Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how joint attention and sensory-regulatory features are related in early childhood and predict language and social-communication outcomes in ...preschool in order to build mechanistic theories that can inform early intervention directed at improving these outcomes. Method: Cross-lagged panel analysis models were used to examine the association between joint attention and sensory-regulatory features at 13 and 22 months of age in children (n = 87) who were identified via community screening at 12 months as having a higher likelihood than the general population for being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Results: Significant concurrent correlations and predictive correlations were found between these constructs at 13 and 22 months. Joint attention skills at 13 months predicted both joint attention and sensory-regulatory features at 22 months. Distal language and social-communication outcomes at preschool age (n = 48) were best predicted by sensory-regulatory features at 22 months. Conclusions: Both joint attention and sensory regulation are important factors in the first and second years of life for impacting later preschool language and social-communication outcomes in this sample. These findings may have implications for future early childhood intervention research for children at a higher likelihood for autism spectrum disorder.
Early detection of autism risk in the community is critical to increasing families' access to early intervention, yet few measures have been developed and tested for the general population of infants ...<16 months to tap a broader range of autism risk constructs. This study aimed to (a) examine the factor structure of the First Years Inventory, version 3.1 (FYIv3.1), with a sample of 6454 infants 6–16 months, and (b) determine the ability of the resulting factors to discriminate clinical outcome groups at 3 years of age. The FYIv3.1 is a parent‐report tool designed to detect early behavioral risk signs that may be associated with a later diagnosis of ASD and related neurodevelopmental conditions. Factor analytic models were used to determine the number of constructs and inter‐factor correlations. Findings supported a seven‐factor structure: communication, imitation and play (CIP); social attention and affective engagement (SAE); sensory hyperresponsiveness (HYPER); sensory hyporesponsiveness (HYPO); self‐regulation in daily routines (SREG); sensory interests, repetitions, and seeking behaviors (SIRS); motor coordination and milestones (MCM). Mean comparisons on these factors demonstrated significant discrimination of the three outcome groups at age 3 years including those classified as having an ASD diagnosis and/or high autism symptoms, those classified as having other developmental disorders/conditions/concerns, and those classified with no known conditions/concerns. These findings support the validity and multidimensionality of early ASD risk constructs, as well as the potential use of the FYIv3.1 for phenotypic subtyping in the general population, and early detection in a broader age range of 6–16 months in future clinical studies.
Lay Summary
The FYIv3.1 is a 69‐item parent‐report questionnaire about infant behaviors that may indicate an elevated likelihood for later neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism. Analyses of responses from 6454 parents of infants 6–16 months indicated that items could be grouped reliably into seven categories. Compared to children with or without other developmental conditions, children in the outcome group with autism spectrum disorder and/or high autism symptoms at age three showed more behavioral risk signs in social‐communication, sensory, and motor domains during infancy.
The First Year Inventory is a parent-report measure designed to identify 12-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder. First Year Inventory taps behaviors that indicate risk in the ...developmental domains of sensory–regulatory and social–communication functioning. This longitudinal study is a follow-up of 699 children at 3 years of age from a community sample whose parents completed the First Year Inventory when their children were 12 months old. Parents of all 699 children completed the Social Responsiveness Scale–Preschool version and the Developmental Concerns Questionnaire to determine age 3 developmental outcomes. In addition, children deemed at risk for autism spectrum disorder based on liberal cut points on the First Year Inventory, Social Responsiveness Scale–Preschool, and/or Developmental Concerns Questionnaire were invited for in-person diagnostic evaluations. We found 9 children who had a confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder from the sample of 699. Receiver operating characteristic analyses determined that a two-domain cutoff score yielded optimal classification of children: 31% of those meeting algorithm cutoffs had autism spectrum disorder and 85% had a developmental disability or concern by age 3. These results suggest that the First Year Inventory is a promising tool for identifying 12-month-old infants who are at risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
This analytical study documented the presence of transactions in parent–child engagement within a sample of young children at an elevated likelihood for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum ...disorder (ASD). Specifically, the study examined the establishment of transactional engagement through reciprocal behaviors between parents and their young children at-risk for ASD. In the study sample, established transactional engagement occurred at a higher rate than other levels of engagement. Additionally, transactional engagement had a higher likelihood of being established when parents initiated. Post-hoc analyses revealed possible early markers of ASD within a certain behavior displayed in transactions. This study signifies the initial efforts in identifying transactions within parent–child engagement, and foremost, how transactional engagement is established.
The Home TEACCHing Program for Toddlers with Autism Welterlin, Aurelie; Turner-Brown, Lauren M.; Harris, Sandra ...
