Development and Validation of Participation and Positive Psychologic Function Measures for Stroke Survivors

PubMed Central

Bode, Rita K.; Heinemann, Allen W.; Butt, Zeeshan; Stallings, Jena; Taylor, Caitlin; Rowe, Morgan; Roth, Elliot J.

2013-01-01

Bode RK, Heinemann AW, Butt Z, Stallings J, Taylor C, Rowe M, Roth EJ. Development and validation of participation and positive psychologic function measures for stroke survivors. Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of Neurologic Quality of Life (NeuroQOL) item banks that assess quality-of-life (QOL) domains not typically included in poststroke measures. Design Secondary analysis of item responses to selected NeuroQOL domains. Setting Community. Participants Community-dwelling stroke survivors (n=111) who were at least 12 months poststroke. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Five measures developed for 3 NeuroQoL domains: ability to participate in social activities, satisfaction with participation in social activities, and positive psychologic function. Results A single bank was developed for the positive psychologic function domain, but 2 banks each were developed for the ability-to-participate and satisfaction-with-participation domains. The resulting item banks showed good psychometric properties and external construct validity with correlations with the legacy instruments, ranging from .53 to .71. Using these measures, stroke survivors in this sample reported an overall high level of QOL. Conclusions The NeuroQoL-derived measures are promising and valid methods for assessing aspects of QOL not typically measured in this population. PMID:20801251

Olfaction in the autism spectrum.

PubMed

Galle, Sara A; Courchesne, Valérie; Mottron, Laurent; Frasnelli, Johannes

2013-01-01

The autism spectrum (AS) is characterised by enhanced perception in vision and audition, described by the enhanced perceptual functioning (EPF) model. This model predicts enhanced low-level (discrimination of psychophysical dimensions), and mid- and high-level (pattern detection and identification) perception. The EPF model is here tested for olfaction by investigating olfactory function in autistic and Asperger participants. Experiment 1 targeted higher-order olfactory processing by assessing olfactory identification in nine Asperger, ten autistic, and eleven typically developed individuals. Experiment 2 focused on low-level olfactory processing; we assessed odour detection thresholds and odour discrimination in five Asperger, five autistic, and five typically developed males. Olfactory identification was impaired in autistic participants relative to control and Asperger participants. Typical performance in low-level olfactory processing suggests that neural mechanisms involved in the perceptual phenotype of AS do not affect structures implicated in olfactory processing. Reduced olfactory identification is limited to autistic participants who displayed speech delay and may be due to a reduced facility to use verbal labels. The apparent absence of enhanced olfactory perception of AS participants distinguishes the olfactory system from the other sensory modalities and might be caused by the absence of an obligatory thalamic relay.

Are gross motor skills and sports participation related in children with intellectual disabilities?

PubMed

Westendorp, Marieke; Houwen, Suzanne; Hartman, Esther; Visscher, Chris

2011-01-01

This study compared the specific gross motor skills of 156 children with intellectual disabilities (ID) (50 ≤ IQ ≥ 79) with that of 255 typically developing children, aged 7-12 years. Additionally, the relationship between the specific gross motor skills and organized sports participation was examined in both groups. The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and a self-report measure were used to assess children's gross motor skills and sports participation, respectively. The children with ID scored significantly lower on almost all specific motor skill items than the typically developing children. Children with mild ID scored lower on the locomotor skills than children with borderline ID. Furthermore, we found in all groups that children with higher object-control scores participated more in organized sports than children with lower object-control scores. Our results support the importance of attention for well-developed gross motor skills in children with borderline and mild ID, especially to object-control skills, which might contribute positively to their sports participation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Personal Gender-Typicality and Partner Gender-Traditionality on Taking Sexual Initiative: Investigating a Social Tuning Hypothesis.

PubMed

Emmerink, Peggy M J; Van Den Eijnden, Regina J J M; Ter Bogt, Tom F M; Vanwesenbeeck, Ine

2017-01-01

Sexual assertiveness is an issue of interest in the context of gender equality and sexual health. This study investigated the social tuning hypothesis that encountering a gender-traditional partner would lead to stronger gender-typical behavior, i.e., respectively, higher and lower levels of taking sexual initiative among men and women. Participants ( N = 271) read a vignette describing a romantic partner, who was either presented as gender-traditional or not, followed by a sexual scenario. Subsequently, participants were asked about their expectations toward their own sexual initiative taking. Results showed a significant 'target gender-traditionality × participant gender × participant gender-typicality (masculinity/femininity)' interaction meaning that less gender-typical men were more likely to initiate sexual contact in the experimental, compared to the control condition. Men low in masculine characteristics showed higher initiative taking in response to a gender-traditional target female. We conclude that less gender-typical men seem to employ more social tuning toward their sexual partner, whereas more gender-typical men seem to adhere to their gender-typical behavior regardless of perceived partner characteristics. These results were not seen among the women in the sample. These findings are a starting point for the further development of experimental investigations regarding the gendered nature of both sexual initiative taking and sexual assertiveness in general.

The Impact of Personal Gender-Typicality and Partner Gender-Traditionality on Taking Sexual Initiative: Investigating a Social Tuning Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Emmerink, Peggy M. J.; Van Den Eijnden, Regina J. J. M.; Ter Bogt, Tom F. M.; Vanwesenbeeck, Ine

2017-01-01

Sexual assertiveness is an issue of interest in the context of gender equality and sexual health. This study investigated the social tuning hypothesis that encountering a gender-traditional partner would lead to stronger gender-typical behavior, i.e., respectively, higher and lower levels of taking sexual initiative among men and women. Participants (N = 271) read a vignette describing a romantic partner, who was either presented as gender-traditional or not, followed by a sexual scenario. Subsequently, participants were asked about their expectations toward their own sexual initiative taking. Results showed a significant ‘target gender-traditionality × participant gender × participant gender-typicality (masculinity/femininity)’ interaction meaning that less gender-typical men were more likely to initiate sexual contact in the experimental, compared to the control condition. Men low in masculine characteristics showed higher initiative taking in response to a gender-traditional target female. We conclude that less gender-typical men seem to employ more social tuning toward their sexual partner, whereas more gender-typical men seem to adhere to their gender-typical behavior regardless of perceived partner characteristics. These results were not seen among the women in the sample. These findings are a starting point for the further development of experimental investigations regarding the gendered nature of both sexual initiative taking and sexual assertiveness in general. PMID:28203216

The use of definite and indefinite articles by children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Polite, Elgustus J; Leonard, Laurence B; Roberts, Felicia D

2011-08-01

Among the grammatical limitations seen in English-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) is a prolonged period of using articles (e.g., a, the) inconsistently. Most studies documenting this difficulty have focused on article omission and have not made the distinction between definite and indefinite article contexts. In this study, there were 36 participants: 12 5-year-olds with SLI, 12 typically-developing children matched for age, and 12 younger, typically-developing children matched with participants in the SLI group according to mean length of utterance. All 36 children participated in a task requiring indefinite article use, and a task requiring use of the definite article, in which the referent of the noun had already been established in the discourse. The children with SLI showed less use of definite articles in particular, relative to both groups of typically-developing children. Substitutions as well as omissions were seen. The findings suggest that the article limitations of the children with SLI were attributable in part to an incomplete understanding of how definite articles are to be used.

Collaborative Problem Solving in Young Typical Development and HFASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimhi, Yael; Bauminger-Zviely, Nirit

2012-01-01

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) requires sharing goals/attention and coordinating actions--all deficient in HFASD. Group differences were examined in CPS (HFASD/typical), with a friend versus with a non-friend. Participants included 28 HFASD and 30 typical children aged 3-6 years and their 58 friends and 58 non-friends. Groups were matched on…

The Development of Complex Sentence Interpretation in Typically Developing Children Compared with Children with Specific Language Impairments or Early Unilateral Focal Lesions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dick, Frederic; Wulfeck, Beverly; Krupa-Kwiatkowski, Magda; Bates, Elizabeth

2004-01-01

This study compared sentence comprehension skills in typically developing children 5-17 years of age, children with language impairment (LI) and children with focal brain injuries (FL) acquired in the pre/perinatal period. Participants were asked to process sentences "on-line", choosing the agent in sentences that varied in syntactic complexity…

Effects of Context and Facial Expression on Imitation Tasks in Preschool Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markodimitraki, Maria; Kypriotaki, Maria; Ampartzaki, Maria; Manolitsis, George

2013-01-01

The present study explored the effect of the context in which an imitation act occurs (elicited/spontaneous) and the experimenter's facial expression (neutral or smiling) during the imitation task with young children with autism and typically developing children. The participants were 10 typically developing children and 10 children with autism…

Comparison of Physical Activity between Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Typically Developing Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandini, Linda G.; Gleason, James; Curtin, Carol; Lividini, Keith; Anderson, Sarah E.; Cermak, Sharon A.; Maslin, Melissa; Must, Aviva

2013-01-01

Regular physical activity is important for promoting health and well-being; however, physical activity behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have received little attention. We compared physical activity levels among 53 children with ASD and 58 typically developing children aged 3-11 years who participated in the Children's…

Decontextualised Minds: Adolescents with Autism Are Less Susceptible to the Conjunction Fallacy than Typically Developing Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morsanyi, Kinga; Handley, Simon J.; Evans, Jonathan S. B. T.

2010-01-01

The conjunction fallacy has been cited as a classic example of the automatic contextualisation of problems. In two experiments we compared the performance of autistic and typically developing adolescents on a set of conjunction fallacy tasks. Participants with autism were less susceptible to the conjunction fallacy. Experiment 2 also demonstrated…

The Social Attention Skills of Preschool Children with an Intellectual Disability and Children with a Hearing Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bortoli, Anna M.; Brown, P. Margaret

2008-01-01

Thirty preschool children (10 typically developing, 10 intellectually disabled and 10 hearing impaired) were videotaped during play. Data was collected for each participant group, covering the number, length and nature of social engagement opportunities (SEOs) and the children's attentional states during SEOs. The typically developing group had…

Orienting of Visual Attention among Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Reading versus Responding to Symbolic Cues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landry, Oriane; Mitchell, Peter L.; Burack, Jacob A.

2009-01-01

Background: Are persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) slower than typically developing individuals to read the meaning of a symbolic cue in a visual orienting paradigm? Methods: Participants with ASD (n = 18) and performance mental age (PMA) matched typically developing children (n = 16) completed two endogenous orienting conditions in…

Disembedding performance in children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.

PubMed

Kaland, Nils; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Smith, Lars

2007-01-01

The aim of the present study was to assess the findings, reported in earlier studies, that individuals with autism spectrum disorders process visuo-spatial tasks faster than typically developing control persons. The participants in the present study were children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA) (N = 13), and a matched group of typically developing children and adolescents (N = 13). The results showed that the participants in the clinical group performed marginally less well than those in the control group on both the Block Design Test and the Embedded Figures Test, but the differences were not statistically significant. Thus, earlier findings suggesting that individuals with autism spectrum disorders solve non-social cognitive tasks faster than typically developing control persons were not replicated. The results are discussed with special reference to the hypothesis of weak central coherence.

Atypical Local Interference Affects Global Processing in Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

PubMed

Payne, Jonathan M; Porter, Melanie A; Bzishvili, Samantha; North, Kathryn N

2017-05-01

To examine hierarchical visuospatial processing in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a single gene disorder associated with visuospatial impairments, attention deficits, and executive dysfunction. We used a modified Navon paradigm consisting of a large "global" shape composed of smaller "local" shapes that were either congruent (same) or incongruent (different) to the global shape. Participants were instructed to name either the global or local shape within a block. Reaction times, interference ratios, and error rates of children with NF1 (n=30) and typically developing controls (n=24) were compared. Typically developing participants demonstrated the expected global processing bias evidenced by a vulnerability to global interference when naming local stimuli without a cost of congruence when naming global stimuli. NF1 participants, however, experienced significant interference from the unattended level when naming both local and global levels of the stimuli. Findings suggest that children with NF1 do not demonstrate the typical human bias of processing visual information from a global perspective. (JINS, 2017, 23, 446-450).

Differences in patterns of physical participation in recreational activities between children with and without intellectual and developmental disability.

PubMed

Chien, Chi-Wen; Rodger, Sylvia; Copley, Jodie

2017-08-01

Children with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are at risk of experiencing limited participation in recreational activities, where they may be present but not physically engaged. To compare patterns of physical engagement in recreational activities between children with and without IDD. Fifty children with IDD (26 boys, 24 girls; mean age 8.7 years) were matched for age and sex with 50 typically developing children. Parents completed a questionnaire which captured participation in 11 recreational activities involving hand use as an indication of physical engagement. More than 80% of children in both groups participated physically in eight recreational activities, but fewer children with IDD participated in six activities when compared with typically developing children. Children with IDD also participated less frequently in five activities and required more assistance to participate in all the 11 activities. Parents wanted their child with IDD to participate in 10 recreational activities with less assistance. The difference between the groups related to participation frequency, independence, and parents' desire for changes in their child's participation. Greater efforts are needed to address these differences and to support recreational participation in children with IDD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diversity of activity participation determines bone mineral content in the lower limbs of pre-pubertal children with developmental coordination disorder.

PubMed

Fong, S S M; Vackova, D; Choi, A W M; Cheng, Y T Y; Yam, T T T; Guo, X

2018-04-01

This study examined the relationships between activity participation and bone mineralization in children with developmental coordination disorder. Limited participation in physical, recreational, social, and skill-based and self-improvement activities contributed to lower bone mineral content. For improved bone health, these children should participate in a variety of activities, not only physical activities. Limited activity participation in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may have a negative impact on bone mineral accrual. The objectives of this study were to compare bone mineralization and activity participation patterns of pre-pubertal children with DCD and those with typical development, and to determine the association between activity participation patterns and bone mineralization in children with DCD. Fifty-two children with DCD (mean age = 7.51 years) and 61 children with typical development (mean age = 7.22 years) participated in the study. Appendicular and total body (less head) bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were evaluated by a whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. Activity participation patterns were assessed using the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) questionnaire. Children with DCD had lower appendicular and total body BMCs and BMDs than children with typical development overall (p < 0.05). They also had lower CAPE total activity and physical activity diversity scores (p < 0.05). After accounting for the effects of age, sex, height, lean mass, and fat mass, the total activity diversity score remained independently associated with leg BMC in children with DCD, explaining 5.1% of the variance (p = 0.030). However, the physical activity diversity score was no longer associated with leg BMC (p = 0.090). Diversity of activity participation and bone mineralization were lower in pre-pubertal children with DCD. Decreased total activity participation diversity was a contributing factor to lower BMC in the legs of children with DCD.

Effectiveness of Siblings-Delivered iPad Game Activities in Teaching Social Interaction Skills to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Özen, Arzu

2015-01-01

In this study, the effectiveness of a sibling training package offered for teaching social interaction skills that are used by typically developing children while playing iPad game activities with their siblings who have autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is investigated. Three children with ASD and their typically developing siblings participated in…

Mathematical Word Problem Solving Ability of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Typically Developing Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bae, Young Seh; Chiang, Hsu-Min; Hickson, Linda

2015-01-01

This study examined the difference between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with typical development (TD) in mathematical word problem solving ability and the factors associated with these children's word problem-solving ability. A total of 20 children with ASD and 20 children with TD participated in this study.…

Face-to-face interference in typical and atypical development

PubMed Central

Riby, Deborah M; Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth; Whittle, Lisa

2012-01-01

Visual communication cues facilitate interpersonal communication. It is important that we look at faces to retrieve and subsequently process such cues. It is also important that we sometimes look away from faces as they increase cognitive load that may interfere with online processing. Indeed, when typically developing individuals hold face gaze it interferes with task completion. In this novel study we quantify face interference for the first time in Williams syndrome (WS) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These disorders of development impact on cognition and social attention, but how do faces interfere with cognitive processing? Individuals developing typically as well as those with ASD (n = 19) and WS (n = 16) were recorded during a question and answer session that involved mathematics questions. In phase 1 gaze behaviour was not manipulated, but in phase 2 participants were required to maintain eye contact with the experimenter at all times. Looking at faces decreased task accuracy for individuals who were developing typically. Critically, the same pattern was seen in WS and ASD, whereby task performance decreased when participants were required to hold face gaze. The results show that looking at faces interferes with task performance in all groups. This finding requires the caveat that individuals with WS and ASD found it harder than individuals who were developing typically to maintain eye contact throughout the interaction. Individuals with ASD struggled to hold eye contact at all points of the interaction while those with WS found it especially difficult when thinking. PMID:22356183

Comparing Participation in Activities among Children with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masse, Louise C.; Miller, Anton R.; Shen, Jane; Schiariti, Veronica; Roxborough, Lori

2012-01-01

Introduction: Compared to typically developing peers, children with disabilities due to neurodevelopmental disorders and disabilities (NDD/D) and to chronic medical conditions (CMC) have reduced participation in activities. The extent to which these two groups of children have different levels of participation is unknown and was examined in this…

Using Peer-Mediated LEGO® Play Intervention to Improve Social Interactions for Chinese Children with Autism in an Inclusive Setting.

PubMed

Hu, Xiaoyi; Zheng, Qunshan; Lee, Gabrielle T

2018-02-16

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated LEGO® play intervention on improving social skills for children with ASD in an inclusive preschool in China. Three boys with ASD and 13 typically developing children participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The intervention consisted of LEGO® construction activities incorporated with peer-mediated strategies for one child with ASD and two typically developing peers. The intervention sessions were conducted two sessions per week with a total of 28-31 sessions for each participant. Results indicated that all three children with ASD increased their social initiations and responses following the completion of the intervention. Social validity was also obtained.

Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions of Typically Developing Adolescents towards a Hypothetical Peer with Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleva, Eleni

2014-01-01

This study examines the attitudes and the behavioural intentions of typically developing (TD) adolescents towards a hypothetical peer with Asperger syndrome (AS). Participants (N = 179, M age = 13.7 years) viewed two PowerPoint presentations one of a TD male target and one of a male target with AS. The target with AS was introduced either with…

Effect of Phonotactic Probability and Neighborhood Density on Word-Learning Configuration by Preschoolers with Typical Development and Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Shelley; Pittman, Andrea; Weinhold, Juliet

2014-01-01

Purpose: In this study, the authors assessed the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word-learning configuration by preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical language development (TD). Method: One hundred thirty-one children participated: 48 with SLI, 44 with TD matched on age and gender, and 39…

Gender role behavior in children with XY karyotype and disorders of sex development.

PubMed

Jürgensen, Martina; Hiort, Olaf; Holterhus, Paul-Martin; Thyen, Ute

2007-03-01

Children exhibit gender-typical preferences in play, toys, activities and interests, and playmates. Several studies suggest that high concentrations of pre- and postnatal androgens contribute to male-typical behavior development, whereas female-typical behavior develops in the absence of high androgens levels. This study aims to explore the consequences of hypoandrogenization on gender-typical behavior in children who have an XY karyotype and disorder of sex development (DSD). Participants included 33 children (ages 2-12 years) with an XY karyotype and DSD; 21 reared as girls and 12 reared as boys. Children's preferred activities and interests and playmate preferences were assessed with parent report questionnaires, a structured free-play task, and choice of a toy to keep as a gift. Participant's responses were compared to those of children recruited in a pre-school and elementary school survey (N=166). In this study, the degree of hypoandrogenization as indicated by genital stage and diagnosis showed a significant relationship to nearly all of the gender-related behaviors assessed, supporting the hypothesis that masculinization of gender role behavior is a function of prenatal androgen exposure. Despite the fact that children with partial androgen effects reared as girls showed increased "boyish" behaviors, they did not show increased signs of gender identity confusion or instability on a group level. We conclude that androgen exposure plays a decisive role in the development of gender-typical behavior in children with XY karyotype and DSD conditions.

Colour as an Environmental Cue when Learning a Route in a Virtual Environment: Typical and Atypical Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farran, Emily K.; Courbois, Yannick; Van Herwegen, Jo; Cruickshank, Alice G.; Blades, Mark

2012-01-01

Typically developing (TD) 6-year-olds and 9-year-olds, and older children and adults with Williams syndrome (WS) navigated through brick-wall mazes in a virtual environment. Participants were shown a route through three mazes, each with 6 turns. In each maze the floor of each path section was a different colour such that colour acted as an…

The Effect of Activity with E-Book on Vocabulary and Story Comprehension: A Comparison between Kindergarteners at Risk of Learning Disabilities and Typically Developing Kindergarteners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shamir, Adina; Korat, Ofra; Shlafer, Inessa

2011-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of e-book activity for vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension among kindergarteners at risk for learning disabilities (LD) as opposed to typically developing (TD) children. Participants included 136 children aged between five and seven (M = 71.2; SD = 5.64, in months),…

Two-Step Screening of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers in Thai Children with Language Delay and Typically Developing Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srisinghasongkram, Pornchada; Pruksananonda, Chandhita; Chonchaiya, Weerasak

2016-01-01

This study aimed to validate the use of two-step Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) screening adapted for a Thai population. Our participants included both high-risk children with language delay (N = 109) and low-risk children with typical development (N = 732). Compared with the critical scoring criteria, the total scoring method…

Do active video games benefit the motor skill development of non-typically developing children and adolescents: A systematic review.

PubMed

Page, Zoey E; Barrington, Stephanie; Edwards, Jacqueline; Barnett, Lisa M

2017-12-01

The use of interactive video gaming, known as 'exergames' or 'active video games (AVG)' may provide an opportunity for motor skill development. Youth with non-typical patterns of development may have deficits in gross motor skill capacities and are therefore an intervention target. The aim was to determine the effectiveness of AVG use on motor skill development in non-typically developing children and adolescents. Review article. The PRISMA protocol was used to conduct a systematic review of EBSCOhost, Embase, Gale Cengage, Informit, Ovid, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 19 articles met inclusion criteria (non-typically developing participants such as those with a learning or developmental delay aged 3-18, use of an AVG console, assessed one or more gross motor skills). Studies were excluded if gross motor skill outcomes encompassed fine motor skills or reflected mobility related to daily living. Interventions included children and adolescents with eight different conditions. The Nintendo Wii was the most utilised gaming platform (14/19 studies). Studies examined a combination of skills, with most examining balance (15/19), five studies examining ball skills, and other gross motor skills such as coordination (3 studies), running (3 studies) and jumping (3 studies). There was strong evidence that AVG's improved balance. AVG's also appeared to benefit participants with Cerebral Palsy. AVG's could be a valuable tool to improve gross motor skills of non-typically developing children. There is scope for further exploration, particularly of ball, coordination and locomotor skills and varying platforms to draw more conclusive evaluations. Copyright © 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plugged In: Electronics Use in Youth and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacMullin, Jennifer A.; Lunsky, Yona; Weiss, Jonathan A.

2016-01-01

Although electronic technology currently plays an integral role for most youth, there are growing concerns of its excessive and compulsive use. This study documents patterns and impact of electronics use in individuals with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developing peers. Participants included 172 parents of typically developing…

Hyperresponsive Sensory Patterns in Young Children with Autism, Developmental Delay, and Typical Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baranek, Grace T.; Boyd, Brian A.; Poe, Michele D.; David, Fabian J.; Watson, Linda R.

2007-01-01

The nature of hyperresponsiveness to sensory stimuli in children with autism, using a new observational measure, the SPA, was examined. Three groups of young participants were assessed (autism, developmental delay, typical). Across all groups, MA was a predictor of hyperresponsiveness, such that aversion to multisensory toys decreased as MA…

Effects of Peer Mediation on Preschoolers' Compliance and Compliance Precursors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaulieu, Lauren; Hanley, Gregory P.; Roberson, Aleasha A.

2013-01-01

We used a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the effects of teaching 4 typically developing preschoolers to attend to their names and to a group call (referred to as "precursors") on their compliance with typical classroom instructions. We then measured the extent to which the effects on both precursors and…

Relations between muscle endurance and subjectively reported fatigue, walking capacity, and participation in mildly affected adolescents with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Eken, Maaike M; Houdijk, Han; Doorenbosch, Caroline A M; Kiezebrink, Francisca E M; van Bennekom, Coen A M; Harlaar, Jaap; Dallmeijer, Annet J

2016-08-01

To investigate the relation between muscle endurance and subjectively reported fatigue, walking capacity, and participation in mildly affected adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) and peers with typical development. In this case-control study, knee extensor muscle endurance was estimated from individual load-endurance curves as the load corresponding to a 15-repetition maximum in 17 adolescents with spastic CP (six males, 11 females; age 12-19y) and 18 adolescents with typical development (eight males, 10 females; age 13-19y). Questionnaires were used to assess subjectively reported fatigue (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Multidimensional Fatigue Scale) and participation (Life-Habits questionnaire). Walking capacity was assessed using the 6-minute walk test. Relations were determined using multiple regression analyses. Muscle endurance related significantly to subjectively reported fatigue and walking capacity in adolescents with CP, while no relations were found for adolescents with typical development (subjectively reported fatigue: regression coefficient β [95% confidence intervals] for CP=23.72 [6.26 to 41.18], for controls=2.72 [-10.26 to 15.69]; walking capacity β for CP=125m [-87 to 337], for controls=2m [-86 to 89]). The 15-repetition maximum did not relate to participation in adolescents with CP. Subjectively reported fatigue and reduced walking capacity in adolescents with CP are partly caused by lower muscle endurance of knee extensors. Training of muscle endurance might contribute to reducing the experience of fatigue and improving walking capacity. Reduced muscle endurance seems to have no effect on participation. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

Physiological reactivity to faces via live and video-mediated communication in typical and atypical development.

PubMed

Riby, Deborah M; Whittle, Lisa; Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth

2012-01-01

The human face is a powerful elicitor of emotion, which induces autonomic nervous system responses. In this study, we explored physiological arousal and reactivity to affective facial displays shown in person and through video-mediated communication. We compared measures of physiological arousal and reactivity in typically developing individuals and those with the developmental disorders Williams syndrome (WS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants attended to facial displays of happy, sad, and neutral expressions via live and video-mediated communication. Skin conductance level (SCL) indicated that live faces, but not video-mediated faces, increased arousal, especially for typically developing individuals and those with WS. There was less increase of SCL, and physiological reactivity was comparable for live and video-mediated faces in ASD. In typical development and WS, physiological reactivity was greater for live than for video-mediated communication. Individuals with WS showed lower SCL than typically developing individuals, suggesting possible hypoarousal in this group, even though they showed an increase in arousal for faces. The results are discussed in terms of the use of video-mediated communication with typically and atypically developing individuals and atypicalities of physiological arousal across neurodevelopmental disorder groups.

Behavioral and emotional responses to interpersonal stress: A comparison of adolescents engaged in non-suicidal self-injury to adolescent suicide attempters.

PubMed

Kim, Kerri L; Cushman, Grace K; Weissman, Alexandra B; Puzia, Megan E; Wegbreit, Ezra; Tone, Erin B; Spirito, Anthony; Dickstein, Daniel P

2015-08-30

Prominent theoretical models and existing data implicate interpersonal factors in the development and maintenance of suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, no known study has yet used computerized behavioral tasks to objectively assess responses to interpersonal conflict/collaboration among teens engaged in NSSI or having made a suicide attempt. The current study, therefore, compared interpersonal functioning indexed by the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) task among three mutually exclusive groups, adolescents (ages 13-17): engaged in NSSI only without history of a suicide attempt (n=26); who made a suicide attempt without history of NSSI (n=26); and typically developing controls (n=26). Participants also completed the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure to assess their general sensitivity to/awareness of others' behaviors and feelings. No significant between-group differences were found in PD task performance; however, compared to typically developing control participants and those who had made a suicide attempt, the NSSI group reported significantly more stress during the task. Additionally, NSSI participants rated themselves as more interpersonally sensitive compared to both attempters and typically developing controls. Given the lack of knowledge about whether these groups either differentially activate the same circuitry during stressful interpersonal interactions or instead rely on alternative, compensatory circuits, future work using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging is warranted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grip force coordination during bimanual tasks in unilateral cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Islam, Mominul; Gordon, Andrew M; Sköld, Annika; Forssberg, Hans; Eliasson, Ann-Christin

2011-10-01

The aim of the study was to investigate coordination of fingertip forces during an asymmetrical bimanual task in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP). Twelve participants (six males, six females; mean age 14y 4mo, SD 3.3y; range 9-20y;) with unilateral CP (eight right-sided, four left-sided) and 15 age-matched typically developing participants (five males, 10 females; mean age 14y 3mo, SD 2.9y; range 9-18y,) were included. Participants were instructed to hold custom-made grip devices in each hand and place one device on top of the other. The grip force and load force were recorded simultaneously in both hands. Temporal coordination between the two hands was impaired in the participants with CP (compared with that in typically developing participants), that is they initiated the task by decreasing grip force in the releasing hand before increasing the force in the holding hand. The grip force increase in the holding hand was also smaller in participants with CP (involved hand/non-dominant hand releasing, p<0.001; non-involved hand/dominant hand releasing, p=0.007), indicating deficient scaling of force amplitude. The impairment was greater when participants with CP used their non-involved hand as the holding hand. Temporal coordination and scaling of fingertip forces were impaired in both hands in participants with CP. The non-involved hand was strongly affected by activity in the involved hand, which may explain why children with unilateral CP prefer to use only one hand during tasks that are typically performed with both hands. © The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology © 2011 Mac Keith Press.

Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of autism spectrum disorder in a stratified sampling of preschool teachers in China.

PubMed

Liu, Yingna; Li, Jialing; Zheng, Qiaolan; Zaroff, Charles M; Hall, Brian J; Li, Xiuhong; Hao, Yuantao

2016-05-13

In China, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can potentially benefit from universal education policies and recent initiatives designed to address the needs of children with developmental disorders. However, adequate schooling is often unavailable for children with ASD, in part because teachers lack the knowledge and skills needed to work with this population. To better understand the current state of knowledge of ASD in China, we surveyed knowledge and attitudes regarding the disorder in preschool teachers. A total of 471 preschool teachers in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, China completed questionnaires assessing participant demographics, knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD, attitudes towards ASD, practices and self-perceptions of efficacy in the education of children with ASD, and awareness of organizations and intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD. The correlation between individual- and school-level variables with current knowledge of typical child development and ASD was examined using univariate and multivariate analyses. The majority (84%) of participants answered correctly more than half of the questionnaire items assessing understanding of typical child development. In contrast, 83% provided inaccurate responses to more than half of the questionnaire items assessing knowledge of ASD. Knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD were both associated with geographic region (teachers in Guangzhou had greater knowledge than those in Foshan, p < 0.0001). Knowledge of ASD was also associated with a higher education level (p < 0.05) and school type (p = 0.023). In general, participants believed fairly strongly in the need for greater service provision for children with ASD, and were receptive towards receiving additional specialized training. Most participants were unaware of ASD-specific organizations and empirically validated intervention approaches. Knowledge of ASD is lacking in preschool teachers in China, and greater teacher training and instruction is needed. Nonetheless, teachers report a willingness and motivation to gain the skills needed to maximize the educational experiences of children with ASD.

Altered white matter microstructure is associated with social cognition and psychotic symptoms in 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome

PubMed Central

Jalbrzikowski, Maria; Villalon-Reina, Julio E.; Karlsgodt, Katherine H.; Senturk, Damla; Chow, Carolyn; Thompson, Paul M.; Bearden, Carrie E.

2014-01-01

22q11.2 Microdeletion Syndrome (22q11DS) is a highly penetrant genetic mutation associated with a significantly increased risk for psychosis. Aberrant neurodevelopment may lead to inappropriate neural circuit formation and cerebral dysconnectivity in 22q11DS, which may contribute to symptom development. Here we examined: (1) differences between 22q11DS participants and typically developing controls in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures within white matter tracts; (2) whether there is an altered age-related trajectory of white matter pathways in 22q11DS; and (3) relationships between DTI measures, social cognition task performance, and positive symptoms of psychosis in 22q11DS and typically developing controls. Sixty-four direction diffusion weighted imaging data were acquired on 65 participants (36 22q11DS, 29 controls). We examined differences between 22q11DS vs. controls in measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD), using both a voxel-based and region of interest approach. Social cognition domains assessed were: Theory of Mind and emotion recognition. Positive symptoms were assessed using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes. Compared to typically developing controls, 22q11DS participants showed significantly lower AD and RD in multiple white matter tracts, with effects of greatest magnitude for AD in the superior longitudinal fasciculus. Additionally, 22q11DS participants failed to show typical age-associated changes in FA and RD in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Higher AD in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO) and left uncinate fasciculus was associated with better social cognition in 22q11DS and controls. In contrast, greater severity of positive symptoms was associated with lower AD in bilateral regions of the IFO in 22q11DS. White matter microstructure in tracts relevant to social cognition is disrupted in 22q11DS, and may contribute to psychosis risk. PMID:25426042

Lexical spelling in children and adolescents with specific language impairment: variations with the writing situation.

PubMed

Broc, Lucie; Bernicot, Josie; Olive, Thierry; Favart, Monik; Reilly, Judy; Quémart, Pauline; Uzé, Joël

2013-10-01

The goal of this study was to compare the lexical spelling performance of children and adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) in two contrasting writing situations: a dictation of isolated words (a classic evaluative situation) and a narrative of a personal event (a communicative situation). Twenty-four children with SLI and 48 typically developing children participated in the study, split into two age groups: 7-11 and 12-18 years of age. Although participants with SLI made more spelling errors per word than typically developing participants of the same chronological age, there was a smaller difference between the two groups in the narratives than in the dictations. Two of the findings are particularly noteworthy: (1) Between 12 and 18 years of age, in communicative narration, the number of spelling errors of the SLI group was not different from that of the typically developing group. (2) In communicative narration, the participants with SLI did not make specific spelling errors (phonologically unacceptable), contrary to what was shown in the dictation. From an educational perspective or that of a remediation program, it must be stressed that the communicative narration provides children-and especially adolescents-with SLI an opportunity to demonstrate their improved lexical spelling abilities. Furthermore, the results encourage long-term lexical spelling education, as adolescents with SLI continue to show improvement between 12 and 18 years of age. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Typical Toddlers' Participation in “Just-in-Time” Programming of Vocabulary for Visual Scene Display Augmentative and Alternative Communication Apps on Mobile Technology: A Descriptive Study

PubMed Central

Drager, Kathryn; Light, Janice; Caron, Jessica Gosnell

2017-01-01

Purpose Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) promotes communicative participation and language development for young children with complex communication needs. However, the motor, linguistic, and cognitive demands of many AAC technologies restrict young children's operational use of and influence over these technologies. The purpose of the current study is to better understand young children's participation in programming vocabulary “just in time” on an AAC application with minimized demands. Method A descriptive study was implemented to highlight the participation of 10 typically developing toddlers (M age: 16 months, range: 10–22 months) in just-in-time vocabulary programming in an AAC app with visual scene displays. Results All 10 toddlers participated in some capacity in adding new visual scene displays and vocabulary to the app just in time. Differences in participation across steps were observed, suggesting variation in the developmental demands of controls involved in vocabulary programming. Conclusions Results from the current study provide clinical insights toward involving young children in AAC programming just in time and steps that may allow for more independent participation or require more scaffolding. Technology designed to minimize motor, cognitive, and linguistic demands may allow children to participate in programming devices at a younger age. PMID:28586825

Typical Toddlers' Participation in "Just-in-Time" Programming of Vocabulary for Visual Scene Display Augmentative and Alternative Communication Apps on Mobile Technology: A Descriptive Study.

PubMed

Holyfield, Christine; Drager, Kathryn; Light, Janice; Caron, Jessica Gosnell

2017-08-15

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) promotes communicative participation and language development for young children with complex communication needs. However, the motor, linguistic, and cognitive demands of many AAC technologies restrict young children's operational use of and influence over these technologies. The purpose of the current study is to better understand young children's participation in programming vocabulary "just in time" on an AAC application with minimized demands. A descriptive study was implemented to highlight the participation of 10 typically developing toddlers (M age: 16 months, range: 10-22 months) in just-in-time vocabulary programming in an AAC app with visual scene displays. All 10 toddlers participated in some capacity in adding new visual scene displays and vocabulary to the app just in time. Differences in participation across steps were observed, suggesting variation in the developmental demands of controls involved in vocabulary programming. Results from the current study provide clinical insights toward involving young children in AAC programming just in time and steps that may allow for more independent participation or require more scaffolding. Technology designed to minimize motor, cognitive, and linguistic demands may allow children to participate in programming devices at a younger age.

Concordance of actigraphy with polysomnography in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Waldon, Jessica; Begum, Esmot; Gendron, Melissa; Rusak, Benjamin; Andreou, Pantelis; Rajda, Malgorzata; Corkum, Penny

2016-10-01

This study sought to: (1) compare actigraphy-derived estimated sleep variables to the same variables based on the gold-standard of sleep assessment, polysomnography; (2) examine whether the correlations between the measures differ between children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children; and (3) determine whether these correlations are altered when children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are treated with medication. Participants (24 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; 24 typically developing), aged 6-12 years, completed a 1-week baseline assessment of typical sleep and daytime functioning. Following the baseline week, participants in the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group completed a 4-week blinded randomized control trial of methylphenidate hydrochloride, including a 2-week placebo and 2-week methylphenidate hydrochloride treatment period. At the end of each observation (typically developing: baseline; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: baseline, placebo and methylphenidate hydrochloride treatment), all participants were invited to a sleep research laboratory, where overnight polysomnography and actigraphy were recorded concurrently. Findings from intra-class correlations and Bland-Altman plots were consistent. Actigraphy was found to provide good estimates (e.g. intra-class correlations >0.61) of polysomnography results for sleep duration for all groups and conditions, as well as for sleep-onset latency and sleep efficiency for the typically developing group and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group while on medication, but not for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group during baseline or placebo. Based on the Bland-Altman plots, actigraphy tended to underestimate for sleep duration (8.6-18.5 min), sleep efficiency (5.6-9.3%) and sleep-onset latency, except for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder during placebo in which actigraphy overestimated (-2.1 to 6.3 min). The results of the current study highlight the importance of utilizing a multimodal approach to sleep assessment in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. © 2016 European Sleep Research Society.

Effects of Sampling Context on Spontaneous Expressive Language in Males with Fragile X Syndrome or Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kover, Sara T.; McDuffie, Andrea; Abbeduto, Leonard; Brown, W. Ted

2012-01-01

Purpose: In this study, the authors examined the impact of sampling context on multiple aspects of expressive language in male participants with fragile X syndrome in comparison to male participants with Down syndrome or typical development. Method: Participants with fragile X syndrome (n = 27), ages 10-17 years, were matched groupwise on…

Is lower IQ in children with epilepsy due to lower parental IQ? A controlled comparison study

PubMed Central

Walker, Natalie M; Jackson, Daren C; Dabbs, Kevin; Jones, Jana E; Hsu, David A; Stafstrom, Carl E; Sheth, Raj D; Koehn, Monica A; Seidenberg, Michael; Hermann, Bruce P

2012-01-01

Aim The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between parent and child full-scale IQ (FSIQ) in children with epilepsy and in typically developing comparison children and to examine parent–child IQ differences by epilepsy characteristics. Method The study participants were 97 children (50 males, 47 females; age range 8–18y; mean age 12y 3mo, SD 3y.1mo) with recent-onset epilepsy including idiopathic generalized (n=43) and idiopathic localization-related epilepsies (n=54); 69 healthy comparison children (38 females, 31 males; age range 8–18y; mean age 12y 8mo, SD 3y 2mo), and one biological parent per child. All participants were administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale. FSIQ was compared in children with epilepsy and typically developing children; FSIQ was compared in the parents of typically developing children and the parents of participants with epilepsy; parent–child FSIQ differences were compared between the groups. Results FSIQ was lower in children with epilepsy than in comparison children (p<0.001). FSIQ of parents of children with epilepsy did not differ from the FSIQ of the parents of typically developing children. Children with epilepsy had significantly lower FSIQ than their parents (p<0.001), whereas comparison children did not. The parent–child IQ difference was significantly higher in the group with epilepsy than the comparison group (p=0.043). Epilepsy characteristics were not related to parent–child IQ difference. Interpretation Parent–child IQ difference appears to be a marker of epilepsy impact independent of familial IQ, epilepsy syndrome, and clinical seizure features. This marker is evident early in the course of idiopathic epilepsies and can be tracked over time. PMID:23216381

Friendship in High-functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mixed and Non-mixed Dyads

PubMed Central

Solomon, Marjorie; Aviezer, Anat; Heung, Kelly; Brown, John; Rogers, Sally J.

2017-01-01

Friendships containing a child with autism and a friend with typical development (“mixed” friendships, n = 26) and those of children with autism and a friend with a disability (“non-mixed,” n = 16) were contrasted with friendships of typically developing subjects and their friends (n = 31). Measures included dyadic interaction samples, and interview and questionnaire data from subjects, friends, and parents. Mixed friendship interactions resembled typical friendships. Participants in mixed friendships were more responsive to one another, had stronger receptive language skills, exhibited greater positive social orientation and cohesion, and demonstrated more complex coordinated play than in the non-mixed dyads. Exposure to typical peers appears to have significant effects on friendship behaviors. PMID:18058212

Attribution of negative intention in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Godbee, Kali; Porter, Melanie A

2013-05-01

People with Williams syndrome (WS) are said to have sociable and extremely trusting personalities, approaching strangers without hesitation. This study investigated whether people with WS are less likely than controls to attribute negative intent to others when interpreting a series of ambiguous pictures. This may, at least partially, explain their hypersociability toward strangers. Twenty-seven individuals with WS and 54 typically developing controls (27 matched to WS participants on sex and chronological age and 27 matched on sex and mental age) viewed 10 ambiguous pictures, where one person in the picture may be seen as having a negative objective. Participants were asked to describe what was happening in the picture. Responses were scored for negative intention attribution (NIA). NIA was reduced in WS individuals relative to typically developing controls of the same chronological age, but was similar to typically developing controls of the same mental age. Findings are discussed in relation to possible underlying neurological and cognitive mechanisms and practical implications for understanding and teaching stranger danger to people with WS. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Executive function and academic achievement in primary - grade students with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Will, E; Fidler, D J; Daunhauer, L; Gerlach-McDonald, B

2017-02-01

Executive function (EF) plays a critical role in academic outcomes in typically developing children, but the contribution of EF to academic performance in Down syndrome (DS) is less well understood. This study evaluated differences in early academic foundations between primary school aged children with DS and non-verbal mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children. Additionally, the contribution of EF domains to academic outcomes was evaluated in each group. Participants with DS (n = 29) and mental-age matched TD participants (n = 23) were administered the Woodcock Johnson- III NU Tests of Academic Achievement, as well as a laboratory-based EF battery, including measures of working memory, shifting, inhibition and object-planning. Findings indicated a difference in early academic foundations profile between children with DS and mental-age matched TD children. Patterns of EF contributions towards academic outcomes were also observed across groups. Aspects of EF are critical to academic achievement in DS but differentially so relative to typical development. Implications for educational instruction are discussed. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Functional performance of school children diagnosed with developmental delay up to two years of age

PubMed Central

Dornelas, Lílian de Fátima; Magalhães, Lívia de Castro

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective: To compare the functional performance of students diagnosed with developmental delay (DD) up to two years of age with peers exhibiting typical development. Methods: Cross-sectional study with functional performance assessment of children diagnosed with DD up to two years of age compared to those with typical development at seven to eight years of age. Each group consisted of 45 children, selected by non-random sampling, evaluated for motor skills, quality of home environment, school participation and performance. ANOVA and the Binomial test for two proportions were used to assess differences between groups. Results: The group with DD had lower motor skills when compared to the typical group. While 66.7% of children in the typical group showed adequate school participation, receiving aid in cognitive and behavioral tasks similar to that offered to other children at the same level, only 22.2% of children with DD showed the same performance. Although 53.3% of the children with DD achieved an academic performance expected for the school level, there were limitations in some activities. Only two indicators of family environment, diversity and activities with parents at home, showed statistically significant difference between the groups, with advantage being shown for the typical group. Conclusions: Children with DD have persistent difficulties at school age, with motor deficit, restrictions in school activity performance and low participation in the school context, as well as significantly lower functional performance when compared to children without DD. A systematic monitoring of this population is recommended to identify needs and minimize future problems. PMID:26553573

Directed Forgetting in High-Functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Brenda J.; Gardiner, John M.; Bowler, Dermot M.

