or prenatal testosterone exposure). This study examined ASD symptoms with the Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) in 490 children with GD compared to 2507 typically developing (TD) and 196 children with ASD. CSBQ total scores of the GD sample were in between scores from the TD and ASD sample. The GD sample showed elevated levels of autistic symptomatology on all subdomains, not only on stereotyped and resistance to change. Further, no gender differences and interaction effects were found on the total CSBQ, making a sole role for prenatal testosterone unlikely.
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7. Vargas-Cuentas NI, Roman-Gonzalez A, Gilman RH, Barrientos F, Ting J, Hidalgo D, Jensen K, Zimic M. {{Developing an eye-tracking algorithm as a potential tool for early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in children}}. {PLoS One};2017;12(11):e0188826.
BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) currently affects nearly 1 in 160 children worldwide. In over two-thirds of evaluations, no validated diagnostics are used and gold standard diagnostic tools are used in less than 5% of evaluations. Currently, the diagnosis of ASD requires lengthy and expensive tests, in addition to clinical confirmation. Therefore, fast, cheap, portable, and easy-to-administer screening instruments for ASD are required. Several studies have shown that children with ASD have a lower preference for social scenes compared with children without ASD. Based on this, eye-tracking and measurement of gaze preference for social scenes has been used as a screening tool for ASD. Currently available eye-tracking software requires intensive calibration, training, or holding of the head to prevent interference with gaze recognition limiting its use in children with ASD. METHODS: In this study, we designed a simple eye-tracking algorithm that does not require calibration or head holding, as a platform for future validation of a cost-effective ASD potential screening instrument. This system operates on a portable and inexpensive tablet to measure gaze preference of children for social compared to abstract scenes. A child watches a one-minute stimulus video composed of a social scene projected on the left side and an abstract scene projected on the right side of the tablet’s screen. We designed five stimulus videos by changing the social/abstract scenes. Every child observed all the five videos in random order. We developed an eye-tracking algorithm that calculates the child’s gaze preference for the social and abstract scenes, estimated as the percentage of the accumulated time that the child observes the left or right side of the screen, respectively. Twenty-three children without a prior history of ASD and 8 children with a clinical diagnosis of ASD were evaluated. The recorded video of the child s eye movement was analyzed both manually by an observer and automatically by our algorithm. RESULTS: This study demonstrates that the algorithm correctly differentiates visual preference for either the left or right side of the screen (social or abstract scenes), identifies distractions, and maintains high accuracy compared to the manual classification. The error of the algorithm was 1.52%, when compared to the gold standard of manual observation. DISCUSSION: This tablet-based gaze preference/eye-tracking algorithm can estimate gaze preference in both children with ASD and without ASD to a high degree of accuracy, without the need for calibration, training, or restraint of the children. This system can be utilized in low-resource settings as a portable and cost-effective potential screening tool for ASD.
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8. Yan A, Conway M, Beck CE. {{Limp in a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Glob Pediatr Health};2017;4:2333794×17744139.
