Autism has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, thanks to dramatically increasing rates of diagnosis, extensive organizational mobilization, journalistic coverage, biomedical ...research, and clinical innovation. Understanding Autism, a social history of the expanding diagnostic category of this contested illness, takes a close look at the role of emotion--specifically, of parental love--in the intense and passionate work of biomedical communities investigating autism.
Abstract
Date Presented 03/28/20
The results of this study indicate the need to develop interventions targeting EFP abilities for ASD. Children with ASD showed decreased valence, but not accuracy, of ...their positive-valence facial expressions. In ASD, there was a negative correlation between EFP accuracy and ASD symptoms related to social functioning. There were no relationships found between affect recognition accuracy and EFP accuracy.
Primary Author and Speaker: Sharada Krishnan
Additional Authors and Speakers: Emily Kilroy
Contributing Authors: Christiana Butera, Laura Harrison, Aditya Jayashankar, Anusha Hossain, Alexis Nalbach, Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
PURPOSE: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been found to exhibit lower quantities of pretend play than do typically-developing children, which could be related to their symptom ...severity. However, how symptom severity is associated with pretend play in children with ASD is unknown. Therefore, we applied an elaborate pretend play assessment to characterize the pretend play of children with ASD with different symptom severity levels. DESIGN: This study used a quasi-experimental design. Children were included if they were at a chronological age of 4-12 years old and had received a formal diagnosis of ASD. Children were excluded if they (1) had symptoms associated with organic brain dysfunction or chromosomal abnormality, (2) had uncorrected hearing or visual impairments, and (3) were unable to follow orders or complete the procedures. METHOD: Children's pretend play performance, autistic behaviors, and verbal comprehension were respectively assessed with the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), and Verbal Comprehension Index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The ChIPPA includes three types of raw scores: number of imitated actions (NIA), number of object substitutions (NOS), and percentage of elaborate pretend play actions (PEPA). The three types of scores combined with two contexts of conventional and symbolic play generate 6 raw scores. Children were categorized according to their CARS cut point scores into 3 severity levels: non-ASD, mild/moderate, and severe. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey Post hoc analysis were applied to examine if the three severities were associated with differences in performance in pretend play. RESULTS: A total of 72 children with ASD aged 70-141 months were enrolled. The ANOVA analysis revealed that the 3 severity groups had significant differences symbolic PEPA (F.sub.(2,65) = 3.8, p < 0.05), symbolic NOS (F.sub.(2,65) = 3.2, p < 0.05), and total PEPA scores (F.sub.(2,65) = 3.6, p < 0.05). The post hoc results indicated significant differences between non-ASD and severe ASD groups in symbolic PEPA (group difference = 15.7, p < 0.05), symbolic NOS (group difference = 3.9, p < 0.05), and total PEPA scores (group difference = 27.9, p < 0.05). The results demonstrate that children without ASD display higher frequencies of symbolic object substitution and higher percentages of elaborate pretend play actions than do children with severe ASD during pretend play. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that symptom severity is a significant variable of elaborateness and frequency in symbolic play. Children with very mild autistic traits have more complexity, creativity, and flexibility in symbolic play than do children with severe autistic traits. This study provides evidence on the association of symptom severity with pretend play performance in children with ASD for both clinical and research settings.
PURPOSE: Peer-mediated interventions are effective for improving social outcomes for children with ASD (Chang & Locke, 2016). However, parents often report difficulty identifying a typically ...developing (TD) peer who is willing to participate in an intervention for the child with ASD. For many families a TD sibling is a feasible option as the peer mediator (Ferraioli, Hansford, & Harris, 2012). However, little is known about the differences in play performance of the child with ASD when the play partner is a sibling vs a non-sibling. The Ultimate Guide to Play, Language and Friendship (PLF) is a peer-mediated intervention that has demonstrated effectiveness in improving play performance for 6- to 11-year old children with ASD using both TD sibling and non-sibling peers (Kent, Cordier, Joosten, Wilkes-Gillan, & Bundy, under review). The aim of this investigation was to compare the play of sibling and non-sibling peer play partners and examine the influence of the two types of play partners on the play performance of the child with ASD. DESIGN: Participants were 136 children aged between 6 and 11 years, (68 were diagnosed with ASD; 68 were TD playmates), and participated in a two-group parallel randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the PLF. We engaged in a retrospective cohort study to investigate the difference in play performance of sibling (n=37) and non-sibling peer dyads (n=27). METHOD: An independent assessor scored using the Test of Playfulness (ToP; Skard & Bundy, 2008) from video recorded play sessions; we compared the play scores using an independent t-test. To identify mediating factors on play performance, we performed hierarchical regression analysis. RESULTS: Results revealed a significant difference in ToP scores for children with ASD when they played with a sibling vs a non-sibling play partner (ToP score of children with ASD in sibling dyads M=53.40, SD=12.14; in non-sibling peer dyads M=60.98, SD=12.23, t = -2.43, p=0.018). Individual item differences revealed that the social items 'support of playmate' and 'response to play cues' had the greatest difference, indicating that these need to be a focus of intervention for sibling dyads. CONCLUSION AND IMPACT STATEMENT: The findings revealed that the play performance of children with ASD is influenced significantly by their play partners. Practitioners need to consider these differences explicitly in intervention, particularly when, as is often the case, siblings are the play partners. Improved understanding of the difference in play performance will support practitioners to adapt interventions for children with ASD.
Evaluer des eleves ayant un trouble du spectre de l'autisme (TSA) represente un defi pour les enseignants, ce qui peut affecter leur sentiment d'efficacite personnelle (SEP). Les eleves ayant un TSA ...presentent des specificites multiples pour lesquelles s'imposent souvent des amenagements dans les pratiques pedagogiques, plus specifiquement dans les pratiques evaluatives. Selon la litterature consultee, le SEP des enseignants a un effet direct sur les pratiques enseignantes et leur sante mentale. Les resultats de notre etude proposent que l'appropriation de pratiques puisse devenir un levier dans l'evolution du SEP des enseignants lorsque ces derniers sont impliques dans un processus de developpement professionnel pour lequel des ressources adaptees et de l'accompagnement sont offerts. Mots-cles : sentiment d'efficacite personnelle, appropriation, pratiques evaluatives, developpement professionnel, trouble du spectre de l'autisme Assessing students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a constant challenge. It impacts the sense of personal effectiveness of teachers working with these learners who can have multiple specificities and for whom adjustments to pedagogical practices, and specifically assessment practices, are often essential. According to the literature, teachers' self-efficacy has a direct effect on teaching practices and their mental health. The results of our study suggest that the appropriation of practices can improve teachers' self-efficacy when they are involved in a professional development process providing suitable material and support. Keywords: teachers' self-efficacy, appropriation, assessment practices, autism spectrum disorder, professional development
The number of cases identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is showing a rapid upward trend. while ASD may accompany sufferers for a lifetime, it does not mean that they cannot live a normal ...life, let alone that they have lost the possibility of holistic development. A social organization named Golden Wings that, based on the idea of holistic development, adopts a specific approach to support the development of a group of children for a long period of time. At this point in time, these children identified with ASD have shown their wonderful lives. This is a 13-year exploration, and it is still ongoing. By tracing and exploring their growth histories, the study aims to identify key elements supporting their realization of personal traits and attempt to establish a theoretical path for supporting systems needed for the development of autistic children. This study has randomly selected 10 members and their parents from the painting classes at Golden Wings, a rehabilitation center for disabled children