2014-01-01

Rehearsal strategies of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and demographically matched typically developed (TD) adults were strategically manipulated by cueing participants to either learn, or forget each list word prior to a recognition task. Participants were also asked to distinguish between autonoetic and noetic states of awareness…

Vocationalism Varies (A Lot): A 12-Country Multivariate Analysis of Participation in Formal Adult Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boeren, Ellen; Holford, John

2016-01-01

To encourage adult participation in education and training, contemporary policy makers typically encourage education and training provision to have a strongly vocational (employment-related) character, while also stressing individuals' responsibility for developing their own learning. Adults' motivation to learn is not, however, purely…

Drooling, saliva production, and swallowing in cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Senner, Jill E; Logemann, Jerilyn; Zecker, Steven; Gaebler-Spira, Deborah

2004-12-01

Fourteen participants (six females, eight males) ranging in age from 7 years 11 months to 18 years 2 months (mean 11y 7mo) with a confirmed diagnosis of spastic cerebral palsy (CP) were included in the study. Participants included those who drooled (CP+, n=14); age- and sex-matched children with spastic CP who were dry to mild and never to infrequent droolers (CP-, n=14) as well as typically developing peers (CTRL, n=14) served as controls. Frequency of swallowing was measured by using simultaneous cervical ausculation and videotaping of the head and neck. Saliva production was measured with the Saxon test, a simple gauze-chewing procedure. In addition, Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Test of Nonverbal Intelligence-3 (TONI-3), dysarthria severity scale, and Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) scores were obtained for each participant. Both groups of participants with CP tended to swallow less frequently than typically developing participants and tended to produce less saliva than typically developing controls; however, these differences were not statistically significant. No correlation was found between amount of saliva produced and amount drooled (r=0.245). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted on the PEDI functional skills mean scores indicated significant differences between the three groups (F(2,39)=23.522,p<0.0001). Likewise, an ANOVA conducted on the TONI-3 scores revealed statistically significant differences between the three groups (F(2,39)=31.761, p<0.0001). A Spearman's rho correlation indicated that GMFCS scores were not significantly correlated with drooling severity (Spearman's rho correlation=0.3951,p=0.037). Drooling severity was found to be positively correlated with dysarthria severity (Spearman's rho correlation=0.82,p<0.0001). These findings suggest that drooling in patients with CP is related to swallowing difficulties rather than hypersalivation.

Health circles for teleworkers: selective results on stress, strain and coping styles.

PubMed

Konradt, U; Schmook, R; Wilm, A; Hertel, G

2000-06-01

Telework is decentralized computer-mediated performance of work activities at a location distant from the employing organization. In order to improve well-being at such remote workplaces, we developed a health circle (HC) concept for teleworkers. Three HC sessions were conducted with a total of 17 teleworkers from diverse organizations and branches. The sessions were moderated by a professional facilitator, while the participants selected the discussion issues. Typical issues were technical problems at the home-based computer, time management, communication with supervisors, colleagues and customers, and feelings of isolation from the main company. Besides discussing these stress factors, participants developed concrete coping strategies based on the exchange of experiences and additional informational input by external experts. Process evaluation at the end of each meeting revealed that participants found the exchange of personal experiences and the informational input during the HCs very helpful, as well as the common development of coping strategies. Moreover, a questionnaire 2 months after the last HC session revealed that participants reported significantly more positive changes in typical stress factors than teleworkers in a control group. The implications of these results for preventive and corrective strategies of telework design are discussed.

Reliability of the Norwegian Version of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordtorp, Heidi L.; Nyquist, Astrid; Jahnsen, Reidun; Moser, Thomas; Strand, Liv Inger

2013-01-01

This study examined test-retest reliability of the Norwegian version of Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE), and Preferences for Activities of Children (PAC) in children with and without disabilities. Totally 141 children, 107 typically developing, mean age 11.1, and 34 with disabilities, mean age 14.2 years participated. A…

Comparing Levels of Mastery Motivation in Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Typically Developing Children.

PubMed

Salavati, Mahyar; Vameghi, Roshanak; Hosseini, Seyed Ali; Saeedi, Ahmad; Gharib, Masoud

2018-02-01

The present study aimed to compare motivation in school-age children with CP and typically developing children. 229 parents of children with cerebral palsy and 212 parents of typically developing children participated in the present cross sectional study and completed demographic and DMQ18 forms. The rest of information was measured by an occupational therapist. Average age was equal to 127.12±24.56 months for children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 128.08±15.90 for typically developing children. Independent t-test used to compare two groups; and Pearson correlation coefficient by SPSS software applied to study correlation with other factors. There were differences between DMQ subscales of CP and typically developing groups in terms of all subscales ( P <0.05). The lowest motivation scores of subscales obtained in gross motor persistence (2.4870±.81047) and cognitive-oriented persistence (2.8529±.84223) in children with CP. Motivation was correlated with Gross Motor function Classification System (r= -0.831, P<0.001), Manual ability classification system (r=-0.782, P<0.001) and cognitive impairment (r=-0.161, P<0.05). Children with CP had lower mastery motivation than typically developing children. Rehabilitation efforts should take to enhance motivation, so that children felt empowered to do tasks or practices.

Perceived barriers and facilitators to participation in physical activity for children with disability: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Shields, Nora; Synnot, Anneliese

2016-01-19

Children with disability engage in less physical activity compared to their typically developing peers. Our aim was to explore the barriers and facilitators to participation in physical activity for this group. Ten focus groups, involving 63 participants (23 children with disability, 20 parents of children with disability and 20 sport and recreation staff), were held to explore factors perceived as barriers and facilitators to participation in physical activity by children with disability. Data were analysed thematically by two researchers. Four themes were identified: (1) similarities and differences, (2) people make the difference, (3) one size does not fit all, and (4) communication and connections. Key facilitators identified were the need for inclusive pathways that encourage ongoing participation as children grow or as their skills develop, and for better partnerships between key stakeholders from the disability, sport, education and government sectors. Children with disabilities' need for the early attainment of motor and social skills and the integral role of their families in supporting them were considered to influence their participation in physical activity. Children with disability were thought to face additional barriers to participation compared to children with typical development including a lack of instructor skills and unwillingness to be inclusive, negative societal attitudes towards disability, and a lack of local opportunities. The perspectives gathered in this study are relevant to the many stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of effective interventions, strategies and policies to promote participation in physical activity for children with disability. We outline ten strategies for facilitating participation.

A Comparison of Topography-Based and Selection-Based Verbal Behavior in Typically Developed Children and Developmentally Disabled Persons with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vignes, Tore

2007-01-01

This study is a replication of Sundberg and Sundberg (1990) that compared topography-based verbal behavior with selection-based verbal behavior in terms of acquisition, accuracy, and testing for the emergence of a new verbal relation. Participants were three typical children and three developmentally disabled persons with autism. The study sought…

Comparison of visual sensitivity to human and object motion in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Kaiser, Martha D; Delmolino, Lara; Tanaka, James W; Shiffrar, Maggie

2010-08-01

Successful social behavior requires the accurate detection of other people's movements. Consistent with this, typical observers demonstrate enhanced visual sensitivity to human movement relative to equally complex, nonhuman movement [e.g., Pinto & Shiffrar, 2009]. A psychophysical study investigated visual sensitivity to human motion relative to object motion in observers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants viewed point-light depictions of a moving person and, for comparison, a moving tractor and discriminated between coherent and scrambled versions of these stimuli in unmasked and masked displays. There were three groups of participants: young adults with ASD, typically developing young adults, and typically developing children. Across masking conditions, typical observers showed enhanced visual sensitivity to human movement while observers in the ASD group did not. Because the human body is an inherently social stimulus, this result is consistent with social brain theories [e.g., Pelphrey & Carter, 2008; Schultz, 2005] and suggests that the visual systems of individuals with ASD may not be tuned for the detection of socially relevant information such as the presence of another person. Reduced visual sensitivity to human movements could compromise important social behaviors including, for example, gesture comprehension.

A "spoon full of sugar" helps the medicine go down: How a participant friendly version of a psychophysics task significantly improves task engagement, performance and data quality in a typical adult sample.

PubMed

Smith, Marie L; Cesana, M Letizia; Farran, Emily K; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Ewing, Louise

2018-06-01

Few would argue that the unique insights brought by studying the typical and atypical development of psychological processes are essential to building a comprehensive understanding of the brain. Often, however, the associated challenges of working with non-standard adult populations results in the more complex psychophysical paradigms being rejected as too complex. Recently we created a child- (and clinical group) friendly implementation of one such technique - the reverse-correlation Bubbles approach - and noted an associated performance boost in adult participants. Here, we compare the administration of three different versions of this participant-friendly task in the same adult participants to empirically confirm that introducing elements in the experiment with the sole purpose of improving the participant experience, not only boosts the participant's engagement and motivation for the task but results in a significantly improved objective task performance and stronger statistical results.

Metapragmatic explicitation ability in children with typical language development: development and validation of a novel clinical assessment.

PubMed

Collins, Anna; Lockton, Elaine; Adams, Catherine

2014-01-01

Speech-language practitioners recognise the importance of metapragmatic (MP) ability (the ability to explicitly reflect on pragmatic rules) in therapy for children with pragmatic and social communication difficulties. There is inconclusive evidence in the literature regarding both the development of metapragmatic ability in children with typical language and the expected levels of explicitation (reflection on pragmatic behaviours) in children's metapragmatic descriptions. The main purposes of this study were to investigate the reliability of a novel task of metapragmatic awareness (the Assessment of Metapragmatics or AMP) and to investigate typical developmental trends of metapragmatic ability and metapragmatic explicitation using the AMP task. Analysis of pooled data from 40 children with typical language development aged between six and eleven years and 48 children with communication impairments indicated that the AMP task had satisfactory internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. For children with typical language development, there was no relationship between gender and metapragmatic ability as measured by AMP. There was a linear relationship between age and AMP task scores and between age and explicitation. The scoring system used in the AMP task was sensitive to age-related changes in metapragmatic ability in a normative sample. The sophistication of metapragmatic awareness (explicitation) also increased with age. At age six years, children demonstrated metapragmatic awareness in their responses to 74% of AMP stimuli items; this increased to 95% of AMP items at ages 10-11 years. The AMP is a reliable measure of development in MP explicitation for children with satisfactory face validity in terms of acceptability to communication professionals and to child participants. From age six, children have some awareness of pragmatic acts and can identify and relate linguistic cues or pragmatic rules in atypical interactions of the type depicted in the AMP. The AMP task solicited significantly increased frequency of use of higher levels of MP explication beyond seven years of age in children with typical language development. Readers will explain the development, reliability and structure of a novel task that measures the ability of a child to understand and explain pragmatic rules. Readers will also identify age related changes in this ability in a sample of typically developing child participants. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Txt Lang: Texting, Textism Use and Literacy Abilities in Adolescents with and without Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durkin, K.; Conti-Ramsden, G.; Walker, A. J.

2011-01-01

The present study examined text messaging in adolescence, in particular relationships among textism use, language and literacy skills. Forty-seven typically developing (TD) 17-year-olds and 47 adolescents of the same age with specific language impairment (SLI) participated. Participants completed standardised assessments of cognitive, language and…

Student Participation and Disadvantage: Limitations in Policy and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Rosalyn

2011-01-01

The public policy of numerous nations, including Australia, articulates a clear expectation that schools will develop young people's capacities to participate in civic society and its democratic structures and processes. A romantic policy rhetoric hides a reality that is both more complex and less well understood than is typically acknowledged.…

Physical Activity Levels, Frequency, and Type among Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanish, Heidi I.; Curtin, Carol; Must, Aviva; Phillips, Sarah; Maslin, Melissa; Bandini, Linda G.

2017-01-01

We compared time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), type, and frequency of participation in physical activities between adolescents with ASD (n = 35) and typically developing (TD) adolescents (n = 60). Accelerometers measured MVPA and participants were interviewed about engagement in physical activities. Adolescents with ASD…

Can Gymnastic Teacher Predict Leisure Activity Preference among Children with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD)?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engel-Yeger, Batya; Hanna-Kassis, Amany; Rosenblum, Sara

2012-01-01

The aims of the study were to analyze: (1) whether significant differences exist between children with typical development and children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) in their preference to participate in leisure activities (2) whether the teacher estimation of activity form (TEAF) evaluation predicts participation preference.…

Maternal Stress in Nonverbal Learning Disorder: A Comparison with Reading Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antshel, Kevin M.; Joseph, Guy-Ronald

2006-01-01

Maternal stress was assessed in mothers of children ages 8 to 11 years with learning disorders (LD). Age-, gender-, and IQ-matched children with reading disorders (RD; n = 31), children with nonverbal learning disorders (NVLD; n = 21), and typically developing control participants (n = 23) participated. Mothers of children with LD reported higher…

Meta-Analysis of Explicit Memory Studies in Populations with Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lifshitz, Hefziba; Shtein, Sarit; Weiss, Izhak; Vakil, Eli

2011-01-01

This meta-analysis combines the effect size (ES) of 40 explicit memory experiments in populations with intellectual disability (ID). Eight meta-analyses were performed, as well as contrast tests between ES. The explicit memory of participants with ID was inferior to that of participants with typical development (TD). Relatively preserved explicit…

Cerebellar development in childhood onset schizophrenia and non-psychotic siblings

PubMed Central

Greenstein, Deanna; Lenroot, Rhoshel; Clausen, Liv; Gogtay, Nitin; Rapoport, Judith

2011-01-01

We explored regional and total volumetric cerebellar differences in probands and their unaffected full siblings relative to typically developing participants. Participants included 94 (51 males) patients diagnosed with childhood onset schizophrenia (COS), 80 related non-psychotic siblings (37 males) and 110 (64 males) typically developing participants scanned longitudinally. The sample mean age was 16.87(SD=4.7; range 6.5 to 29). We performed mixed model regressions to examine group differences in trajectory and volume. The COS group had smaller bilateral anterior lobes and anterior and total vermis volumes than controls. The COS group diverged from controls over time in total, left, right, and bilateral posterior inferior cerebellum. Siblings did not have any fixed volumetric differences relative to controls but differed from controls in developmental trajectories of total and right cerebellum, left inferior posterior, left superior posterior, and superior vermis. Results are consistent with previous COS findings and several reports of decreased cerebellar volume in adult onset schizophrenia. Sibling trajectories may represent a trait marker, although the effect size for volumetric differences in early adulthood may be small. PMID:21803550

The Development of Vocabulary in Spanish Children with Down Syndrome: Comprehension, Production, and Gestures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galeote, Miguel; Sebastian, Eugenia; Checa, Elena; Rey, Rocio; Soto, Pilar

2011-01-01

Background: Our main purpose was to compare the lexical development of Spanish children with Down syndrome (DS) and children with typical development (TD) to investigate the relationship between cognitive and vocabulary development in comprehension and oral and gestural production. Method: Participants were 186 children with DS and 186 children…

[Functional performance of school children diagnosed with developmental delay up to two years of age].

PubMed

Dornelas, Lílian de Fátima; Magalhães, Lívia de Castro

2016-01-01

To compare the functional performance of students diagnosed with developmental delay (DD) up to two years of age with peers exhibiting typical development. Cross-sectional study with functional performance assessment of children diagnosed with DD up to two years of age compared to those with typical development at seven to eight years of age. Each group consisted of 45 children, selected by non-random sampling, evaluated for motor skills, quality of home environment, school participation and performance. ANOVA and the Binomial test for two proportions were used to assess differences between groups. The group with DD had lower motor skills when compared to the typical group. While 66.7% of children in the typical group showed adequate school participation, receiving aid in cognitive and behavioral tasks similar to that offered to other children at the same level, only 22.2% of children with DD showed the same performance. Although 53.3% of the children with DD achieved an academic performance expected for the school level, there were limitations in some activities. Only two indicators of family environment, diversity and activities with parents at home, showed statistically significant difference between the groups, with advantage being shown for the typical group. Children with DD have persistent difficulties at school age, with motor deficit, restrictions in school activity performance and low participation in the school context, as well as significantly lower functional performance when compared to children without DD. A systematic monitoring of this population is recommended to identify needs and minimize future problems. Copyright © 2015 Sociedade de Pediatria de São Paulo. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Developmental changes in attention to faces and bodies in static and dynamic scenes.

PubMed

Stoesz, Brenda M; Jakobson, Lorna S

2014-01-01

Typically developing individuals show a strong visual preference for faces and face-like stimuli; however, this may come at the expense of attending to bodies or to other aspects of a scene. The primary goal of the present study was to provide additional insight into the development of attentional mechanisms that underlie perception of real people in naturalistic scenes. We examined the looking behaviors of typical children, adolescents, and young adults as they viewed static and dynamic scenes depicting one or more people. Overall, participants showed a bias to attend to faces more than on other parts of the scenes. Adding motion cues led to a reduction in the number, but an increase in the average duration of face fixations in single-character scenes. When multiple characters appeared in a scene, motion-related effects were attenuated and participants shifted their gaze from faces to bodies, or made off-screen glances. Children showed the largest effects related to the introduction of motion cues or additional characters, suggesting that they find dynamic faces difficult to process, and are especially prone to look away from faces when viewing complex social scenes-a strategy that could reduce the cognitive and the affective load imposed by having to divide one's attention between multiple faces. Our findings provide new insights into the typical development of social attention during natural scene viewing, and lay the foundation for future work examining gaze behaviors in typical and atypical development.

Effects of fluency, oral language, and executive function on reading comprehension performance

PubMed Central

Materek, April; Cole, Carolyn A. S.; Levine, Terry M.; Mahone, E. Mark

2009-01-01

Reading disability (RD) typically consists of deficits in word reading accuracy and/or reading comprehension. While it is well known that word reading accuracy deficits lead to comprehension deficits (general reading disability, GRD), less is understood about neuropsychological profiles of children who exhibit adequate word reading accuracy but nevertheless develop specific reading comprehension deficits (S-RCD). Establishing the underlying neuropsychological processes associated with different RD types is essential for ultimately understanding core neurobiological bases of reading comprehension. To this end, the present study investigated isolated and contextual word fluency, oral language, and executive function on reading comprehension performance in 56 9- to 14-year-old children [21 typically developing (TD), 18 GRD, and 17 S-RCD]. Results indicated that TD and S-RCD participants read isolated words at a faster rate than participants with GRD; however, both RD groups had contextual word fluency and oral language weaknesses. Additionally, S-RCD participants showed prominent weaknesses in executive function. Implications for understanding the neuropsychological bases for reading comprehension are discussed. PMID:19396550

Maternal and paternal pragmatic speech directed to young children with Down syndrome and typical development

PubMed Central

de Falco, Simona; Venuti, Paola; Esposito, Gianluca; Bornstein, Marc H.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare functional features of maternal and paternal speech directed to children with Down syndrome and developmental age-matched typically developing children. Altogether 88 parents (44 mothers and 44 fathers) and their 44 young children (22 children with Down syndrome and 22 typically developing children) participated. Parents’ speech directed to children was obtained through observation of naturalistic parent–child dyadic interactions. Verbatim transcripts of maternal and paternal language were categorized in terms of the primary function of each speech unit. Parents (both mothers and fathers) of children with Down syndrome used more affect-salient speech compared to parents of typically developing children. Although parents used the same amounts of information-salient speech, parents of children with Down syndrome used more direct statements and asked fewer questions than did parents of typically developing children. Concerning parent gender, in both groups mothers used more language than fathers and specifically more descriptions. These findings held controlling for child age and MLU and family SES. This study highlights strengths and weaknesses of parental communication to children with Down syndrome and helps to identify areas of potential improvement through intervention. PMID:21215458

Maternal and paternal pragmatic speech directed to young children with Down syndrome and typical development.

PubMed

de Falco, Simona; Venuti, Paola; Esposito, Gianluca; Bornstein, Marc H

2011-02-01

The aim of this study was to compare functional features of maternal and paternal speech directed to children with Down syndrome and developmental age-matched typically developing children. Altogether 88 parents (44 mothers and 44 fathers) and their 44 young children (22 children with Down syndrome and 22 typically developing children) participated. Parents' speech directed to children was obtained through observation of naturalistic parent-child dyadic interactions. Verbatim transcripts of maternal and paternal language were categorized in terms of the primary function of each speech unit. Parents (both mothers and fathers) of children with Down syndrome used more affect-salient speech compared to parents of typically developing children. Although parents used the same amounts of information-salient speech, parents of children with Down syndrome used more direct statements and asked fewer questions than did parents of typically developing children. Concerning parent gender, in both groups mothers used more language than fathers and specifically more descriptions. These findings held controlling for child age and MLU and family SES. This study highlights strengths and weaknesses of parental communication to children with Down syndrome and helps to identify areas of potential improvement through intervention. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Frequency in Learning Morphophonological Alternations: Implications for Children With Specific Language Impairment

PubMed Central

Demuth, Katherine; Petocz, Peter

2017-01-01

Purpose The aim of this article was to explore how the type of allomorph (e.g., past tense buzz[d] vs. nod[əd]) influences the ability to perceive and produce grammatical morphemes in children with typical development and with specific language impairment (SLI). Method The participants were monolingual Australian English–speaking children. The SLI group included 13 participants (mean age = 5;7 [years;months]); the control group included 19 children with typical development (mean age = 5;4). Both groups performed a grammaticality judgment and elicited production task with the same set of nonce verbs in third-person singular and past tense forms. Results Five-year-old children are still learning to generalize morphophonological patterns to novel verbs, and syllabic /əz/ and /əd/ allomorphs are significantly more challenging to produce, particularly for the SLI group. The greater phonetic content of these syllabic forms did not enhance perception. Conclusions Acquisition of morphophonological patterns involving low-frequency allomorphs is still underway in 5-year-old children with typical development, and it is even more protracted in SLI populations, despite these patterns being highly predictable. Children with SLI will therefore benefit from targeted intervention with low-frequency allomorphs. PMID:28510615

Speech Rate Entrainment in Children and Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Wynn, Camille J; Borrie, Stephanie A; Sellers, Tyra P

2018-05-03

Conversational entrainment, a phenomenon whereby people modify their behaviors to match their communication partner, has been evidenced as critical to successful conversation. It is plausible that deficits in entrainment contribute to the conversational breakdowns and social difficulties exhibited by people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined speech rate entrainment in children and adult populations with and without ASD. Sixty participants including typically developing children, children with ASD, typically developed adults, and adults with ASD participated in a quasi-conversational paradigm with a pseudoconfederate. The confederate's speech rate was digitally manipulated to create slow and fast speech rate conditions. Typically developed adults entrained their speech rate in the quasi-conversational paradigm, using a faster rate during the fast speech rate conditions and a slower rate during the slow speech rate conditions. This entrainment pattern was not evident in adults with ASD or in children populations. Findings suggest that speech rate entrainment is a developmentally acquired skill and offers preliminary evidence of speech rate entrainment deficits in adults with ASD. Impairments in this area may contribute to the conversational breakdowns and social difficulties experienced by this population. Future work is needed to advance this area of inquiry.

Contribution of parenting to complex syntax development in preschool children with developmental delays or typical development.

PubMed

Moody, C T; Baker, B L; Blacher, J

2018-05-10

Despite studies of how parent-child interactions relate to early child language development, few have examined the continued contribution of parenting to more complex language skills through the preschool years. The current study explored how positive and negative parenting behaviours relate to growth in complex syntax learning from child age 3 to age 4 years, for children with typical development or developmental delays (DDs). Participants were children with or without DD (N = 60) participating in a longitudinal study of development. Parent-child interactions were transcribed and coded for parenting domains and child language. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify the contribution of parenting to complex syntax growth in children with typical development or DD. Analyses supported a final model, F(9,50) = 11.90, P < .001, including a significant three-way interaction between positive parenting behaviours, negative parenting behaviours and child delay status. This model explained 68.16% of the variance in children's complex syntax at age 4. Simple two-way interactions indicated differing effects of parenting variables for children with or without DD. Results have implications for understanding of complex syntax acquisition in young children, as well as implications for interventions. © 2018 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

By the Book: An Analysis of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Condition Co-Constructing Fictional Narratives with Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; White, Rachael

2016-01-01

In this discourse analytic study, we examine interactions between adolescents with autism spectrum condition (ASC) and their typically developing (TD) peers during the construction of fictional narratives within a group intervention context. We found participants with ASC contributed fewer narrative-related turns at talk than TD participants. The…

The Ability of Children with Language Impairment to Dissemble Emotions in Hypothetical Scenarios and Natural Situations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brinton, Bonnie; Fujiki, Martin; Hurst, Noel Quist; Jones, Emily Rowberry; Spackman, Matthew P.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study examined the ability of children with language impairment (LI) to dissemble (hide) emotional reactions when socially appropriate to do so. Method: Twenty-two children with LI and their typically developing peers (7;1-10;11 [years;months]) participated in two tasks. First, participants were presented with hypothetical scenarios…

Different Aberrant Mentalizing Networks in Males and Females with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Jie; Lee, Jonathan

2018-01-01

Previous studies have found that individuals with autism spectrum disorders show impairments in mentalizing processes and aberrant brain activity compared with typically developing participants. However, the findings are mainly from male participants and the aberrant effects in autism spectrum disorder females and sex differences are still…

Postural Responses to a Suprapostural Visual Task among Children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, F. C.; Tsai, C. L.; Stoffregen, T. A.; Wade, M. G.

2011-01-01

We sought to determine the effects of varying the perceptual demands of a suprapostural visual task on the postural activity of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and typically developing children (TDC). Sixty-four (32 per group) children aged between 9 and 10 years participated. In a within-participants design, each child…

The Development of the Picture-Superiority Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.; Maybery, Murray T.; Durkin, Kevin

2006-01-01

When pictures and words are presented serially in an explicit memory task, recall of the pictures is superior. While this effect is well established in the adult population, little is known of the development of this picture-superiority effect in typical development. This task was administered to 80 participants from middle childhood to…

The Influence of Phonotactic Probability on Nonword Repetition and Fast Mapping in 3-Year-Olds With a History of Expressive Language Delay.

PubMed

MacRoy-Higgins, Michelle; Dalton, Kevin Patrick

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of phonotactic probability on sublexical (phonological) and lexical representations in 3-year-olds who had a history of being late talkers in comparison with their peers with typical language development. Ten 3-year-olds who were late talkers and 10 age-matched typically developing controls completed nonword repetition and fast mapping tasks; stimuli for both experimental procedures differed in phonotactic probability. Both participant groups repeated nonwords containing high phonotactic probability sequences more accurately than nonwords containing low phonotactic probability sequences. Participants with typical language showed an early advantage for fast mapping high phonotactic probability words; children who were late talkers required more exposures to the novel words to show the same advantage for fast mapping high phonotactic probability words. Children who were late talkers showed similar sensitivities to phonotactic probability in nonword repetition and word learning when compared with their peers with no history of language delay. However, word learning in children who were late talkers appeared to be slower when compared with their peers.

Automatic conversational scene analysis in children with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism and typically developing peers.

PubMed

Tavano, Alessandro; Pesarin, Anna; Murino, Vittorio; Cristani, Marco

2014-01-01

Individuals with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism fail to spontaneously attribute mental states to the self and others, a life-long phenotypic characteristic known as mindblindness. We hypothesized that mindblindness would affect the dynamics of conversational interaction. Using generative models, in particular Gaussian mixture models and observed influence models, conversations were coded as interacting Markov processes, operating on novel speech/silence patterns, termed Steady Conversational Periods (SCPs). SCPs assume that whenever an agent's process changes state (e.g., from silence to speech), it causes a general transition of the entire conversational process, forcing inter-actant synchronization. SCPs fed into observed influence models, which captured the conversational dynamics of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism, and age-matched typically developing participants. Analyzing the parameters of the models by means of discriminative classifiers, the dialogs of patients were successfully distinguished from those of control participants. We conclude that meaning-free speech/silence sequences, reflecting inter-actant synchronization, at least partially encode typical and atypical conversational dynamics. This suggests a direct influence of theory of mind abilities onto basic speech initiative behavior.

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Neuro-Typical Peers--Differences and Influences of Loneliness, Stress and Self-Efficacy on Life Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldhaus, Carmen; Koglin, Ute; Devermann, Jens; Logemann, Hanna; Lorenz, Alfred

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the interrelationships among the effects of loneliness, stress and self-efficacy on the life satisfaction of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their neuro-typically developed peers. The participants (N = 104), all male, were between 15 and 27 years of age. Half of them were diagnosed having…

Relationship between motor skills, participation in leisure activities and quality of life of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: temporal aspects.

PubMed

Raz-Silbiger, S; Lifshitz, N; Katz, N; Steinhart, S; Cermak, S A; Weintraub, N

2015-03-01

The study examined the relationship between motor skills, participation in leisure activities and quality of life (QOL), within a temporal context (school year vs. summer vacation and school days vs. weekends). Parents of 22 children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and of 55 typically developing children, aged 6-11, filled out two questionnaires relating to their children's participation in leisure activities (vigorous, moderate and sedentary) and QOL. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) was administered to their children. Results showed that among the children with DCD, balance scores positively correlated with participation in sedentary activities, and in both groups both balance and aiming and catching were related to the physical and school aspects of QOL. Furthermore, participation in vigorous activities in the summer was positively correlated with social and school QOL. In contrast, among typically developing children, participation in vigorous activities during the school year was negatively correlated with school QOL. Finally, in both groups, participation in sedentary activities during school days was negatively correlated with school QOL. These results suggest that the parents' perceptions of their children's QOL may be related to the level of activeness of the leisure activities but also to temporal aspects. Therefore, it is important that therapists and educators consider the temporal aspects, when consulting with parents and their children regarding participation in leisure activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ParticiPAte CP: a protocol of a randomised waitlist controlled trial of a motivational and behaviour change therapy intervention to increase physical activity through meaningful participation in children with cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Boyd, Roslyn N; Elliott, Catherine

2017-01-01

Introduction Children with cerebral palsy (CP) participate in leisure-time physical activities (PA) less often, with less intensity and reduced diversity than their typically developing peers. Participation in leisure-time physical activities may be an important source of habitual physical activity (HPA) for children with CP, who as a group have lower levels of HPA and increased sedentary time compared with their typically developing peers. The proposed study aims to compare the efficacy of a participation focused therapy (ParticiPAte CP) to usual care in a pragmatic, randomised waitlist controlled trial. Methods and analysis Thirty-six children with CP (18 in each group), classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to III, aged between 8 and 12 years will be recruited across South East Queensland, Australia. Children will be randomised to receive either ParticiPAte CP or waitlist usual care using concealed allocation. ParticiPAte CP is an individually tailored, goal-directed intervention model of pragmatic participation-focused therapy using a toolbox of evidence-based strategies in the treatment of children with CP. This will include goal-setting; identification of barriers and facilitators to participation goals, strategy formation and planning and communication guided by principles of Self-Determination Theory using strategies of Motivational Interviewing. The intervention comprises 8 weekly sessions of 1 hour duration conducted by a physiotherapist in the child's home or community. Trial registration number ACTRN12615001064594. PMID:28790038

Object knowledge modulates colour appearance.

PubMed

Witzel, Christoph; Valkova, Hanna; Hansen, Thorsten; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2011-01-01

We investigated the memory colour effect for colour diagnostic artificial objects. Since knowledge about these objects and their colours has been learned in everyday life, these stimuli allow the investigation of the influence of acquired object knowledge on colour appearance. These investigations are relevant for questions about how object and colour information in high-level vision interact as well as for research about the influence of learning and experience on perception in general. In order to identify suitable artificial objects, we developed a reaction time paradigm that measures (subjective) colour diagnosticity. In the main experiment, participants adjusted sixteen such objects to their typical colour as well as to grey. If the achromatic object appears in its typical colour, then participants should adjust it to the opponent colour in order to subjectively perceive it as grey. We found that knowledge about the typical colour influences the colour appearance of artificial objects. This effect was particularly strong along the daylight axis.

Object knowledge modulates colour appearance

PubMed Central

Witzel, Christoph; Valkova, Hanna; Hansen, Thorsten; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2011-01-01

We investigated the memory colour effect for colour diagnostic artificial objects. Since knowledge about these objects and their colours has been learned in everyday life, these stimuli allow the investigation of the influence of acquired object knowledge on colour appearance. These investigations are relevant for questions about how object and colour information in high-level vision interact as well as for research about the influence of learning and experience on perception in general. In order to identify suitable artificial objects, we developed a reaction time paradigm that measures (subjective) colour diagnosticity. In the main experiment, participants adjusted sixteen such objects to their typical colour as well as to grey. If the achromatic object appears in its typical colour, then participants should adjust it to the opponent colour in order to subjectively perceive it as grey. We found that knowledge about the typical colour influences the colour appearance of artificial objects. This effect was particularly strong along the daylight axis. PMID:23145224

Are Gross Motor Skills and Sports Participation Related in Children with Intellectual Disabilities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westendorp, Marieke; Houwen, Suzanne; Hartman, Esther; Visscher, Chris

2011-01-01

This study compared the specific gross motor skills of 156 children with intellectual disabilities (ID) (50 less than or equal to IQ greater than or equal to 79) with that of 255 typically developing children, aged 7-12 years. Additionally, the relationship between the specific gross motor skills and organized sports participation was examined in…

Performance Measures for Public Participation Methods : Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-01-01

Public engagement is an important part of transportation project development, but measuring its effectiveness is typically piecemealed. Performance measurementdescribed by the Urban Institute as the measurement on a regular basis of the results (o...

Prepare for More Realistic Test Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Matthew R.; Leinwand, Steven

2013-01-01

Educators in forty-five states and the District of Columbia are hard at work interpreting and implementing the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010). This work typically involves teacher participation in professional development activities focused on developing an understanding of the content standards as well as the…

Middle School Boys' Perspectives on Social Relationships with Peers with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalymon, Kristen; Gettinger, Maribeth; Hanley-Maxwell, Cheryl

2010-01-01

Factors that contribute to the development of positive peer relationships between middle-school students with and without disabilities are investigated. Eight typically developing, seventh-grade boys participate in semi-structured interviews to discern their perspectives of the personal benefits or challenges associated with having social…

Teachers' Roles in Shared Decision-Making in a Pakistani Community School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salim, Zainab

2016-01-01

Over the past two decades, teacher participation in school decision-making has emerged as a significant theme in education reforms, gaining the attention of researchers and practitioners across different education contexts both in developed and developing countries (Lee & Nie, 2014). A supportive and participatory culture typically does not…

Infant Development in Fragile X Syndrome: Cross-Syndrome Comparisons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Jane E.; McCary, Lindsay M.; Shinkareva, Svetlana V.; Bailey, Donald B., Jr.

2016-01-01

This study examined the developmental profile of male infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and its divergence from typical development and development of infants at high risk for autism associated with familial recurrence (ASIBs). Participants included 174 boys ranging in age from 5 to 28 months. Cross-sectional profiles on the Mullen Scales of…

The "Real Experience" Industry: Student Development Projects and the Depoliticisation of Poverty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hickel, Jason

2013-01-01

Participation in development projects in the Global South has become one of the most sought-after activities among American and British high school graduates and college students. In the United States this often takes the form of Alternative Spring Break trips, while in Britain students typically pursue development work during their "gap…

Heart Activity and Autistic Behavior in Infants and Toddlers with Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Jane E.; Tonnsen, Bridgette; Robinson, Ashley; Shinkareva, Svetlana V.

2012-01-01

The present study contrasted physiological arousal in infants and toddlers with fragile X syndrome to typically developing control participants and examined physiological predictors early in development to autism severity later in development in fragile X syndrome. Thirty-one males with fragile X syndrome (ages 8-40 months) and 25 age-matched…

Oral care experiences and challenges in children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Stein, Leah I; Polido, José C; Najera, Sandy Oliver Lopez; Cermak, Sharon A

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their typically developing peers in relation to aspects of oral care. Participants included 396 parents of ASD children or typically developing 2- to 18-year-olds. Parents completed a 37-item questionnaire designed by authors to elicit information about oral care in the home and dental office. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between diagnostic group and oral care variables. Significantly more parents of ASD children than parents of typically developing children reported difficulty across almost all oral care variables explored, including oral care in the home, oral care at the dentist, and access to oral care. Following multivariate regression to control for possible confounders-including age, gender, Hispanic status, and paternal education level-all previously significant variables remained significant. This study indicates that children with autism spectrum disorders experience greater difficulties and barriers to care in both the home and dental office settings than their typically developing peers.

Autistic Traits and Brain Activation during Face-to-Face Conversations in Typically Developed Adults

PubMed Central

Suda, Masashi; Takei, Yuichi; Aoyama, Yoshiyuki; Narita, Kosuke; Sakurai, Noriko; Fukuda, Masato; Mikuni, Masahiko

2011-01-01

Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviours. The severity of these characteristics is posited to lie on a continuum that extends into the general population. Brain substrates underlying ASD have been investigated through functional neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, fMRI has methodological constraints for studying brain mechanisms during social interactions (for example, noise, lying on a gantry during the procedure, etc.). In this study, we investigated whether variations in autism spectrum traits are associated with changes in patterns of brain activation in typically developed adults. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a recently developed functional neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light, to monitor brain activation in a natural setting that is suitable for studying brain functions during social interactions. Methodology We monitored regional cerebral blood volume changes using a 52-channel NIRS apparatus over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal sulcus (STS), 2 areas implicated in social cognition and the pathology of ASD, in 28 typically developed participants (14 male and 14 female) during face-to-face conversations. This task was designed to resemble a realistic social situation. We examined the correlations of these changes with autistic traits assessed using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Principal Findings Both the PFC and STS were significantly activated during face-to-face conversations. AQ scores were negatively correlated with regional cerebral blood volume increases in the left STS during face-to-face conversations, especially in males. Conclusions Our results demonstrate successful monitoring of brain function during realistic social interactions by NIRS as well as lesser brain activation in the left STS during face-to-face conversations in typically developed participants with higher levels of autistic traits. PMID:21637754

Autistic traits and brain activation during face-to-face conversations in typically developed adults.

PubMed

Suda, Masashi; Takei, Yuichi; Aoyama, Yoshiyuki; Narita, Kosuke; Sakurai, Noriko; Fukuda, Masato; Mikuni, Masahiko

2011-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviours. The severity of these characteristics is posited to lie on a continuum that extends into the general population. Brain substrates underlying ASD have been investigated through functional neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, fMRI has methodological constraints for studying brain mechanisms during social interactions (for example, noise, lying on a gantry during the procedure, etc.). In this study, we investigated whether variations in autism spectrum traits are associated with changes in patterns of brain activation in typically developed adults. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a recently developed functional neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light, to monitor brain activation in a natural setting that is suitable for studying brain functions during social interactions. We monitored regional cerebral blood volume changes using a 52-channel NIRS apparatus over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal sulcus (STS), 2 areas implicated in social cognition and the pathology of ASD, in 28 typically developed participants (14 male and 14 female) during face-to-face conversations. This task was designed to resemble a realistic social situation. We examined the correlations of these changes with autistic traits assessed using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Both the PFC and STS were significantly activated during face-to-face conversations. AQ scores were negatively correlated with regional cerebral blood volume increases in the left STS during face-to-face conversations, especially in males. Our results demonstrate successful monitoring of brain function during realistic social interactions by NIRS as well as lesser brain activation in the left STS during face-to-face conversations in typically developed participants with higher levels of autistic traits.

Leisure Participation Patterns for School Age Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Findings from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health.

PubMed

Ratcliff, Karen; Hong, Ickpyo; Hilton, Claudia

2018-06-16

Leisure activity participation is important for health and well-being. This study examined similarities and differences between typically developing children and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from 6 to 17 years old in physical, recreational, social, skill, and jobs/chores activities from a large national database. Findings revealed that children with ASD had significantly lower participation levels than those without ASD between 11 and 17 years old. They suggest an increasing disparity among many types of leisure participation for children and youth with ASD as they age, eventually leading to limited participation in adult activities. They reinforce the importance of intervention at an early age to increase participation in these activities to promote development of skills that contribute to adult competencies.

Developmental Coordination Disorder, Sex, and Activity Deficit over Time: A Longitudinal Analysis of Participation Trajectories in Children with and without Coordination Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cairney, John; Hay, John A.; Veldhuizen, Scott; Missiuna, Cheryl; Faught, Brent E.

2010-01-01

Aim: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are known to participate in active play less than typically developing children. However, it is not known whether the activity deficit between children with and without DCD widens or diminishes over time. Method: Data were obtained from a large, prospective cohort study of children…

Charting the life course: age differences and validity of beliefs about lifespan development.

PubMed

Riediger, Michaela; Voelkle, Manuel C; Schaefer, Sabine; Lindenberger, Ulman

2014-09-01

This study examined how children (9 years), adolescents (13 to 15 years), younger adults (21 to 26 years), and older adults (70 to 76 years) chart age gradients of cognitive and social functioning from childhood to old age. Participants (N = 156) rated typical performance levels in different life phases for 10 aspects of cognitive and social functioning. Compared with older participants, children expected lower performance levels and higher temporal stability, particularly during adulthood and into old age, and showed lower interindividual consensus in their ratings. Individuals in all 4 age groups recognized that fluid cognitive abilities reach their developmental peak earlier in life and decline more steeply thereafter than crystallized cognitive abilities. Older adults and, to a lesser extent, children evaluated their own current functioning as being better than that of their typical age peers. Furthermore, older adults charted typical cognitive development in middle and earlier late adulthood more positively than the participants in the other 3 age groups, which possibly reflects a partial externalization of their own positive self-views and a self-enhancing bias. Comparisons with life span gradients of cognitive performance (McArdle, Ferrer-Caja, Hamagami, & Woodcock, 2002) suggest that the ratings of adolescents and younger adults were in better agreement with empirically observed average performance trajectories than the ratings of children and older adults. We conclude that beliefs about normative cognitive and social aspects of life span development emerge in late middle childhood, solidify into culturally shared scripts by mid-adolescence, and remain subject to further change into old age. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

ParticiPAte CP: a protocol of a randomised waitlist controlled trial of a motivational and behaviour change therapy intervention to increase physical activity through meaningful participation in children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Reedman, Sarah Elizabeth; Boyd, Roslyn N; Elliott, Catherine; Sakzewski, Leanne

2017-08-07

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) participate in leisure-time physical activities (PA) less often, with less intensity and reduced diversity than their typically developing peers. Participation in leisure-time physical activities may be an important source of habitual physical activity (HPA) for children with CP, who as a group have lower levels of HPA and increased sedentary time compared with their typically developing peers. The proposed study aims to compare the efficacy of a participation focused therapy (ParticiPAte CP) to usual care in a pragmatic, randomised waitlist controlled trial. Thirty-six children with CP (18 in each group), classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to III, aged between 8 and 12 years will be recruited across South East Queensland, Australia. Children will be randomised to receive either ParticiPAte CP or waitlist usual care using concealed allocation. ParticiPAte CP is an individually tailored, goal-directed intervention model of pragmatic participation-focused therapy using a toolbox of evidence-based strategies in the treatment of children with CP. This will include goal-setting; identification of barriers and facilitators to participation goals, strategy formation and planning and communication guided by principles of Self-Determination Theory using strategies of Motivational Interviewing. The intervention comprises 8 weekly sessions of 1 hour duration conducted by a physiotherapist in the child's home or community. ACTRN12615001064594. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Parent-reported patterns of loss and gain in communication in 1- to 2-year-old children are not unique to autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Brignell, Amanda; Williams, Katrina; Prior, Margot; Donath, Susan; Reilly, Sheena; Bavin, Edith L; Eadie, Patricia; Morgan, Angela T

2017-04-01

We compared loss and gain in communication from 1 to 2 years in children later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (n = 41), language impairment (n = 110) and in children with typical language development at 7 years (n = 831). Participants were selected from a prospective population cohort study of child language (the Early Language in Victoria Study). Parent-completed communication tools were used. As a group, children with autism spectrum disorder demonstrated slower median skill gain, with an increasing gap between trajectories compared to children with typical development and language impairment. A proportion from all groups lost skills in at least one domain (autism spectrum disorder (41%), language impairment (30%), typical development (26%)), with more children with autism spectrum disorder losing skills in more than one domain (autism spectrum disorder (47%), language impairment (15%, p = 0.0003), typical development (16%, p < 0.001)). Loss was most common for all groups in the domain of 'emotion and eye gaze' but with a higher proportion for children with autism spectrum disorder (27%; language impairment (12%, p = 0.03), typical development (14%, p = 0.03)). A higher proportion of children with autism spectrum disorder also lost skills in gesture (p = 0.01), sounds (p = 0.009) and understanding (p = 0.004) compared to children with typical development but not with language impairment. These findings add to our understanding of early communication development and highlight that loss is not unique to autism spectrum disorder.