Journal of autism and developmental disorders,
09/2012, Letnik:
42, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The study evaluated the efficacy a parent training intervention for children with autism based on the TEACCH model. Twenty families were randomly assigned to the treatment or waitlist group. All ...families were compared at pre- and post-treatment on formal dependent measures. Direct measures of behavior were compared across six matched pairs using a multiple baseline probe design. The results of the multiple baseline design showed robust support for improvement in child and parent behavior. Due to the sample size and short time frame, results of a repeated measures analysis of variance did not reach significance.
Although circumscribed interests are a hallmark characteristic of autism spectrum disorders, providing a means for quantifying their functional impairment has proven difficult. We developed a passive ...viewing task to measure aspects of visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorders and typically developing controls. Task stimuli included picture arrays that were matched for social and nonsocial content. Nonsocial content was balanced to include items related to circumscribed interests (e.g., trains) as well as more commonplace items (e.g., furniture). Discrete aspects of gaze behavior were quantified using eye‐tracking technology. Results indicate that visual attention in the autism group was more circumscribed (as indicated by the exploration of fewer images), more perseverative (as indicated by longer fixation times per image explored), and more detail oriented (as indicated by a greater number of discrete fixations on explored images). This pattern of results was similar for both social and object arrays. Within the autism group, overall severity of repetitive behavior symptoms correlated positively with exploration of object pictures and negatively with perseveration on social pictures. Results suggest that children with autism have a domain‐general pattern of atypical visual attention that may represent an exaggeration of a typical attentional process and is related to a tendency to perseverate on images of interest and explore them in a more detail‐oriented manner. Discrete measures of visual attention may therefore provide a reasonable means of quantifying aspects of the repetitive behavior phenotype in autism.
School-aged children and adolescents with autism demonstrate circumscribed attentional patterns to nonsocial aspects of complex visual arrays (Sasson et al.
2008
). The current study downward ...extended these findings to a sample of 2–5 year-olds with autism and 2–5 year-old typically developing children. Eye-tracking was used to quantify discrete aspects of visual attention to picture arrays containing combinations of social pictures, pictures of objects frequently involved in circumscribed interests in persons with autism (e.g., trains), and pictures of more commonplace objects (e.g., clothing). The children with autism exhibited greater exploration and perseverative attention on objects related to circumscribed interests than did typically developing children. Results suggest that circumscribed attention may be an early emerging characteristic of autism.
Circumscribed interests (CI) are important and understudied symptoms that affect individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present study sought to develop quantitative measures of the ...content, intensity and functional impairment of CI in 50 children with high-functioning ASD compared to an age-, IQ-, and gender-matched sample of 50 typically developing (TD) peers. The Interests Scale, a parent-rating questionnaire, and the Interview for Repetitive Behaviors, a semi-structured interview, were used to assess CI. Groups did not differ on the number of interests children held, but they did differ on types of interests and impairment associated with them. The interests of ASD participants were more likely to be nonsocial in nature (e.g. mechanical systems) than TD participants. Parents of children with ASD endorsed higher degrees of functional impairment on metrics including frequency, interference, resistance when interrupted, flexibility, and accommodation required, as well as less involvement of other people, than parents of children with TD. These findings suggest that interests of individuals with ASD differ qualitatively and in intensity from individuals with TD. The present study offers further support for the notion that CI reflect a clinically significant feature of ASD that warrants intervention in some children.
To evaluate an eye tracking task as a predictor and outcome measure of treatment response for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) social skills interventions, adolescents and young adults with ASD ...completed the eye tracking task before, immediately after, and two months after completing Social Cognition and Interaction Training for Autism (SCIT-A). The study compared SCIT-A participants (
n
= 20) to participants with ASD who received treatment as usual (TAU;
n
= 21). Overall, increased visual attention to faces and background objects and decreased attention to hands playing with toys at baseline were associated with improved social functioning immediately following intervention, suggesting this eye tracking task may reliably predict ASD social intervention outcomes.
The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of a group-based cognitive behavioral intervention to improve social-cognitive functioning in adults with high-functioning autism ...(HFA). We modified the treatment manual of a previously validated intervention, Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT), for optimal use with HFA adults (SCIT-A). We then conducted a pilot study to compare SCIT-A (
n
= 6) to treatment as usual (TAU) (
n
= 5) for adults with HFA. Feasibility was supported; attendance was high (92%) and satisfaction reports were primarily positive. Participants in SCIT-A showed significant improvement in theory-of-mind skills and trend level improvements in social communication skills; TAU participants did not show these improvements. Findings indicate SCIT-A shows promise as an intervention for adults with HFA.
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