Making Decisions about Now and Later: Development of Future-Oriented Self-Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garon, Nancy M.; Longard, Julie; Bryson, Susan E.; Moore, Chris

2012-01-01

This study explored factors underlying preschoolers' ability to make future-oriented choices. In a delay-of-gratification choice task, quantity and visibility of the reward was systematically varied. Participants included 90 typically developing children aged 2-4 years. Children made more choices to delay gratification as the quantity of the…

An Extended Motor Network Generates Beta and Gamma Oscillatory Perturbations during Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Tony W.; Slason, Erin; Asherin, Ryan; Kronberg, Eugene; Reite, Martin L.; Teale, Peter D.; Rojas, Donald C.

2010-01-01

This study examines the time course and neural generators of oscillatory beta and gamma motor responses in typically-developing children. Participants completed a unilateral flexion-extension task using each index finger as whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) data were acquired. These MEG data were imaged in the frequency-domain using spatial…

The development of co-speech gesture in the communication of children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Sowden, Hannah; Clegg, Judy; Perkins, Michael

2013-12-01

Co-speech gestures have a close semantic relationship to speech in adult conversation. In typically developing children co-speech gestures which give additional information to speech facilitate the emergence of multi-word speech. A difficulty with integrating audio-visual information is known to exist for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which may affect development of the speech-gesture system. A longitudinal observational study was conducted with four children with ASD, aged 2;4 to 3;5 years. Participants were video-recorded for 20 min every 2 weeks during their attendance on an intervention programme. Recording continued for up to 8 months, thus affording a rich analysis of gestural practices from pre-verbal to multi-word speech across the group. All participants combined gesture with either speech or vocalisations. Co-speech gestures providing additional information to speech were observed to be either absent or rare. Findings suggest that children with ASD do not make use of the facilitating communicative effects of gesture in the same way as typically developing children.

The use of emotions in narratives in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Van Herwegen, Jo; Aznar, Ana; Tenenbaum, Harriet

2014-01-01

Although individuals with Williams syndrome are very sociable, they tend to have limited contact and friendships with peers. In typically developing children the use of positive emotions (e.g., happy) has been argued to be related to peer relationships and popularity. The current study investigated the use and development of emotion words in Williams syndrome using cross-sectional developmental trajectories and examined children's use of different types of emotion words. Nineteen children with Williams syndrome (WS) and 20 typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological age told a story from a wordless picture book. Participants with WS produced a similar number of emotion words compared to the control group and the use of emotion words did not change when plotted against chronological age or vocabulary abilities in either group. However, participants with WS produced more emotion words about sadness. Links between emotion production and friendships as well as future studies are discussed. After reading this article, readers will be able to: explain the development of positive and negative emotions in Williams syndrome and recognize that emotion production is atypical in this population. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interarticulator coordination in children with and without cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Nip, Ignatius S. B.

2017-01-01

The current study investigates how interarticulator coordination changes across speaking tasks varying in articulatory and linguistic demands for children with CP and their typically-developing peers. Articulatory movements from 12 children with spastic CP (7M, 5F, 4–15 years of age) and 12 typically-developing age- and sex-matched peers were cross-correlated to determine the degree of spatial and temporal coupling between the upper lip and jaw, lower lip and jaw, and upper and lower lips. Spatial and temporal coupling were also correlated with intelligibility. Results indicated that children with CP have reduced spatial coupling between the upper and lower lips and reduced temporal coupling between all articulators as compared to their typically-developing peers. For all participants, sentences were produced with the greatest degree of interarticulator coordination when compared to the diadochokinetic and syllable repetition tasks. Measures of interarticulator coordination were correlated with intelligibility for the speakers with CP. PMID:25905558

Short-term phonological memory in preschool children.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Amalia; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to design a short-term memory test, to describe quantitative performance in typically language developing children and to verify the relationship between the non-words repetition and oral phonological measure. The participants included 136 typically language developing children aged from 3 years to 6 years and 11 months old in this study, who were evaluated. The test consisted of 40 non-words of one, two, three, and four syllables. The subjects' repetitions were transcribed and the number of right answers was calculated for each age range. The effect of age was observed in the test, as well as the effect of length, only for disyllabic non-words. The performance in the non-word repetition task showed correlation with the oral phonology measure. The test designed in this research was able to verify the short-term memory in typically language developing children and the results showed correlation between this memory and phonological performance.

Verbal communication skills in typical language development: a case series.

PubMed

Abe, Camila Mayumi; Bretanha, Andreza Carolina; Bozza, Amanda; Ferraro, Gyovanna Junya Klinke; Lopes-Herrera, Simone Aparecida

2013-01-01

The aim of the current study was to investigate verbal communication skills in children with typical language development and ages between 6 and 8 years. Participants were 10 children of both genders in this age range without language alterations. A 30-minute video of each child's interaction with an adult (father and/or mother) was recorded, fully transcribed, and analyzed by two trained researchers in order to determine reliability. The recordings were analyzed according to a protocol that categorizes verbal communicative abilities, including dialogic, regulatory, narrative-discursive, and non-interactive skills. The frequency of use of each category of verbal communicative ability was analyzed (in percentage) for each subject. All subjects used more dialogical and regulatory skills, followed by narrative-discursive and non-interactive skills. This suggests that children in this age range are committed to continue dialog, which shows that children with typical language development have more dialogic interactions during spontaneous interactions with a familiar adult.

[Speech fluency developmental profile in Brazilian Portuguese speakers].

PubMed

Martins, Vanessa de Oliveira; Andrade, Claudia Regina Furquim de

2008-01-01

speech fluency varies from one individual to the next, fluent or stutterer, depending on several factors. Studies that investigate the influence of age on fluency patterns have been identified; however these differences were investigated in isolated age groups. Studies about life span fluency variations were not found. to verify the speech fluency developmental profile. speech samples of 594 fluent participants of both genders, with ages between 2:0 and 99:11 years, speakers of the Brazilian Portuguese language, were analyzed. Participants were grouped as follows: pre-scholars, scholars, early adolescence, late adolescence, adults and elderlies. Speech samples were analyzed according to the Speech Fluency Profile variables and were compared regarding: typology of speech disruptions (typical and less typical), speech rate (words and syllables per minute) and frequency of speech disruptions (percentage of speech discontinuity). although isolated variations were identified, overall there was no significant difference between the age groups for the speech disruption indexes (typical and less typical speech disruptions and percentage of speech discontinuity). Significant differences were observed between the groups when considering speech rate. the development of the neurolinguistic system for speech fluency, in terms of speech disruptions, seems to stabilize itself during the first years of life, presenting no alterations during the life span. Indexes of speech rate present variations in the age groups, indicating patterns of acquisition, development, stabilization and degeneration.

Development of Hot and Cool Executive Function during the Transition to Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prencipe, Angela; Kesek, Amanda; Cohen, Julia; Lamm, Connie; Lewis, Marc D.; Zelazo, Philip David

2011-01-01

This study examined the development of executive function (EF) in a typically developing sample from middle childhood to adolescence using a range of tasks varying in affective significance. A total of 102 participants between 8 and 15 years of age completed the Iowa Gambling Task, the Color Word Stroop, a Delay Discounting task, and a Digit Span…

Parental Retrospective Assessment of Development and Behavior in Asperger Syndrome during the First 2 Years of Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewrang, Petra; Sandberg, Annika Dahlgren

2010-01-01

Development and behavior during the first 2 years of life was assessed retrospectively by the parents to 23 adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome and 13 typically developing adolescents and young adults. The groups were matched on chronological age and the participants were within the normal range of intelligence. The questionnaire,…

Automatic Conversational Scene Analysis in Children with Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism and Typically Developing Peers

PubMed Central

Tavano, Alessandro; Pesarin, Anna; Murino, Vittorio; Cristani, Marco

2014-01-01

Individuals with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism fail to spontaneously attribute mental states to the self and others, a life-long phenotypic characteristic known as mindblindness. We hypothesized that mindblindness would affect the dynamics of conversational interaction. Using generative models, in particular Gaussian mixture models and observed influence models, conversations were coded as interacting Markov processes, operating on novel speech/silence patterns, termed Steady Conversational Periods (SCPs). SCPs assume that whenever an agent's process changes state (e.g., from silence to speech), it causes a general transition of the entire conversational process, forcing inter-actant synchronization. SCPs fed into observed influence models, which captured the conversational dynamics of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome/High Functioning Autism, and age-matched typically developing participants. Analyzing the parameters of the models by means of discriminative classifiers, the dialogs of patients were successfully distinguished from those of control participants. We conclude that meaning-free speech/silence sequences, reflecting inter-actant synchronization, at least partially encode typical and atypical conversational dynamics. This suggests a direct influence of theory of mind abilities onto basic speech initiative behavior. PMID:24489674

Parents' strategies to elicit autobiographical memories in autism spectrum disorders, developmental language disorders and typically developing children.

PubMed

Goldman, Sylvie; DeNigris, Danielle

2015-05-01

Conversations about the past support the development of autobiographical memory. Parents' strategies to elicit child's participation and recall during past event conversations were compared across three school-age diagnostic groups: autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 11), developmental language disorders (n = 11) and typically developing (TD, n = 11). We focused on the prevalence of directives versus enrichment of events. Groups did not differ in number of events, length, and total turns. However, parents of children with ASD produced more direct questions, corrections, and unrelated turns than parents of TD children. Results highlight how parents adjusted their conversational style to their child's communication difficulties to maximize interactions and how these strategies may affect the development of personal conversations.

Language laterality in autism spectrum disorder and typical controls: a functional, volumetric, and diffusion tensor MRI study.

PubMed

Knaus, Tracey A; Silver, Andrew M; Kennedy, Meaghan; Lindgren, Kristen A; Dominick, Kelli C; Siegel, Jeremy; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2010-02-01

Language and communication deficits are among the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reduced or reversed asymmetry of language has been found in a number of disorders, including ASD. Studies of healthy adults have found an association between language laterality and anatomical measures but this has not been systematically investigated in ASD. The goal of this study was to examine differences in gray matter volume of perisylvian language regions, connections between language regions, and language abilities in individuals with typical left lateralized language compared to those with atypical (bilateral or right) asymmetry of language functions. Fourteen adolescent boys with ASD and 20 typically developing adolescent boys participated, including equal numbers of left- and right-handed individuals in each group. Participants with typical left lateralized language activation had smaller frontal language region volume and higher fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus compared to the group with atypical language laterality, across both ASD and control participants. The group with typical language asymmetry included the most right-handed controls and fewest left-handers with ASD. Atypical language laterality was more prevalent in the ASD than control group. These findings support an association between laterality of language function and language region anatomy. They also suggest anatomical differences may be more associated with variation in language laterality than specifically with ASD. Language laterality therefore may provide a novel way of subdividing samples, resulting in more homogenous groups for research into genetic and neurocognitive foundations of developmental disorders. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of color cues on typically developing preschoolers' speed of locating a target line drawing: implications for augmentative and alternative communication display design.

PubMed

Thistle, Jennifer J; Wilkinson, Krista

2009-08-01

This research examined how the presence of color in relation to a target within an augmentative and alternative communication array influenced the speed with which typically developing preschoolers located a target line drawing. Fifteen children over the age of 4 years (from 4;2 [years;months] to 5;4) and 15 children under the age of 4 years (2;10-3;11) participated. Participants were asked to find a target line drawing of foods (e.g., banana and tomato) among an array of 12. The reaction time of locating the target was measured across 4 conditions in which the foreground color and the background color of the line drawing were manipulated. For all participants, line drawings featuring foreground color provided greater advantages in the speed of locating the target compared with drawings featuring only background color. Younger participants demonstrated faster reaction times when color was limited to the foreground. Clinicians should consider incorporating color in the foreground of the line drawing when constructing visual displays. Targets that contain only background color but no foreground color appear to have a negative effect on the speed with which younger children can locate a target. Further research is needed to determine the effects in children with disabilities.

ICT Is Not Participation Is Not Democracy - eParticipation Development Models Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grönlund, Åke

There exist several models to describe “progress” in eParticipation. Models are typically ladder type and share two assumptions; progress is equalled with more sophisticated use of technology, and direct democracy is seen as the most advanced democracy model. None of the assumptions are true, considering democratic theory, and neither is fruitful as the simplification disturbs analysis and hence obscures actual progress made. The models convey a false impression of progress, but neither the goal, nor the path or the stakeholders driving the development are clearly understood, presented or evidenced. This paper analyses commonly used models based on democratic theory and eParticipation practice, and concludes that all are biased and fail to distinguish between the three dimensions an eParticipation progress model must include; relevance to democracy by any definition, applicability to different processes, (capacity building as well as decision making), and measuring different levels of participation without direct democracy bias.

Visual-spatial cognition in children using aided communication.

PubMed

Stadskleiv, Kristine; Batorowicz, Beata; Massaro, Munique; van Balkom, Hans; von Tetzchner, Stephen

2018-03-01

Children with severe motor impairments are restricted in their manipulation and exploration of objects, but little is known about how such limitations influence cognitive development. This study investigated visual-constructional abilities in 75 children and adolescents, aged 5;0-15;11 (years;months), with severe speech impairments and no intellectual disabilities (aided group) and in 56 children and adolescents with typical development (reference group). Verbal comprehension, non-verbal reasoning, and visual-spatial perception were assessed with standardized tests. The task of the participants was to verbally instruct communication partners to make physical constructions identical to models that the partner could not see. In the aided group, 55.7% of the constructions were identical to the models participants described, compared to 91.3% in the reference group. In the aided group, test results explained 51.4% of the variance in construction errors. The results indicate that the participants' language skills were decisive for construction success. Visual-perceptual challenges were common among the aided communicators, and their instructions included little information about size and spatial relations. This may reflect less experience with object manipulation and construction than children with typical development, and using aided communication to instruct others to make three-dimensional constructions. The results imply a need for interventions that compensate for the lack of relevant experience.

Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation.

PubMed

Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

2016-01-05

Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others' actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation--an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions.

Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation

PubMed Central

Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

2016-01-01

Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others’ actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation—an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions. PMID:26699468

Exploring the Relationship between Measures of Self-Esteem and Psychological Adjustment among Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, Sara; Craig, Jaime; Slinger, Richard

2008-01-01

This exploratory study examines the relationships between self-esteem and psychological adjustment among 19 adolescents with Asperger syndrome and 19 typically developing adolescents using a model developed by Harter. The groups were matched for age (mean 13 years), sex (M:F 16:3) and ethnicity (white British). Participants completed four…

Beyond High School: A Look Back on Student and Teacher Perspectives on Their Participation with Inclusive Friendship Programs in High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regester, April

2009-01-01

Research has shown inclusive education to be extremely beneficial for students with developmental disabilities. One reported benefit is the increased accessibility to typical peers with the implication of increased opportunities to develop meaningful friendships. Many researchers and educators have developed strategies to help facilitate the…

Who Does What to Whom: Introduction of Referents in Children's Storytelling from Pictures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Phyllis; Hayward, Denyse

2010-01-01

Purpose: This article describes the development of a measure, called First Mentions (FM), that can be used to evaluate the referring expressions that children use to introduce characters and objects when telling a story. Method: Participants were 377 children ages 4 to 9 years (300 with typical development, 77 with language impairment) who told…

Dissociation of Cross-Sectional Trajectories for Verbal and Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Development in Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waite, Jane; Beck, Sarah R.; Heald, Mary; Powis, Laurie; Oliver, Chris

2016-01-01

Working memory (WM) impairments might amplify behavioural difference in genetic syndromes. Murine models of Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RTS) evidence memory impairments but there is limited research on memory in RTS. Individuals with RTS and typically developing children completed WM tasks, with participants with RTS completing an IQ assessment and…

Caregiver burden and sibling relationships in families raising children with disabilities and typically developing children.

PubMed

Roper, Susanne Olsen; Allred, Diane W; Mandleco, Barbara; Freeborn, Donna; Dyches, Tina

2014-06-01

Using family systems theory as a theoretical framework, we investigated direct and indirect associations between type of disability, caregiver burden, and sibling relationships with structural equation modeling. We recruited 172 families raising typically developing children or a child with a disability. Participants volunteered at meetings and workshops for families of children with disabilities and were also recruited through snowball sampling. Mothers and fathers independently completed self-report questionnaires on caregiver burden and perceptions of the sibling relationship. Mothers experienced higher levels of caregiver burden than fathers. Parents of children with autism reported higher levels of caregiver burden than parents of typically developing children. Mothers of children with Down syndrome and multiple disabilities reported more positive sibling relationships than mothers of typically developing children. Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of caregiver burden were negatively related to their perceptions of the sibling relationship. Caregiver burden mediated the relationship between having a child with autism and positive sibling relationships. Results indicate the benefits of using a systems framework in examining families raising children with disabilities. Future research should focus on interventions for families of children with disabilities that help alleviate parental burden and foster positive sibling relationships.

Atypical cross talk between mentalizing and mirror neuron networks in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Fishman, Inna; Keown, Christopher L; Lincoln, Alan J; Pineda, Jaime A; Müller, Ralph-Axel

2014-07-01

Converging evidence indicates that brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involve atypical network connectivity, but it is unclear whether altered connectivity is especially prominent in brain networks that participate in social cognition. To investigate whether adolescents with ASD show altered functional connectivity in 2 brain networks putatively impaired in ASD and involved in social processing, theory of mind (ToM) and mirror neuron system (MNS). Cross-sectional study using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging involving 25 adolescents with ASD between the ages of 11 and 18 years and 25 typically developing adolescents matched for age, handedness, and nonverbal IQ. Statistical parametric maps testing the degree of whole-brain functional connectivity and social functioning measures. Relative to typically developing controls, participants with ASD showed a mixed pattern of both over- and underconnectivity in the ToM network, which was associated with greater social impairment. Increased connectivity in the ASD group was detected primarily between the regions of the MNS and ToM, and was correlated with sociocommunicative measures, suggesting that excessive ToM-MNS cross talk might be associated with social impairment. In a secondary analysis comparing a subset of the 15 participants with ASD with the most severe symptomology and a tightly matched subset of 15 typically developing controls, participants with ASD showed exclusive overconnectivity effects in both ToM and MNS networks, which were also associated with greater social dysfunction. Adolescents with ASD showed atypically increased functional connectivity involving the mentalizing and mirror neuron systems, largely reflecting greater cross talk between the 2. This finding is consistent with emerging evidence of reduced network segregation in ASD and challenges the prevailing theory of general long-distance underconnectivity in ASD. This excess ToM-MNS connectivity may reflect immature or aberrant developmental processes in 2 brain networks involved in understanding of others, a domain of impairment in ASD. Further, robust links with sociocommunicative symptoms of ASD implicate atypically increased ToM-MNS connectivity in social deficits observed in ASD.

AN EVALUATION OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN QUALITY OF ATTENTION AND NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT WITH CHILDREN WHO DISPLAY ESCAPE-MAINTAINED PROBLEM BEHAVIOR

PubMed Central

Gardner, Andrew W; Wacker, David P; Boelter, Eric W

2009-01-01

The choice-making behavior of 2 typically developing children who engaged in problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement was evaluated within a concurrent-operants assessment that varied the quality of attention across free-play and demand conditions. The results demonstrated that it was possible to bias responding towards academic demands for both participants by providing high-quality attention, despite the continuous availability of negative reinforcement. The current study extended brief clinical methods with typically developing children and demonstrated how different qualities of attention provided across concurrent schedules could bias responding. PMID:19949522

Simple View of Reading in Down's syndrome: the role of listening comprehension and reading skills.

PubMed

Roch, Maja; Levorato, M Chiara

2009-01-01

According to the 'Simple View of Reading' (Hoover and Gough 1990), individual differences in reading comprehension are accounted for by decoding skills and listening comprehension, each of which makes a unique and specific contribution. The current research was aimed at testing the Simple View of Reading in individuals with Down's syndrome and comparing their profiles with typically developing first graders. Listening comprehension and the ability to read both words and non-words was compared in two groups with the same level of reading comprehension: 23 individuals with Down's syndrome aged between 11 years 3 months and 18 years 2 months and 23 first-grade typically developing children aged between 6 years 2 months and 7 years 4 months. The results indicate that at the same level of reading comprehension, individuals with Down's syndrome have less developed listening comprehension and more advanced word recognition than typically developing first graders. A comparison of the profiles of the two groups revealed that reading comprehension level was predicted by listening comprehension in both groups of participants and by word-reading skills only in typically developing children. The Simple View of Reading model is confirmed for individuals with Down's syndrome, although they do not show the reading profile of typically developing first graders; rather, they show an atypical profile similar to that of 'poor comprehenders' (Cain and Oakhill 2006). The crucial role of listening comprehension in Down's syndrome is also discussed with reference to the educational implications.

Longitudinal Heschl's gyrus growth during childhood and adolescence in typical development and autism.

PubMed

Prigge, Molly D; Bigler, Erin D; Fletcher, P Thomas; Zielinski, Brandon A; Ravichandran, Caitlin; Anderson, Jeffrey; Froehlich, Alyson; Abildskov, Tracy; Papadopolous, Evangelia; Maasberg, Kathryn; Nielsen, Jared A; Alexander, Andrew L; Lange, Nicholas; Lainhart, Janet

2013-04-01

Heightened auditory sensitivity and atypical auditory processing are common in autism. Functional studies suggest abnormal neural response and hemispheric activation to auditory stimuli, yet the neurodevelopment underlying atypical auditory function in autism is unknown. In this study, we model longitudinal volumetric growth of Heschl's gyrus gray matter and white matter during childhood and adolescence in 40 individuals with autism and 17 typically developing participants. Up to three time points of magnetic resonance imaging data, collected on average every 2.5 years, were examined from individuals 3-12 years of age at the time of their first scan. Consistent with previous cross-sectional studies, no group differences were found in Heschl's gyrus gray matter volume or asymmetry. However, reduced longitudinal gray matter volumetric growth was found in the right Heschl's gyrus in autism. Reduced longitudinal white matter growth in the left hemisphere was found in the right-handed autism participants. Atypical Heschl's gyrus white matter volumetric growth was found bilaterally in the autism individuals with a history of delayed onset of spoken language. Heightened auditory sensitivity, obtained from the Sensory Profile, was associated with reduced volumetric gray matter growth in the right hemisphere. Our longitudinal analyses revealed dynamic gray and white matter changes in Heschl's gyrus throughout childhood and adolescence in both typical development and autism. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Emotion awareness and cognitive behavioural therapy in young people with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Roberts-Collins, Cara; Mahoney-Davies, Gerwyn; Russell, Ailsa; Booth, Anne; Loades, Maria

2017-07-01

Young people with autism spectrum disorder experience high levels of emotional problems, including anxiety and depression. Adapted cognitive behavioural therapy is recommended for such difficulties. However, no evidence suggests whether emotion awareness is important in treatment outcome for young people on the autism spectrum. This study aimed to investigate the potential differences in emotion awareness between (1) young people on the autism spectrum and typically developing youth and (2) young people on the autism spectrum with and without experience of cognitive behavioural therapy. Three groups (aged 11-20 years) participated: (1) typically developing young people ( n = 56); (2) young people on the autism spectrum with no experience of cognitive behavioural therapy ( n = 23); and (3) young people on the autism spectrum who had attended cognitive behavioural therapy ( n = 33). All participants completed the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire-30 item version. Young people on the autism spectrum differed significantly from typically developing young people on the emotional awareness measure. Young people on the autism spectrum who had attended cognitive behavioural therapy scored significantly lower on the Differentiating Emotions subscale, and significantly higher on the Attending to Others' Emotions subscale, compared to young people on the autism spectrum who had not attended cognitive behavioural therapy. This study highlights the importance of psycho-educational components of cognitive behavioural therapy when adapting for young people on the autism spectrum.

Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations

PubMed Central

Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Papadakis, Jaclyn Lennon; Bruno, Elizabeth Franks; Holmbeck, Grayson N

2016-01-01

Aim To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Method Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean=8.34y, 37 male, 31 female) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean=8.49y, 37 male, 31 female) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Results Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Interpretation Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. PMID:27651215

The differential effects of Autism and Down's syndrome on sexual behavior.

PubMed

Ginevra, Maria Cristina; Nota, Laura; Stokes, Mark A

2016-01-01

Although sexuality plays a major role in the socialization of people, few studies have examined the sexual behaviors of individuals with developmental disabilities. Because of this, we decided to investigate sexuality in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Down's syndrome (Ds) and to compare them with typically developing adolescents, by surveying their parents. Specifically, it was hypothesized that young people with ASD would display lower levels over five domains: social behavior, privacy, sex education, sexual behavior, and parental concerns, than peers with Ds and typically developing young people. In addition, we sought to verify developmental trends in five domains with age for each group. Overall, 269 parents participated; 94 parents of typically developing adolescents, 93 parents of adolescents diagnosed with Ds, and 82 parents of adolescents diagnosed with ASD. Participants were surveyed with a Sexual Behavior Scale developed by Stokes and Kaur [] that assesses parents' reports of their child's: social behavior, privacy awareness, sex education, sexual behavior and parental concerns about the child's behaviors. It was found that three groups were significantly different on all five domains, adolescents with ASD reportedly displaying lower levels than other groups. Moreover, there was a significant improvement in knowledge of privacy and parental concerns with age for adolescents with ASD and a decline in sex education for adolescents with Ds. The results obtained emphasize the need to train adolescents with developmental disability, and especially for adolescents with ASD through sex education programs. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effect of rTMS over the inferior parietal lobule on EEG sensorimotor reactivity differs according to self-reported traits of autism in typically developing individuals.

PubMed

Puzzo, Ignazio; Cooper, Nicholas R; Cantarella, Simona; Fitzgerald, Paul B; Russo, Riccardo

2013-12-06

Previous research suggested that EEG markers of mirror neuron system activation may differ, in the normal population as a function of different levels of the autistic spectrum quotient; (AQ). The present study aimed at modulating the EEG sensorimotor reactivity induced by hand movement observation by means of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied to the inferior parietal lobule. We examined how the resulting rTMS modulation differed in relation to the self-reported autistic traits in the typically developing population. Results showed that during sham stimulation, all participants had significantly greater sensorimotor alpha reactivity (motor cortex-C electrodes) when observing hand movements compared to static hands. This sensorimotor alpha reactivity difference was reduced during active rTMS stimulation. Results also revealed that in the average AQ group at sham there was a significant increase in low beta during hand movement than static hand observation (pre-motor areas-FC electrodes) and that (like alpha over the C electrodes) this difference is abolished when active rTMS is delivered. Participants with high AQ scores showed no significant difference in low beta sensorimotor reactivity between active and sham rTMS during static hand or hand movement observation. These findings suggest that unlike sham, active rTMS over the IPL modulates the oscillatory activity of the low beta frequency of a distal area, namely the anterior sector of the sensorimotor cortex, when participants observe videos of static hand. Importantly, this modulation differs according to the degree of self-reported traits of autism in a typically developing population. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of anxiety and depressive symptoms on working memory components in children and adolescents with ADHD combined type and ADHD inattentive type.

PubMed

Ferrin, Maite; Vance, Alasdair

2014-12-01

Working memory (WM) deficits have been shown to be associated with core ADHD symptoms, worse academic achievement and peer-relationship problems. Internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, have also been associated with impaired WM performance. However, the association of anxiety and depression and WM performance remains unclear for children and adolescents with ADHD. Further, it is unknown how these comorbid conditions might affect WM performance in the two main ADHD subtypes. The association of anxiety and depression and the specific components of spatial (SWM) and verbal working memory (VWM) were examined in 303 children and adolescents with ADHD, combined type (ADHD-CT) and 77 ADHD, inattentive type (ADHD-IA) compared to 128 age- and gender-matched typically developing participants. The relationship between anxiety and depression and WM was assessed using multiple linear regression analyses and separate simple regression analyses. Higher levels of anxiety/depression were associated with (1) increased between-search errors in the typically developing participants alone, (2) a better strategy performance in the ADHD-CT group, and (3) a better spatial span performance in the ADHD-IA group. VWM was equally impaired in the ADHD-CT and ADHD-IA groups, independent of the levels of anxiety and depression. The results suggest that the effects of internalizing symptoms on WM differ in typically developing children and adolescents compared to those with ADHD. Further, high levels of anxiety and depression modified WM performance differently according to the specific ADHD subtypes. This might help explain contradictory findings observed in previous studies of mixed samples of participants with ADHD-CT and ADHD-IA.

A reversed-typicality effect in pictures but not in written words in deaf and hard of hearing adolescents.

PubMed

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Xong, Ying; Chen, Xiaojun; He, Weiwei; Li, Ling; Huang, Jingjia

2015-01-01

Two experiments investigated Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) adolescents' recognition of category names in an innovative task of semantic categorization. In each trial, the category-name target appeared briefly at the screen center followed by two words or two pictures for two basic-level exemplars of high or middle typicality, which appeared briefly approximately where the target had appeared. Participants' reaction times when they were deciding whether the target referred to living or nonliving things consistently revealed the typicality effect for the word, but a reversed-typicality effect for picture-presented exemplars. It was found that in automatically processing a category name, DHH adolescents with natural sign language as their first language evidently activate two sets of exemplar representations: those for middle-typicality exemplars, which they develop in interactions with the physical world and in sign language uses; and those in written-language learning.

Athletes and blood clots: individualized, intermittent anticoagulation management.

PubMed

Berkowitz, J N; Moll, S

2017-06-01

Essentials Athletes on anticoagulants are typically prohibited from participation in contact sports. Short-acting anticoagulants allow for reconsideration of this precedent. An individualized pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics study can aid patient-specific management. Many challenges and unresolved issues exist regarding such tailored intermittent dosing. Athletes with venous thromboembolism (VTE) are typically prohibited from participating in contact sports during anticoagulation therapy, but such mandatory removal from competition can cause psychological and financial detriments for athletes and overlooks patient autonomy. The precedent of compulsory removal developed when options for anticoagulation therapy were more limited, but medical advances now allow for rethinking of the management of athletes with VTE. We propose a novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of athletes who participate in contact sports and require anticoagulation. A personalized pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics study of a direct oral anticoagulant can be performed for an athlete, which can inform the timing of medication dosing. Managed carefully, this can allow athletic participation when plasma drug concentration is minimal (minimizing bleeding risk) and prompt resumption of treatment after the risk of bleeding sufficiently normalizes (maximizing therapeutic time). © 2017 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Learning and mastery behaviours as risk factors to abandonment in a paediatric user of advanced single-switch access technology.

PubMed

Brian, Leung; Jessica A, Brian; Tom, Chau

2013-09-01

The present descriptive case study documents the behaviours of a child single-switch user in the community setting and draws attention to learning and mastery behaviours as risk factors to single-switch abandonment. Our observations were interpreted in the context of a longer term school-based evaluation of an advanced single-switch access technology with a nine year-old user with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The child completed 25 experiment sessions averaging a rate of three sessions every two weeks. During each session he worked on several blocks of single-switch computer activity using his vocal cord vibration switch. Despite high levels of single-switch sensitivity and specificity that suggested a good fit between the participant and the technology, the participant perceived a lower proficiency level of his own abilities, demonstrated impatience and intolerance to interaction errors, and was apprehensive of making mistakes when using his switch in public. The benefit of gaining some degree of independent physical access might not necessarily enhance resilience to interaction errors or bouts of poor task performance. On the other hand, the participant's behaviours were consistent with those of a typically developing child learning or mastering any new skill or task. Implications for Rehabilitation The attitude and behaviour of a paediatric switch user towards skill development can be risk factors to abandonment of an access technology, despite successful clinical trial with the device. Children with severe disabilities can be associated with the same types of skill development behaviour patterns and achievement motivation as their typically developing peers. Empirical observations of the case participant's switch use behaviours suggest that user training could be adaptive in order to account for individual differences in skill development and achievement motivation.

Impact of Typical Aging and Parkinson's Disease on the Relationship among Breath Pausing, Syntax, and Punctuation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huber, Jessica E.; Darling, Meghan; Francis, Elaine J.; Zhang, Dabao

2012-01-01

Purpose: The present study examines the impact of typical aging and Parkinson's disease (PD) on the relationship among breath pausing, syntax, and punctuation. Method: Thirty young adults, 25 typically aging older adults, and 15 individuals with PD participated. Fifteen participants were age- and sex-matched to the individuals with PD.…

Looking around houses: attention to a model when drawing complex shapes in Williams syndrome and typical development.

PubMed

Hudson, Kerry D; Farran, Emily K

2013-09-01

Drawings by individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) typically lack cohesion. The popular hypothesis is that this is a result of excessive focus on local-level detail at the expense of global configuration. In this study, we explored a novel hypothesis that inadequate attention might underpin drawing in WS. WS and typically developing (TD) non-verbal ability matched groups copied and traced a house figure comprised of geometric shapes. The house was presented on a computer screen for 5-s periods and participants pressed a key to re-view the model. Frequency of key-presses indexed the looks to the model. The order that elements were replicated was recorded to assess hierarchisation of elements. If a lack of attention to the model explained poor drawing performance, we expected participants with WS to look less frequently to the model than TD children when copying. If a local-processing preference underpins drawing in WS, more local than global elements would be produced. Results supported the first, but not second hypothesis. The WS group looked to the model infrequently, but global, not local, parts were drawn first, scaffolding local-level details. Both groups adopted a similar order of drawing and tracing of parts, suggesting typical, although delayed strategy-use in the WS group. Additionally both groups drew larger elements of the model before smaller elements, suggested a size-bias when drawing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Immunogenetic Approach to Prognosis of Military Specialists’ Health Status

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-05-01

of Ukraine which have been polluted with radionuclides deposited as a consequence of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station accident. Therefore, an...tendency to the development of immunodeficiency was typical for participants who took part in the cleanup operations following the Chernobyl accident. This

The emergence of autoclitic frames in atypically and typically developing children as a function of multiple exemplar instruction.

PubMed

Luke, Nicole; Greer, R Douglas; Singer-Dudek, Jessica; Keohane, Dolleen-Day

2011-01-01

In two experiments, we tested the effect of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) for training sets on the emergence of autoclitic frames for spatial relations for novel tacts and mands. In Experiment 1, we used a replicated pre- and post-intervention probe design with four students with significant learning disabilities to test for acquisition of four autoclitic frames with novel tacts and mands before and after MEI. The untaught topographies emerged for all participants. In Experiment 2, we used a multiple probe design to test the effects of the MEI procedures on the same responses in four typically developing, bilingual students. The novel usage emerged for all participants. In the latter experiment, the children demonstrated untaught usage of mand or tact frames regardless of whether they were taught to respond in either listener or speaker functions alone or across listener and speaker functions. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of MEI in the formation of abstractions.

An Individualised Curriculum to Teach Numeracy Skills to Children with Autism: Programme Description and Pilot Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tzanakaki, Pagona; Grindle, Corinna Fay; Saville, Maria; Hastings, Richard Patrick; Hughes, John Carl; Huxley, Kathleen

2014-01-01

Teaching mathematics to children with autism is an area with limited research evidence. In this study we developed a teaching manual based on Maths Recovery, a numeracy programme designed for typically developing children. Six children with autism participated in the study and received daily numeracy teaching over a 20-week period. Our aims were…

Action Planning in Typically and Atypically Developing Children (Unilateral Cerebral Palsy)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craje, Celine; Aarts, Pauline; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria; Steenbergen, Bert

2010-01-01

In the present study, we investigated the development of action planning in children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy (CP, aged 3-6 years, n = 24) and an age matched control group. To investigate action planning, participants performed a sequential movement task. They had to grasp an object (a wooden play sword) and place the sword in a hole in a…

Scientific and Engineering Influences on Industrial Arts. A Summary of Institute Activities (NDEA Summer Inst., College Station, Texas).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas A and M Univ., College Station. Dept. of Industrial Education.

These units developed for teacher use consist primarily of a collection of typical experiments or research activities developed by staff and participants of a National Defense Education Act Institute. The institute was designed to broaden the viewpoint of 25 industrial arts teachers with regard to some of the newer scientific and/or engineering…

Does Gender Matter? A One Year Follow-Up of Autistic, Attention and Anxiety Symptoms in High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, Tamara; Cornish, Kim; Rinehart, Nicole

2014-01-01

Gender differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and associated problem behaviours over development may provide clues regarding why more males than females are diagnosed with ASD. Fifty-six high-functioning children with ASD, and 44 typically developing controls, half of the participants female, were assessed at baseline (aged…

Retrospective Parent Report of Early Vocal Behaviours in Children with Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech (sCAS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Highman, Chantelle; Hennessey, Neville; Sherwood, Mellanie; Leitao, Suze

2008-01-01

Parents of children with suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech (sCAS, n = 20), Specific Language Impairment (SLI, n = 20), and typically developing speech and language skills (TD, n = 20) participated in this study, which aimed to quantify and compare reports of early vocal development. Via a questionnaire, parents reported on their child's early…

Development of abstract mathematical reasoning: the case of algebra

PubMed Central

Susac, Ana; Bubic, Andreja; Vrbanc, Andrija; Planinic, Maja

2014-01-01

Algebra typically represents the students’ first encounter with abstract mathematical reasoning and it therefore causes significant difficulties for students who still reason concretely. The aim of the present study was to investigate the developmental trajectory of the students’ ability to solve simple algebraic equations. 311 participants between the ages of 13 and 17 were given a computerized test of equation rearrangement. Equations consisted of an unknown and two other elements (numbers or letters), and the operations of multiplication/division. The obtained results showed that younger participants are less accurate and slower in solving equations with letters (symbols) than those with numbers. This difference disappeared for older participants (16–17 years), suggesting that they had reached an abstract reasoning level, at least for this simple task. A corresponding conclusion arises from the analysis of their strategies which suggests that younger participants mostly used concrete strategies such as inserting numbers, while older participants typically used more abstract, rule-based strategies. These results indicate that the development of algebraic thinking is a process which unfolds over a long period of time. In agreement with previous research, we can conclude that, on average, children at the age of 15–16 transition from using concrete to abstract strategies while solving the algebra problems addressed within the present study. A better understanding of the timing and speed of students’ transition from concrete arithmetic reasoning to abstract algebraic reasoning might help in designing better curricula and teaching materials that would ease that transition. PMID:25228874

Development of abstract mathematical reasoning: the case of algebra.

PubMed

Susac, Ana; Bubic, Andreja; Vrbanc, Andrija; Planinic, Maja

2014-01-01

Algebra typically represents the students' first encounter with abstract mathematical reasoning and it therefore causes significant difficulties for students who still reason concretely. The aim of the present study was to investigate the developmental trajectory of the students' ability to solve simple algebraic equations. 311 participants between the ages of 13 and 17 were given a computerized test of equation rearrangement. Equations consisted of an unknown and two other elements (numbers or letters), and the operations of multiplication/division. The obtained results showed that younger participants are less accurate and slower in solving equations with letters (symbols) than those with numbers. This difference disappeared for older participants (16-17 years), suggesting that they had reached an abstract reasoning level, at least for this simple task. A corresponding conclusion arises from the analysis of their strategies which suggests that younger participants mostly used concrete strategies such as inserting numbers, while older participants typically used more abstract, rule-based strategies. These results indicate that the development of algebraic thinking is a process which unfolds over a long period of time. In agreement with previous research, we can conclude that, on average, children at the age of 15-16 transition from using concrete to abstract strategies while solving the algebra problems addressed within the present study. A better understanding of the timing and speed of students' transition from concrete arithmetic reasoning to abstract algebraic reasoning might help in designing better curricula and teaching materials that would ease that transition.

Identifying play characteristics of pre-school children with developmental coordination disorder via parental questionnaires.

PubMed

Rosenblum, Sara; Waissman, Pola; Diamond, Gary W

2017-06-01

Motor coordination deficits that characterize children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affect their quality of participation. The aim of the current study was to identify play characteristics of young children with DCD, compared to those of children with typical development in three dimensions: activity and participation, environmental factors and children's impairments. Sixty-four children, aged four to six years, participated. Thirty were diagnosed as having DCD; the remaining 34 children were age, gender and socioeconomic level matched controls with typical development. The children were evaluated by the M-ABC. In addition, their parents completed a demographic questionnaire, the Children's Activity Scale for Parents (CHAS-P), the Children's Leisure Assessment Scale for preschoolers (CLASS-Pre), and My Child's Play Questionnaire (MCP). Children with DCD performed significantly poorer in each of the four play activity and participation domains: variety, frequency, sociability, and preference (CLASS-Pre). Furthermore, their environmental characteristics were significantly different (MCP). They displayed significantly inferior performance (impairments) in interpersonal interaction and executive functioning during play, in comparison to controls (MCP). Moreover, the children's motor and executive control as reflected in their daily function as well as their activities of daily living (ADL) performance level, contributed to the prediction of their global play participation. The results indicate that the use of both the CLASS-Pre and the MCP questionnaires enables the identification of unique play characteristics of pre-school children with DCD via parents' reports. A better insight into these characteristics may contribute to theoretical knowledge and clinical practice to improve the children's daily participation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predictive gaze during observation of irrational actions in adults with autism spectrum conditions.

PubMed

Marsh, L E; Pearson, A; Ropar, D; Hamilton, A F de C

2015-01-01

Understanding irrational actions may require the observer to make mental state inferences about why an action was performed. Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have well documented difficulties with mentalizing; however, the degree to which rationality understanding is impaired in autism is not yet clear. The present study uses eye-tracking to measure online understanding of action rationality in individuals with ASC. Twenty adults with ASC and 20 typically developing controls, matched for age and IQ watched movies of rational and irrational actions while their eye movements were recorded. Measures of looking time, scan path and saccade latency were calculated. Results from looking time and scan path analyses demonstrate that participants with ASC have reduced visual attention to salient action features such as the action goal and the hand performing the action, regardless of action rationality. However, when participants with ASC do attend to these features, they are able to make anticipatory goal saccades as quickly as typically developing controls. Taken together these results indicate that individuals with autism have reduced attention to observed actions, but when attention is maintained, goal prediction is typical. We conclude that the basic mechanisms of action understanding are intact in individuals with ASC although there may be impairment in the top-down, social modulation of eye movements.

Development of Grammatical Accuracy in English-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants: A Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Spencer, Linda J.

2017-01-01

Purpose We sought to evaluate the development of grammatical accuracy in English-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) over a 3-year span. Method Ten children who received CIs before age 30 months participated in this study at 3, 4, and 5 years postimplantation. For the purpose of comparison, 10 children each at ages 3, 4, and 5 years with typical hearing were included as well. All children participated in a story-retell task. We computed percent grammatical communication units (PGCU) in the task. Results Children with CIs showed significant improvement in PGCU over the 3-year span. However, they produced lower PGCU than children with typical hearing who had matched hearing age at 4 and 5 years postimplantation. At the individual level, some children with CIs were able to produce PGCU comparable to children with typical hearing as early as 3 years after implantation. Better speech-perception skills at earlier time points were associated with higher PGCU at later time points. Moreover, children with and without CIs showed similar rankings in the types of grammatical errors. Conclusion Despite having auditory-perceptual and information-processing constraints, children who received CIs before age 30 months were able to produce grammatical sentences, albeit with a delayed pattern. PMID:28384729

The siblings relationship of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Begum, Gazi; Blacher, Jan

2011-01-01

The sibling relationship of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities was examined. Participants were 70 sibling dyads--each dyad was comprised of one 12-year old adolescent with (N=23) or without intellectual disabilities (N=47). Sibling relationships, behavior problems, and social skills were assessed using mother reports. Results revealed three findings. First, for typically developing adolescents, mothers reported more warmth in the sibling relationship for opposite sex dyads. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, mothers reported more warmth in the sibling relationship for same-sex dyads. Second, for typically developing adolescents, mothers reported more status/power differences when the sibling was younger than when the sibling was older. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, birth order did not affect status/power in the sibling relationship. Third, for typically developing adolescents, conflict was related to internalizing behavior problems. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, conflict was related to externalizing behavior problems. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bridging Multidimensional Models of Ethnic-Racial and Gender Identity Among Ethnically Diverse Emerging Adults.

PubMed

Wilson, Antoinette R; Leaper, Campbell

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to integrate and validate a multidimensional model of ethnic-racial identity and gender identity borrowing constructs and measures based on social identity and gender identity theories. Participants included 662 emerging adults (M age  = 19.86 years; 75 % female) who self-identified either as Asian American, Latino/a, or White European American. We assessed the following facets separately for ethnic-racial identity and gender identity: centrality, in-group affect, in-group ties, self-perceived typicality, and felt conformity pressure. Within each identity domain (gender or ethnicity/race), the five dimensions generally indicated small-to-moderate correlations with one another. Also, correlations between domains for each dimension (e.g., gender typicality and ethnic-racial typicality) were mostly moderate in magnitude. We also noted some group variations based on participants' ethnicity/race and gender in how strongly particular dimensions were associated with self-esteem. Finally, participants who scored positively on identity dimensions for both gender and ethnic-racial domains indicated higher self-esteem than those who scored high in only one domain or low in both domains. We recommend the application of multidimensional models to study social identities in multiple domains as they may relate to various outcomes during development.

Explicit and implicit motor learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy.

PubMed

van der Kamp, John; Steenbergen, Bert; Masters, Rich S W

2017-07-30

The current study aimed to investigate the capacity for explicit and implicit learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Children with left and right unilateral cerebral palsy and typically developing children shuffled disks toward a target. A prism-adaptation design was implemented, consisting of pre-exposure, prism exposure, and post-exposure phases. Half of the participants were instructed about the function of the prism glasses, while the other half were not. For each trial, the distance between the target and the shuffled disk was determined. Explicit learning was indicated by the rate of adaptation during the prism exposure phase, whereas implicit learning was indicated by the magnitude of the negative after-effect at the start of the post-exposure phase. Results No significant effects were revealed between typically developing participants and participants with unilateral cerebral palsy. Comparison of participants with left and right unilateral cerebral palsy demonstrated that participants with right unilateral cerebral palsy had a significantly lower rate of adaptation than participants with left unilateral cerebral palsy, but only when no instructions were provided. The magnitude of the negative after-effects did not differ significantly between participants with right and left unilateral cerebral palsy. The capacity for explicit motor learning is reduced among individuals with right unilateral cerebral palsy when accumulation of declarative knowledge is unguided (i.e., discovery learning). In contrast, the capacity for implicit learning appears to remain intact among individuals with left as well as right unilateral cerebral palsy. Implications for rehabilitation Implicit motor learning interventions are recommended for individuals with cerebral palsy, particularly for individuals with right unilateral cerebral palsy Explicit motor learning interventions for individual with cerebral palsy - if used - best consist of singular verbal instruction.

Handwriting in Adults with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsao, Raphaele; Fartoukh, Mickael; Barbier, Marie-Laure

2011-01-01

Background: Although there is growing awareness about the potential for people with Down syndrome (DS) to become literate, we know little about the characteristics of handwriting within this population. Methods: Thirty-three participants took part in this experiment. Eleven adults with DS and 22 typically developing individuals (11 children…

Children's Syntactic-Priming Magnitude: Lexical Factors and Participant Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foltz, Anouschka; Thiele, Kristina; Kahsnitz, Dunja; Stenneken, Prisca

2015-01-01

This study examines whether lexical repetition, syntactic skills, and working memory (WM) affect children's syntactic-priming behavior, i.e. their tendency to adopt previously encountered syntactic structures. Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children were primed with prenominal (e.g. "the yellow…

Cognitive Differences in Pictorial Reasoning between High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahyoun, Cherif P.; Soulieres, Isabelle; Belliveau, John W.; Mottron, Laurent; Mody, Maria

2009-01-01

We investigated linguistic and visuospatial processing during pictorial reasoning in high-functioning autism (HFA), Asperger's syndrome (ASP), and age and IQ-matched typically developing participants (CTRL), using three conditions designed to differentially engage linguistic mediation or visuospatial processing (visuospatial, V; semantic, S;…

Increased Functional Connectivity Between Subcortical and Cortical Resting-State Networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Cerliani, Leonardo; Mennes, Maarten; Thomas, Rajat M.; Di Martino, Adriana; Thioux, Marc; Keysers, Christian

2016-01-01

Importance Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit severe difficulties in social interaction, motor coordination, behavioral flexibility, and atypical sensory processing, with considerable interindividual variability. This heterogeneous set of symptoms recently led to investigating the presence of abnormalities in the interaction across large-scale brain networks. To date, studies have focused either on constrained sets of brain regions or whole-brain analysis, rather than focusing on the interaction between brain networks. Objectives To compare the intrinsic functional connectivity between brain networks in a large sample of individuals with ASD and typically developing control subjects and to estimate to what extent group differences would predict autistic traits and reflect different developmental trajectories. Design, Setting, and Participants We studied 166 male individuals (mean age, 17.6 years; age range, 7-50 years) diagnosed as having DSM-IV-TR autism or Asperger syndrome and 193 typical developing male individuals (mean age, 16.9 years; age range, 6.5-39.4 years) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Participants were matched for age, IQ, head motion, and eye status (open or closed) in the MRI scanner. We analyzed data from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE), an aggregated MRI data set from 17 centers, made public in August 2012. Main Outcomes and Measures We estimated correlations between time courses of brain networks extracted using a data-driven method (independent component analysis). Subsequently, we associated estimates of interaction strength between networks with age and autistic traits indexed by the Social Responsiveness Scale. Results Relative to typically developing control participants, individuals with ASD showed increased functional connectivity between primary sensory networks and subcortical networks (thalamus and basal ganglia) (all t ≥ 3.13, P < .001 corrected). The strength of such connections was associated with the severity of autistic traits in the ASD group (all r ≥ 0.21, P < .0067 corrected). In addition, subcortico-cortical interaction decreased with age in the entire sample (all r ≤ −0.09, P < .012 corrected), although this association was significant only in typically developing participants (all r ≤ −0.13, P < .009 corrected). Conclusions and Relevance Our results showing ASD-related impairment in the interaction between primary sensory cortices and subcortical regions suggest that the sensory processes they subserve abnormally influence brain information processing in individuals with ASD. This might contribute to the occurrence of hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity and of difficulties in top-down regulation of behavior. PMID:26061743

Establishing Derived Manding for Specific Amounts with Three Children: An Attempt at Synthesizing Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" with Relational Frame Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Carol; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2009-01-01

Participants were 2 typically developing children, aged 9 and 10 years, and 1 child, aged 4 years, with a reported severe speech delay. Five specific mand functions were trained such that participants learned to mand for the delivery or removal of tokens to the value of -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2, by presenting an arbitrary stimulus (A1, A2, A3, A4,…

Deconstructing executive deficits among persons with autism: implications for cognitive neuroscience.

PubMed

Russo, Natalie; Flanagan, Tara; Iarocci, Grace; Berringer, Darlene; Zelazo, Philip David; Burack, Jacob A

2007-10-01

Individuals with autism demonstrate impairments on measures of executive function (EF) relative to typically developing comparison participants. EF is comprised of several processes including inhibition, working memory and set shifting that develop throughout the lifespan. Impairments in EF may appear early in development and persist, or may represent a more transient delay which resolves with time. Given the unevenness of the cognitive profile of persons with autism, understanding the development of EF poses methodological challenges. These issues include those related to matching measures and the choice of comparison participants to which the performance of persons with autism will be compared. In the current review, we attempt to break down the processes of inhibition, working memory and set shifting among persons with autism. We propose to do this within a developmental perspective that highlights how matching measures and comparison participants can affect the interpretation of research findings.

Goal perspectives and sport participation motivation of Special Olympians and typically developing athletes.

PubMed

Hutzler, Yeshayahu; Oz, Mali; Barak, Sharon

2013-07-01

Based on social-learning and self-determination motivational theories, the purpose of this study was to determine the sources of motivation in youth and young adults with intellectual disability (ID) who participate in Special Olympics (SO) competitions and those of typically developed (TD) age- and activity-matched athletes. A convenience sample of 63 SO (25 females and 38 males) and 59 TD (16 females and 43 males) athletes was retrieved through communication with local club coaches. Three sub-groups of SO athletes were identified based on disability, including non specified intellectual disability (NSID=39), Down syndrome (DS=17), and Autism (Aut=7). Mean SO and TD athlete ages were 20.35 (SD=7) and 18.8 (SD=8), respectively. For analysis purposes four age groups were created (<15, 15-17, 18-20, >20 years). Participants completed the 13-item, two-factor Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) and a 16-item four-factor abridged version of the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS). SO and TD athletes were active in swimming (54 and 48, respectively) and basketball (9 and 11, respectively). Groups with and without ID were compared by means of t-tests in the dichotomized variables gender and activity, as well as by 1-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons across disability and age groups. Gender distribution was the same in both groups. Participants with DS and NSID scored significantly higher than TD athletes in most motivational scales. Participants with ID increased their external motivation with increasing age, while a reversed pattern was observed in TD. In summary, significant differences between motivational patterns of SO athletes with ID and TD athletes can be observed. These differences should be considered when developing training and competition programs. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender discrimination of eyes and mouths by individuals with autism.

PubMed

Best, Catherine A; Minshew, Nancy J; Strauss, Mark S

2010-04-01

Evidence remains mixed about whether individuals with autism look less to eyes and whether they look more at mouths. Few studies have examined how spontaneous attention to facial features relates to face processing abilities. This study tested the ability to discriminate gender from facial features, namely eyes and mouths, by comparing accuracy scores of 17 children with autism and 15 adults with autism to 17 typically developing children and 15 typically developing adults. Results indicated that all participants regardless of diagnosis discriminated gender more accurately from eyes than from mouths. However, results indicated that compared to adults without autism, adults with autism were significantly worse at discriminating gender from eyes.

Reduced change blindness suggests enhanced attention to detail in individuals with autism.

PubMed

Smith, Hayley; Milne, Elizabeth

2009-03-01

The phenomenon of change blindness illustrates that a limited number of items within the visual scene are attended to at any one time. It has been suggested that individuals with autism focus attention on less contextually relevant aspects of the visual scene, show superior perceptual discrimination and notice details which are often ignored by typical observers. In this study we investigated change blindness in autism by asking participants to detect continuity errors deliberately introduced into a short film. Whether the continuity errors involved central/marginal or social/non-social aspects of the visual scene was varied. Thirty adolescent participants, 15 with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and 15 typically developing (TD) controls participated. The participants with ASD detected significantly more errors than the TD participants. Both groups identified more errors involving central rather than marginal aspects of the scene, although this effect was larger in the TD participants. There was no difference in the number of social or non-social errors detected by either group of participants. In line with previous data suggesting an abnormally broad attentional spotlight and enhanced perceptual function in individuals with ASD, the results of this study suggest enhanced awareness of the visual scene in ASD. The results of this study could reflect superior top-down control of visual search in autism, enhanced perceptual function, or inefficient filtering of visual information in ASD.

The role of semantic complexity in treatment of naming deficits: training semantic categories in fluent aphasia by controlling exemplar typicality.

PubMed

Kiran, Swathi; Thompson, Cynthia K

2003-06-01

The effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming was investigated using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia. Participants received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. The order of typicality and category trained was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. However, patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples. Furthermore, analysis of errors indicated an evolution of errors throughout training, from those with no apparent relationship to the target to primarily semantic and phonemic paraphasias. Performance on standardized language tests also showed changes as a function of treatment. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of considering semantic complexity on rehabilitation of naming deficits in aphasia are discussed.

The role of semantic complexity in treatment of naming deficits: training semantic categories in fluent aphasia by controlling exemplar typicality.

PubMed

Kiran, Swathi; Thompson, Cynthia K

2003-08-01

The effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming was investigated using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia. Participants received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. The order of typicality and category trained was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. However, patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples. Furthermore, analysis of errors indicated an evolution of errors throughout training, from those with no apparent relationship to the target to primarily semantic and phonemic paraphasias. Performance on standardized language tests also showed changes as a function of treatment. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of considering semantic complexity on rehabilitation of naming deficits in aphasia are discussed.

Impact of specific language impairment and type of school on different language subsystems.

PubMed

Puglisi, Marina Leite; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

2016-01-01

This study aimed to explore quantitative and qualitative effects of type of school and specific language impairment (SLI) on different language abilities. 204 Brazilian children aged from 4 to 6 years old participated in the study. Children were selected to form three groups: 1) 63 typically developing children studying in private schools (TDPri); 2) 102 typically developing children studying in state schools (TDSta); and 39 children with SLI studying in state schools (SLISta). All individuals were assessed regarding expressive vocabulary, number morphology and morphosyntactic comprehension. All language subsystems were vulnerable to both environmental (type of school) and biological (SLI) effects. The relationship between the three language measures was exactly the same to all groups: vocabulary growth correlated with age and with the development of morphological abilities and morphosyntactic comprehension. Children with SLI showed atypical errors in the comprehension test at the age of 4, but presented a pattern of errors that gradually resembled typical development. The effect of type of school was marked by quantitative differences, while the effect of SLI was characterised by both quantitative and qualitative differences.

The complexity of narrative interferes in the use of conjunctions in children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Gonzalez, Deborah Oliveira; Cáceres, Ana Manhani; Bento-Gaz, Ana Carolina Paiva; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

2012-01-01

To verify the use of conjunctions in narratives, and to investigate the influence of stimuli's complexity over the type of conjunctions used by children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development. Participants were 40 children (20 with typical language development and 20 with SLI) with ages between 7 and 10 years, paired by age range. Fifteen stories with increasing of complexity were used to obtain the narratives; stories were classified into mechanical, behavioral and intentional, and each of them was represented by four scenes. Narratives were analyzed according to occurrence and classification of conjunctions. Both groups used more coordinative than subordinate conjunctions, with significant decrease in the use of conjunctions in the discourse of SLI children. The use of conjunctions varied according to the type of narrative: for coordinative conjunctions, both groups differed only between intentional and behavioral narratives, with higher occurrence in behavioral ones; for subordinate conjunctions, typically developing children's performance did not show differences between narratives, while SLI children presented fewer occurrences in intentional narratives, which was different from other narratives. Both groups used more coordinative than subordinate conjunctions; however, typically developing children presented more conjunctions than SLI children. The production of children with SLI was influenced by stimulus, since more complex narratives has less use of subordinate conjunctions.

Spelling Processes of Children With Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A Preliminary Study.

PubMed

Lee, Karen Shi Mei; Young, Selena Ee-Li; Liow, Susan Jane Rickard; Purcell, Alison Anne

2015-01-01

Objective :  To compare the cognitive-linguistic processes underlying spelling performance of children with cleft lip and/or palate with those of typically developing children. Design :  An assessment battery including tests of hearing, articulation, verbal short-term and working memory, and phonological awareness, as well as word and nonword spelling, was administered to both groups. Participants :  A total of 15 children with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate were case-matched by age and sex to 15 typically developing children. The children were aged between 6 and 8 years and were bilingual, with English the dominant language. Results :  Wilcoxon signed-rank tests revealed that the performance of children with cleft lip and/or palate was significantly poorer on phoneme deletion and nonword spelling (P < .05) compared with typically developing children. Spearman correlation analyses revealed different relationships between the cognitive-linguistic and spelling measures for the cleft lip and/or palate and typically developing groups. Conclusions :  Children with cleft lip and/or palate underachieve in phonological awareness and spelling skills. To facilitate early intervention for literacy problems, speech-language pathologists should routinely assess the cognitive-linguistic processing of children with cleft lip and/or palate, especially phonological awareness, as part of their case management protocols.

An fMRI investigation of responses to peer rejection in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Masten, Carrie L; Colich, Natalie L; Rudie, Jeffrey D; Bookheimer, Susan Y; Eisenberger, Naomi I; Dapretto, Mirella

2011-07-01

Peer rejection is particularly pervasive among adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, how adolescents with ASD differ from typically developing adolescents in their responses to peer rejection is poorly understood. The goal of the current investigation was to examine neural responses to peer exclusion among adolescents with ASD compared to typically developing adolescents. Nineteen adolescents with ASD and 17 typically developing controls underwent fMRI as they were ostensibly excluded by peers during an online game called Cyberball. Afterwards, participants reported their distress about the exclusion. Compared to typically developing adolescents, those with ASD displayed less activity in regions previously linked with the distressing aspect of peer exclusion, including the subgenual anterior cingulate and anterior insula, as well as less activity in regions previously linked with the regulation of distress responses during peer exclusion, including the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum. Interestingly, however, both groups self-reported equivalent levels of distress. This suggests that adolescents with ASD may engage in differential processing of social experiences at the neural level, but be equally aware of, and concerned about, peer rejection. Overall, these findings contribute new insights about how this population may differentially experience negative social events in their daily lives.

An fMRI investigation of responses to peer rejection in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

Masten, Carrie L.; Colich, Natalie L.; Rudie, Jeffrey D.; Bookheimer, Susan Y.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.; Dapretto, Mirella

2011-01-01

Peer rejection is particularly pervasive among adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, how adolescents with ASD differ from typically developing adolescents in their responses to peer rejection is poorly understood. The goal of the current investigation was to examine neural responses to peer exclusion among adolescents with ASD compared to typically developing adolescents. Nineteen adolescents with ASD and 17 typically developing controls underwent fMRI as they were ostensibly excluded by peers during an online game called Cyberball. Afterwards, participants reported their distress about the exclusion. Compared to typically developing adolescents, those with ASD displayed less activity in regions previously linked with the distressing aspect of peer exclusion, including the subgenual anterior cingulate and anterior insula, as well as less activity in regions previously linked with the regulation of distress responses during peer exclusion, including the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum. Interestingly, however, both groups self-reported equivalent levels of distress. This suggests that adolescents with ASD may engage in differential processing of social experiences at the neural level, but be equally aware of, and concerned about, peer rejection. Overall, these findings contribute new insights about how this population may differentially experience negative social events in their daily lives. PMID:22318914

Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury.

PubMed

Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R; Levine, Susan C; Small, Steven L

2010-06-01

A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity during category fluency in participants who had sustained pre- or perinatal left hemisphere stroke (n = 25) and in neurologically normal siblings (n = 27). In typically developing children, performance of a category fluency task elicits strong involvement of left frontal and lateral temporal regions and a lesser involvement of right hemisphere structures. In our cohort of atypically developing participants with early stroke, expressive and receptive language skills correlated with activity in the same left inferior frontal regions that support language processing in neurologically normal children. This was true independent of either the amount of brain injury or the extent that the injury was located in classical cortical language processing areas. Participants with bilateral activation in left and right superior temporal-inferior parietal regions had better language function than those with either predominantly left- or right-sided unilateral activation. The advantage conferred by left inferior frontal and bilateral temporal involvement demonstrated in our study supports a strong predisposition for typical neural language organization, despite an intervening injury, and argues against models suggesting that the right hemisphere fully accommodates language function following early injury.

Examination of Sex Differences in a Large Sample of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

PubMed Central

Reinhardt, Vanessa P.; Wetherby, Amy M.; Schatschneider, Christopher

2014-01-01

Despite consistent and substantive research documenting a large male to female ratio in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), only a modest body of research exists examining sex differences in characteristics. This study examined sex differences in developmental functioning and early social communication in children with ASD as compared to children with typical development. Sex differences in adaptive behavior and autism symptoms were also examined in children with ASD. Participants (n = 511) were recruited from the Florida State University FIRST WORDS® Project and University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center. Analyses did not reveal significant effects of sex or a diagnostic group by sex interaction, suggesting a similar phenotype in males and females early in development. Further research is needed to examine sex differences across development. PMID:25189824

L2 (IM)Politeness in the Synchronous Chat of Elementary School Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Craig D.; Do, Jaewoo

2017-01-01

Participation in interactive games, especially those in immersive environments, is often employed in learning contexts to stochastically develop L2 learners' language ability. However, typical measures of language ability often do not reflect pragmatic competencies. This study juxtaposes two elementary school ESL learners' language ability, and…

Real World Executive Control Impairments in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smithson, Pontea Etemad; Kenworthy, Lauren; Wills, Meagan C.; Jarrett, Marian; Atmore, Kathleen; Yerys, Benjamin E.

2013-01-01

This study examined executive control (EC) in preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). ASD participants were a clinically referred sample of preschoolers; the typically developing control group was selected from the BRIEF-P standardization…

An Audit of Medication Administration: A Glimpse into School Health Offices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canham, Daryl L.; Bauer, Laurie; Concepcion, Michelle; Luong, June; Peters, Jill; Wilde, Claudia

2007-01-01

Many students require prescription and nonprescription medication to be administered during the school day for chronic and acute illnesses. School office staff members are typically delegated this task, yet these individuals are unlicensed assistive personnel without medical training. Five school nurses developed and participated in a medication…

Social Cognition in Adolescent Girls with Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turkstra, Lyn S.; Abbeduto, Leonard; Meulenbroek, Peter

2014-01-01

This study aimed to characterize social cognition, executive functions (EFs), and everyday social functioning in adolescent girls with fragile X syndrome, and identify relationships among these variables. Participants were 20 girls with FXS and 20 age-matched typically developing peers. Results showed significant between-groups differences in…

Developmental Trajectories of Agency and Communion in Moral Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Lawrence J.; Frimer, Jeremy A.

2015-01-01

How does moral motivation develop across the life span? Previous research has indicated that moral exemplars have integrated the typically oppositional motives of agency and communion. The present research maps developmental trajectories in these motives that may lead to this end-point integration. Participants were 140 Canadians comprising four…

Abnormal Transient Pupillary Light Reflex in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan, Xiaofei; Miles, Judith H.; Takahashi, Nicole; Yao, Gang

2009-01-01

Computerized binocular infrared pupillography was used to measure the transient pupillary light reflex (PLR) in both children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and children with typical development. We found that participants with ASDs showed significantly longer PLR latency, smaller constriction amplitude and lower constriction velocity than…

Early Childhood Inclusion: Focus on Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guralnick, Michael J., Ed.

Early childhood inclusion is a field characterized by a philosophy and practice that encourages full participation of children with disabilities and their families in everyday activities with their typically developing peers. Noting that success in inclusion endeavors requires substantial changes in the way our society thinks, feels, and acts,…

The Influence of Phonotactic Probability on Word Recognition in Toddlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacRoy-Higgins, Michelle; Shafer, Valerie L.; Schwartz, Richard G.; Marton, Klara

2014-01-01

This study examined the influence of phonotactic probability on word recognition in English-speaking toddlers. Typically developing toddlers completed a preferential looking paradigm using familiar words, which consisted of either high or low phonotactic probability sound sequences. The participants' looking behavior was recorded in response to…

A Meta-Analysis of Skills Training Programs for Rehabilitation Clients.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolton, Brian; Akridge, Robert L.

1995-01-01

Summarized the results of 15 experimental studies of 10 small-group skills training interventions developed for use with vocational rehabilitation clients. Concluded that the typical participant in skills training interventions received substantial benefit from the activity. Skills training programs should be implemented more widely with clients…

When New Boundaries Abound: A Systematic Approach to Redistricting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creighton, Roger L.; Irwin, Armond J.

1994-01-01

A systematic approach to school redistricting that was developed over the past half-dozen years utilizes a computer. Crucial to achieving successful results are accuracy of data, enrollment forecasting, and citizen participation. Outlines the major steps of a typical redistricting study. One figure illustrates the redistricting process. (MLF)

Bottom-up Attention Orienting in Young Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amso, Dima; Haas, Sara; Tenenbaum, Elena; Markant, Julie; Sheinkopf, Stephen J.

2014-01-01

We examined the impact of simultaneous bottom-up visual influences and meaningful social stimuli on attention orienting in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Relative to typically-developing age and sex matched participants, children with ASDs were more influenced by bottom-up visual scene information regardless of whether…

Diagnostic Accuracy of Traditional Measures of Phonological Ability for Bilingual Preschoolers and Kindergarteners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fabiano-Smith, Leah; Hoffman, Katherine

2018-01-01

Purpose: Bilingual children whose phonological skills are evaluated using measures designed for monolingual English speakers are at risk for misdiagnosis of speech sound disorders (De Lamo White & Jin, 2011). Method: Forty-four children participated in this study: 15 typically developing monolingual English speakers, 7 monolingual English…

The Influence of Two Cognitive-Linguistic Variables on Incidental Word Learning in 5-Year-Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abel, Alyson D.; Schuele, C. Melanie

2014-01-01

The relation between incidental word learning and two cognitive-linguistic variables--phonological memory and phonological awareness--is not fully understood. Thirty-five typically developing, 5-year-old, preschool children participated in a study examining the association between phonological memory, phonological awareness, and incidental word…

Spatial Contrast Sensitivity in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Hwan Cui; Milne, Elizabeth; Dobkins, Karen

2010-01-01

Adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing (TD) controls underwent a rigorous psychophysical assessment that measured contrast sensitivity to seven spatial frequencies (0.5-20 cycles/degree). A contrast sensitivity function (CSF) was then fitted for each participant, from which four measures were obtained: visual…

Enhanced Access to Early Visual Processing of Perceptual Simultaneity in Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falter, Christine M.; Braeutigam, Sven; Nathan, Roger; Carrington, Sarah; Bailey, Anthony J.

2013-01-01

We compared judgements of the simultaneity or asynchrony of visual stimuli in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically-developing controls using Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Two vertical bars were presented simultaneously or non-simultaneously with two different stimulus onset delays. Participants with ASD distinguished…

From Civil Rights to Human Rights

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Julian

2014-01-01

This article traces the development of the "Deaf President Now" (DPN) movement and its similarities to the black civil rights movement. Movements typically begin with a concrete, precipitating event but are usually the result of known or shared incidents on the part of the participants, and the "Deaf President Now" movement…

The Effects of Multiple Exemplar Instruction on the Relation between Listener and Intraverbal Categorization Repertoires

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lechago, Sarah A.; Carr, James E.; Kisamore, April N.; Grow, Laura L.

2015-01-01

We evaluated the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) on the relation between listener and intraverbal categorization repertoires of six typically developing preschool-age children using a nonconcurrent multiple-probe design across participants. After failing to emit intraverbal categorization responses following listener categorization…

Promoting Snack Time Interactions of Children with Autism in a Malaysian Preschool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Soo Hoon; Lee, Lay Wah

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a comprehensive social skills intervention package combining peer-mediated strategies and environmental arrangements on the peer interactions of three children with autism in a Malaysian preschool. Following baseline, nine typically developing children participated in social initiation…

Emergence of Intraverbal Responding Following Tact Instruction with Compound Stimuli

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devine, Bailey; Carp, Charlotte L.; Hiett, Kiley A.; Petursdottir, Anna Ingeborg

2016-01-01

Effective intraverbal responding often requires control by multiple elements of a verbal stimulus. The purpose of this study was to examine the emergence of such intraverbal relations following tact instruction with compound stimuli and to analyze any resulting error patterns. Participants were seven typically developing children between 3 and…

Comprehension of Inferences in a Narrative in 3- to 6-Year-Old Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filiatrault-Veilleux, Pamela; Bouchard, Caroline; Trudeau, Natacha; Desmarais, Chantal

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the development of inferential abilities of children age 3 to 6 years in a narrative using a dialogic reading task on an iPad. Method: Participants were 121 typically developing children, divided into 3 groups according to age range (3-4 years old, 4-5 years old, 5-6 years old). Total score of inferential…

Nimble Negotiators: How Theory of Mind (ToM) Interconnects with Persuasion Skills in Children with and without ToM Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Candida C.; Slaughter, Virginia; Wellman, Henry M.

2018-01-01

Persuasion is an essential social skill. Yet its development and underpinnings are poorly understood. In 2 studies, a total of 167 children aged 3 to 12 years took theory of mind (ToM) tests and participated in unscripted, seminaturalistic persuasive conversations. Children were typically developing (TD) or had deafness or autism spectrum disorder…

Emotion dysregulation and dyadic conflict in depressed and typical adolescents: Evaluating concordance across psychophysiological and observational measures

PubMed Central

Crowell, Sheila E.; Baucom, Brian R.; Yaptangco, Mona; Bride, Daniel; Hsiao, Ray; McCauley, Elizabeth; Beauchaine, Theodore P.

2014-01-01

Many depressed adolescents experience difficulty regulating their emotions. These emotion regulation difficulties appear to emerge in part from socialization processes within families and then generalize to other contexts. However, emotion dysregulation is typically assessed within the individual, rather than in the social relationships that shape and maintain dysregulation. In this study, we evaluated concordance of physiological and observational measures of emotion dysregulation during interpersonal conflict, using a multilevel actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Participants were 75 mother-daughter dyads, including 50 depressed adolescents with or without a history of self-injury, and 25 typically developing controls. Behavior dysregulation was operationalized as observed aversiveness during a conflict discussion, and physiological dysregulation was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Results revealed different patterns of concordance for control versus depressed participants. Controls evidenced a concordant partner (between-person) effect, and showed increased physiological regulation during minutes when their partner was more aversive. In contrast, clinical dyad members displayed a concordant actor (within-person) effect, becoming simultaneously physiologically and behaviorally dysregulated. Results inform current understanding of emotion dysregulation across multiple levels of analysis. PMID:24607894

Can typical US home visits affect infant attachment? Preliminary findings from a randomized trial of Healthy Families Durham.

PubMed

Berlin, Lisa J; Martoccio, Tiffany L; Appleyard Carmody, Karen; Goodman, W Benjamin; O'Donnell, Karen; Williams, Janis; Murphy, Robert A; Dodge, Kenneth A

2017-12-01

US government-funded early home visiting services are expanding significantly. The most widely implemented home visiting models target at-risk new mothers and their infants. Such home visiting programs typically aim to support infant-parent relationships; yet, such programs' effects on infant attachment quality per se are as yet untested. Given these programs' aims, and the crucial role of early attachments in human development, it is important to understand attachment processes in home visited families. The current, preliminary study examined 94 high-risk mother-infant dyads participating in a randomized evaluation of the Healthy Families Durham (HFD) home visiting program. We tested (a) infant attachment security and disorganization as predictors of toddler behavior problems and (b) program effects on attachment security and disorganization. We found that (a) infant attachment disorganization (but not security) predicted toddler behavior problems and (b) participation in HFD did not significantly affect infant attachment security or disorganization. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential for attachment-specific interventions to enhance the typical array of home visiting services.

Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations.

PubMed

Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Lennon Papadakis, Jaclyn; Franks Bruno, Elizabeth; Holmbeck, Grayson N

2017-03-01

To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean age 8y 4mo, 37 males, 31 females) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean age 8y 6mo, 37 males, 31 females) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

Prosodic skills in children with Down syndrome and in typically developing children.

PubMed

Zampini, Laura; Fasolo, Mirco; Spinelli, Maria; Zanchi, Paola; Suttora, Chiara; Salerni, Nicoletta

2016-01-01

Many studies have analysed language development in children with Down syndrome to understand better the nature of their linguistic delays and the reason why these delays, particularly those in the morphosyntactic area, seem greater than their cognitive impairment. However, the prosodic characteristics of language development in children with Down syndrome have been scarcely investigated. To analyse the prosodic skills of children with Down syndrome in the production of multi-word utterances. Data on the prosodic skills of these children were compared with data on typically developing children matched on developmental age and vocabulary size. Between-group differences and the relationships between prosodic and syntactic skills were investigated. The participants were nine children with Down syndrome (who ranged in chronological age from 45 to 63 months and had a mean developmental age of 30 months) and 12 30-month-old typically developing children. The children in both groups had a vocabulary size of approximately 450 words. The children's spontaneous productions were recorded during observations of mother-child play sessions. Data analyses showed that despite their morphosyntactic difficulties, children with Down syndrome were able to master some aspects of prosody in multi-word utterances. They were able to produce single intonation multi-word utterances on the same level as typically developing children. In addition, the intonation contour of their utterances was not negatively influenced by syntactic complexity, contrary to what occurred in typically developing children, although it has to be considered that the utterances produced by children with Down syndrome were less complex than those produced by children in the control group. However, children with Down syndrome appeared to be less able than typically developing children to use intonation to express the pragmatic interrogative function. The findings are discussed considering the effects of social experience on the utterance prosodic realization. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

[Voxel-Based Morphometry in Autism Spectrum Disorder].

PubMed

Yamasue, Hidenori

2017-05-01

Autism spectrum disorder shows deficits in social communication and interaction including nonverbal communicative behaviors (e.g., eye contact, gestures, voice prosody, and facial expressions) and restricted and repetitive behaviors as its core symptoms. These core symptoms are emerged as an atypical behavioral development in toddlers with the disorder. Atypical neural development is considered to be a neural underpinning of such behaviorally atypical development. A number of studies using voxel-based morphometry have already been conducted to compare regional brain volumes between individuals with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development. Furthermore, more than ten papers employing meta-analyses of the comparisons using voxel based morphometry between individuals with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development have already been published. The current review paper adds some brief discussions about potential factors contributing to the inconsistency observed in the previous findings such as difficulty in controlling the confounding effects of different developmental phases among study participants.

Metacognitive Awareness of Facial Affect in Higher-Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Henderson, Heather A.; Newell, Lisa; Jaime, Mark; Mundy, Peter

2015-01-01

Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series of face stimuli, made decisions regarding the affect of each face, and indicated their confidence in each decision. Confidence significantly predicted accuracy across all participants, but this relation was stronger for participants with typical development than participants with ASD. In the hierarchical linear modeling analysis, there were no differences in face processing accuracy between participants with and without ASD, but participants with ASD were more confident in their decisions. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have metacognitive impairments and are overconfident in face processing. Additionally, greater metacognitive awareness was predictive of better face processing accuracy, suggesting that metacognition may be a pivotal skill to teach in interventions. PMID:26496991

Protection, participation and protection through participation: young people with intellectual disabilities and decision making in the family context.

PubMed

Saaltink, R; MacKinnon, G; Owen, F; Tardif-Williams, C

2012-11-01

Research suggests that persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) are expected to be more compliant than persons without disabilities and that expectations for compliance begin in childhood. No study, however, seems yet to have included a primary focus on the participatory rights, or rights to express opinions, desires and preferences and to be heard and taken seriously in decision making among young people with ID who are not yet considered legally adult. The purpose of the two current studies was to explore how the right to participation is negotiated for young people with ID in a family context and to determine family members' recommendations for strategies to facilitate the participation of young people with ID. In the first study, four young people with ID, their mothers and two siblings from four families took part in semi-structured interviews about decision making in the family context. In the second study, a mother and daughter from the first study discussed and developed strategies to promote participation for young people with ID. In the first study, all participants communicated that young people with ID follow an age-typical yet restricted pattern of participation in decisions about their lives. Young people's participation was consistently framed by familial norms and values as well as their families' desire to protect them. In the second study, both participants suggested communication about the outcomes of real or imagined decisions would help young family members rehearse decision-making strategies that would facilitate their autonomy while remaining within the bounds of familial norms, values and perceptions of safety. Although young people with ID may make fewer independent decisions about their lives than typically developing peers, support in decision making can enable both increased protection and independence. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Total Quality Management: A Unique Challenge For Behavioral Science Researchers,

DTIC Science & Technology

Quality Management (TQM) programs in industry and government. The essence of TQM involves respect for personal choice and the participation of every level of workers in decisions which impact the organization. Typically, structured questionnaires developed by behavioral scientists are designed to be easy to summarize and generally lack any mechanism for personal comments, ideas, and suggestions. New open-ended, interactive, and iterative survey methodologies are needed to enhance creativity, encourage feedback, and foster a sense of participation. Total Quality

Iconicity influences how effectively minimally verbal children with autism and ability-matched typically developing children use pictures as symbols in a search task.

PubMed

Hartley, Calum; Allen, Melissa L

2015-07-01

Previous word learning studies suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder may have difficulty understanding pictorial symbols. Here we investigate the ability of children with autism spectrum disorder and language-matched typically developing children to contextualize symbolic information communicated by pictures in a search task that did not involve word learning. Out of the participant's view, a small toy was concealed underneath one of four unique occluders that were individuated by familiar nameable objects or unfamiliar unnamable objects. Children were shown a picture of the hiding location and then searched for the toy. Over three sessions, children completed trials with color photographs, black-and-white line drawings, and abstract color pictures. The results reveal zero group differences; neither children with autism spectrum disorder nor typically developing children were influenced by occluder familiarity, and both groups' errorless retrieval rates were above-chance with all three picture types. However, both groups made significantly more errorless retrievals in the most-iconic photograph trials, and performance was universally predicted by receptive language. Therefore, our findings indicate that children with autism spectrum disorder and young typically developing children can contextualize pictures and use them to adaptively guide their behavior in real time and space. However, this ability is significantly influenced by receptive language development and pictorial iconicity. © The Author(s) 2014.

Feedback-Driven Trial-by-Trial Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Solomon, Marjorie; Frank, Michael J.; Ragland, J. Daniel; Smith, Anne C.; Niendam, Tara A.; Lesh, Tyler A.; Grayson, David S.; Beck, Jonathan S.; Matter, John C.; Carter, Cameron S.

2017-01-01

Objective Impairments in learning are central to autism spectrum disorders. The authors investigated the cognitive and neural basis of these deficits in young adults with autism spectrum disorders using a well-characterized probabilistic reinforcement learning paradigm. Method The probabilistic selection task was implemented among matched participants with autism spectrum disorders (N=22) and with typical development (N=25), aged 18–40 years, using rapid event-related functional MRI. Participants were trained to choose the correct stimulus in high-probability (AB), medium-probability (CD), and low-probability (EF) pairs, presented with valid feedback 80%, 70%, and 60% of the time, respectively. Whole-brain voxel-wise and parametric modulator analyses examined early and late learning during the stimulus and feedback epochs of the task. Results The groups exhibited comparable performance on medium- and low-probability pairs. Typically developing persons showed higher accuracy on the high-probability pair, better win-stay performance (selection of the previously rewarded stimulus on the next trial of that type), and more robust recruitment of the anterior and medial prefrontal cortex during the stimulus epoch, suggesting development of an intact reward-based working memory for recent stimulus values. Throughout the feedback epoch, individuals with autism spectrum disorders exhibited greater recruitment of the anterior cingulate and orbito-frontal cortices compared with individuals with typical development, indicating continuing trial-by-trial activity related to feedback processing. Conclusions Individuals with autism spectrum disorders exhibit learning deficits reflecting impaired ability to develop an effective reward-based working memory to guide stimulus selection. Instead, they continue to rely on trial-by-trial feedback processing to support learning dependent upon engagement of the anterior cingulate and orbito-frontal cortices. PMID:25158242

Relationships between full-day arm movement characteristics and developmental status in infants with typical development as they learn to reach: An observational study

PubMed Central

Shida-Tokeshi, Joanne; Lane, Christianne J.; Trujillo-Priego, Ivan A.; Deng, Weiyang; Vanderbilt, Douglas L.; Loeb, Gerald E.; Smith, Beth A.

2018-01-01

Background: Advances in wearable sensor technology now allow us to quantify the number, type and kinematic characteristics of bouts of infant arm movement made across a full day in the natural environment. Our aim here was to determine whether the amount and kinematic characteristics of arm movements made across the day in the natural environment were related to developmental status in infants with typical development as they learned to reach for objects using their arms. Methods: We used wearable sensors to measure arm movement across days and months as infants developed arm reaching skills. In total, 22 infants with typical development participated, aged between 38 and 203 days. Of the participants, 2 infants were measured once and the other 20 infants were measured once per month for 3 to 6 visits. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development was used to measure developmental level. Results: Our main findings were: 1) infant arm movement characteristics as measured by full-day wearable sensor data were related to Bayley motor, cognitive and language scores, indicating a relationship between daily movement characteristics and developmental status; 2) infants who moved more had larger increases in language and cognitive scores across visits; and 3) larger changes in movement characteristics across visits were related to higher motor scores. Conclusions: This was a preliminary, exploratory, small study of the potential importance of infant arm movement characteristics as measured by full-day wearable sensor data. Our results support full-day arm movement activity as an area of interest for future study as a biomarker of neurodevelopmental status and as a target for early intervention. PMID:29708221

Increases in the autistic trait of attention to detail are associated with decreased multisensory temporal adaptation.

PubMed

Stevenson, Ryan A; Toulmin, Jennifer K; Youm, Ariana; Besney, Richard M A; Schulz, Samantha E; Barense, Morgan D; Ferber, Susanne

2017-10-30

Recent empirical evidence suggests that autistic individuals perceive the world differently than their typically-developed peers. One theoretical account, the predictive coding hypothesis, posits that autistic individuals show a decreased reliance on previous perceptual experiences, which may relate to autism symptomatology. We tested this through a well-characterized, audiovisual statistical-learning paradigm in which typically-developed participants were first adapted to consistent temporal relationships between audiovisual stimulus pairs (audio-leading, synchronous, visual-leading) and then performed a simultaneity judgement task with audiovisual stimulus pairs varying in temporal offset from auditory-leading to visual-leading. Following exposure to the visual-leading adaptation phase, participants' perception of synchrony was biased towards visual-leading presentations, reflecting the statistical regularities of their previously experienced environment. Importantly, the strength of adaptation was significantly related to the level of autistic traits that the participant exhibited, measured by the Autism Quotient (AQ). This was specific to the Attention to Detail subscale of the AQ that assesses the perceptual propensity to focus on fine-grain aspects of sensory input at the expense of more integrative perceptions. More severe Attention to Detail was related to weaker adaptation. These results support the predictive coding framework, and suggest that changes in sensory perception commonly reported in autism may contribute to autistic symptomatology.

Deficits in metacognitive monitoring in mathematics assessments in learners with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Brosnan, Mark; Johnson, Hilary; Grawemeyer, Beate; Chapman, Emma; Antoniadou, Konstantina; Hollinworth, Melissa

2016-05-01

Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have been found to have deficits in metacognition that could impact upon their learning. This study explored metacognitive monitoring in 28 (23 males and 5 females) participants with autism spectrum disorder and 56 (16 males and 40 females) typically developing controls who were being educated at the same level. Participants were asked a series of mathematics questions. Based upon previous research, after each question they were asked two metacognitive questions: (1) whether they thought they had got the answer correct or not (or 'don't know') and (2) whether they meant to get the answer correct or not (or 'don't know'). Participants with autism spectrum disorder were significantly more likely than the typically developing group to erroneously think that they had got an incorrect answer correct. Having made an error, those with autism spectrum disorder were also significantly more likely to report that they had meant to make the error. Different patterns in the types of errors made were also identified between the two groups. Deficits in metacognition were identified for the autism spectrum disorder group in the learning of mathematics. This is consistent with metacognitive research from different contexts and the implications for supporting learning in autism spectrum disorder are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Cross-cultural validation of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) in Spain.

PubMed

Longo, E; Badia, M; Orgaz, B; Verdugo, M A

2014-03-01

Despite growing interest in the topic of participation, the construct has not yet been assessed in children and adolescents with and without cerebral palsy (CP) in Spain. As there are no available instruments to measure participation in leisure activities which have been adapted in this country, the goal of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE). The sample comprised 199 children and adolescents with CP and 199 without CP, between 8 and 18 years of age, from seven regions in Spain. The adaptation of the original version of CAPE was carried out through translation and backward translation, and the validity of the instrument was analysed. Construct validity was assessed through the correlation of the diverse CAPE domains and the quality of life domains (KIDSCREEN questionnaire). Discriminant validity was established by comparing children and adolescents with CP and typically developing children and adolescents. For test-retest reliability, the children and adolescents with and without CP completed the CAPE questionnaire twice within 4 weeks. The correlations found between the CAPE domains and the quality of life domains show that the CAPE presents construct validity. The CAPE discriminated children and adolescents with CP from those without any disability in the results of participation. According to most CAPE domains, typically developing children and adolescents engage in a greater number of activities than children and adolescents with CP. Test-retest reliability for the Spanish version of CAPE was adequate. The study provides a valid instrument to assess the participation of children and adolescents with and without CP who live in Spain. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Children's Attitudes Toward Peers With Unintelligible Speech Associated With Cleft Lip and/or Palate.

PubMed

Lee, Alice; Gibbon, Fiona E; Spivey, Kimberley

2017-05-01

  The objective of this study was to investigate whether reduced speech intelligibility in children with cleft palate affects social and personal attribute judgments made by typically developing children of different ages.   The study (1) measured the correlation between intelligibility scores of speech samples from children with cleft palate and social and personal attribute judgments made by typically developing children based on these samples and (2) compared the attitude judgments made by children of different ages. Participants   A total of 90 typically developing children, 30 in each of three age groups (7 to 8 years, 9 to 10 years, and 11 to 12 years).   Speech intelligibility scores and typically developing children's attitudes were measured using eight social and personal attributes on a three-point rating scale.   There was a significant correlation between the speech intelligibility scores and attitude judgments for a number of traits: "sick-healthy" as rated by the children aged 7 to 8 years, "no friends-friends" by the children aged 9 to 10 years, and "ugly-good looking" and "no friends-friends" by the children aged 11 to 12 years. Children aged 7 to 8 years gave significantly lower ratings for "mean-kind" but higher ratings for "shy-outgoing" when compared with the other two groups.   Typically developing children tended to make negative social and personal attribute judgments about children with cleft palate based solely on the intelligibility of their speech. Society, educators, and health professionals should work together to ensure that children with cleft palate are not stigmatized by their peers.

Health-related quality of life and peer relationships in adolescents with developmental coordination disorder and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Dewey, Deborah; Volkovinskaia, Anna

2018-07-01

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and peer relationships were investigated in adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Adolescents with DCD (n=9), ADHD (n=9), DCD and ADHD (n=10), and typically developing adolescents (n=16) completed the following questionnaires: KIDSCREEN-52 Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire and Peer Relations Questionnaire for Children. Twenty-five participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Adolescents with DCD and ADHD had lower HRQoL on the mood and emotions, school environment, and financial resources scales of the KIDSCREEN-52 than adolescents in the DCD and typically developing groups (all p<0.05). On the Peer Relations Questionnaire for Children, the DCD and ADHD group reported significantly higher victimization compared with those in the typically developing (p=0.030) and DCD (p=0.010) groups. Qualitative interviews among young people with DCD and ADHD revealed feelings of marginalization and victimization. Descriptors such as 'misfits', 'oddballs', 'weird', and 'the rejects' were used to describe themselves. HRQoL and peer relationships are negatively affected in adolescents with DCD and ADHD. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) do not display poorer overall health-related quality of life (HRQoL) versus typically developing controls. Having DCD and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was associated with poorer HRQoL. Adolescents with DCD and ADHD experience significantly higher levels of peer victimization than typically developing adolescents. HRQoL and peer relationships are significantly associated in adolescent respondents. © 2018 Mac Keith Press.

Effectiveness of a self-regulated remedial program for handwriting difficulties.

PubMed

Van Waelvelde, Hilde; De Roubaix, Amy; Steppe, Lien; Troubleyn, Evy; De Mey, Barbara; Dewitte, Griet; Debrabant, Julie; Van de Velde, Dominique

2017-09-01

Handwriting difficulties may have pervasive effects on a child's school performance. I Can! is a remedial handwriting program with a focus on self-regulated learning and applying motor learning principles combined with a behavioural approach. It is developed for typically developing children with handwriting problems. The study aim was to evaluate the program's effectiveness. Thirty-one children aged 7-8 year participated in a cross-over study. Handwriting quality and speed were repeatedly assessed by means of the Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties test. Difficulties addressed were fluency in letter formation, fluency in letter connections, letter height, regularity of letter height, space between words, and line path. Mixed model analysis revealed improved quality of writing and speed for all children but significantly more improvement in handwriting quality for the children participating in the program. Although writing speed improved over time, no additional effects of the program occurred. 'I Can!' is found to be an effective instructive program to ameliorate handwriting quality in typically developing children with handwriting difficulties. The program's success was by a therapy burst of only 7 weeks focusing on the child's self-regulated learning capacities, within an individualized education plan according to their needs and goals.

Face distinctiveness and delayed testing: differential effects on performance and confidence.

PubMed

Metzger, Mitchell M

2006-04-01

The author investigated the effect of delayed testing on participants' memory for distinctive and typical faces. Participants viewed distinctive and typical faces and were then tested for recognition immediately or after a delay of 3, 6, or 12 weeks. Consistent with prior research, analysis of measure of sensitivity (d') showed that participants performed better on distinctive rather than typical faces, and memory performance declined with longer retention intervals between study and testing. Furthermore, the superior performance on distinctive faces had vanished by the 12-week test. Contrary to d' data, however, an analysis of confidence scores indicated that participants were still significantly more confident on trials depicting distinctive faces, even with a 12-week delay between study and recognition testing.

A multidisciplinary treatment for encopresis in children with developmental disabilities.

PubMed

Call, Nathan A; Mevers, Joanna Lomas; McElhanon, Barbara O; Scheithauer, Mindy C

2017-04-01

Achieving continence of one's bowel movements is a key step in development and failure to do so leads to many negative consequences. Treatments for encopresis appearing in the literature have employed behavioral strategies; medications such as suppositories, laxatives, or enemas; and in some studies a combination of these approaches. To date, attempts to extend successful treatments for encopresis in typically developing children to those with developmental disabilities have been limited. The current study included three participants diagnosed with developmental disabilities who had a history of encopresis. None of the participants had a continent bowel movement under baseline conditions. Continent bowel movements increased during treatment that included the addition of suppositories to elicit continent bowel movements. Two participants began having independent continent bowel movements (i.e., without requiring suppositories) and medication was successfully faded out for the remaining participant. Treatment took between 13 and 21 days. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Binaural masking release in children with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Porter, Heather L; Grantham, D Wesley; Ashmead, Daniel H; Tharpe, Anne Marie

2014-01-01

Binaural hearing results in a number of listening advantages relative to monaural hearing, including enhanced hearing sensitivity and better speech understanding in adverse listening conditions. These advantages are facilitated in part by the ability to detect and use interaural cues within the central auditory system. Binaural hearing for children with Down syndrome could be impacted by multiple factors including, structural anomalies within the peripheral and central auditory system, alterations in synaptic communication, and chronic otitis media with effusion. However, binaural hearing capabilities have not been investigated in these children. This study tested the hypothesis that children with Down syndrome experience less binaural benefit than typically developing peers. Participants included children with Down syndrome aged 6 to 16 years (n = 11), typically developing children aged 3 to 12 years (n = 46), adults with Down syndrome (n = 3), and adults with no known neurological delays (n = 6). Inclusionary criteria included normal to near-normal hearing sensitivity. Two tasks were used to assess binaural ability. Masking level difference (MLD) was calculated by comparing threshold for a 500-Hz pure-tone signal in 300-Hz wide Gaussian noise for N0S0 and N0Sπ signal configurations. Binaural intelligibility level difference was calculated using simulated free-field conditions. Speech recognition threshold was measured for closed-set spondees presented from 0-degree azimuth in speech-shaped noise presented from 0-, 45- and 90-degree azimuth, respectively. The developmental ability of children with Down syndrome was estimated and information regarding history of otitis media was obtained for all child participants via parent survey. Individuals with Down syndrome had higher masked thresholds for pure-tone and speech stimuli than typically developing individuals. Children with Down syndrome had significantly smaller MLDs than typically developing children. Adults with Down syndrome and control adults had similar MLDs. Similarities in simulated spatial release from masking were observed for all groups for the experimental parameters used in this study. No association was observed for any measure of binaural ability and developmental age for children with Down syndrome. Similar group psychometric functions were observed for children with Down syndrome and typically developing children in most instances, suggesting that attentiveness and motivation contributed equally to performance for both groups on most tasks. The binaural advantages afforded to typically developing children, such as enhanced hearing sensitivity in noise, were not as robust for children with Down syndrome in this study. Children with Down syndrome experienced less binaural benefit than typically developing peers for some stimuli, suggesting that they could require more favorable signal-to-noise ratios to achieve optimal performance in some adverse listening conditions. The reduced release from masking observed for children with Down syndrome could represent a delay in ability rather than a deficit that persists into adulthood. This could have implications for the planning of interventions for individuals with Down syndrome.

SOCIAL AND NON-SOCIAL HAZARD RESPONSE IN DRIVERS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

PubMed Central

Bishop, Haley Johnson; Biasini, Fred J.; Stavrinos, Despina

2017-01-01

Driving is a complex task that relies on manual, cognitive, visual and social skill. The social demands of driving may be challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) due to known social impairments. This study investigated how drivers with ASD respond to social (e.g., pedestrians) and non-social (e.g., vehicles) hazards in a driving simulator compared to typically developing drivers. Overall, participants responded faster to social hazards than non-social hazards. It was also found that drivers with typical development reacted faster to social hazards, while drivers with ASD showed no difference in reaction time to social versus non-social hazards. Future work should further investigate how social impairments in ASD may affect driving safety. PMID:28070791

Developing Technological Initiatives for Youth Participation and Local Community Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burd, Leo

2010-01-01

Recent advances in technology are transforming our lives, but in many cases they are also limiting the way children are exposed to local communities and physical spaces. Technology can help young people actively connect with their neighborhoods, but doing that requires different methods and tools from the ones typically available in schools,…

Spatial Frequency Priming of Scene Perception in Adolescents with and without ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanmarcke, Steven; Noens, Ilse; Steyaert, Jean; Wagemans, Johan

2017-01-01

While most typically developing (TD) participants have a coarse-to-fine processing style, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to be less globally and more locally biased when processing visual information. The stimulus-specific spatial frequency content might be directly relevant to determine this temporal hierarchy of visual…

Patterns and Trajectories in Williams Syndrome: The Case of Visual Orientation Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palomares, Melanie; Englund, Julia A.; Ahlers, Stephanie

2011-01-01

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a developmental disorder typified by deficits in visuospatial cognition. To understand the nature of this deficit, we characterized how people with WS perceive visual orientation, a fundamental ability related to object identification. We compared WS participants to typically developing children (3-6 years of age) and…

Formal Thought Disorder and the Autism Spectrum: Relationship with Symptoms, Executive Control, and Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solomon, Marjorie; Ozonoff, Sally; Carter, Cameron; Caplan, Rochelle

2008-01-01

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) exhibit formal thought disorder (FTD), and whether this is related to ASD symptoms, executive control, and anxiety. Participants aged 8-17 with ASDs exhibited significantly more illogical thinking and loose associations than matched typically developing control…

The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale: A Critical Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruton, Anthony

2009-01-01

There are normally two major research reasons for assessing second and foreign language (L2) knowledge: either to gauge a participant's actual level of competence/proficiency or to assess language development over a period of time. In testing, the corresponding contrasts are typically referred to as proficiency tests on the one hand and…

The Formulation of Argument Structure in SLI: An Eye-Movement Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreu, Llorenc; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Olmos, Joan Guardia; MacWhinney, Brian

2013-01-01

This study investigated the formulation of verb argument structure in Catalan- and Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing age-matched controls. We compared how language production can be guided by conceptual factors, such as the organization of the entities participating in an event and knowledge…

Narrative Comprehension and Production in Children with SLI: An Eye Movement Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreu, Llorenc; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Olmos, Joan Guardia; MacWhinney, Brian

2011-01-01

This study investigates narrative comprehension and production in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Twelve children with SLI (mean age 5;8 years) and 12 typically developing children (mean age 5;6 years) participated in an eye-tracking experiment designed to investigate online narrative comprehension and production in Catalan- and…

Recreational Participation of Children with High Functioning Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Potvin, Marie-Christine; Snider, Laurie; Prelock, Patricia; Kehayia, Eva; Wood-Dauphinee, Sharon

2013-01-01

The recreation of children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) is not well understood. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare the recreational engagement of children with HFA and their typically developing peers. Children with HFA (n = 30) and peers (n = 31) were similar on key characteristics that may impact recreation except…

Parental Management of Peers and Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity in Predicting Adolescent Peer Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tu, Kelly M.; Erath, Stephen A.; El-Sheikh, Mona

2017-01-01

The present study examined sympathetic and parasympathetic indices of autonomic nervous system reactivity as moderators of the prospective association between parental management of peers via directing of youths' friendships and peer adjustment in a sample of typically developing adolescents. Participants included 246 adolescents at Time 1 (T1)…

Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC): Spanish Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lahera, G.; Boada, L.; Pousa, E.; Mirapeix, I.; Morón-Nozaleda, G.; Marinas, L.; Gisbert, L.; Pamiàs, M.; Parellada, M.

2014-01-01

We present the Spanish validation of the "Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition" instrument (MASC-SP). We recruited 22 adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome and 26 participants with typical development. The MASC-SP and three other social cognition instruments (Ekman Pictures of Facial Affect test, Reading the Mind in…

Advanced Mind-Reading in Adults with Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponnet, Koen S.; Roeyers, Herbert; Buysse, Ann; De Clercq, Armand; Van Der Heyden, Eva

2004-01-01

This study investigated the mind-reading abilities of 19 adults with Asperger syndrome and 19 typically developing adults. Two static mind-reading tests and a more naturalistic empathic accuracy task were used. In the empathic accuracy task, participants attempted to infer the thoughts and feelings of target persons, while viewing a videotape of…

Undifferentiated Facial Electromyography Responses to Dynamic, Audio-Visual Emotion Displays in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rozga, Agata; King, Tricia Z.; Vuduc, Richard W.; Robins, Diana L.

2013-01-01

We examined facial electromyography (fEMG) activity to dynamic, audio-visual emotional displays in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing (TD) individuals. Participants viewed clips of happy, angry, and fearful displays that contained both facial expression and affective prosody while surface electrodes measured…

Development of Accessible Laboratory Experiments for Students with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kroes, KC; Lefler, Daniel; Schmitt, Aaron; Supalo, Cary A.

2016-01-01

The hands-on laboratory experiments are frequently what spark students' interest in science. Students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) typically do not get the same experience while participating in hands-on activities due to accessibility. Over the course of approximately nine months, common chemistry laboratory experiments were adapted and…

Student Drinking-Related Problems in an Urban Campus: Implications for Research and Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avci, Ozgur; Fendrich, Michael

2010-01-01

Objective: Researchers who study the etiology of college drinking typically employ measures of alcohol-use behaviors as outcomes; however, relatively little is known about the properties of alcohol-related problems (AP). This study aims to develop a single continuous measure of AP. Participants: The sample included 531 undergraduate college…

Saccadic Eye Movements in Adults with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zalla, Tiziana; Seassau, Magali; Cazalis, Fabienne; Gras, Doriane; Leboyer, Marion

2018-01-01

In this study, we examined the accuracy and dynamics of visually guided saccades in 20 adults with autism spectrum disorder, as compared to 20 typically developed adults using the Step/Overlap/Gap paradigms. Performances in participants with autistic spectrum disorder were characterized by preserved Gap/Overlap effect, but reduced gain and peak…

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cognitive Processing in Young Adults with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacola, Lisa M.; Byars, Anna W.; Chalfonte-Evans, Melinda; Schmithorst, Vincent J.; Hickey, Fran; Patterson, Bonnie; Hotze, Stephanie; Vannest, Jennifer; Chiu, Chung-Yiu; Holland, Scott K.; Schapiro, Mark B.

2011-01-01

The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activation during a semantic-classification/object-recognition task in 13 persons with Down syndrome and 12 typically developing control participants (age range = 12-26 years). A comparison between groups suggested atypical patterns of brain activation for the…

Word Learning Deficits in Children with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alt, Mary; Hogan, Tiffany; Green, Samuel; Gray, Shelley; Cabbage, Kathryn; Cowan, Nelson

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate word learning in children with dyslexia to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses during the configuration stage of word learning. Method: Children with typical development (N = 116) and dyslexia (N = 68) participated in computer-based word learning games that assessed word learning in 4 sets…

Adapted Physical Education in Self-Contained Settings: Planning for Successful Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Wesley J.; Beamer, Jennifer; Block, Martin E.

2016-01-01

Nearly 30% of U.S. schools have students with severe disabilities who participate in a self-contained adapted physical education (SAPE) setting, separate from their typically developing classmates. It is imperative that physical education teachers become familiar with pedagogical strategies for planning and teaching SAPE. The purpose of this…

Articulatory Control in Childhood Apraxia of Speech in a Novel Word-Learning Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Case, Julie; Grigos, Maria I.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Articulatory control and speech production accuracy were examined in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and typically developing (TD) controls within a novel word-learning task to better understand the influence of planning and programming deficits in the production of unfamiliar words. Method: Participants included 16…

Psycho-Social Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with Siblings on the Autistic Spectrum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stampoltzis, Aglaia; Defingou, Georgia; Antonopoulou, Katerina; Kouvava, Sofia; Polychronopoulou, Stavroula

2014-01-01

This study investigates the psycho-social characteristics of typically developing children who have siblings with autism and their sibling relationship. Children's adjustment at school, their self-esteem and social relations, as well as their friends' attitudes towards their autistic siblings were examined. Participants were 22 siblings of…

No, You Do Not Have to Run Today, You Get to Run

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Jennie A.

2004-01-01

Children's natural play patterns provide opportunity for fitness development. Children typically do not care about the benefits of physical activity or the physiology behind the activities they perform, but they are very interested in participating in fun activities. Often curricula focus on how to feed children values that are important to…

Memory Functioning and Mental Verbs Acquisition in Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spanoudis, George C.; Natsopoulos, Demetrios

2011-01-01

Memory and language operate in synergy. Recent literature stresses the importance of memory functioning in interpreting language deficits. Two groups of 50 children each, ages 8-12 were studied. The first group included children with specific language impairment, while the participants in the second group were typically developing children. The…

The Mechanisms Underlying the ASD Advantage in Visual Search

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Giserman, Ivy; Carter, Alice S.; Blaser, Erik

2016-01-01

A number of studies have demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are faster or more successful than typically developing control participants at various visual-attentional tasks (for reviews, see Dakin and Frith in "Neuron" 48:497-507, 2005; Simmons et al. in "Vis Res" 49:2705-2739, 2009). This…

The Emergence of Productive Speech and Language in Spanish-Learning Paediatric Cochlear Implant Users

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreno-Torres, Ignacio

2014-01-01

It has been proposed that cochlear implant users may develop robust categorical perception skills, but that they show limited precision in perception. This article explores if a parallel contrast is observable in production, and if, despite acquiring typical linguistic representations, their early words are inconsistent. The participants were…

Sources of Cognitive Inflexibility in Set-Shifting Tasks: Insights into Developmental Theories from Adult Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dick, Anthony Steven

2012-01-01

Two experiments examined processes underlying cognitive inflexibility in set-shifting tasks typically used to assess the development of executive function in children. Adult participants performed a Flexible Item Selection Task (FIST) that requires shifting from categorizing by one dimension (e.g., color) to categorizing by a second orthogonal…

Facial Encoding of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Volker, Martin A.; Lopata, Christopher; Smith, Donna A.; Thomeer, Marcus L.

2009-01-01

Facial encoding of a sample of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) was compared to facial encoding of matched typically developing children. Each participant was photographed after being prompted to enact a facial expression for six basic emotions. Raters evaluated (a) the extent to which the photo reflected the…

Brain Mechanisms for Processing Direct and Averted Gaze in Individuals with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pitskel, Naomi B.; Bolling, Danielle Z.; Hudac, Caitlin M.; Lantz, Stephen D.; Minshew, Nancy J.; Vander Wyk, Brent C.; Pelphrey, Kevin A.

2011-01-01

Prior studies have indicated brain abnormalities underlying social processing in autism, but no fMRI study has specifically addressed the differential processing of direct and averted gaze, a critical social cue. Fifteen adolescents and adults with autism and 14 typically developing comparison participants viewed dynamic virtual-reality videos…

Adjustment to College in an Urban Commuter Setting: The Impact of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Athletic Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melendez, Mickey C.

2016-01-01

College student adjustment, success, and retention have been a focus of college administrators and student development professionals for decades. However, national college retention and graduation statistics are typically focused on traditional, residential, full-time, college populations. The purpose of the current study was to examine more…

Leisure Activity Enjoyment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eversole, Megan; Collins, Diane M.; Karmarkar, Amol; Colton, Lisa; Quinn, Jill Phillips; Karsbaek, Rita; Johnson, Jessica Reinken; Callier, Nicolle Patricia; Hilton, Claudia L.

2016-01-01

Enjoyment is a fundamental component of activity participation. This study compared leisure activity enjoyment experienced by typically developing children (TD; n = 64) and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; n = 67) from age 6 to 13. The TD children enjoyed "formal" and "physical" activities significantly more than the…

Dream Content Analysis in Persons with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daoust, Anne-Marie; Lusignan, Felix-Antoine; Braun, Claude M. J.; Mottron, Laurent; Godbout, Roger

2008-01-01

Dream questionnaires were completed by 28 young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participants. Seventy-nine typically developed individual served as the control group. In a subset of 17 persons with ASD and 11 controls matched for verbal IQ, dream narratives were obtained following REM sleep awakenings in a sleep laboratory.…

The Influence of Inattention on Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pham, Andy V.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine how behavioral symptoms of inattention predict rapid automatized naming (RAN) performance and reading skills in typically developing children. Participants included 104 third- and fourth-grade children from different elementary schools in mid-Michigan. RAN performance was assessed using the four Rapid…

Social Engagement with Peers and Stereotypic Behavior of Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, SoHyun; Odom, Samuel L.; Loftin, Rachel

2007-01-01

In this study, the authors examined the relationship between engagement in social interaction with peers and stereotypic behavior. Three children with autism with relatively high rates of stereotypic behavior and low rates of social engagement with peers participated in the study. Two typically developing peers learned to direct social initiations…

Enhanced pure-tone pitch discrimination among persons with autism but not Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Bonnel, Anna; McAdams, Stephen; Smith, Bennett; Berthiaume, Claude; Bertone, Armando; Ciocca, Valter; Burack, Jacob A; Mottron, Laurent

2010-07-01

Persons with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) display atypical perceptual processing in visual and auditory tasks. In vision, Bertone, Mottron, Jelenic, and Faubert (2005) found that enhanced and diminished visual processing is linked to the level of neural complexity required to process stimuli, as proposed in the neural complexity hypothesis. Based on these findings, Samson, Mottron, Jemel, Belin, and Ciocca (2006) proposed to extend the neural complexity hypothesis to the auditory modality. They hypothesized that persons with ASD should display enhanced performance for simple tones that are processed in primary auditory cortical regions, but diminished performance for complex tones that require additional processing in associative auditory regions, in comparison to typically developing individuals. To assess this hypothesis, we designed four auditory discrimination experiments targeting pitch, non-vocal and vocal timbre, and loudness. Stimuli consisted of spectro-temporally simple and complex tones. The participants were adolescents and young adults with autism, Asperger syndrome, and typical developmental histories, all with IQs in the normal range. Consistent with the neural complexity hypothesis and enhanced perceptual functioning model of ASD (Mottron, Dawson, Soulières, Hubert, & Burack, 2006), the participants with autism, but not with Asperger syndrome, displayed enhanced pitch discrimination for simple tones. However, no discrimination-thresholds differences were found between the participants with ASD and the typically developing persons across spectrally and temporally complex conditions. These findings indicate that enhanced pure-tone pitch discrimination may be a cognitive correlate of speech-delay among persons with ASD. However, auditory discrimination among this group does not appear to be directly contingent on the spectro-temporal complexity of the stimuli. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing Motor Skills in Autism Spectrum Individuals With and Without Speech Delay

PubMed Central

Barbeau, Elise B.; Meilleur, Andrée‐Anne S.; Zeffiro, Thomas A.

2015-01-01

Movement atypicalities in speed, coordination, posture, and gait have been observed across the autism spectrum (AS) and atypicalities in coordination are more commonly observed in AS individuals without delayed speech (DSM‐IV Asperger) than in those with atypical or delayed speech onset. However, few studies have provided quantitative data to support these mostly clinical observations. Here, we compared perceptual and motor performance between 30 typically developing and AS individuals (21 with speech delay and 18 without speech delay) to examine the associations between limb movement control and atypical speech development. Groups were matched for age, intelligence, and sex. The experimental design included: an inspection time task, which measures visual processing speed; the Purdue Pegboard, which measures finger dexterity, bimanual performance, and hand‐eye coordination; the Annett Peg Moving Task, which measures unimanual goal‐directed arm movement; and a simple reaction time task. We used analysis of covariance to investigate group differences in task performance and linear regression models to explore potential associations between intelligence, language skills, simple reaction time, and visually guided movement performance. AS participants without speech delay performed slower than typical participants in the Purdue Pegboard subtests. AS participants without speech delay showed poorer bimanual coordination than those with speech delay. Visual processing speed was slightly faster in both AS groups than in the typical group. Altogether, these results suggest that AS individuals with and without speech delay differ in visually guided and visually triggered behavior and show that early language skills are associated with slower movement in simple and complex motor tasks. Autism Res 2015, 8: 682–693. © 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research PMID:25820662

A Comparison of Topography-based and Selection-based Verbal Behavior in Typically Developed Children and Developmentally Disabled Persons with Autism

PubMed Central

Vignes, Tore

2007-01-01

This study is a replication of Sundberg and Sundberg (1990) that compared topography-based verbal behavior with selection-based verbal behavior in terms of acquisition, accuracy, and testing for the emergence of a new verbal relation. Participants were three typical children and three developmentally disabled persons with autism. The study sought to determine which paradigm (topography-based or selection-based) resulted in more rapid acquisition of tacts and intraverbals, which was associated with the fewest errors, and which paradigm resulted in the emergence of the highest number of new verbal relations. The results of the study showed that the six participants performed quite differently from one another. Most importantly, the results from the person with autism contradicted previous findings favoring selection-based verbal behavior over topography-based approaches for teaching verbal behavior to low-functioning individuals. PMID:22477385

Error-Monitoring in Response to Social Stimuli in Individuals with Higher-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

McMahon, Camilla M.; Henderson, Heather A.

2014-01-01

Error-monitoring, or the ability to recognize one's mistakes and implement behavioral changes to prevent further mistakes, may be impaired in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children and adolescents (ages 9-19) with ASD (n = 42) and typical development (n = 42) completed two face processing tasks that required discrimination of either the gender or affect of standardized face stimuli. Post-error slowing and the difference in Error-Related Negativity amplitude between correct and incorrect responses (ERNdiff) were used to index error-monitoring ability. Overall, ERNdiff increased with age. On the Gender Task, individuals with ASD had a smaller ERNdiff than individuals with typical development; however, on the Affect Task, there were no significant diagnostic group differences on ERNdiff. Individuals with ASD may have ERN amplitudes similar to those observed in individuals with typical development in more social contexts compared to less social contexts due to greater consequences for errors, more effortful processing, and/or reduced processing efficiency in these contexts. Across all participants, more post-error slowing on the Affect Task was associated with better social cognitive skills. PMID:25066088

Gross motor development in babies with treated idiopathic clubfoot.

PubMed

Garcia, Nancy L; McMulkin, Mark L; Tompkins, Bryan J; Caskey, Paul M; Mader, Shelley L; Baird, Glen O

2011-01-01

To investigate the effect of treated clubfoot disorder on gross motor skill level measured by the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). Fifty-two babies participated: 26 were treated for idiopathic clubfoot (12 with the Ponseti treatment method, 9 with the French physical therapy technique, and 5 with a combination of both methods); 26 were babies who were typically developing and without medical diagnoses. The AIMS was administered at 3-month intervals. No significant differences in AIMS scores were found between the clubfoot and control groups at 3 and 6 months, but at 9 and 12 months the clubfoot group scored significantly lower. Babies who were typically developing were significantly more likely to be walking at 12 months than babies with clubfoot. Treated clubfoot was associated with a mild delay in attainment of gross motor skills at 9 and 12 months of age.

Educational and interpersonal uses of home computers by adolescents with and without specific language impairment.

PubMed

Durkin, Kevin; Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Walker, Allan; Simkin, Zoë

2009-03-01

Many uses of new media entail processing language content, yet little is known about the relationship between language ability and media use in young people. This study compares educational versus interpersonal uses of home computers in adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 55 17-year-olds with SLI and 72 typically developing peers. Measures of frequency and ease of computer use were obtained as well as assessments of participants' psycholinguistic skills. Results showed a strong preference for interpersonal computer use in both groups. Virtually all participants engaged with interpersonal new media, finding them relatively easy to use. In contrast, one third of adolescents with SLI did not use educational applications during a typical week. Regression analyses revealed that lower frequency of educational use was associated with poorer language and literacy skills. However, in adolescents with SLI, this association was mediated by perceived ease of use. The findings show that language ability contributes to new media use and that adolescents with SLI are at a greater risk of low levels of engagement with educational technology.

Language and False-Belief Task Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Jeffrey Farrar, M; Seung, Hye Kyeung; Lee, Hyeonjin

2017-07-12

Language is related to false-belief (FB) understanding in both typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study examined the role of complementation and general language in FB understanding. Of interest was whether language plays similar or different roles in the groups' FB performance. Participants were 16 typically developing children (mean age = 5.0 years; mental age = 6.7) and 18 with ASD (mean age = 7.3 years; mental age = 8.3). Children were administered FB and language tasks (say- and think-complements), receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and relative clauses. When mental age and receptive and expressive vocabulary were used as separate covariates, the typical control group outperformed the children with ASD in FB task performance. Chi-square analyses indicated that passing both complementation tasks was linked to the FB understanding of children with ASD. Children with ASD who passed FB tasks all passed say- and think-complement tasks. However, some children in the control group were able to pass the FB tasks, even if they failed the say- and think-complement tasks. The results indicate that children with ASD relied more on complement understanding to pass FB than typically developing children. Results are discussed regarding the developmental pathways for FB understanding.

Can You Play with Fire and Not Hurt Yourself? A Comparative Study in Figurative Language Comprehension between Individuals with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Chahboun, Sobh; Vulchanov, Valentin; Saldaña, David; Eshuis, Hendrik

2016-01-01

Individuals with High functioning autism (HFA) are distinguished by relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive skills. However, problems with pragmatic language skills have been consistently reported across the autistic spectrum, even when structural language is intact. Our main goal was to investigate how highly verbal individuals with autism process figurative language and whether manipulation of the stimuli presentation modality had an impact on the processing. We were interested in the extent to which visual context, e.g., an image corresponding either to the literal meaning or the figurative meaning of the expression may facilitate responses to such expressions. Participants with HFA and their typically developing peers (matched on intelligence and language level) completed a cross-modal sentence-picture matching task for figurative expressions and their target figurative meaning represented in images. We expected that the individuals with autism would have difficulties in appreciating the non-literal nature of idioms and metaphors, despite intact structural language skills. Analyses of accuracy and reaction times showed clearly that the participants with autism performed at a lower level than their typically developing peers. Moreover, the modality in which the stimuli were presented was an important variable in task performance for the more transparent expressions. The individuals with autism displayed higher error rates and greater reaction latencies in the auditory modality compared to the visual stimulus presentation modality, implying more difficulty. Performance differed depending on type of expression. Participants had more difficulty understanding the culturally-based expressions, but not expressions grounded in human experience (biological idioms). This research highlights the importance of stimulus presentation modality and that this can lead to differences in figurative language comprehension between typically and atypically developing individuals. The current study also contributes to current debates on the role of structural language in figurative language comprehension in autism. PMID:28036344

Can You Play with Fire and Not Hurt Yourself? A Comparative Study in Figurative Language Comprehension between Individuals with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Chahboun, Sobh; Vulchanov, Valentin; Saldaña, David; Eshuis, Hendrik; Vulchanova, Mila

2016-01-01

Individuals with High functioning autism (HFA) are distinguished by relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive skills. However, problems with pragmatic language skills have been consistently reported across the autistic spectrum, even when structural language is intact. Our main goal was to investigate how highly verbal individuals with autism process figurative language and whether manipulation of the stimuli presentation modality had an impact on the processing. We were interested in the extent to which visual context, e.g., an image corresponding either to the literal meaning or the figurative meaning of the expression may facilitate responses to such expressions. Participants with HFA and their typically developing peers (matched on intelligence and language level) completed a cross-modal sentence-picture matching task for figurative expressions and their target figurative meaning represented in images. We expected that the individuals with autism would have difficulties in appreciating the non-literal nature of idioms and metaphors, despite intact structural language skills. Analyses of accuracy and reaction times showed clearly that the participants with autism performed at a lower level than their typically developing peers. Moreover, the modality in which the stimuli were presented was an important variable in task performance for the more transparent expressions. The individuals with autism displayed higher error rates and greater reaction latencies in the auditory modality compared to the visual stimulus presentation modality, implying more difficulty. Performance differed depending on type of expression. Participants had more difficulty understanding the culturally-based expressions, but not expressions grounded in human experience (biological idioms). This research highlights the importance of stimulus presentation modality and that this can lead to differences in figurative language comprehension between typically and atypically developing individuals. The current study also contributes to current debates on the role of structural language in figurative language comprehension in autism.

Psychological responses to terminal illness and eventual death in Koreans with cancer.

PubMed

Kang, Kyung-Ah; Miller, Jean R; Lee, Won-Hee

2006-01-01

This qualitative study describes the psychological responses of Korean participants with terminal cancer (stages III-IV) from time of diagnosis to death. Eighteen participants, ages 48 to 73, were interviewed at various phases of dying. Using analytic induction, three categories (nonacceptance, resignation, submission), characteristic patterns of responses over the course of illness and typical responses within categories were generated. Nonaccepters denied the possibility of death while struggling to live; their typical response was resistance. Resigners displayed sorrow, thoughts about their destiny, and growing acceptance of their fate. Their typical response was nonresistance. Submitters were shocked initially, searched for God's will, and prepared for death with hope. Their typical response was hopeful that God would care for them and their families. Participants' ages, physical pain, burden to family, and beliefs played important roles in the patterns of responses.

Social analogical reasoning in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing peers.

PubMed

Green, Adam E; Kenworthy, Lauren; Gallagher, Natalie M; Antezana, Ligia; Mosner, Maya G; Krieg, Samantha; Dudley, Katherina; Ratto, Allison; Yerys, Benjamin E

2017-05-01

Analogical reasoning is an important mechanism for social cognition in typically developing children, and recent evidence suggests that some forms of analogical reasoning may be preserved in autism spectrum disorder. An unanswered question is whether children with autism spectrum disorder can apply analogical reasoning to social information. In all, 92 children with autism spectrum disorder completed a social content analogical reasoning task presented via photographs of real-world social interactions. Autism spectrum disorder participants exhibited performance that was well above chance and was not significantly worse than age- and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing children. Investigating the relationship of social content analogical reasoning performance to age in this cross-sectional dataset indicated similar developmental trajectories in the autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children groups. These findings provide new support for intact analogical reasoning in autism spectrum disorder and have theoretical implications for analogy as a metacognitive skill that may be at least partially dissociable from general deficits in processing social content. As an initial study of social analogical reasoning in children with autism spectrum disorder, this study focused on a basic research question with limited ecological validity. Evidence that children with autism spectrum disorder can apply analogical reasoning ability to social content may have long-range applied implications for exploring how this capacity might be channeled to improve social cognition in daily life.

GME Concentrations: A Collaborative Interdisciplinary Approach to Learner-Driven Education.

PubMed

Nagler, Alisa; Chudgar, Saumil M; Rudd, Mariah; Whicker, Shari A; Gagliardi, Jane P; Narayan, Aditee; Heflin, Mitchell T; Gordon, David C; Andolsek, Kathryn M

2015-09-01

Graduate medical education (GME) programs may struggle to provide the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to meet trainee career interests and goals beyond a clinical focus. Sponsoring institutions can partner with programs to deliver content not included in typical clinical experiences of GME programs. To perform a needs assessment and to develop, implement, and measure acceptability and feasibility of an institution-wide GME Concentrations curriculum. In response to the needs assessment, GME leadership developed 4 concentrations: (1) Resident-as-Teacher; (2) Patient Safety and Quality Improvement; (3) Law, Ethics, and Health Policy; and (4) Leaders in Medicine. We formed advisory committees that developed curricula for each concentration, including didactics, experiential learning, and individual project mentoring. Participants completed pre- and postassessments. We assessed feasibility and evaluated participant presentations and final projects. Over the course of 3 years, 91 trainees (of approximately 1000 trainees each year) from 36 GME programs (of 82 accredited programs) have participated in the program. The number of participants has increased each year, and 22 participants have completed the program overall. Cost for each participant is estimated at $500. Participant projects addressed a variety of education and health care areas, including curriculum development, quality improvement, and national needs assessments. Participants reported that their GME Concentrations experience enhanced their training and fostered career interests. The GME Concentrations program provides a feasible, institutionally based approach for educating trainees in additional interest areas. Institutional resources are leveraged to provide and customize content important to participants' career interests beyond their specialty.

Participation in extracurricular activities for children with and without siblings with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Wigston, Christine; Falkmer, Marita; Vaz, Sharmila; Parsons, Richard; Falkmer, Torbjörn

2017-01-01

To compare the number, frequency, enjoyment and performance in extracurricular activities of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to their typically developing (TD) peers, and to identify differences between actual and desired participation. A case-control study with 30 siblings of children with ASD and 30 siblings of TD children was conducted using the Paediatric Interest Profiles and a questionnaire. Siblings of children with ASD participated in fewer extracurricular activities than those with TD siblings. ASD symptoms were significantly associated with the sibling participating in fewer extracurricular activities. Children with TD siblings had higher enjoyment scores in relaxation activities than children with siblings with ASD. While results were mainly positive, some differences indicated that having a sibling with ASD may impact participation in extracurricular activities. Assessments of participation barriers, as well as support to minimise participation restrictions among siblings of children with ASD are required.

An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: a practitioner approach.

PubMed

Gulbin, Jason P; Croser, Morag J; Morley, Elissa J; Weissensteiner, Juanita R

2013-01-01

This paper introduces a new sport and athlete development framework that has been generated by multidisciplinary sport practitioners. By combining current theoretical research perspectives with extensive empirical observations from one of the world's leading sport agencies, the proposed FTEM (Foundations, Talent, Elite, Mastery) framework offers broad utility to researchers and sporting stakeholders alike. FTEM is unique in comparison with alternative models and frameworks, because it: integrates general and specialised phases of development for participants within the active lifestyle, sport participation and sport excellence pathways; typically doubles the number of developmental phases (n = 10) in order to better understand athlete transition; avoids chronological and training prescriptions; more optimally establishes a continuum between participation and elite; and allows full inclusion of many developmental support drivers at the sport and system levels. The FTEM framework offers a viable and more flexible alternative for those sporting stakeholders interested in managing, optimising, and researching sport and athlete development pathways.

Colour discrimination and categorisation in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Farran, Emily K; Cranwell, Matthew B; Alvarez, James; Franklin, Anna

2013-10-01

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) present with impaired functioning of the dorsal visual stream relative to the ventral visual stream. As such, little attention has been given to ventral stream functions in WS. We investigated colour processing, a predominantly ventral stream function, for the first time in nineteen individuals with Williams syndrome. Colour discrimination was assessed using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test. Colour categorisation was assessed using a match-to-sample test and a colour naming task. A visual search task was also included as a measure of sensitivity to the size of perceptual colour difference. Results showed that individuals with WS have reduced colour discrimination relative to typically developing participants matched for chronological age; performance was commensurate with a typically developing group matched for non-verbal ability. In contrast, categorisation was typical in WS, although there was some evidence that sensitivity to the size of perceptual colour differences was reduced in this group. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Delayed Latency of Postural Muscles of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.

PubMed

Tolentino-Castro, J Walter; Mühlbeier, Andreas; Mochizuki, Luis; Wagner, Heiko

2018-01-01

Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) (50 < IQ < 79) show impaired motor and postural control, these impairments are highly related to falls and injuries. Recent studies demonstrated these impairments are related with fine and gross motor development, which are more strongly associated with cognition, and consequently language for individuals with ID than for without ID. Despite these studies, little is known about the structure and functioning of this population's spinal cord, which is highly involved in postural control. The aim of our study was to assess the latency of the reflex responses in postural muscles after unexpected lateral external perturbations, in individuals with intellectual disabilities compared to typically developed participants. We assessed 16 participants with intellectual disabilities, 9 males and 7 females (aged 24.06 ± 8.66 years) and 20 typical developed participants (CG), 11 females, 9 males, (aged 21.20±1.96 years). While the participants were in an upright standing position electromyography was used to collect data from M. obliquus externus abdominis (OE) muscles, which were activated by unpredictable perturbations applied by a servomotor on a hand-held grip, following the lateral external perturbation to the trunk. The intellectual disabilities group presented contralateral OE muscles latency of 85.71±27.24 ms, and CG group presented 68.62±10.25 ms, no differences was found. Ipsilateral OE muscles latency also did not differs between the groups, ID group showed 96.60±30.20 ms and CG group showed 95.57±33.53 ms. Our study furthers the knowledge about the muscular activity of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The present experimental results may suggest unique spinal cord processing of individuals with intellectual disabilities when they are faced with unexpected lateral external perturbations.

Delay of gratification: a comparison study of children with Down syndrome, moderate intellectual disability and typical development.

PubMed

Cuskelly, M; Gilmore, L; Glenn, S; Jobling, A

2016-09-01

Self-regulation has been found to be an important contributor to a range of outcomes, with delay of gratification (a self-regulatory skill) predicting better academic, social and personal functioning. There is some evidence that individuals with Down syndrome have difficulty with delay of gratification. We investigated the question of whether this difficulty is common to intellectual disability irrespective of aetiology, or whether it presents a particular problem for those with Down syndrome. The latter was considered a possibility because of language difficulties in this group. Three groups of children with a mean MA between 36 and 60 months participated in the study: children with Down syndrome (n = 32), children with a moderate intellectual disability from a cause other than Down syndrome (n = 26) and typically developing children (n = 50). Children completed a series of measures of language and cognitive functioning and participated in a delay of gratification task. The group of children with Down syndrome delayed for a significantly shorter time than either of the other two groups that did not differ from each other. Receptive language was associated with delay time for the children with Down syndrome but not for the typically developing group, nor for the group with moderate intellectual disability. Children with Down syndrome appear to have a particular difficulty with delay of gratification. Language abilities would seem to be implicated in this difficulty, although further examination of this hypothesis is required. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Driving Comparisons Between Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development.

PubMed

Patrick, Kristina E; Hurewitz, Felicia; McCurdy, Mark D; Agate, Frederic Taylor; Daly, Brian P; Tarazi, Reem A; Chute, Douglas L; Schultheis, Maria T

2018-05-18

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reluctant to pursue driving because of concerns about their ability to drive safely. This study aimed to assess differences in simulated driving performance in young adults with ASD and typical development, examining relationships between driving performance and the level of experience (none, driver's permit, licensed) across increasingly difficult driving environments. Participants included 50 English-speaking young adults (16-26 years old) with ASD matched for sex, age, and licensure with 50 typically-developing (TD) peers. Participants completed a structured driving assessment using a virtual-reality simulator that included increasingly complex environmental demands. Differences in mean speed and speed and lane variability by diagnostic group and driving experience were analyzed using multilevel linear modeling. Young adults with ASD demonstrated increased variability in speed and lane positioning compared with controls, even during low demand tasks. When driving demands became more complex, group differences were moderated by driving experience such that licensed drivers with ASD drove similarly to TD licensed drivers for most tasks, whereas unlicensed drivers with ASD had more difficulty with speed and lane management than TD drivers. Findings suggest that young adults with ASD may have more difficulty with basic driving skills than peers, particularly in the early stages of driver training. Increased difficulty compared with peers increases as driving demands become more complex, suggesting that individuals with ASD may benefit from a slow and gradual approach to driver training. Future studies should evaluate predictors of driving performance, on-road driving, and ASD-specific driving interventions.

Relative solidarity: Conceptualising communal participation in genomic research among potential research participants in a developing Sub-Saharan African setting.

PubMed

Ogunrin, Olubunmi; Woolfall, Kerry; Gabbay, Mark; Frith, Lucy

2018-01-01

As genomic research gathers momentum in sub-Saharan Africa, it has become increasingly important to understand the reasons why individuals wish to participate in this kind of medical research. Against the background of communitarianism conceived as typical of African communities, it is often suggested that individuals consent to participate on the grounds of solidarity and to further the common good. In this paper, we seek to explore this contention by presenting data from focus groups with potential research participants about what would influence their decisions to participate in genomic research. These focus groups were conducted as part of a larger qualitative study with a purposively selected group of participants from a community situated in south west Nigeria. We conducted fifteen focus group sessions comprising 50 participants organized by age and sex, namely: 1) adult (>30 years) males, 2) adult females, 3) youth (18-30 years) males, and 4) youth females. A mixed age-group was conducted to probe different views between the age groups. There was discordance and clear division between the adults and youths regarding the decision to participate in genomic research based on commitment to communal values. Adults based their decision to participate on altruism and furthering the common good while youths based their decisions on personal benefits and preferences and also took into account the views and welfare of family members and neighbours. This discordance suggests a 'generational shift' and we advance a model of 'relative solidarity' among the youths, which is different from the communal solidarity model typical of African communitarianism. Our findings suggest the need for a closer look at strategies for implementation of community engagement and informed consent in genomic research in this region, and we recommend further studies to explore this emerging trend.

Sensory Processing and Its Relationship with Children's Daily Life Participation.

PubMed

Chien, Chi-Wen; Rodger, Sylvia; Copley, Jodie; Branjerdporn, Grace; Taggart, Caitlin

2016-01-01

To investigate whether children with probable or definite differences in sensory processing (SP) had participation restrictions, and the relationship between Short Sensory Profile (SSP) scores and children's participation. The participants were parents of 64 children (mean age 8 years 1 month); 36 with potential impairments in regulating sensory input and filtering out unnecessary stimuli (29 boys, 7 girls) and 28 with typical SP abilities (25 boys, 3 girls). Parents' completed the SSP and Participation in Childhood Occupations Questionnaire (PICO-Q). The SSP score was used to categorize children as potential SP impairment group and typical SP ability group. Children categorized as having probable or definite differences in SP exhibited significantly lower participation levels and enjoyment than children categorized as having typical SP abilities. However, participation frequency between both groups was similar. Six out of the seven SP impairment types had small to moderate correlations with children's participation (r = 0.25-0.48, p < 0.05). Multiple regression analyses indicated that only three impairment types (Underresponsive/Seeks Sensation, Low Energy/Weak, and Visual/Auditory Sensitivity) were significant predictors of PICO-Q participation domains. The results suggest that children with potential SP impairments have restrictions in the degree of participation and enjoyment. Three SP types were related to specific participation domains, but they explained a small amount of variance or none in some participation domains. Other variables should be considered to identify determinants of children's participation.

Reprint of "Investigating ensemble perception of emotions in autistic and typical children and adolescents".

PubMed

Karaminis, Themelis; Neil, Louise; Manning, Catherine; Turi, Marco; Fiorentini, Chiara; Burr, David; Pellicano, Elizabeth

2018-01-01

Ensemble perception, the ability to assess automatically the summary of large amounts of information presented in visual scenes, is available early in typical development. This ability might be compromised in autistic children, who are thought to present limitations in maintaining summary statistics representations for the recent history of sensory input. Here we examined ensemble perception of facial emotional expressions in 35 autistic children, 30 age- and ability-matched typical children and 25 typical adults. Participants received three tasks: a) an 'ensemble' emotion discrimination task; b) a baseline (single-face) emotion discrimination task; and c) a facial expression identification task. Children performed worse than adults on all three tasks. Unexpectedly, autistic and typical children were, on average, indistinguishable in their precision and accuracy on all three tasks. Computational modelling suggested that, on average, autistic and typical children used ensemble-encoding strategies to a similar extent; but ensemble perception was related to non-verbal reasoning abilities in autistic but not in typical children. Eye-movement data also showed no group differences in the way children attended to the stimuli. Our combined findings suggest that the abilities of autistic and typical children for ensemble perception of emotions are comparable on average. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Ensemble perception of emotions in autistic and typical children and adolescents.

PubMed

Karaminis, Themelis; Neil, Louise; Manning, Catherine; Turi, Marco; Fiorentini, Chiara; Burr, David; Pellicano, Elizabeth

2017-04-01

Ensemble perception, the ability to assess automatically the summary of large amounts of information presented in visual scenes, is available early in typical development. This ability might be compromised in autistic children, who are thought to present limitations in maintaining summary statistics representations for the recent history of sensory input. Here we examined ensemble perception of facial emotional expressions in 35 autistic children, 30 age- and ability-matched typical children and 25 typical adults. Participants received three tasks: a) an 'ensemble' emotion discrimination task; b) a baseline (single-face) emotion discrimination task; and c) a facial expression identification task. Children performed worse than adults on all three tasks. Unexpectedly, autistic and typical children were, on average, indistinguishable in their precision and accuracy on all three tasks. Computational modelling suggested that, on average, autistic and typical children used ensemble-encoding strategies to a similar extent; but ensemble perception was related to non-verbal reasoning abilities in autistic but not in typical children. Eye-movement data also showed no group differences in the way children attended to the stimuli. Our combined findings suggest that the abilities of autistic and typical children for ensemble perception of emotions are comparable on average. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The influence of gender and gender typicality on autobiographical memory across event types and age groups.

PubMed

Grysman, Azriel; Fivush, Robyn; Merrill, Natalie A; Graci, Matthew

2016-08-01

Gender differences in autobiographical memory emerge in some data collection paradigms and not others. The present study included an extensive analysis of gender differences in autobiographical narratives. Data were collected from 196 participants, evenly split by gender and by age group (emerging adults, ages 18-29, and young adults, ages 30-40). Each participant reported four narratives, including an event that had occurred in the last 2 years, a high point, a low point, and a self-defining memory. Additionally, all participants completed self-report measures of masculine and feminine gender typicality. The narratives were coded along six dimensions-namely coherence, connectedness, agency, affect, factual elaboration, and interpretive elaboration. The results indicated that females expressed more affect, connection, and factual elaboration than males across all narratives, and that feminine typicality predicted increased connectedness in narratives. Masculine typicality predicted higher agency, lower connectedness, and lower affect, but only for some narratives and not others. These findings support an approach that views autobiographical reminiscing as a feminine-typed activity and that identifies gender differences as being linked to categorical gender, but also to one's feminine gender typicality, whereas the influences of masculine gender typicality were more context-dependent. We suggest that implicit gendered socialization and more explicit gender typicality each contribute to gendered autobiographies.

Ability of independently ambulant children with cerebral palsy to ride a two-wheel bicycle: a case-control study.

PubMed

Toovey, Rachel; Reid, Susan M; Rawicki, Barry; Harvey, Adrienne R; Watt, Kerrianne

2017-04-01

Limited information exists on the ability of children with cerebral palsy (CP) to ride a two-wheel bicycle, an activity that may improve health and participation. We aimed to describe bicycle-riding ability and variables associated with ability to ride in children with CP (Gross Motor Functional Classification System [GMFCS] levels I-II) compared with children with typical development. This case-control study surveyed parents of 114 children with CP and 87 children with typical development aged 6 to 15 years (115 males, mean age 9y 11mo, standard deviation [SD] 2y 10mo). Kaplan-Meier methods were used to compare proportions able to ride at any given age between the two groups. Logistic regression was used to assess variables associated with ability to ride for children with CP and typical development separately. The proportion of children with CP able to ride at each level of bicycle-riding ability was substantially lower at each age than peers with typical development (p<0.001). While most children with typical development were able to ride independently by 10 years of age, 51% of children with CP classified as GMFCS level I and 3% of those classified as GMFCS level II had obtained independent riding in the community by 15 years of age. Variables associated with ability to ride for children classified as GMFCS level I were age and parent-rated importance of their child being able to ride. Some independently ambulant children with CP can learn to ride a bicycle, in particular if they are classified as GMFCS level I. Variables associated with ability to ride deserve consideration in shaping future efforts for the majority of this population who are not yet able to ride. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

Object-based attention benefits reveal selective abnormalities of visual integration in autism.

PubMed

Falter, Christine M; Grant, Kate C Plaisted; Davis, Greg

2010-06-01

A pervasive integration deficit could provide a powerful and elegant account of cognitive processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, in the case of visual Gestalt grouping, typically assessed by tasks that require participants explicitly to introspect on their own grouping perception, clear evidence for such a deficit remains elusive. To resolve this issue, we adopt an index of Gestalt grouping from the object-based attention literature that does not require participants to assess their own grouping perception. Children with ASD and mental- and chronological-age matched typically developing children (TD) performed speeded orientation discriminations of two diagonal lines. The lines were superimposed on circles that were either grouped together or segmented on the basis of color, proximity or these two dimensions in competition. The magnitude of performance benefits evident for grouped circles, relative to ungrouped circles, provided an index of grouping under various conditions. Children with ASD showed comparable grouping by proximity to the TD group, but reduced grouping by similarity. ASD seems characterized by a selective bias away from grouping by similarity combined with typical levels of grouping by proximity, rather than by a pervasive integration deficit.

Emotion dysregulation and dyadic conflict in depressed and typical adolescents: evaluating concordance across psychophysiological and observational measures.

PubMed

Crowell, Sheila E; Baucom, Brian R; Yaptangco, Mona; Bride, Daniel; Hsiao, Ray; McCauley, Elizabeth; Beauchaine, Theodore P

2014-04-01

Many depressed adolescents experience difficulty in regulating their emotions. These emotion regulation difficulties appear to emerge in part from socialization processes within families and then generalize to other contexts. However, emotion dysregulation is typically assessed within the individual, rather than in the social relationships that shape and maintain dysregulation. In this study, we evaluated concordance of physiological and observational measures of emotion dysregulation during interpersonal conflict, using a multilevel actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Participants were 75 mother-daughter dyads, including 50 depressed adolescents with or without a history of self-injury, and 25 typically developing controls. Behavior dysregulation was operationalized as observed aversiveness during a conflict discussion, and physiological dysregulation was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Results revealed different patterns of concordance for control versus depressed participants. Controls evidenced a concordant partner (between-person) effect, and showed increased physiological regulation during minutes when their partner was more aversive. In contrast, clinical dyad members displayed a concordant actor (within-person) effect, becoming simultaneously physiologically and behaviorally dysregulated. Results inform current understanding of emotion dysregulation across multiple levels of analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ambiguous Pronoun Use in Narratives of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novogrodsky, Rama; Edelson, Lisa R.

2016-01-01

This study explored pronoun production and general syntactic abilities in story retelling and story generation among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Twenty-four children diagnosed with ASD, ages 6;1-14;3 and 17 typically-developing (TD) children ages 5;11-14;4 participated in the study. The linguistic measures for general syntax…

Do Spoken Nonword and Sentence Repetition Tasks Discriminate Language Impairment in Children with an ASD?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper-Hill, Keely; Copland, David; Arnott, Wendy

2013-01-01

The primary aim of this paper was to investigate heterogeneity in language abilities of children with a confirmed diagnosis of an ASD (N = 20) and children with typical development (TD; N = 15). Group comparisons revealed no differences between ASD and TD participants on standard clinical assessments of language ability, reading ability or…

Anxiety and Depression in Academic Performance: An Exploration of the Mediating Factors of Worry and Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Matthew; Stevenson, Jim; Hadwin, Julie A.; Norgate, Roger

2012-01-01

Anxiety and depression are linked to lower academic performance. It is proposed that academic performance is reduced in young people with high levels of anxiety or depression as a function of increased test-specific worry that impinges on working memory central executive processes. Participants were typically developing children (12 to…

Social Communication Impairments in Children and Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome: Slow Response Time and the Impact of Prompting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaland, Nils; Mortensen, Erik Lykke; Smith, Lars

2011-01-01

In the present study children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome (N=13) and a matched control group of typically developing children and adolescents were presented with 26 vignettes of daily life situations, including irony, metaphors, contrary emotions, jealousy, social blunders, and understanding intentions. The participants in the AS group…

Older Children and Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders Can Comprehend Verbal Irony in Computer-Mediated Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glenwright, Melanie; Agbayewa, Abiola S.

2012-01-01

We compared the comprehension of verbal irony presented in computer-mediated conversations for older children and adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) and typically developing (TD) controls. We also determined whether participants' interpretations of irony were affected by the relationship between characters in the…

The Relationship between Executive Functions and Language Abilities in Children: A Latent Variables Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Park, Ji Sook; Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; Davidson, Meghan M.; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2017-01-01

Purpose: We aimed to outline the latent variables approach for measuring nonverbal executive function (EF) skills in school-age children, and to examine the relationship between nonverbal EF skills and language performance in this age group. Method: Seventy-one typically developing children, ages 8 through 11, participated in the study. Three EF…

Physiological Response to Social Evaluative Threat in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmiston, E. Kale; Jones, Robin M.; Corbett, Blythe A.

2016-01-01

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was employed to study response to social evaluative threat in male adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, n = 21) and typical development (n = 13). Participants wore a mobile electrocardiogram to collect heart rate data. There were significant group effects on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a…

Free Classification as a Window on Executive Functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGonigle-Chalmers, Margaret; Alderson-Day, Ben

2010-01-01

Spontaneous classification was assessed using a free serial search task in 18 school-aged children at the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum and compared with results from age-matched typically developing controls. The task required participants to touch shapes in an exhaustive non-repetitive sequence. The positions of the items varied…

Maladaptive Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Emotion Experience and Emotion Regulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samson, Andrea C.; Hardan, Antonio Y.; Lee, Ihno A.; Phillips, Jennifer M.; Gross, James J.

2015-01-01

Maladaptive behavior is common in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the factors that give rise to maladaptive behavior in this context are not well understood. The present study examined the role of emotion experience and emotion regulation in maladaptive behavior in individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) participants.…

Just Another Social Scene: Evidence for Decreased Attention to Negative Social Scenes in High-Functioning Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santos, Andreia; Chaminade, Thierry; Da Fonseca, David; Silva, Catarina; Rosset, Delphine; Deruelle, Christine

2012-01-01

The adaptive threat-detection advantage takes the form of a preferential orienting of attention to threatening scenes. In this study, we compared attention to social scenes in 15 high-functioning individuals with autism (ASD) and matched typically developing (TD) individuals. Eye-tracking was recorded while participants were presented with pairs…

Lie-Telling Behavior in Children with Autism and Its Relation to False-Belief Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talwar, Victoria; Zwaigenbaum, Lonnie; Goulden, Keith J.; Manji, Shazeen; Loomes, Carly; Rasmussen, Carmen

2012-01-01

Children's lie-telling behavior and its relation to false-belief understanding was examined in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; n = 26) and a comparison group of typically developing children (n = 27). Participants were assessed using a temptation resistance paradigm, in which children were told not to peek at a forbidden toy while…

The Hypothesis of Apraxia of Speech in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Paul, Rhea; Black, Lois M.; van Santen, Jan P.

2011-01-01

In a sample of 46 children aged 4-7 years with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and intelligible speech, there was no statistical support for the hypothesis of concomitant Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). Perceptual and acoustic measures of participants' speech, prosody, and voice were compared with data from 40 typically-developing children, 13…

ADHD Symptoms Moderate the Relation between ASD Status and Internalizing Symptoms in 3-6-Year-Old Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Beverly J.; Manangan, Christen N.; Dauterman, Hayley A.; Davis, Heather N.

2014-01-01

The current study sought to understand the relation between diagnostic status (autism spectrum disorders [ASD] versus typically developing) and internalizing problems in children with and without co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Participants were 88 children, ages 3:0-6:11, their parents and teachers. Findings…

Noise Hampers Children's Expressive Word Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riley, Kristine Grohne; McGregor, Karla K.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To determine the effects of noise and speech style on word learning in typically developing school-age children. Method: Thirty-one participants ages 9;0 (years;months) to 10;11 attempted to learn 2 sets of 8 novel words and their referents. They heard all of the words 13 times each within meaningful narrative discourse. Signal-to-noise…

Atypical Visual Orienting to Gaze- and Arrow-Cues in Adults with High Functioning Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vlamings, Petra H. J. M.; Stauder, Johannes E. A.; van Son, Ilona A. M.; Mottron, Laurent

2005-01-01

The present study investigates visual orienting to directional cues (arrow or eyes) in adults with high functioning autism (n = 19) and age matched controls (n = 19). A choice reaction time paradigm is used in which eye-or arrow direction correctly (congruent) or incorrectly (incongruent) cues target location. In typically developing participants,…

Children with High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome: Can We Differentiate Their Cognitive Profiles?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Planche, Pascale; Lemonnier, Eric

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate whether children with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger's syndrome (AS) can be differentiated from each other and from typically developing children on their cognitive profiles. The present study included a total of 45 participants: children with autism (high-functioning autism or Asperger's…

Social Skills and Problem Behaviours in School Aged Children with High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macintosh, Kathleen; Dissanayake, Cheryl

2006-01-01

The social skills and problem behaviours of children with high-functioning autism and Asperger's Disorder were compared using parent and teacher reports on the Social Skills Rating System. The participants were 20 children with high-functioning autism, 19 children with Asperger's Disorder, and 17 typically developing children, matched on…

Comparison of Obesity, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviors between Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Without

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoy, Stephanie M.; Jakicic, John M.; Barone Gibbs, Bethany

2016-01-01

Body mass index classification, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behaviors were compared in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to typically developing adolescents. Participants included 42,747 adolescents (ASD, n = 915) from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health. After controlling for covariates, adolescents were…

ADHD Preschoolers with and without ODD: Do They Act Differently Depending on Degree of Task Engagement/Reward?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gopin, Chaya B.; Berwid, Olga; Marks, David J.; Mlodnicka, Agnieska; Halperin, Jeffrey M.

2013-01-01

Objective: To examine the impact of reinforcement on reaction time (RT) and RT variability (RT standard deviation [RTSD]) in preschoolers with ADHD with and without oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and a typically developing (TD) comparison group. Method: Participants were administered a computerized task consisting of two conditions: simple…

Differential Fairness Decisions and Brain Responses after Expressed Emotions of Others in Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klapwijk, Eduard T.; Aghajani, Moji; Lelieveld, Gert-Jan; van Lang, Natasja D. J.; Popma, Arne; van der Wee, Nic J. A.; Colins, Olivier F.; Vermeiren, Robert R. J. M.

2017-01-01

Little is known about how emotions expressed by others influence social decisions and associated brain responses in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We investigated the neural mechanisms underlying fairness decisions in response to explicitly expressed emotions of others in boys with ASD and typically developing (TD) boys. Participants with ASD…

Self-Presentation and the Role of Perspective Taking and Social Motivation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheeren, Anke M.; Banerjee, Robin; Koot, Hans M.; Begeer, Sander

2016-01-01

We compared self-presentation abilities of 132 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to those of 41 typically developing (TD) peers, and examined the potential link with their social motivation and perspective taking. Participants introduced themselves to an interviewer in a baseline condition (without incentive) and a…

Diurnal Cortisol Profile in Williams Syndrome in Novel and Familiar Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lense, Miriam Diane; Tomarken, Andrew J.; Dykens, Elisabeth M.

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder associated with high rates of anxiety and social issues. We examined diurnal cortisol, a biomarker of the stress response, in adults with WS in novel and familiar settings, and compared these profiles to typically developing (TD) adults. WS and TD participants had similar profiles in…

Exploring the Efficacy of "The Word within the Word" for Gifted and Typically Developing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Shelagh A.

2017-01-01

An exploratory study of the efficacy of "The Word Within the Word" tested students' abilities to recognize, use, and recall vocabulary. Ten middle school teachers and their 493 students participated. Five teachers used "The Word Within the Word", and five used traditional vocabulary materials. Students completed an out-of-level…

How Wide Is a Squid Eye? Integrating Mathematics into Public Library Programs for the Elementary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kliman, Marlene; Jaumot-Pascual, Nuria; Martin, Valerie

2013-01-01

Although public library programs for the elementary grades offer explorations in a wide range of topics in which mathematics plays a role, are all too rare: Mathematics offerings are typically limited to homework help. Participating in out-of-school activities that embed mathematics in authentic ways bolsters children's skill development,…

Using Pupillometry to Investigate Sentence Comprehension in Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lum, Jarrad A. G.; Youssef, George J.; Clark, Gillian M.

2017-01-01

Purpose: In this study pupillometry was used to investigate the allocation of attentional resources associated with sentence comprehension in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Eighteen children with SLI (age: M = 6.4 years) and 18 typically developing (TD) children (age: M = 6.3 years) participated in the study.…

Syntactic, Semantic and Pragmatic Correlates of the Acquisition of Exhaustivity in "Wh"-Questions: A Study of Polish Monolingual Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forys-Nogala, Malgorzata; Haman, Ewa; Katsos, Napoleon; Krajewski, Grzegorz; Schulz, Petra

2017-01-01

This study investigates relationships between acquisition of exhaustivity in single and multiple "wh"-questions, mastery of semantic and pragmatic aspects of quantifier comprehension, and general skills in receptive grammar. The participants of the study were 25 Polish monolingual typically developing children aged 4;02-6;02, who were…

Extracurricular Participation and the Development of School Attachment and Learning Goal Orientation: The Impact of School Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Natalie; Theis, Désirée

2014-01-01

School motivation and attachment typically decline after the transition to middle school. According to the stage-environment fit approach, extracurricular activities are supposed to promote motivation. However, research has shown that the effects depend on the quality of the activities, which usually is measured by assessing students' individual…

An Investigation of Sleep Characteristics, EEG Abnormalities and Epilepsy in Developmentally Regressed and Non-Regressed Children with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giannotti, Flavia; Cortesi, Flavia; Cerquiglini, Antonella; Miraglia, Daniela; Vagnoni, Cristina; Sebastiani, Teresa; Bernabei, Paola

2008-01-01

This study investigated sleep of children with autism and developmental regression and the possible relationship with epilepsy and epileptiform abnormalities. Participants were 104 children with autism (70 non-regressed, 34 regressed) and 162 typically developing children (TD). Results suggested that the regressed group had higher incidence of…

Fine Motor Control Is Related to Cognitive Control in Adolescents with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chih-Chia; Ringenbach, Shannon D. R.; Albert, Andrew; Semken, Keith

2014-01-01

The connection between human cognitive development and motor functioning has been systematically examined in many typical and atypical populations; however, only a few studies focus on people with Down syndrome (DS). Twelve adolescents with DS participated and their cognitive control, measured by the Corsi-Block tapping test (e.g., visual working…

Overlapping Numerical Cognition Impairments in Children with Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion or Turner Syndromes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, T. J.; Takarae, Y.; DeBoer, T.; McDonald-McGinn, D. M.; Zackai, E. H.; Ross, J. L.

2008-01-01

Children with one of two genetic disorders (chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and Turner syndrome) as well typically developing controls, participated in three cognitive processing experiments. Two experiments were designed to test cognitive processes involved in basic aspects numerical cognition. The third was a test of simple manual motor…

Effect of Task Constraint on Reaching Performance in Children with Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ju, Yun-Huei; You, Jia-Yuan; Cherng, Rong-Ju

2010-01-01

The purposes of the study were to examine the effect of task constraint on the reaching performance in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) and to examine the correlations between the reaching performance and postural control. Eight children with CP and 16 typically developing (TD) children participated in the study. They performed a…

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Typically Developing Children's Attitudes toward Individuals with Special Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nikolaraizi, Magda; Kumar, Poonam; Favazza, Paddy; Sideridis, Georgios; Koulousiou, Dafni; Riall, Ann

2005-01-01

This study explores children's attitudes toward individuals with special needs in Greece and in the United States. A total of 196 kindergarten-age children participated in the study. Children's attitudes were examined using the "Acceptance Scale for Kindergartners-Revised" (ASK-R) and were further explored with the use of an open-ended…

Age and Task-Related Effects on Young Children's Understanding of a Complex Picture Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, Denyse; Schneider, Phyllis; Gillam, Ronald B.

2009-01-01

In this study we examined age- and task-related effects in story schema knowledge across an independent narrative task (story formulations) and a supported narrative task (answering questions). We also examined age-related changes to questions about the story as a whole. Participants were typically developing English-speaking children aged 4, 5,…

Deficits in Metacognitive Monitoring in Mathematics Assessments in Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brosnan, Mark; Johnson, Hilary; Grawemeyer, Beate; Chapman, Emma; Antoniadou, Konstantina; Hollinworth, Melissa

2016-01-01

Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have been found to have deficits in metacognition that could impact upon their learning. This study explored metacognitive monitoring in 28 (23 males and 5 females) participants with autism spectrum disorder and 56 (16 males and 40 females) typically developing controls who were being educated at…

Visual, Motor, and Visual-Motor Integration Difficulties in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Kimberly

2013-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) affect 1 in every 88 U.S. children. ASDs have been described as neurological and developmental disorders impacting visual, motor, and visual-motor integration (VMI) abilities that affect academic achievement (CDC, 2010). Forty-five participants (22 ASD and 23 Typically Developing [TD]) 8 to 14 years old completed…

Collaboration in Referential Communication: Comparison of Youth with Down Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbeduto, Leonard; Murphy, Melissa M.; Richmond, Erica K.; Amman, Adrienne; Beth, Patti; Weissman, Michelle D.; Kim, Jee-Seon; Cawthon, Stephanie W.; Karadottir, Selma

2006-01-01

Referential communication was examined in youth with Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome in comparison to each other and to MA-matched typically developing children. A non-face-to-face task was used in which the participant repeatedly described novel shapes to listeners. Several dimensions of referential communication were especially challenging…

Excluded by laughter: laughing until it hurts someone else.

PubMed

Klages, Stephanie V; Wirth, James H

2014-01-01

Can laughter cause social pain? Given the host of ways exclusion is communicated, we examined if exclusive laughter could produce the aversive consequences accordant with social exclusion. Using a validated recall paradigm, participants recounted a time of exclusive or inclusive laughter or a typical Wednesday (control condition). Participants recalling exclusive laughter felt more ostracized, increased social pain. thwarted basic needs, worsened mood, reduced relational evaluation, and increased temptations to aggress compared to inclusive laughter or a typical Wednesday; there were generally no significant differences between the inclusive laughter and a typical Wednesday. Participants recalling exclusive laughter also felt more verbally and emotionally bullied, demonstrating empirically, for one of the first times, a link between social exclusion and bullying.

For Your Local Eyes Only: Culture-Specific Face Typicality Influences Perceptions of Trustworthiness.

PubMed

Sofer, Carmel; Dotsch, Ron; Oikawa, Masanori; Oikawa, Haruka; Wigboldus, Daniel H J; Todorov, Alexander

2017-08-01

Recent findings show that typical faces are judged as more trustworthy than atypical faces. However, it is not clear whether employment of typicality cues in trustworthiness judgment happens across cultures and if these cues are culture specific. In two studies, conducted in Japan and Israel, participants judged trustworthiness and attractiveness of faces. In Study 1, faces varied along a cross-cultural dimension ranging from a Japanese to an Israeli typical face. Own-culture typical faces were perceived as more trustworthy than other-culture typical faces, suggesting that people in both cultures employ typicality cues when judging trustworthiness, but that the cues, indicative of typicality, are culture dependent. Because perceivers may be less familiar with other-culture typicality cues, Study 2 tested the extent to which they rely on available facial information other than typicality, when judging other-culture faces. In Study 2, Japanese and Israeli faces varied from either Japanese or Israeli attractive to unattractive with the respective typical face at the midpoint. For own-culture faces, trustworthiness judgments peaked around own-culture typical face. However, when judging other-culture faces, both cultures also employed attractiveness cues, but this effect was more apparent for Japanese participants. Our findings highlight the importance of culture when considering the effect of typicality on trustworthiness judgments.

Voxel-based morphometry analysis reveals frontal brain differences in participants with ADHD and their unaffected siblings.

PubMed

Bralten, Janita; Greven, Corina U; Franke, Barbara; Mennes, Maarten; Zwiers, Marcel P; Rommelse, Nanda N J; Hartman, Catharina; van der Meer, Dennis; O'Dwyer, Laurence; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Heslenfeld, Dirk; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Buitelaar, Jan K

2016-06-01

Data on structural brain alterations in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been inconsistent. Both ADHD and brain volumes have a strong genetic loading, but whether brain alterations in patients with ADHD are familial has been underexplored. We aimed to detect structural brain alterations in adolescents and young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls. We examined whether these alterations were also found in their unaffected siblings, using a uniquely large sample. We performed voxel-based morphometry analyses on MRI scans of patients with ADHD, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls. We identified brain areas that differed between participants with ADHD and controls and investigated whether these areas were different in unaffected siblings. Influences of medication use, age, sex and IQ were considered. Our sample included 307 patients with ADHD, 169 unaffected siblings and 196 typically developing controls (mean age 17.2 [range 8-30] yr). Compared with controls, participants with ADHD had significantly smaller grey matter volume in 5 clusters located in the precentral gyrus, medial and orbitofrontal cortex, and (para)cingulate cortices. Unaffected siblings showed intermediate volumes significantly different from controls in 4 of these clusters (all except the precentral gyrus). Medication use, age, sex and IQ did not have an undue influence on the results. Our sample was heterogeneous, most participants with ADHD were taking medication, and the comparison was cross-sectional. Brain areas involved in decision making, motivation, cognitive control and motor functioning were smaller in participants with ADHD than in controls. Investigation of unaffected siblings indicated familiality of 4 of the structural brain differences, supporting their potential in molecular genetic analyses in ADHD research.

Voxel-based morphometry analysis reveals frontal brain differences in participants with ADHD and their unaffected siblings

PubMed Central

Bralten, Janita; Greven, Corina U.; Franke, Barbara; Mennes, Maarten; Zwiers, Marcel P.; Rommelse, Nanda N.J.; Hartman, Catharina; van der Meer, Dennis; O’Dwyer, Laurence; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Hoekstra, Pieter J.; Heslenfeld, Dirk; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Buitelaar, Jan K.

2016-01-01

Background Data on structural brain alterations in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been inconsistent. Both ADHD and brain volumes have a strong genetic loading, but whether brain alterations in patients with ADHD are familial has been underexplored. We aimed to detect structural brain alterations in adolescents and young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls. We examined whether these alterations were also found in their unaffected siblings, using a uniquely large sample. Methods We performed voxel-based morphometry analyses on MRI scans of patients with ADHD, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls. We identified brain areas that differed between participants with ADHD and controls and investigated whether these areas were different in unaffected siblings. Influences of medication use, age, sex and IQ were considered. Results Our sample included 307 patients with ADHD, 169 unaffected siblings and 196 typically developing controls (mean age 17.2 [range 8–30] yr). Compared with controls, participants with ADHD had significantly smaller grey matter volume in 5 clusters located in the precentral gyrus, medial and orbitofrontal cortex, and (para)cingulate cortices. Unaffected siblings showed intermediate volumes significantly different from controls in 4 of these clusters (all except the precentral gyrus). Medication use, age, sex and IQ did not have an undue influence on the results. Limitations Our sample was heterogeneous, most participants with ADHD were taking medication, and the comparison was cross-sectional. Conclusion Brain areas involved in decision making, motivation, cognitive control and motor functioning were smaller in participants with ADHD than in controls. Investigation of unaffected siblings indicated familiality of 4 of the structural brain differences, supporting their potential in molecular genetic analyses in ADHD research. PMID:26679925

Perceived Friendship Quality of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as Compared to their Peers in Mixed and Non-mixed Dyads.

PubMed

Petrina, Neysa; Carter, Mark; Stephenson, Jennifer; Sweller, Naomi

2016-04-01

There has been limited research exploring the similarity of perception of friendship quality between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their friends. In this study, 45 children with ASD participated together with their friends. Two levels of friendship quality congruency were investigated: reciprocity and mutuality. A high proportion of the friendships were reciprocated for both the mixed and non-mixed friendship groups. Nevertheless, students with ASD reported substantial differences in perceptions of their friendship quality as compared to their nominated friends. The findings of the present study mirrored those of previous research with typically developing children. Further study is required to systematically investigate the differences in friendship quality perceptions within friendship dyads for both typically developing children and those with ASD diagnosis.

Mathematical Word Problem Solving Ability of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their Typically Developing Peers.

PubMed

Bae, Young Seh; Chiang, Hsu-Min; Hickson, Linda

2015-07-01

This study examined the difference between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with typical development (TD) in mathematical word problem solving ability and the factors associated with these children's word problem-solving ability. A total of 20 children with ASD and 20 children with TD participated in this study. Independent sample t tests and Spearman's rho correlations were used for data analysis. This study found: (a) Children with TD had higher word problem solving ability than did children with ASD; (b) Sentence comprehension, math vocabulary, computation, and everyday mathematical knowledge were associated with word problem solving ability of children with ASD and children with TD; and (c) Children with TD had higher everyday mathematical knowledge than did children with ASD.

Receptive Vocabulary in Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Cross-Sectional Developmental Trajectories

PubMed Central

McDuffie, Andrea S.; Hagerman, Randi J.; Abbeduto, Leonard

2013-01-01

In light of evidence that receptive language may be a relative weakness for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this study characterized receptive vocabulary profiles in boys with ASD using cross-sectional developmental trajectories relative to age, nonverbal cognition, and expressive vocabulary. Participants were 49 boys with ASD (4–11 years) and 80 typically developing boys (2–11 years). Receptive vocabulary, assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, was a weakness for boys with ASD relative to age and nonverbal cognition. Relative to expressive vocabulary, assessed with the Expressive Vocabulary Test, receptive vocabulary increased at a lower rate for boys with ASD. Vocabulary trajectories in ASD are distinguished from typical development; however, nonverbal cognition largely accounts for the patterns observed. PMID:23588510

Systems Factorial Technology provides new insights on global-local information processing in autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Johnson, Shannon A; Blaha, Leslie M; Houpt, Joseph W; Townsend, James T

2010-02-01

Previous studies of global-local processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have indicated mixed findings, with some evidence of a local processing bias, or preference for detail-level information, and other results suggesting typical global advantage, or preference for the whole or gestalt. Findings resulting from this paradigm have been used to argue for or against a detail focused processing bias in ASDs, and thus have important theoretical implications. We applied Systems Factorial Technology, and the associated Double Factorial Paradigm (both defined in the text), to examine information processing characteristics during a divided attention global-local task in high-functioning individuals with an ASD and typically developing controls. Group data revealed global advantage for both groups, contrary to some current theories of ASDs. Information processing models applied to each participant revealed that task performance, although showing no differences at the group level, was supported by different cognitive mechanisms in ASD participants compared to controls. All control participants demonstrated inhibitory parallel processing and the majority demonstrated a minimum-time stopping rule. In contrast, ASD participants showed exhaustive parallel processing with mild facilitatory interactions between global and local information. Thus our results indicate fundamental differences in the stopping rules and channel dependencies in individuals with an ASD.

Mixed-method Exploration of Social Network Links to Participation

PubMed Central

Kreider, Consuelo M.; Bendixen, Roxanna M.; Mann, William C.; Young, Mary Ellen; McCarty, Christopher

2015-01-01

The people who regularly interact with an adolescent form that youth's social network, which may impact participation. We investigated the relationship of social networks to participation using personal network analysis and individual interviews. The sample included 36 youth, age 11 – 16 years. Nineteen had diagnoses of learning disability, attention disorder, or high-functioning autism and 17 were typically developing. Network analysis yielded 10 network variables, of which 8 measured network composition and 2 measured network structure, with significant links to at least one measure of participation using the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE). Interviews from youth in the clinical group yielded description of strategies used to negotiate social interactions, as well as processes and reasoning used to remain engaged within social networks. Findings contribute to understanding the ways social networks are linked to youth participation and suggest the potential of social network factors for predicting rehabilitation outcomes. PMID:26594737

Contributing to the early detection of Rett syndrome: the potential role of auditory Gestalt perception.

PubMed

Marschik, Peter B; Einspieler, Christa; Sigafoos, Jeff

2012-01-01

To assess whether there are qualitatively deviant characteristics in the early vocalizations of children with Rett syndrome, we had 400 native Austrian-German speakers listen to audio recordings of vocalizations from typically developing girls and girls with Rett syndrome. The audio recordings were rated as (a) inconspicuous, (b) conspicuous or (c) not able to decide between (a) and (b). The results showed that participants were accurate in differentiating the vocalizations of typically developing children compared to children with Rett syndrome. However, the accuracy for rating verbal behaviors was dependent on the type of vocalization with greater accuracy for canonical babbling compared to cooing vocalizations. The results suggest a potential role for the use of rating child vocalizations for early detection of Rett syndrome. This is important because clinical criteria related to speech and language development remain important for early identification of Rett syndrome. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global Processing Speed in Children With Low Reading Ability and in Children and Adults With Typical Reading Ability: Exploratory Factor Analytic Models

PubMed Central

Peter, Beate; Matsushita, Mark; Raskind, Wendy H.

2013-01-01

Purpose To investigate processing speed as a latent dimension in children with dyslexia and children and adults with typical reading skills. Method Exploratory factor analysis (FA) was based on a sample of multigenerational families, each ascertained through a child with dyslexia. Eleven measures—6 of them timed—represented verbal and nonverbal processes, alphabet writing, and motor sequencing in the hand and oral motor system. FA was conducted in 4 cohorts (all children, a subset of children with low reading scores, a subset of children with typical reading scores, and adults with typical reading scores; total N = 829). Results Processing speed formed the first factor in all cohorts. Both measures of motor sequencing speed loaded on the speed factor with the other timed variables. Children with poor reading scores showed lower speed factor scores than did typical peers. The speed factor was negatively correlated with age in the adults. Conclusions The speed dimension was observed independently of participant cohort, gender, and reading ability. Results are consistent with a unified theory of processing speed as a quadratic function of age in typical development and with slowed processing in poor readers. PMID:21081672

Tracking subtle stereotypes of children with trisomy 21: from facial-feature-based to implicit stereotyping.

PubMed

Enea-Drapeau, Claire; Carlier, Michèle; Huguet, Pascal

2012-01-01

Stigmatization is one of the greatest obstacles to the successful integration of people with Trisomy 21 (T21 or Down syndrome), the most frequent genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. Research on attitudes and stereotypes toward these people still focuses on explicit measures subjected to social-desirability biases, and neglects how variability in facial stigmata influences attitudes and stereotyping. The participants were 165 adults including 55 young adult students, 55 non-student adults, and 55 professional caregivers working with intellectually disabled persons. They were faced with implicit association tests (IAT), a well-known technique whereby response latency is used to capture the relative strength with which some groups of people--here photographed faces of typically developing children and children with T21--are automatically (without conscious awareness) associated with positive versus negative attributes in memory. Each participant also rated the same photographed faces (consciously accessible evaluations). We provide the first evidence that the positive bias typically found in explicit judgments of children with T21 is smaller for those whose facial features are highly characteristic of this disorder, compared to their counterparts with less distinctive features and to typically developing children. We also show that this bias can coexist with negative evaluations at the implicit level (with large effect sizes), even among professional caregivers. These findings support recent models of feature-based stereotyping, and more importantly show how crucial it is to go beyond explicit evaluations to estimate the true extent of stigmatization of intellectually disabled people.

Relationship between perceived competence and performance during real and virtual motor tasks by children with developmental coordination disorder.

PubMed

Engel-Yeger, Batya; Sido, Rotem; Mimouni-Bloch, Aviva; Weiss, Patrice L

2017-10-01

(i) To compare children with DCD and typically developing participants via standard motor assessments, two interactive virtual games, measures of physical, social and cognitive self-competence and feedback while playing the virtual games and (ii) To examine the contribution of age and each motor assessment to predict self-competence. Participants were 25 boys with DCD and 25 typically developing boys, aged 5-9 years. They completed the M-ABC-2, the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence, the 6-Minute Walk Test, and then played the two Kinect games and completed the Short Feedback Questionnaire for Children. Children with DCD showed lower physical competence and lower performance than the typical controls in all standard motor assessments. This performance significantly correlated with the children achievements in part of virtual games and with their self-perceived experience while performing within virtual environments. Among the DCD group, Kinect Running game significantly predicted physical and social competence. The significant correlations between the virtual games and standard motor assessments support the feasibility of using these games when evaluating children with DCD for the richer profile they provide. Implications for rehabilitation Clinicians should refer to the impacts of DCD on child's self-competence and daily life. Technological rehabilitation and the use of VR games have the potential to improve self-competence of children with DCD. By including VR games that simulate real life in the intervention for DCD, clinicians may raise child's enjoyment, self-competence and involvement in therapy.

Peripheral Vision of Youths with Low Vision: Motion Perception, Crowding, and Visual Search

PubMed Central

Tadin, Duje; Nyquist, Jeffrey B.; Lusk, Kelly E.; Corn, Anne L.; Lappin, Joseph S.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Effects of low vision on peripheral visual function are poorly understood, especially in children whose visual skills are still developing. The aim of this study was to measure both central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical and low vision. Of specific interest was the extent to which measures of foveal function predict performance of peripheral tasks. Methods. We assessed central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical vision (n = 7, ages 10–17) and low vision (n = 24, ages 9–18). Experimental measures used both static and moving stimuli and included visual crowding, visual search, motion acuity, motion direction discrimination, and multitarget motion comparison. Results. In most tasks, visual function was impaired in youths with low vision. Substantial differences, however, were found both between participant groups and, importantly, across different tasks within participant groups. Foveal visual acuity was a modest predictor of peripheral form vision and motion sensitivity in either the central or peripheral field. Despite exhibiting normal motion discriminations in fovea, motion sensitivity of youths with low vision deteriorated in the periphery. This contrasted with typically sighted participants, who showed improved motion sensitivity with increasing eccentricity. Visual search was greatly impaired in youths with low vision. Conclusions. Our results reveal a complex pattern of visual deficits in peripheral vision and indicate a significant role of attentional mechanisms in observed impairments. These deficits were not adequately captured by measures of foveal function, arguing for the importance of independently assessing peripheral visual function. PMID:22836766

Peripheral vision of youths with low vision: motion perception, crowding, and visual search.

PubMed

Tadin, Duje; Nyquist, Jeffrey B; Lusk, Kelly E; Corn, Anne L; Lappin, Joseph S

2012-08-24

Effects of low vision on peripheral visual function are poorly understood, especially in children whose visual skills are still developing. The aim of this study was to measure both central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical and low vision. Of specific interest was the extent to which measures of foveal function predict performance of peripheral tasks. We assessed central and peripheral visual functions in youths with typical vision (n = 7, ages 10-17) and low vision (n = 24, ages 9-18). Experimental measures used both static and moving stimuli and included visual crowding, visual search, motion acuity, motion direction discrimination, and multitarget motion comparison. In most tasks, visual function was impaired in youths with low vision. Substantial differences, however, were found both between participant groups and, importantly, across different tasks within participant groups. Foveal visual acuity was a modest predictor of peripheral form vision and motion sensitivity in either the central or peripheral field. Despite exhibiting normal motion discriminations in fovea, motion sensitivity of youths with low vision deteriorated in the periphery. This contrasted with typically sighted participants, who showed improved motion sensitivity with increasing eccentricity. Visual search was greatly impaired in youths with low vision. Our results reveal a complex pattern of visual deficits in peripheral vision and indicate a significant role of attentional mechanisms in observed impairments. These deficits were not adequately captured by measures of foveal function, arguing for the importance of independently assessing peripheral visual function.

Friendship quality in adolescents with and without an intellectual disability.

PubMed

Tipton, Leigh A; Christensen, Lisa; Blacher, Jan

2013-11-01

High friendship quality is often defined by high levels of intimacy, companionship, closeness and low levels of conflict. Quality friendships develop over time and may be influenced by both behaviour problems and social skills. Participants were 103, 13-year-old adolescents with or without intellectual disabilities in the United States. Adolescents and their mothers participated in an open-ended interview of friendship quality and completed measures of social skills and behaviour problems. This study addressed differences in friendship quality between children with and without intellectual disabilities and explored early indicators of friendship development. Adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) had friendships characterized by significantly lower levels of warmth/closeness and positive reciprocity than their typically developing peers. Likewise, adolescents with ID spent less time with friends outside of school and were less likely to have a cohesive group of friends. Social skills and behaviour problems at age 9 predicted friendship quality at age 13 above and beyond disability status, with higher levels of social skills and lower levels of behaviour problems related to higher ratings on measures of friendship quality. It appears that adolescents with intellectual disabilities have friendships that are characterized by less warmth/closeness and less positive reciprocity than the friendships of their typically developing peers. This discrepancy appears to be impacted by early social skills and behaviour problems in addition to the presence of the intellectual disability. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Generalizability of Pharmacologic and Psychotherapy Clinical Trial Results for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to Community Samples.

PubMed

Franco, Silvia; Hoertel, Nicolas; McMahon, Kibby; Wang, Shuai; Rodríguez-Fernández, Jorge Mario; Peyre, Hugo; Limosin, Frédéric; Blanco, Carlos

2016-08-01

The present study sought to quantify the generalizability of pharmacologic and psychotherapy clinical trial results in individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to a large representative community sample. Data were derived from the 2004-2005 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a large nationally representative sample of the adult US population. We applied a standard set of exclusion criteria representative of pharmacologic and psychotherapy clinical trials to all adults with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PTSD in the previous 12 months (n = 1,715) and then to a subsample of participants seeking treatment (n = 366). Our aim was to assess how many participants with PTSD would fulfill typical eligibility criteria. We found that more than 6 of 10 respondents from the overall PTSD sample and more than 7 of 10 respondents seeking treatment for PTSD would have been excluded by 1 exclusion criterion or more in a typical pharmacologic trial. In contrast, about 2 of 10 participants in the full sample and about 3 of 10 participants seeking treatment for PTSD would have been excluded in a typical psychotherapy efficacy trial. We found that psychotherapy trial results may be applied to most patients with PTSD in routine clinical practice. The designers of pharmacologic clinical trials should carefully consider the trade-offs between the application of each exclusion criterion and its impact on representativeness. Specification a priori of the goals of the study, better justification for each exclusion criterion, and estimation of the proportion of individuals ineligible for the trial would assist study design. Developing integrated forms of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy that simultaneously target commonly overlapping psychiatric disorders may yield more informative results for mental health care providers and research funding agencies. © Copyright 2016 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

Cerebral dominance for language function in adults with specific language impairment or autism

PubMed Central

Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2008-01-01

A link between developmental language disorders and atypical cerebral lateralization has been postulated since the 1920s, but evidence has been indirect and inconsistent. The current study investigated this proposal using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD), which assesses blood flow through the middle cerebral arteries serving the left and right cerebral hemispheres. A group of young adults with specific language impairment (SLI; n = 11) were recruited along with three comparison groups: (i) adults with a history of childhood SLI, but who did not meet criteria for language impairment in adulthood (SLI-history; n = 9); (ii) adults with an autism spectrum disorder and a comorbid language impairment (ASD; n = 11) and (iii) adults with no history of developmental disorder (typical; n = 11). There was no difference between the chronological age of the four groups, and the SLI and typical groups were individually matched on gender and handedness. During fTCD measurement, participants were asked to silently generate words starting with a given letter and then later required to verbalize these. All of the participants in the SLI-history group and the majority of participants in the ASD (81.8%) and typical (90.9%) groups had greater activation in the left compared to the right middle cerebral arteries, indicating left hemisphere dominance. In contrast, the majority of participants in the SLI groups had language function lateralized to the right hemisphere (54.5%) or dispersed bilaterally (27.3%). These findings suggest that atypical cerebral dominance is not implicated in all cases of poor language development (i.e. ASD and SLI-history groups), but may act as a biological marker of persisting SLI. PMID:18953053

Transient analysis mode participation for modal survey target mode selection using MSC/NASTRAN DMAP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnett, Alan R.; Ibrahim, Omar M.; Sullivan, Timothy L.; Goodnight, Thomas W.

1994-01-01

Many methods have been developed to aid analysts in identifying component modes which contribute significantly to component responses. These modes, typically targeted for dynamic model correlation via a modal survey, are known as target modes. Most methods used to identify target modes are based on component global dynamic behavior. It is sometimes unclear if these methods identify all modes contributing to responses important to the analyst. These responses are usually those in areas of hardware design concerns. One method used to check the completeness of target mode sets and identify modes contributing significantly to important component responses is mode participation. With this method, the participation of component modes in dynamic responses is quantified. Those modes which have high participation are likely modal survey target modes. Mode participation is most beneficial when it is used with responses from analyses simulating actual flight events. For spacecraft, these responses are generated via a structural dynamic coupled loads analysis. Using MSC/NASTRAN DMAP, a method has been developed for calculating mode participation based on transient coupled loads analysis results. The algorithm has been implemented to be compatible with an existing coupled loads methodology and has been used successfully to develop a set of modal survey target modes.

Development of graphomotor fluency in adults with ADHD: Evidence of attenuated procedural learning.

PubMed

Duda, Thomas A; Casey, Joseph E; McNevin, Nancy

2015-12-01

The present study sought to determine if adults with ADHD demonstrate reduced graphomotor learning relative to controls. Twenty-eight control adults (n=14) and adults with ADHD (n=14) were recruited and wrote a novel grapheme on a digitizing tablet 30 times. Participants with ADHD were counterbalanced on and off stimulant medication. Control participants, F(1,13)=13.786, p=.003, ω(2)partial=.460, and participants with ADHD on medication, F(1,13)=10.462, p=.007, ω(2)partial=.387, demonstrated significant improvement in graphomotor fluency with equivalent practice whereas participants with ADHD off medication did not, F(1,12)=0.166, NS. Results indicate that graphomotor program learning in adults with ADHD may occur more slowly than typically developing peers. Findings have implications for providing accommodations to adults with ADHD, potential benefits of stimulant medication, and using digitizing technology as a neuropsychological assessment instrument. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using voice input and audio feedback to enhance the reality of a virtual experience

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miner, N.E.

1994-04-01

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly emerging technology which allows participants to experience a virtual environment through stimulation of the participant`s senses. Intuitive and natural interactions with the virtual world help to create a realistic experience. Typically, a participant is immersed in a virtual environment through the use of a 3-D viewer. Realistic, computer-generated environment models and accurate tracking of a participant`s view are important factors for adding realism to a virtual experience. Stimulating a participant`s sense of sound and providing a natural form of communication for interacting with the virtual world are equally important. This paper discusses the advantagesmore » and importance of incorporating voice recognition and audio feedback capabilities into a virtual world experience. Various approaches and levels of complexity are discussed. Examples of the use of voice and sound are presented through the description of a research application developed in the VR laboratory at Sandia National Laboratories.« less

GME Concentrations: A Collaborative Interdisciplinary Approach to Learner-Driven Education

PubMed Central

Nagler, Alisa; Chudgar, Saumil M.; Rudd, Mariah; Whicker, Shari A.; Gagliardi, Jane P.; Narayan, Aditee; Heflin, Mitchell T.; Gordon, David C.; Andolsek, Kathryn M.

2015-01-01

Background Graduate medical education (GME) programs may struggle to provide the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to meet trainee career interests and goals beyond a clinical focus. Sponsoring institutions can partner with programs to deliver content not included in typical clinical experiences of GME programs. Objective To perform a needs assessment and to develop, implement, and measure acceptability and feasibility of an institution-wide GME Concentrations curriculum. Methods In response to the needs assessment, GME leadership developed 4 concentrations: (1) Resident-as-Teacher; (2) Patient Safety and Quality Improvement; (3) Law, Ethics, and Health Policy; and (4) Leaders in Medicine. We formed advisory committees that developed curricula for each concentration, including didactics, experiential learning, and individual project mentoring. Participants completed pre- and postassessments. We assessed feasibility and evaluated participant presentations and final projects. Results Over the course of 3 years, 91 trainees (of approximately 1000 trainees each year) from 36 GME programs (of 82 accredited programs) have participated in the program. The number of participants has increased each year, and 22 participants have completed the program overall. Cost for each participant is estimated at $500. Participant projects addressed a variety of education and health care areas, including curriculum development, quality improvement, and national needs assessments. Participants reported that their GME Concentrations experience enhanced their training and fostered career interests. Conclusions The GME Concentrations program provides a feasible, institutionally based approach for educating trainees in additional interest areas. Institutional resources are leveraged to provide and customize content important to participants' career interests beyond their specialty. PMID:26457150

Cognitive Differences in Pictorial Reasoning between High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

PubMed Central

Sahyoun, Cherif P.; Soulières, Isabelle; Belliveau, John W.; Mottron, Laurent; Mody, Maria

2013-01-01

We investigated linguistic and visuospatial processing during pictorial reasoning in high-functioning autism (HFA), Asperger’s syndrome (ASP), and age and IQ-matched typically developing participants (CTRL), using three conditions designed to differentially engage linguistic mediation or visuospatial processing (Visuospatial, V; Semantic, S; Visuospatial+Semantic, V+S). The three groups did not differ in accuracy, but showed different response time profiles. ASP and CTRL participants were fastest on V+S, amenable to both linguistic and nonlinguistic mediation, whereas HFA participants were equally fast on V and V+S, where visuospatial strategies were available, and slowest on S. HFA participants appeared to favor visuospatial over linguistic mediation. The results support the use of linguistic vs. visuospatial tasks for characterizing subtypes on the autism spectrum. PMID:19267190

Use of Emotional Cues for Lexical Learning: A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome

PubMed Central

Thurman, Angela John; McDuffie, Andrea; Kover, Sara T.; Hagerman, Randi; Channell, Marie Moore; Mastergeorge, Ann; Abbeduto, Leonard

2014-01-01

The present study evaluated the ability of males with fragile X syndrome (FXS), nonsyndromic autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or typical development to learn new words by using as a cue to the intended referent an emotional reaction indicating a successful (excitement) or unsuccessful (disappointment) search for a novel object. Performance for all groups exceeded chance-levels in both search conditions. In the Successful Search condition, participants with nonsyndromic ASD performed similarly to participants with FXS after controlling for severity of ASD. In the Unsuccessful Search condition, participants with FXS performed significantly worse than participants with nonsyndromic ASD, after controlling for severity of ASD. Predictors of performance in both search conditions differed between the three groups. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. PMID:25318904

Social function and communication in optimal outcome children and adolescents with an autism history on structured test measures

PubMed Central

Orinstein, A.; Suh, J.; Porter, K.; de Yoe, K.A; Tyson, K.; Troyb, E.; Barton, M.; Eigsti, I.M.; Stevens, M.C.; Fein, D. A.

2015-01-01

Youth who lose their ASD diagnosis may have subtle social and communication difficulties. We examined social and communication functioning in 44 high-functioning autism (HFA), 34 optimal outcome (OO) and 34 typically developing (TD) youth. Results indicated that OO participants had no autism communication symptoms, no pragmatic language deficits, and were judged as likable as TD peers. Some group differences were found: OO youth had less insight into social relationships and poorer friendship descriptions than TD youth. OO participants had attention, self-control, and immaturity difficulties that may impact social abilities. However, OO participants were most engaged, friendliest, warmest, and most approachable. Overall, OO participants had no social and communicative impairments, although some exhibited mild social difficulties that often accompany attentional problems. PMID:25758821

Associations between joint attention and language in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

PubMed

Bottema-Beutel, Kristen

2016-10-01

Using a structured literature search and meta-regression procedures, this study sought to determine whether associations between joint attention and language are moderated by group (autism spectrum disorder [ASD] vs. typical development [TD]), joint attention type (responding to joint attention [RJA] vs. other), and other study design features and participant characteristics. Studies were located using database searches, hand searches, and electronic requests for data from experts in the field. This resulted in 71 reports or datasets and 605 effect sizes, representing 1,859 participants with ASD and 1,835 TD participants. Meta-regression was used to answer research questions regarding potential moderators of the effect sizes of interest, which were Pearson's r values quantifying the association between joint attention and language variables. In the final models, conducted separately for each language variable, effect sizes were significantly higher for the ASD group as compared to the TD group, and for RJA as compared to non-RJA joint attention types. Approximate mental age trended toward significance for the expressive language model. Joint attention may be more tightly tied to language in children with ASD as compared to TD children because TD children exhibit joint attention at sufficient thresholds so that language development becomes untethered to variations in joint attention. Conversely, children with ASD who exhibit deficits in joint attention develop language contingent upon their joint attention abilities. Because RJA was more strongly related to language than other types of joint attention, future research should involve careful consideration of the operationalization and measurement of joint attention constructs. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1021-1035. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Parents' first concerns about toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: effect of sibling status.

PubMed

Herlihy, Lauren; Knoch, Kelley; Vibert, Bethany; Fein, Deborah

2015-01-01

Symptoms of autism spectrum disorders may appear as early as 6 months, but parent concern, which can precipitate evaluation, often lags significantly. The presence of typical or atypical older siblings can change parents' sensitivity to departures from typical development. This study investigated type and age of parent's first concerns in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder, prior to diagnosis. Participants had (1) at least one older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (Sibs-ASD); (2) only typically developing older siblings (Sibs-TD), or (3) were only/oldest (No-Sibs). Specific autism spectrum disorder diagnoses and symptom severity were similar among groups. Developmentally, No-Sibs showed the largest delays, followed by Sibs-TD, followed by Sibs-ASD. Mean age of first concern was 16 months for No-Sibs, 14 months for Sibs-TD, and 10 months for Sibs-ASD. Age of first concern differed significantly by group, even after controlling for mother's age and education. Concern about language was prevalent in all groups. Thus, the presence of an older child with typical or, especially, atypical development was associated with earlier concerns for the affected child, despite milder developmental delays. These findings underscore the importance of encouraging parents to report concerns to pediatricians, routine standardized screening for autism spectrum disorder, and the need for pediatrician vigilance, especially for only or oldest children. © The Author(s) 2013.

Initial Stop Voicing in Bilingual Children with Cochlear Implants and Their Typically Developing Peers with Normal Hearing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunta, Ferenc; Goodin-Mayeda, C. Elizabeth; Procter, Amanda; Hernandez, Arturo

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study focuses on stop voicing differentiation in bilingual children with normal hearing (NH) and their bilingual peers with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs). Method: Twenty-two bilingual children participated in our study (11 with NH, "M" age = 5;1 [years;months], and 11 with CIs, "M" hearing age =…

The Role of Color Cues in Facilitating Accurate and Rapid Location of Aided Symbols by Children with and without Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkinson, Krista; Carlin, Michael; Thistle, Jennifer

2008-01-01

Purpose: This research examined how the color distribution of symbols within a visual aided augmentative and alternative communication array influenced the speed and accuracy with which participants with and without Down syndrome located a target picture symbol. Method: Eight typically developing children below the age of 4 years, 8 typically…

Video Self-Modeling Applications With Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Small Private School Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tom, Buggey

2005-01-01

Videotaped self-modeling (VSM) was developed as a means to allow participants to view themselves in situations where they are performing at a more advanced level than they typically function. VSM has been used effectively to train positive behaviors and reduce unwanted behaviors across a range of ages and behaviors; however, few studies of VSM…

Imitation of Body Postures and Hand Movements in Children with Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marton, Klara

2009-01-01

Within the domain-general theory of language impairment, this study examined body posture and hand movement imitation in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and in their age-matched peers. Participants included 40 children with SLI (5 years 3 months to 6 years 10 months of age) and 40 children with typical language development (5…

Assessing Autistic Traits in a Taiwan Preschool Population: Cross-Cultural Validation of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jessica; Lee, Li-Ching; Chen, Ying-Sheue; Hsu, Ju-Wei

2012-01-01

The cross-cultural validity of the Mandarin-adaptation of the social responsiveness scale (SRS) was examined in a sample of N = 307 participants in Taiwan, 140 typically developing and 167 with clinically-diagnosed developmental disorders. This scale is an autism assessment tool that provides a quantitative rather than categorical measure of…

Auditory Word Recognition of Nouns and Verbs in Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreu, Llorenc; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Guardia-Olmos, Joan

2012-01-01

Nouns are fundamentally different from verbs semantically and syntactically, since verbs can specify one, two, or three nominal arguments. In this study, 25 children with Specific Language Impairment (age 5;3-8;2 years) and 50 typically developing children (3;3-8;2 years) participated in an eye-tracking experiment of spoken language comprehension…

Brief Report: A Pilot Summer Robotics Camp to Reduce Social Anxiety and Improve Social/Vocational Skills in Adolescents with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaboski, Juhi R.; Diehl, Joshua John; Beriont, Jane; Crowell, Charles R.; Villano, Michael; Wier, Kristin; Tang, Karen

2015-01-01

This pilot study evaluated a novel intervention designed to reduce social anxiety and improve social/vocational skills for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The intervention utilized a shared interest in robotics among participants to facilitate natural social interaction between individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD)…

Anticipatory Sentence Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment: Evidence from Eye Movements during Listening

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreu, Llorenc; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Trueswell, John C.

2013-01-01

Twenty-five children with specific language impairment (SLI; age 5 years, 3 months [5;3]-8;2), 50 typically developing children (3;3-8;2), and 31 normal adults participated in three eye-tracking experiments of spoken language comprehension that were designed to investigate the use of verb information during real-time sentence comprehension in…

Stimulus-Reward Association and Reversal Learning in Individuals with Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zalla, Tiziana; Sav, Anca-Maria; Leboyer, Marion

2009-01-01

In the present study, performance of a group of adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS) on two series of object reversal and extinction was compared with that of a group of adults with typical development. Participants were requested to learn a stimulus-reward association rule and monitor changes in reward value of stimuli in order to gain as many…

Reading and Phonological Skills in Boys with Fragile X Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klusek, Jessica; Hunt, Anna W.; Mirrett, Penny L.; Hatton, Deborah D.; Hooper, Stephen R.; Roberts, Jane E.; Bailey, Donald B.

2015-01-01

Although reading skills are critical for the success of individuals with intellectual disabilities, literacy has received little attention in fragile X syndrome (FXS). This study examined the literacy profile of FXS. Boys with FXS (n = 51; mean age 10.2 years) and mental age-matched boys with typical development (n = 35) participated in…

Discourse Skills of Boys with Fragile X Syndrome in Comparison to Boys with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Joanne; Martin, Gary E.; Moskowitz, Lauren; Harris, Adrianne A.; Foreman, Jamila; Nelson, Lauren

2007-01-01

Purpose: This study compared the conversational discourse skills of boys who have fragile X syndrome with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with those of boys with Down syndrome and boys who are typically developing. Method: Participants were boys who have fragile X syndrome with (n = 26) and without (n = 28) ASD, boys with Down syndrome…

The Impacts of Team Learning on the Development of a Learning Organisation: A Cultural Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Chao-Hua; Su, Kun-Shan

2015-01-01

Generalisability of a learning organisation (LO) for cross-cultural applications is doubtful. Some cultural values may be opposed to the nature in a LO which calls for voluntary participation in learning activities by all employees. The study reveals a dynamic analysis of a LO with the sense of the difficulties organisations typically face and how…

Real-Time Sentence Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Contribution of Lexicosemantic, Syntactic, and World-Knowledge Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pizzioli, Fabrizio; Schelstraete, Marie-Anne

2013-01-01

The present study investigated how lexicosemantic information, syntactic information, and world knowledge are integrated in the course of oral sentence processing in children with specific language impairment (SLI) as compared to children with typical language development. A primed lexical-decision task was used where participants had to make a…

Broad Autism Phenotype in Typically Developing Children Predicts Performance on an Eye-Tracking Measure of Joint Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, Meghan R.; Serlin, Gayle C.; Siller, Michael

2013-01-01

We examined visual attention allocation during a set of social videos that are intended to elicit the coordination of attention with another person, compared to a control condition. Deficits in joint attention are a characteristic of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants included a diverse sample of 50 typically…

Route-Learning Strategies in Typical and Atypical Development; Eye Tracking Reveals Atypical Landmark Selection in Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farran, E. K.; Formby, S.; Daniyal, F.; Holmes, T.; Van Herwegen, J.

2016-01-01

Background: Successful navigation is crucial to everyday life. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have impaired spatial abilities. This includes a deficit in spatial navigation abilities such as learning the route from A to B. To-date, to determine whether participants attend to landmarks when learning a route, landmark recall tasks have been…

The Development of Attentional Networks: Cross-Sectional Findings from a Life Span Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waszak, Florian; Li, Shu-Chen; Hommel, Bernhard

2010-01-01

Using a population-based sample of 263 individuals ranging from 6 to 89 years of age, we investigated the gains and losses in the abilities to (a) use exogenous cues to shift attention covertly and (b) ignore conflicting information across the life span. The participants' ability to shift visual attention was tested by a typical Posner-type…

Social Function and Communication in Optimal Outcome Children and Adolescents with an Autism History on Structured Test Measures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orinstein, Alyssa J.; Suh, Joyce; Porter, Kaitlyn; De Yoe, Kaitlin A.; Tyson, Katherine E.; Troyb, Eva; Barton, Marianne L.; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Stevens, Michael C.; Fein, Deborah A.

2015-01-01

Youth who lose their ASD diagnosis may have subtle social and communication difficulties. We examined social and communication functioning in 44 high-functioning autism (HFA), 34 optimal outcome (OO) and 34 typically developing (TD) youth. Results indicated that OO participants had no autism communication symptoms, no pragmatic language deficits,…

The Children of the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study Go to School. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peisner-Feinberg, Ellen. S.; Burchinal, Margaret R.; Clifford, Richard M.; Yazejian, Noreen; Culkin, Mary L.; Zelazo, Janice; Howes, Carollee; Byler, Patricia; Kagan, Sharon Lynn; Rustici, Jean

Since a substantial majority of preschoolers participate in some form of child care before coming to school, the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Study (CQO) was designed to examine the influence of typical center-based child care on children's development during their preschool years and as they move into formal elementary…

Deficits in Upper Limb Position Sense of Children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy Are Distance-Dependent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smorenburg, Ana R. P.; Ledebt, Annick; Deconinck, Frederik J. A.; Savelsbergh, Geert J. P.

2012-01-01

This study examined the arm position sense in children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) and typically developing children (TD) by means of a contralateral matching task. This task required participants to match the position of one arm with the position of the other arm for different target distances and from different starting…

Perceptions of Siblings with Autism and Relationships with Them: European American and Asian American Siblings Draw and Tell

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sage, Kara D.; Jegatheesan, Brinda

2010-01-01

Background: This study examined typically developing children's perceptions of their siblings with autism and their relationships with them in a European American and an Asian American family. Method: Data were drawn from interviews with the siblings using the "draw-and-tell" technique and participant observation in the homes of the 2 families.…

Executive Function in Children with High and Low Attentional Skills: Correspondences between Behavioural and Cognitive Profiles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scope, Alison; Empson, Janet; McHale, Sue

2010-01-01

Cognitive performance was compared between two groups of typically developing children, who had been observed and rated as differing significantly in their attentional skills at school. The participants were 24 8- and 9-year-old children scoring poorly relative to peers, on a classroom observation scale and teacher rating scale for attention,…

A Pilot Study Examining Activity Participation, Sensory Responsiveness, and Competence in Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Stacey; Bendixen, Roxanna M.; Lawrence, Tami; Lane, Shelly J.

2011-01-01

This pilot study explored activity patterns in children with and without ASD and examined the role of sensory responsiveness in determining children's level of competence in activity performance. Twenty-six children with high functioning ASD and twenty-six typically-developing children 6-12 years old were assessed using the Sensory Profile and the…

Guides in Construction and Manufacturing for Elementary School Industrial Arts. K-2; 3-4; 5-6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ohio State Univ., Columbus.

This series of three guides was developed by 25 participants in the institute. One hundred and eight industrial arts lesson plans for grades K-6 are included in these guides for construction and for manufacturing intended to reflect the contemporary industrial and technological society in which young children live. Some typical construction…

A Kinematic Description of the Temporal Characteristics of Jaw Motion for Early Chewing: Preliminary Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Erin M.; Green, Jordan R.; Weismer, Gary

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to describe age- and consistency-related changes in the temporal characteristics of chewing in typically developing children between the ages of 4 and 35 months and adults using high-resolution optically based motion capture technology. Method: Data were collected from 60 participants (48 children, 12…

Cardiopulmonary Fitness and Endurance in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Sheng K.; Lin, Hsiao-Hui; Li, Yao-Chuen; Tsai, Chia-Liang; Cairney, John

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare cardiopulmonary fitness and endurance in 9-11-year-old children with DCD against a group of typically developing children in Taiwan. The Movement ABC test was used to evaluate the motor abilities of children. Forty-one participants (20 children with DCD and 21 children without DCD) were recruited for this…

"Who Said That?" Matching of Low- and High-Intensity Emotional Prosody to Facial Expressions by Adolescents with ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossman, Ruth B.; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2012-01-01

Data on emotion processing by individuals with ASD suggest both intact abilities and significant deficits. Signal intensity may be a contributing factor to this discrepancy. We presented low- and high-intensity emotional stimuli in a face-voice matching task to 22 adolescents with ASD and 22 typically developing (TD) peers. Participants heard…

Implications of Social Groups on Sedentary Behavior of Children with Autism: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schenkelberg, Michaela A.; Rosenkranz, Richard R.; Milliken, George A.; Menear, Kristi; Dzewaltowski, David A.

2017-01-01

This pilot study compared sedentary behavior (SB) of children with autism (ASD) to typically developing peers (TD), and evaluated the influence of social contexts within free play (FP) and organized activity settings on SB of children with ASD during an inclusive summer camp. Participants with ASD were matched with TD peers by age and gender, and…

Exploring the Contextual Factors Related to Transfer of Learning in a High School Implementation of the eMINTS Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Lorie F.

2011-01-01

Truly impacting teacher practices is a challenge for educational professional development (PD) providers. Typically, little attention is paid to the factors within the environment to which the educators return and how those factors will impact participants' ability to integrate what they have learned into their teaching practices. Even for…

The acquisition of contextual cueing effects by persons with and without intellectual disability.

PubMed

Merrill, Edward C; Conners, Frances A; Yang, Yingying; Weathington, Dana

2014-10-01

Two experiments were conducted to compare the acquisition of contextual cueing effects of adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) relative to typically developing children and young adults. Contextual cueing reflects an implicit, memory based attention guidance mechanism that results in faster search for target locations that have been previously experienced in a predictable context. In the study, participants located a target stimulus embedded in a context of numerous distracter stimuli. During a learning phase, the location of the target was predictable from the location of the distracters in the search displays. We then compared response times to locating predictable relative to unpredictable targets presented in a test phase. In Experiment 1, all of the distracters predicted the location of the target. In Experiment 2, half of the distracters predicted the location of the target while the other half varied randomly. The participants with ID exhibited significant contextual facilitation in both experiments, with the magnitude of facilitation being similar to that of the typically developing (TD) children and adults. We concluded that deficiencies in contextual cueing are not necessarily associated with low measured intelligence that results in a classification of ID. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can teacher-child relationships support human rights to freedom of opinion and expression, education and participation?

PubMed

Wang, Cen; Harrison, Linda J; McLeod, Sharynne; Walker, Sue; Spilt, Jantine L

2018-02-01

This study explored how teacher-child relationships change over the early school years, in terms of closeness and conflict, whether these trajectories differ in type and frequency for children with typical development and children with speech and language concern (SLC), and whether the trajectories are associated with school outcomes at 12-13 years. Participants were children, parents and teachers in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Parents identified 2890 children with typical communication and 1442 children with SLC. Teacher-rated teacher-child closeness and conflict were collected biennially over six years. Academic and social-emotional outcomes were reported by teachers and children. Growth mixture modelling was conducted to generate teacher-child relationship trajectories and Wald's chi-square analyses were used to test the association between trajectories and school outcomes at 12-13 years, after controlling for a range of covariates including child's sex, language background, Indigenous status, age and socio-economic position. In both groups, the majority of children had teacher-child relationship trajectories with sustained high closeness and low conflict that predicted positive outcomes at age 12-13, but the SLC group was more at risk of less positive trajectories and poorer school outcomes. Close, less conflicted relationships with teachers may provide a supportive context for later language, literacy and social-emotional development. This study highlights the role of teachers in supporting children in their development of communication and academic skills that will optimise their capacity for freedom of opinions and expression, education and participation, as enshrined in Articles 19, 26 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The messages they send: e-mail use by adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI).

PubMed

Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Durkin, Kevin; Walker, Allan J

2012-01-01

Contemporary adolescents use e-mail for a variety of purposes, including peer communication and education. Research into these uses has focused on typically developing individuals; much less is known about the use of e-mail by exceptional youth. The present study examined the structure and form of e-mail messages sent by adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI). Thirty-eight adolescents with a history of SLI and 56 typically developing (TD) peers were assessed on measures of nonverbal abilities, core language skills and literacy skills (reading and spelling). The participants were asked to compose an e-mail reply to a standard e-mail sent by an experimenter. These reply e-mails were coded for linguistic structure, readability and spelling errors. Two adult raters, blind to the participants' language ability, judged how understandable the e-mails were, how grammatically correct the e-mails were, and also the sender's command of the English language. Adolescents with a history of SLI produced e-mails that were similar to those sent by their TD peers in terms of structure and readability. However, they made significantly more spelling errors. Furthermore, the adult raters considered the messages from participants with a history of SLI to be of poorer standard than those sent by their TD peers. The findings suggest that the e-mail messages of adolescents with a history of SLI provide indicators of the sender's language and literacy skills. Implications for intervention and technology development are discussed. © 2011 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Language comprehension and brain function in individuals with an optimal outcome from autism.

PubMed

Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Stevens, Michael C; Schultz, Robert T; Barton, Marianne; Kelley, Elizabeth; Naigles, Letitia; Orinstein, Alyssa; Troyb, Eva; Fein, Deborah A

2016-01-01

Although Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is generally a lifelong disability, a minority of individuals with ASD overcome their symptoms to such a degree that they are generally indistinguishable from their typically-developing peers. That is, they have achieved an Optimal Outcome (OO). The question addressed by the current study is whether this normalized behavior reflects normalized brain functioning, or alternatively, the action of compensatory systems. Either possibility is plausible, as most participants with OO received years of intensive therapy that could alter brain networks to align with typical function or work around ASD-related neural dysfunction. Individuals ages 8 to 21 years with high-functioning ASD (n = 23), OO (n = 16), or typical development (TD; n = 20) completed a functional MRI scan while performing a sentence comprehension task. Results indicated similar activations in frontal and temporal regions (left middle frontal, left supramarginal, and right superior temporal gyri) and posterior cingulate in OO and ASD groups, where both differed from the TD group. Furthermore, the OO group showed heightened "compensatory" activation in numerous left- and right-lateralized regions (left precentral/postcentral gyri, right precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, right supramarginal gyrus, left superior temporal/parahippocampal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus) and cerebellum, relative to both ASD and TD groups. Behaviorally normalized language abilities in OO individuals appear to utilize atypical brain networks, with increased recruitment of language-specific as well as right homologue and other systems. Early intensive learning and experience may normalize behavioral language performance in OO, but some brain regions involved in language processing may continue to display characteristics that are more similar to ASD than typical development, while others show characteristics not like ASD or typical development.

Prelinguistic Vocal Development in Young Cochlear Implant Recipients and Typically Developing Infants: Year 1 of Robust Hearing Experience

PubMed Central

Ertmer, David J.; Jung, Jongmin

2012-01-01

This investigation examined the time course and sequence of prelinguistic vocal development during the first year of cochlear implant (CI) experience. Thirteen children who were implanted between 8 and 35 months and 11 typically developing (TD) infants participated in this longitudinal study. Adult–child play interactions were video- and audio-recorded at trimonthly intervals for each group, and child utterances were classified into categories representing progressively more mature productions: Precanonical Vocalizations, Basic Canonical Syllables, and Advanced Form vocalizations. Young CI recipients met the 20% criterion for establishment of the Basic Canonical Syllables and Advanced Forms levels with fewer months of robust hearing experience than the TD infants. Most CI recipients followed the sequence of development predicted by the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development—Revised. The relatively rapid progress of the CI children suggests that an earlier period of auditory deprivation did not have negative consequences for prelinguistic vocal development. It also supports the notion that young CI recipients comparatively advanced maturity facilitated expeditious auditory-guided speech development. PMID:21586617

Social Categorization on Perception Bias in the Practice of Microteaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Jon-Chao; Hwang, Ming-Yueh; Lu, Chow-Chin; Tsai, Chi-Ruei

2017-02-01

Microteaching has gained considerable attention for its effectiveness in rapid and contextual training in professional development programs. However, the interpretive quality of the teaching demonstration and peer feedback may influence individuals' attribution and self-correction, leading to ineffective learning. In this study, a microteaching workshop in a professional development program for 78 elementary school science teachers was investigated. The results showed that the effectiveness of microteaching was negatively affected by participants' perception bias due to social categorization. Moreover, it was indicated that the participants' perception of the in-group and out-group, classified by the degree of the individuals' science knowledge, fostered social categorization. Participants tended to experience perception conflicts caused by their inability to see personal faults, and a typical perception bias of "seeing one's own strengths and seeing others' shortcomings" was more frequently recognized in the out-group. These results converge to highlight the importance of social categorization in perception bias relevant to microteaching.

Sentence stress in children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Kuschmann, Anja; Lowit, Anja

2018-03-08

This study aimed to advance our understanding of how children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy (CP) realise sentence stress acoustically, and how well listeners could identify the position of the stressed word within these utterances. Seven children with CP and eight typically developing children participated in the experiment. Stress on target words in two sentence positions was elicited through a picture-based question-answer paradigm. Acoustic parameters of stress [duration, intensity and fundamental frequency (F0)] were measured and compared between stressed and unstressed target words. For the perception experiment, ten listeners were asked to determine the position of the stressed word in the children's productions. Acoustic measures showed that at group level the typically developing children used all three acoustic parameters to mark sentence stress, whereas the children with CP showed changes in duration only. Individual performance variations were evident in both groups. Perceptually, listeners were significantly better at identifying the stressed words in the utterances produced by the typically developing children than those of the children with CP. The results suggest that children with CP can manipulate temporal speech properties to mark stress. This ability to modulate acoustic-prosodic features could be harnessed in intervention to enhance children's functional communication.

Relationship between individual differences in speech processing and cognitive functions.

PubMed

Ou, Jinghua; Law, Sam-Po; Fung, Roxana

2015-12-01

A growing body of research has suggested that cognitive abilities may play a role in individual differences in speech processing. The present study took advantage of a widespread linguistic phenomenon of sound change to systematically assess the relationships between speech processing and various components of attention and working memory in the auditory and visual modalities among typically developed Cantonese-speaking individuals. The individual variations in speech processing are captured in an ongoing sound change-tone merging in Hong Kong Cantonese, in which typically developed native speakers are reported to lose the distinctions between some tonal contrasts in perception and/or production. Three groups of participants were recruited, with a first group of good perception and production, a second group of good perception but poor production, and a third group of good production but poor perception. Our findings revealed that modality-independent abilities of attentional switching/control and working memory might contribute to individual differences in patterns of speech perception and production as well as discrimination latencies among typically developed speakers. The findings not only have the potential to generalize to speech processing in other languages, but also broaden our understanding of the omnipresent phenomenon of language change in all languages.

Explaining lexical-semantic deficits in specific language impairment: the role of phonological similarity, phonological working memory, and lexical competition.

PubMed

Mainela-Arnold, Elina; Evans, Julia L; Coady, Jeffry A

2010-12-01

In this study, the authors investigated potential explanations for sparse lexical-semantic representations in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing peers. The role of auditory perception, phonological working memory, and lexical competition were investigated. Participants included 32 children (ages 8;5-12;3 [years;months]): Sixteen children with SLI and 16 typically developing age- and nonverbal IQ-matched peers (CA). Children's word definitions were investigated. The words to be defined were manipulated for phonological neighborhood density. Nonword repetition and two lexical competition measures were tested as predictors of word definition abilities. Children with SLI gave word definitions with fewer content details than children in the CA group. Compared with the CA group, the definitions of children in the SLI group were not disproportionately impacted by phonological neighborhood density. Lexical competition was a significant unique predictor of children's word definitions, but nonword repetition was not. Individual differences in richness of lexical semantic representations as well as differences between children with SLI and typically developing peers may-at least, in part-be explained by processes of competition. However, difficulty with auditory perception or phonological working memory does not fully explain difficulties in lexical semantics.

Ambulatory Physical Activity Performance in Youth With Cerebral Palsy and Youth Who Are Developing Typically

PubMed Central

Bjornson, Kristie F; Belza, Basia; Kartin, Deborah; Logsdon, Rebecca; McLaughlin, John F

2007-01-01

Background and Purpose Assessment of walking activity in youth with cerebral palsy (CP) has traditionally been “capacity-based.” The purpose of this study was to describe the day-to-day ambulatory activity “performance” of youth with CP compared with youth who were developing typically. Subjects Eighty-one youth with CP, aged 10 to 13 years, who were categorized as being in Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I to III and 30 age-matched youth who were developing typically were recruited. Methods Using a cross-sectional design, participants wore the StepWatch monitor for 7 days while documenting average daily total step counts, percentage of all time active, ratio of medium to low activity levels, and percentage of time at high activity levels. Results The youth with CP demonstrated significantly lower levels of all outcomes than the comparison group. Discussion and Conclusion Daily walking activity and variability decreased as functional walking level (GMFCS level) decreased. Ambulatory activity performance within the context of the daily life for youth with CP appears valid and feasible as an outcome for mobility interventions in CP. PMID:17244693

Impaired induction of long-term potentiation-like plasticity in patients with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Jung, Nikolai H; Janzarik, Wibke G; Delvendahl, Igor; Münchau, Alexander; Biscaldi, Monica; Mainberger, Florian; Bäumer, Tobias; Rauh, Reinhold; Mall, Volker

2013-01-01

We aimed to investigate the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity by paired associative stimulation (PAS) in patients with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome (HFA/AS). PAS with an interstimulus interval between electrical and transcranial magnetic stimulation of 25 ms (PAS(25)) was performed in patients with HFA/AS (n=9; eight males, one female; mean age 17 y 11 mo, SD 4 y 5 mo) and in typically developing age-matched volunteers (n=9; five males, four females; mean age 22 y 4 mo, SD 5 y 2 mo). The amplitude of motor-evoked potentials was measured before PAS(25), immediately after stimulation, and 30 minutes and 60 minutes later. A PAS protocol adapted to individual N20 latency (PAS(N20+2)) was performed in six additional patients with HFA/AS. Short-interval intracortical inhibition was measured using paired-pulse stimulation. In contrast to the typically developing participants, the patients with HFA/AS did not show a significant increase in motor-evoked potentials after PAS(25). This finding could also be demonstrated after adaptation for N20 latency. Short-interval intracortical inhibition of patients with HFA/AS was normal compared with the comparison group and did not correlate with PAS effect. Our results show a significant impairment of LTP-like plasticity induced by PAS in individuals with HFA/AS compared with typically developing participants. This finding is in accordance with results from animal studies as well as human studies. Impaired LTP-like plasticity in patients with HFA/AS points towards reduced excitatory synaptic connectivity and deficits in sensory-motor integration in these patients. © The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology © 2012 Mac Keith Press.

Maternal responsivity in mothers of young children with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Sterling, Audra; Warren, Steven F

2014-10-01

The purpose of this study was to examine maternal responsivity and directive behaviors in mothers of children with Down syndrome (DS). Participants included 22 mothers with a young child with DS compared to 22 mothers of chronologically age-matched typically developing (TD) children using a cross-sectional design. The dyads participated in videotaped structured activities that were coded for responsive and directive behaviors. RESULTS indicated that the mothers of children with DS used a more facilitative style with the older children while these behaviors decreased with older children with TD; one directive behavior, request for behavioral comply, increased with the older children with DS. The mothers of children with DS adapted their parenting style to be facilitative of their children's linguistic development.

Home literacy experiences and early childhood disability: a descriptive study using the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) program database.

PubMed

Breit-Smith, Allison; Cabell, Sonia Q; Justice, Laura M

2010-01-01

The present article illustrates how the National Household Education Surveys (NHES; U.S. Department of Education, 2009) database might be used to address questions of relevance to researchers who are concerned with literacy development among young children. Following a general description of the NHES database, a study is provided that examines the extent to which parent-reported home literacy activities and child emergent literacy skills differ for children with (a) developmental disabilities versus those who are developing typically, (b) single disability versus multiple disabilities, and (c) speech-language disability only versus other types of disabilities. Four hundred and seventy-eight preschool-age children with disabilities and a typically developing matched sample (based on parent report) were identified in the 2005 administration of the Early Childhood Program Participation (ECPP) Survey in the NHES database. Parent responses to survey items were then compared between groups. After controlling for age and socioeconomic status, no significant differences were found in the frequency of home literacy activities for children with and without disabilities. Parents reported higher levels of emergent literacy skills for typically developing children relative to children with disabilities. These findings suggest the importance of considering the home literacy experiences and emergent literacy skills of young children with disabilities when making clinical recommendations.

Sports participation of children with or without developmental delay: prediction from child and family factors.

PubMed

Marquis, Willa A; Baker, Bruce L

2015-02-01

Sports participation is beneficial to health and socioemotional adjustment in youth across development. While there is some evidence indicating lower sports participation for children with developmental delays (DD) as compared with their typically developing (TD) peers, little is known as to the predictors of this differential participation. Given the increased risk of physical and mental health difficulties for children with DD, understanding more about this disparity is important. We examined sports participation in elementary school-aged children with or without DD and examined child and family predictors of three indices of sports participation: number of sports and highest relational sport at ages 6 and 8, and consistent sports from 6 to 8. Children with TD were significantly higher on all three indicators. Mother and child factors related significantly to sports participation indices. The number of sports related positively to mother education and positive perceptions and negatively to mother employment. Relational sports were higher in boys, children with higher social skills, and lower behavior problems. In regression analyses at child age 8 that included these other variables, delay status (DD or TD) did not have a significant effect. Perspectives on varying influences on sports participation and implications for intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can pictures promote the acquisition of sight-word reading? An evaluation of two potential instructional strategies.

PubMed

Richardson, Amy R; Lerman, Dorothea C; Nissen, Melissa A; Luck, Kally M; Neal, Ashley E; Bao, Shimin; Tsami, Loukia

2017-01-01

Sight-word instruction can be a useful supplement to phonics-based methods under some circumstances. Nonetheless, few studies have evaluated the conditions under which pictures may be used successfully to teach sight-word reading. In this study, we extended prior research by examining two potential strategies for reducing the effects of overshadowing when using picture prompts. Five children with developmental disabilities and two typically developing children participated. In the first experiment, the therapist embedded sight words within pictures but gradually faded in the pictures as needed using a least-to-most prompting hierarchy. In the second experiment, the therapist embedded text-to-picture matching within the sight-word reading sessions. Results suggested that these strategies reduced the interference typically observed with picture prompts and enhanced performance during teaching sessions for the majority of participants. Text-to-picture matching also accelerated mastery of the sight words relative to a condition under which the therapist presented text without pictures. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

‘What brings him here today?’: Medical problem presentation involving children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and typically developing children

PubMed Central

Solomon, Olga; Heritage, John; Yin, Larry; Marynard, Douglas; Bauman, Margaret

2015-01-01

Conversation and discourse analyses were used to examine medical problem presentation in pediatric care. Healthcare visits involving children with ASD and typically developing children were analyzed. We examined how children’s communicative and epistemic capabilities and their opportunities to be socialized into a competent patient role are interactionally achieved. We found that medical problem presentation is designed to contain a ‘pre-visit’ account of the interactional and epistemic work that children and caregivers carry out at home to identify the child’s health problems; and that the intersubjective accessibility of children’s experiences that becomes disrupted by ASD presents a dilemma to all participants in the visit. The article examines interactional roots of unmet healthcare needs and foregone medical care of people with ASD. PMID:26463739

Examining the reinforcing value of stimuli within social and non-social contexts in children with and without high-functioning autism

PubMed Central

Goldberg, Melissa C; Allman, Melissa J; Hagopian, Louis P; Triggs, Mandy M; Frank-Crawford, Michelle A; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Denckla, Martha B; DeLeon, Iser G

2018-01-01

One of the key diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder includes impairments in social interactions. This study compared the extent to which boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys “value” engaging in activities with a parent or alone. Two different assessments that can empirically determine the relative reinforcing value of social and non-social stimuli were employed: paired-choice preference assessments and progressive-ratio schedules. There were no significant differences between boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys on either measure. Moreover, there was a strong correspondence in performance across these two measures for participants in each group. These results suggest that the relative reinforcing value of engaging in activities with a primary caregiver is not diminished for children with autism spectrum disorder. PMID:27368350

Training Paraprofessionals to Improve Socialization in Students with ASD

PubMed Central

Koegel, Robert L.; Kim, Sunny; Koegel, Lynn Kern

2014-01-01

An important line of research relates to whether school personnel, such as paraprofessionals, who are present during unstructured social periods, such as lunch-recess, could successfully implement interventions to improve socialization between students with ASD and their typical peers in a group setting. Therefore, within the context of a multiple baseline across participants design, we assessed whether training paraprofessionals to provide social interventions would enhance social development in students with ASD in a group setting. Results showed that paraprofessionals who were not providing any social opportunities during baseline were able to meet fidelity of implementation following a brief training. Consequently, the children with ASD increased their levels of engagement and rates of initiation with typically developing peers following intervention. Implications for training paraprofessionals to implement effective social interventions for students with ASD are discussed. PMID:24671749

Examining the reinforcing value of stimuli within social and non-social contexts in children with and without high-functioning autism.

PubMed

Goldberg, Melissa C; Allman, Melissa J; Hagopian, Louis P; Triggs, Mandy M; Frank-Crawford, Michelle A; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Denckla, Martha B; DeLeon, Iser G

2017-10-01

One of the key diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder includes impairments in social interactions. This study compared the extent to which boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys "value" engaging in activities with a parent or alone. Two different assessments that can empirically determine the relative reinforcing value of social and non-social stimuli were employed: paired-choice preference assessments and progressive-ratio schedules. There were no significant differences between boys with high-functioning autism and typically developing boys on either measure. Moreover, there was a strong correspondence in performance across these two measures for participants in each group. These results suggest that the relative reinforcing value of engaging in activities with a primary caregiver is not diminished for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Movement Assessment of Children (MAC): validity, reliability, stability and sensitivity to change in typically developing children.

PubMed

Chandler, L S; Terhorst, L; Rogers, J C; Holm, M B

2016-07-01

The purpose of this study was to establish the validity, reliability, stability and sensitivity to change of the family-centred Movement Assessment of Children (MAC) in typically developing infants/toddlers from 2 months (1 month 16 days) to 2 years (24 months 15 days) of age. Assessment of infant/toddler motor development is critical so that infants and toddlers who are at-risk for developmental delay or whose functional motor development is delayed can be monitored and receive therapy to improve their developmental outcomes. Infants/toddlers are thought to be more responsive during the MAC assessment because parents and siblings participate and elicit responses. Two hundred seventy six children and 405 assessments contributed to the establishment of age-related parameters for typically developing infants and toddlers on the MAC. The MAC assesses three core domains of functional movement (head control, upper extremities and hands, pelvis and lower extremities), and generates a core total score. Four explanatory domains serve to alert examiners to factors that may impact atypical development (general observations, special senses, primitive reflexes/reactions, muscle tone). Construct validity of functional motor development was examined using the relationship between incremental increases in scores and increases in participants' ages. Subsamples were used to establish inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, stability and sensitivity to change. Construct validity was established and inter-rater reliability ICCs for the core items and core total ranged from 0.83 to 0.99. Percent agreement for the explanatory items ranged from 0.72 to 0.96. Stability within age grouping was consistent from baseline to 6 months post-baseline, and sensitivity to change from baseline to 6 months was significant for all core items and the total score. The MAC has proven to be a well-constructed assessment of infant and toddler functional motor development. It is a family-centred and efficient tool that can be used to assess and follow-up of infants and toddlers from 2 months to 2 years. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Stakeholder Perceptions of Cyberbullying Cases: Application of the Uniform Definition of Bullying.

PubMed

Moreno, Megan A; Suthamjariya, Nina; Selkie, Ellen

2018-04-01

The Uniform Definition of Bullying was developed to address bullying and cyberbullying, and to promote consistency in measurement and policy. The purpose of this study was to understand community stakeholder perceptions of typical cyberbullying cases, and to evaluate how these case descriptions align with the Uniform Definition. In this qualitative case analysis we recruited stakeholders commonly involved in cyberbullying. We used purposeful sampling to identify and recruit adolescents and young adults, parents, and professionals representing education and health care. Participants were asked to write a typical case of cyberbullying and descriptors in the context of a group discussion. We applied content analysis to case excerpts using inductive and deductive approaches, and chi-squared tests for mixed methods analyses. A total of 68 participants contributed; participants included 73% adults and 27% adolescents and young adults. A total of 650 excerpts were coded from participants' example cases and 362 (55.6%) were consistent with components of the Uniform Definition. The most frequently mentioned component of the Uniform Definition was Aggressive Behavior (n = 218 excerpts), whereas Repeated was mentioned infrequently (n = 19). Most participants included two to three components of the Uniform Definition within an example case; none of the example cases included all components of the Uniform Definition. We found that most participants described cyberbullying cases using few components of the Uniform Definition. Findings can be applied toward considering refinement of the Uniform Definition to ensure stakeholders find it applicable to cyberbullying. Copyright © 2017 The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gender role across development in adults with 46,XY disorders of sex development including perineoscrotal hypospadias and small phallus raised male or female.

PubMed

Pappas, Kara B; Wisniewski, Amy B; Migeon, Claude J

2008-07-01

Self-rated degree of femininity and masculinity across development were evaluated for 40 adults affected by 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSDs) who presented at birth with a small phallus and perineoscrotal hypospadias, raised either male (n = 22) or female (n = 18). Most participants were confirmed or presumed to be affected by partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (n = 14), partial gonadal dysgenesis (n = 11), or were considered to have a poorly defined case of 46,XY DSD including ambiguous external genitalia (n = 15). Participants retrospectively evaluated their degree of masculinity and femininity during their childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and in the past 12 months of filling out a questionnaire pertaining to their psychosexual development. Participants raised male reported more masculinity than those raised female due to an increase in masculinization during adolescence and adulthood. Participants raised male also reported less femininity than those raised female throughout development. Participants raised female reported more femininity than those raised male due to an increase in feminization during adolescence and adulthood. Participants raised female also reported less masculinity than those raised male throughout development. These data support the proposition that some aspects of gender role (GR), such as masculinity and femininity, are capable of proceeding along female- or male-typic patterns depending on sex of rearing among individuals affected by specific types of 46,XY DSD. Furthermore, regardless of male or female rearing, GR increasingly corresponds with assigned sex as individuals proceed through sexual maturity and into adulthood. These results are consistent with the idea that socialization/learning contributes to GR development in humans in addition to data from others demonstrating endocrine influences.

The contrast between alveolar and velar stops with typical speech data: acoustic and articulatory analyses.

PubMed

Melo, Roberta Michelon; Mota, Helena Bolli; Berti, Larissa Cristina

2017-06-08

This study used acoustic and articulatory analyses to characterize the contrast between alveolar and velar stops with typical speech data, comparing the parameters (acoustic and articulatory) of adults and children with typical speech development. The sample consisted of 20 adults and 15 children with typical speech development. The analyzed corpus was organized through five repetitions of each target-word (/'kap ə/, /'tapə/, /'galo/ e /'daɾə/). These words were inserted into a carrier phrase and the participant was asked to name them spontaneously. Simultaneous audio and video data were recorded (tongue ultrasound images). The data was submitted to acoustic analyses (voice onset time; spectral peak and burst spectral moments; vowel/consonant transition and relative duration measures) and articulatory analyses (proportion of significant axes of the anterior and posterior tongue regions and description of tongue curves). Acoustic and articulatory parameters were effective to indicate the contrast between alveolar and velar stops, mainly in the adult group. Both speech analyses showed statistically significant differences between the two groups. The acoustic and articulatory parameters provided signals to characterize the phonic contrast of speech. One of the main findings in the comparison between adult and child speech was evidence of articulatory refinement/maturation even after the period of segment acquisition.

Characterizing Sleep in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

PubMed

Goldman, S E; Alder, M L; Burgess, H J; Corbett, B A; Hundley, R; Wofford, D; Fawkes, D B; Wang, L; Laudenslager, M L; Malow, B A

2017-06-01

We studied 28 adolescents/young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 13 age/sex matched individuals of typical development (TD). Structured sleep histories, validated questionnaires, actigraphy (4 weeks), and salivary cortisol and melatonin (4 days each) were collected. Compared to those with TD, adolescents/young adults with ASD had longer sleep latencies and more difficulty going to bed and falling asleep. Morning cortisol, evening cortisol, and the morning-evening difference in cortisol did not differ by diagnosis (ASD vs. TD). Dim light melatonin onsets (DLMOs) averaged across participants were not different for the ASD and TD participants. Average participant scores indicated aspects of poor sleep hygiene in both groups. Insomnia in ASD is multifactorial and not solely related to physiological factors.

Characterizing Sleep in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Goldman, SE; Alder, ML; Burgess, HJ; Corbett, BA; Hundley, R; Wofford, D; Fawkes, DB; Wang, L; Laudenslager, ML; Malow, BA

2017-01-01

We studied 28 adolescents/young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 13 age/sex matched individuals of typical development (TD). Structured sleep histories, validated questionnaires, actigraphy (four weeks), and salivary cortisol and melatonin (four days each) were collected. Compared to those with TD, adolescents/young adults with ASD had longer sleep latencies and more difficulty going to bed and falling asleep. Morning cortisol, evening cortisol, and the morning-evening difference in cortisol did not differ by diagnosis (ASD vs. TD). Dim light melatonin onsets (DLMOs) averaged across participants were not different for the ASD and TD participants. Average participant scores indicated aspects of poor sleep hygiene in both groups. Insomnia in ASD is multifactorial and not solely related to physiological factors. PMID:28286917

Sentence Comprehension in Adolescents with down Syndrome and Typically Developing Children: Role of Sentence Voice, Visual Context, and Auditory-Verbal Short-Term Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miolo, Giuliana; Chapman, Robins S.; Sindberg, Heidi A.

2005-01-01

The authors evaluated the roles of auditory-verbal short-term memory, visual short-term memory, and group membership in predicting language comprehension, as measured by an experimental sentence comprehension task (SCT) and the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language--Third Edition (TACL-3; E. Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999) in 38 participants: 19 with…

Flexible Visual Processing in Young Adults with Autism: The Effects of Implicit Learning on a Global-Local Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, Dana A.; Shore, David I.; Ristic, Jelena; Kovshoff, Hanna; Iarocci, Grace; Mottron, Laurent; Burack, Jacob A.

2012-01-01

We utilized a hierarchical figures task to determine the default level of perceptual processing and the flexibility of visual processing in a group of high-functioning young adults with autism (n = 12) and a typically developing young adults, matched by chronological age and IQ (n = 12). In one task, participants attended to one level of the…

The Effects of Varying Levels of Treatment Integrity on Child Compliance during Treatment with a Three-Step Prompting Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilder, David A.; Atwell, Julie; Wine, Byron

2006-01-01

The effects of three levels of treatment integrity (100%, 50%, and 0%) on child compliance were evaluated in the context of the implementation of a three-step prompting procedure. Two typically developing preschool children participated in the study. After baseline data on compliance to one of three common demands were collected, a therapist…

Differentiating School-Aged Children with and without Language Impairment Using Tense and Grammaticality Measures from a Narrative Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Ling-Yu; Schneider, Phyllis

2016-01-01

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), number of errors per C-unit (Errors/CU), and percent grammatical C-units (PGCUs) in differentiating school-aged children with language impairment (LI) and those with typical language development (TL). Method: Participants were 61 six-year-olds (50 TL, 11…

In the Eye of the Beholder: Rapid Visual Perception of Real-Life Scenes by Young Adults with and without ASD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vanmarcke, Steven; Mullin, Caitlin; Van der Hallen, Ruth; Evers, Kris; Noens, Ilse; Steyaert, Jean; Wagemans, Johan

2016-01-01

Typically developing (TD) adults are able to extract global information from natural images and to categorize them within a single glance. This study aimed at extending these findings to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a free description open-encoding paradigm. Participants were asked to freely describe what they saw when…

Informing Children about Their Sibling's Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Initial Investigation into Current Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanaka, Kyoko; Uchiyama, Tokio; Endo, Fumio

2011-01-01

The manner in which typically developing (TD) children were informed about their sibling's diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) was examined in Japan. Seventy-seven parents, each with a child with ASD and a TD child, participated in a questionnaire survey. From the data obtained, it was revealed that parents informed 66.7% (72/108) TD…

Assessment of the Prerequisite Skills for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lickel, Athena; MacLean, William E., Jr.; Blakeley-Smith, Audrey; Hepburn, Susan

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the cognitive skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) thought to be necessary for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Forty children with ASD and forty age-matched typically developing children between the ages of 7-12 years participated. Groups were comparable with regard to nonverbal IQ,…

Physiological Arousal in Autism and Fragile X Syndrome: Group Comparisons and Links with Pragmatic Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klusek, Jessica; Martin, Gary E.; Losh, Molly

2013-01-01

This study tested the hypothesis that pragmatic (i.e., social) language impairment is linked to arousal dysregulation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS). Forty boys with ASD, 39 with FXS, and 27 with typical development (TD), aged 4-15 years, participated. Boys with FXS were hyperaroused compared to boys with TD but did…

Heart Rate Profiles of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder in Response to Physical Play: A Preliminary Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breslin, Casey M.; Rudisill, Mary E.; Wadsworth, Danielle W.

2015-01-01

In this study, the heart rate response of children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exposed to outdoor free play sessions during preschool was examined. Participants (n = 7; four children with ASD and three children who show typical development) wore Actiheart heart rate monitors during 6 school days. Using a single-subject design,…

The Effects of a Modified Treatment Package with and without Feeder Modeling on One Child's Acceptance of Novel Foods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seiverling, Laura; Harclerode, Whitney; Williams, Keith

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine if sequential presentation with feeder modeling would lead to an increase in bites accepted of new foods compared to sequential presentation without feeder modeling in a typically developing 4-year-old boy with food selectivity. The participant's acceptance of novel foods increased both in the modeling and…

Gamification of Cognitive Assessment and Cognitive Training: A Systematic Review of Applications and Efficacy

PubMed Central

Edwards, Elizabeth A; Lawrence, Natalia S; Coyle, David; Munafò, Marcus R

2016-01-01

Background Cognitive tasks are typically viewed as effortful, frustrating, and repetitive, which often leads to participant disengagement. This, in turn, may negatively impact data quality and/or reduce intervention effects. However, gamification may provide a possible solution. If game design features can be incorporated into cognitive tasks without undermining their scientific value, then data quality, intervention effects, and participant engagement may be improved. Objectives This systematic review aims to explore and evaluate the ways in which gamification has already been used for cognitive training and assessment purposes. We hope to answer 3 questions: (1) Why have researchers opted to use gamification? (2) What domains has gamification been applied in? (3) How successful has gamification been in cognitive research thus far? Methods We systematically searched several Web-based databases, searching the titles, abstracts, and keywords of database entries using the search strategy (gamif* OR game OR games) AND (cognit* OR engag* OR behavi* OR health* OR attention OR motiv*). Searches included papers published in English between January 2007 and October 2015. Results Our review identified 33 relevant studies, covering 31 gamified cognitive tasks used across a range of disorders and cognitive domains. We identified 7 reasons for researchers opting to gamify their cognitive training and testing. We found that working memory and general executive functions were common targets for both gamified assessment and training. Gamified tests were typically validated successfully, although mixed-domain measurement was a problem. Gamified training appears to be highly engaging and does boost participant motivation, but mixed effects of gamification on task performance were reported. Conclusions Heterogeneous study designs and typically small sample sizes highlight the need for further research in both gamified training and testing. Nevertheless, careful application of gamification can provide a way to develop engaging and yet scientifically valid cognitive assessments, and it is likely worthwhile to continue to develop gamified cognitive tasks in the future. PMID:27421244

Gamification of Cognitive Assessment and Cognitive Training: A Systematic Review of Applications and Efficacy.

PubMed

Lumsden, Jim; Edwards, Elizabeth A; Lawrence, Natalia S; Coyle, David; Munafò, Marcus R

2016-07-15

Cognitive tasks are typically viewed as effortful, frustrating, and repetitive, which often leads to participant disengagement. This, in turn, may negatively impact data quality and/or reduce intervention effects. However, gamification may provide a possible solution. If game design features can be incorporated into cognitive tasks without undermining their scientific value, then data quality, intervention effects, and participant engagement may be improved. This systematic review aims to explore and evaluate the ways in which gamification has already been used for cognitive training and assessment purposes. We hope to answer 3 questions: (1) Why have researchers opted to use gamification? (2) What domains has gamification been applied in? (3) How successful has gamification been in cognitive research thus far? We systematically searched several Web-based databases, searching the titles, abstracts, and keywords of database entries using the search strategy (gamif* OR game OR games) AND (cognit* OR engag* OR behavi* OR health* OR attention OR motiv*). Searches included papers published in English between January 2007 and October 2015. Our review identified 33 relevant studies, covering 31 gamified cognitive tasks used across a range of disorders and cognitive domains. We identified 7 reasons for researchers opting to gamify their cognitive training and testing. We found that working memory and general executive functions were common targets for both gamified assessment and training. Gamified tests were typically validated successfully, although mixed-domain measurement was a problem. Gamified training appears to be highly engaging and does boost participant motivation, but mixed effects of gamification on task performance were reported. Heterogeneous study designs and typically small sample sizes highlight the need for further research in both gamified training and testing. Nevertheless, careful application of gamification can provide a way to develop engaging and yet scientifically valid cognitive assessments, and it is likely worthwhile to continue to develop gamified cognitive tasks in the future.

[INVITED] Non-intrusive optical imaging of face to probe physiological traits in Autism Spectrum Disorder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samad, Manar D.; Bobzien, Jonna L.; Harrington, John W.; Iftekharuddin, Khan M.

2016-03-01

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can impair non-verbal communication including the variety and extent of facial expressions in social and interpersonal communication. These impairments may appear as differential traits in the physiology of facial muscles of an individual with ASD when compared to a typically developing individual. The differential traits in the facial expressions as shown by facial muscle-specific changes (also known as 'facial oddity' for subjects with ASD) may be measured visually. However, this mode of measurement may not discern the subtlety in facial oddity distinctive to ASD. Earlier studies have used intrusive electrophysiological sensors on the facial skin to gauge facial muscle actions from quantitative physiological data. This study demonstrates, for the first time in the literature, novel quantitative measures for facial oddity recognition using non-intrusive facial imaging sensors such as video and 3D optical cameras. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved that pilot study has been conducted on a group of individuals consisting of eight participants with ASD and eight typically developing participants in a control group to capture their facial images in response to visual stimuli. The proposed computational techniques and statistical analyses reveal higher mean of actions in the facial muscles of the ASD group versus the control group. The facial muscle-specific evaluation reveals intense yet asymmetric facial responses as facial oddity in participants with ASD. This finding about the facial oddity may objectively define measurable differential markers in the facial expressions of individuals with ASD.

Emotion recognition through static faces and moving bodies: a comparison between typically developed adults and individuals with high level of autistic traits

PubMed Central

Actis-Grosso, Rossana; Bossi, Francesco; Ricciardelli, Paola

2015-01-01

We investigated whether the type of stimulus (pictures of static faces vs. body motion) contributes differently to the recognition of emotions. The performance (accuracy and response times) of 25 Low Autistic Traits (LAT group) young adults (21 males) and 20 young adults (16 males) with either High Autistic Traits or with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HAT group) was compared in the recognition of four emotions (Happiness, Anger, Fear, and Sadness) either shown in static faces or conveyed by moving body patch-light displays (PLDs). Overall, HAT individuals were as accurate as LAT ones in perceiving emotions both with faces and with PLDs. Moreover, they correctly described non-emotional actions depicted by PLDs, indicating that they perceived the motion conveyed by the PLDs per se. For LAT participants, happiness proved to be the easiest emotion to be recognized: in line with previous studies we found a happy face advantage for faces, which for the first time was also found for bodies (happy body advantage). Furthermore, LAT participants recognized sadness better by static faces and fear by PLDs. This advantage for motion kinematics in the recognition of fear was not present in HAT participants, suggesting that (i) emotion recognition is not generally impaired in HAT individuals, (ii) the cues exploited for emotion recognition by LAT and HAT groups are not always the same. These findings are discussed against the background of emotional processing in typically and atypically developed individuals. PMID:26557101

Emotion recognition through static faces and moving bodies: a comparison between typically developed adults and individuals with high level of autistic traits.

PubMed

Actis-Grosso, Rossana; Bossi, Francesco; Ricciardelli, Paola

2015-01-01

We investigated whether the type of stimulus (pictures of static faces vs. body motion) contributes differently to the recognition of emotions. The performance (accuracy and response times) of 25 Low Autistic Traits (LAT group) young adults (21 males) and 20 young adults (16 males) with either High Autistic Traits or with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HAT group) was compared in the recognition of four emotions (Happiness, Anger, Fear, and Sadness) either shown in static faces or conveyed by moving body patch-light displays (PLDs). Overall, HAT individuals were as accurate as LAT ones in perceiving emotions both with faces and with PLDs. Moreover, they correctly described non-emotional actions depicted by PLDs, indicating that they perceived the motion conveyed by the PLDs per se. For LAT participants, happiness proved to be the easiest emotion to be recognized: in line with previous studies we found a happy face advantage for faces, which for the first time was also found for bodies (happy body advantage). Furthermore, LAT participants recognized sadness better by static faces and fear by PLDs. This advantage for motion kinematics in the recognition of fear was not present in HAT participants, suggesting that (i) emotion recognition is not generally impaired in HAT individuals, (ii) the cues exploited for emotion recognition by LAT and HAT groups are not always the same. These findings are discussed against the background of emotional processing in typically and atypically developed individuals.

National Testing of Pupils in Europe: Objectives, Organisation and Use of Results. Sweden 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ericsson, Ann Carlson

2008-01-01

The Swedish school system comprises: (1) Pre-primary school (Forskola), typical age 1-5; (2) Preschool class in the compulsory school (Grundskola) typical age 6 (participation voluntary); (3) Compulsory school, typical age 7-16, grades 1-9, and (4) Upper secondary school, 17 programmes (4 mainly academic, 13 vocational), typical age 16-19, grades…

Involving Scientists in Outreach: Incentives, Barriers, and Recommendations from Research Findings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melton, G.; Laursen, S.; Andrews, E.; Weaver, A.; Hanley, D.; Shamatha, J. H.

2004-12-01

Public agencies that fund scientific research are increasingly requiring that researchers invest some of their funding in education or outreach activities that have a "broader impact." Yet barriers exist that inhibit scientists' motivation to participate in K-12 outreach. We will share findings from a quantitative and qualitative study that examined the motivations, rewards, and obstacles for scientists who participate in outreach. We found that most researchers became interested in doing outreach out of a desire to contribute and an expectation of having fun and enjoying the experience. They typically gave outreach presentations away from work, acted as a resource for school teachers, or helped with teacher professional development. However, scientists viewed outreach as a form of volunteer work that was auxiliary to their other responsibilities. Thus, time constraints, a lack of information about outreach opportunities, and the lower value placed on outreach by departments constituted significant barriers to their participation. Scientists involved in outreach typically found their efforts to be rewarding, but occasionally factors left a negative impression, such as poor audience response, classroom management difficulties, organizational problems, or demonstrations not going as planned. Based upon our findings, we offer recommendations on how scientists' participation and experiences in K-12 outreach can be improved, including how to successfully recruit scientists, create a positive outreach experience, and increase institutional support for outreach work.

Relative solidarity: Conceptualising communal participation in genomic research among potential research participants in a developing Sub-Saharan African setting

PubMed Central

Woolfall, Kerry; Gabbay, Mark

2018-01-01

Objective As genomic research gathers momentum in sub-Saharan Africa, it has become increasingly important to understand the reasons why individuals wish to participate in this kind of medical research. Against the background of communitarianism conceived as typical of African communities, it is often suggested that individuals consent to participate on the grounds of solidarity and to further the common good. In this paper, we seek to explore this contention by presenting data from focus groups with potential research participants about what would influence their decisions to participate in genomic research. Methods and results These focus groups were conducted as part of a larger qualitative study with a purposively selected group of participants from a community situated in south west Nigeria. We conducted fifteen focus group sessions comprising 50 participants organized by age and sex, namely: 1) adult (>30 years) males, 2) adult females, 3) youth (18–30 years) males, and 4) youth females. A mixed age-group was conducted to probe different views between the age groups. There was discordance and clear division between the adults and youths regarding the decision to participate in genomic research based on commitment to communal values. Adults based their decision to participate on altruism and furthering the common good while youths based their decisions on personal benefits and preferences and also took into account the views and welfare of family members and neighbours. Conclusions This discordance suggests a ‘generational shift’ and we advance a model of ‘relative solidarity’ among the youths, which is different from the communal solidarity model typical of African communitarianism. Our findings suggest the need for a closer look at strategies for implementation of community engagement and informed consent in genomic research in this region, and we recommend further studies to explore this emerging trend. PMID:29621313

Anomalous sylvian fissure morphology in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Eckert, Mark A; Galaburda, Albert M; Karchemskiy, Asya; Liang, Alyssa; Thompson, Paul; Dutton, Rebecca A; Lee, Agatha D; Bellugi, Ursula; Korenberg, Julie R; Mills, Debra; Rose, Fredric E; Reiss, Allan L

2006-10-15

The unusual sensitivity and attraction to auditory stimuli in people with Williams syndrome (WS) has been hypothesized to be the consequence of atypical development of brain regions surrounding the Sylvian fissure. Planum temporale surface area, which is determined in part by Sylvian fissure patterning, was examined in 42 WS and 40 control participants to determine if anomalous Sylvian fissure morphology is present in WS. WS participants had significantly reduced leftward asymmetry of the planum temporale compared to control participants, due to a significant expansion in the size of the right planum temporale. The increased right planum temporale size was largely due to WS participants (24%) who had a right hemisphere Sylvian fissure that coursed horizontally and failed to ascend into the parietal lobe. This sulcal pattern is unusual in the right hemisphere and is more commonly found in the left hemisphere of typically developing individuals. There were no control participants with this type of right hemisphere Sylvian fissure pattern. The right hemisphere Sylvian fissure sulcal patterns were also related to a measure of cortical complexity and the amount of right hemisphere occipital lobe volume, suggesting that intrinsic genetic influences leading to anomalous visual system development in WS have widespread influences on cortical morphology that are similar in manner to extrinsic embryonic visual system lesions.

Tracking Subtle Stereotypes of Children with Trisomy 21: From Facial-Feature-Based to Implicit Stereotyping

PubMed Central

Enea-Drapeau, Claire; Carlier, Michèle; Huguet, Pascal

2012-01-01

Background Stigmatization is one of the greatest obstacles to the successful integration of people with Trisomy 21 (T21 or Down syndrome), the most frequent genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. Research on attitudes and stereotypes toward these people still focuses on explicit measures subjected to social-desirability biases, and neglects how variability in facial stigmata influences attitudes and stereotyping. Methodology/Principal Findings The participants were 165 adults including 55 young adult students, 55 non-student adults, and 55 professional caregivers working with intellectually disabled persons. They were faced with implicit association tests (IAT), a well-known technique whereby response latency is used to capture the relative strength with which some groups of people—here photographed faces of typically developing children and children with T21—are automatically (without conscious awareness) associated with positive versus negative attributes in memory. Each participant also rated the same photographed faces (consciously accessible evaluations). We provide the first evidence that the positive bias typically found in explicit judgments of children with T21 is smaller for those whose facial features are highly characteristic of this disorder, compared to their counterparts with less distinctive features and to typically developing children. We also show that this bias can coexist with negative evaluations at the implicit level (with large effect sizes), even among professional caregivers. Conclusion These findings support recent models of feature-based stereotyping, and more importantly show how crucial it is to go beyond explicit evaluations to estimate the true extent of stigmatization of intellectually disabled people. PMID:22496796

Being less of a man or less of a woman: perceptions of chronic pain patients' gender identities.

PubMed

Bernardes, Sónia F; Lima, Maria Luísa

2010-02-01

Living with chronic pain may be a threatening experience to one's own gender identity. Findings suggest that the presence of chronic pain does not allow individuals to achieve the most valued standards of being male or female in our societies. Such contention, however, has not yet been empirically supported. Therefore, our goal was to explore laypeople's and nurses' perceptions of the man/woman with chronic low-back pain (CLBP) as compared to the typical man/woman, respectively. Three hundred and sixteen laypeople (52.8% women) and 161 nurses (54% women) participated in this study. Half of the participants were presented with a written vignette depicting a man/woman with CLBP, followed by a list of 33 traits of the masculine and feminine stereotypes. Participants evaluated the extent to which each trait fit their image of the man/woman with CLBP. The other half of the participants described the image people in general had of the typical man/woman using the same list of traits. This study consisted on a quasi-experimental design, 2 (character's sex)x2 (type of character)x2 (participant's sex)x2 (health-care training). Results have generally supported our hypotheses. Both laypeople and nurses perceived: (1) the man with CLBP as having less masculinity and more femininity-related traits than the typical man; (2) the woman with CLBP as having less femininity and more masculinity-related traits than the typical woman; and (3) the man and woman with CLBP as more similar to each other than the typical man/woman. Issues on gender identity conflicts in CP patients are discussed.

The Mirror Illusion Increases Motor Cortex Excitability in Children With and Without Hemiparesis.

PubMed

Grunt, Sebastian; Newman, Christopher J; Saxer, Stefanie; Steinlin, Maja; Weisstanner, Christian; Kaelin-Lang, Alain

2017-03-01

Mirror therapy provides a visual illusion of a normal moving limb by using the mirror reflection of the unaffected arm instead of viewing the paretic limb and is used in rehabilitation to improve hand function. Little is known about the mechanism underlying its effect in children with hemiparesis. To investigate the effect of the mirror illusion (MI) on the excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1) in children and adolescents. Twelve patients with hemiparesis (10-20 years) and 8 typically developing subjects (8-17 years) participated. Corticospinal reorganization was classified as contralateral (projection from contralateral hemisphere to affected hand) or ipsilateral (projection from ipsilateral hemisphere to affected hand). M1 excitability of the hemisphere projecting to the affected (nondominant in typically developing subjects) hand was obtained during 2 different conditions using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Each condition (without/with mirror) consisted of a unimanual and a bimanual task. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the abductor pollicis brevis and flexor digitorum superficialis muscles. MEP amplitudes were significantly increased during the mirror condition ( P = .005) in typically developing subjects and in patients with contralateral reorganization. No significant effect of MI was found in subjects with ipsilateral reorganization. MI increased M1 excitability during active movements only. This increase was not correlated to hand function. MI increases the excitability of M1 in hemiparetic patients with contralateral corticospinal organization and in typically developing subjects. This finding provides neurophysiological evidence supporting the application of mirror therapy in selected children and adolescents with hemiparesis.

Variable training does not lead to better motor learning compared to repetitive training in children with and without DCD when exposed to active video games.

PubMed

Bonney, Emmanuel; Jelsma, Dorothee; Ferguson, Gillian; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien

2017-03-01

Little is known about the influence of practice schedules on motor learning and skills transfer in children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Understanding how practice schedules affect motor learning is necessary for motor skills development and rehabilitation. The study investigated whether active video games (exergames) training delivered under variable practice led to better learning and transfer than repetitive practice. 111 children aged 6-10 years (M=8.0, SD=1.0) with no active exergaming experience were randomized to receive exergames training delivered under variable (Variable Game Group (VGG), n=56) or repetitive practice schedule (Repetitive Game Group (RGG), n=55). Half the participants were identified as DCD using the DSM-5 criteria, while the rest were typically developing (TD), age-matched children. Both groups participated in two 20min sessions per week for 5 weeks. Both participant groups (TD and DCD) improved equally well on game performance. There was no significant difference in positive transfer to balance tasks between practice schedules (Repetitive and Variable) and participant groups (TD and DCD). Children with and without DCD learn balance skills quite well when exposed to exergames. Gains in learning and transfer are similar regardless of the form of practice schedule employed. This is the first paper to compare the effect of practice schedules on learning in children with DCD and those with typical development. No differences in motor learning were found between repetitive and variable practice schedules. When children with and without DCD spend the same amount of time on exergames, they do not show any differences in acquisition of motor skills. Transfer of motor skills is similar in children with and without DCD regardless of differences in practice schedules. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language-minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers.

PubMed

Bonifacci, Paola; Canducci, Elisa; Gravagna, Giulia; Palladino, Paola

2017-05-01

The present study was aimed at investigating literacy skills in English as a foreign language in three different groups of children: monolinguals with dyslexia (n = 19), typically developing bilinguals (language-minority) (n = 19) and a control group of monolinguals (Italian) (n = 76). Bilinguals were not expected to fail in English measures, and their gap with monolinguals would be expected to be limited to the instructional language, owing to underexposure. All participants were enrolled in Italian primary schools (fourth and fifth grades). A non-verbal reasoning task and Italian and English literacy tasks were administered. The Italian battery included word and non-word reading (speed and accuracy), word and non-word writing, and reading comprehension; the English battery included similar tasks, except for the non-word writing. Bilingual children performed similarly to typical readers in English tasks, whereas in Italian tasks, their performance was similar to that of typical readers in reading speed but not in reading accuracy and writing. Children with dyslexia underperformed compared with typically developing children in all English and Italian tasks, except for reading comprehension in Italian. Profile analysis and correlational analyses were further discussed. These results suggest that English as a foreign language might represent a challenge for students with dyslexia but a strength for bilingual language-minority children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development and Pilot Testing of an Internet-Based Self-Help Intervention for Depression for Indian Users.

PubMed

Mehrotra, Seema; Sudhir, Paulomi; Rao, Girish; Thirthalli, Jagadisha; Srikanth, T K

2018-03-22

There is a dearth of published research on uptake and utility of mental health apps in India, despite a rising global trend in the application of technology in the field of mental health. We describe the development and pilot testing of a self-help intervention for depression, PUSH-D (Practice and Use Self-Help for Depression) for urban Indians. This guided self-help app, with essential and optional zone sections, was developed to provide a comprehensive coverage of therapeutic strategies drawn from cognitive behavior therapy, interpersonal therapy, supportive psychotherapy, and positive psychology. Pilot testing was carried out using a single group pre-, post- and follow-up design in 78 eligible participants. Participants were typically young adults with major depression or dysthymia and significant impairment in functioning. Almost two-thirds of the participants had never sought professional mental health help. Significant reductions in depression and improvement in the functioning and well-being were notedon standardized measures in participants completing all 10 essential zone sections. These gains were maintained at follow-up. The results were similar for partial completers, who completed fiveout of the 10 essential sections. PUSH-D is one of the first indigenously developed self-help apps for depression and it shows promise in reducing the treatment gap for depression in India.

Typicality and Misinformation: Two Sources of Distortion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luna, Karlos; Migueles, Malen

2008-01-01

This study examined the effect of two sources of memory error: exposure to post-event information and extracting typical contents from schemata. Participants were shown a video of a bank robbery and presented with high-and low-typicality misinformation extracted from two normative studies. The misleading suggestions consisted of either changes in…

Increased Intra-Participant Variability in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Single-Trial Analysis of Evoked EEG

PubMed Central

Milne, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Intra-participant variability in clinical conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is an important indicator of pathophysiological processing. The data reported here illustrate that trial-by-trial variability can be reliably measured from EEG, and that intra-participant EEG variability is significantly greater in those with ASD than in neuro-typical matched controls. EEG recorded at the scalp is a linear mixture of activity arising from muscle artifacts and numerous concurrent brain processes. To minimize these additional sources of variability, EEG data were subjected to two different methods of spatial filtering. (i) The data were decomposed using infomax independent component analysis, a method of blind source separation which un-mixes the EEG signal into components with maximally independent time-courses, and (ii) a surface Laplacian transform was performed (current source density interpolation) in order to reduce the effects of volume conduction. Data are presented from 13 high functioning adolescents with ASD without co-morbid ADHD, and 12 neuro-typical age-, IQ-, and gender-matched controls. Comparison of variability between the ASD and neuro-typical groups indicated that intra-participant variability of P1 latency and P1 amplitude was greater in the participants with ASD, and inter-trial α-band phase coherence was lower in the participants with ASD. These data support the suggestion that individuals with ASD are less able to synchronize the activity of stimulus-related cell assemblies than neuro-typical individuals, and provide empirical evidence in support of theories of increased neural noise in ASD. PMID:21716921

Speech-language pathologists' practices regarding assessment, analysis, target selection, intervention, and service delivery for children with speech sound disorders.

PubMed

Mcleod, Sharynne; Baker, Elise

2014-01-01

A survey of 231 Australian speech-language pathologists (SLPs) was undertaken to describe practices regarding assessment, analysis, target selection, intervention, and service delivery for children with speech sound disorders (SSD). The participants typically worked in private practice, education, or community health settings and 67.6% had a waiting list for services. For each child, most of the SLPs spent 10-40 min in pre-assessment activities, 30-60 min undertaking face-to-face assessments, and 30-60 min completing paperwork after assessments. During an assessment SLPs typically conducted a parent interview, single-word speech sampling, collected a connected speech sample, and used informal tests. They also determined children's stimulability and estimated intelligibility. With multilingual children, informal assessment procedures and English-only tests were commonly used and SLPs relied on family members or interpreters to assist. Common analysis techniques included determination of phonological processes, substitutions-omissions-distortions-additions (SODA), and phonetic inventory. Participants placed high priority on selecting target sounds that were stimulable, early developing, and in error across all word positions and 60.3% felt very confident or confident selecting an appropriate intervention approach. Eight intervention approaches were frequently used: auditory discrimination, minimal pairs, cued articulation, phonological awareness, traditional articulation therapy, auditory bombardment, Nuffield Centre Dyspraxia Programme, and core vocabulary. Children typically received individual therapy with an SLP in a clinic setting. Parents often observed and participated in sessions and SLPs typically included siblings and grandparents in intervention sessions. Parent training and home programs were more frequently used than the group therapy. Two-thirds kept up-to-date by reading journal articles monthly or every 6 months. There were many similarities with previously reported practices for children with SSD in the US, UK, and the Netherlands, with some (but not all) practices aligning with current research evidence.

Growing up blind does not change the neural bases of Theory of Mind

PubMed Central

Bedny, Marina; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Saxe, Rebecca R.

2009-01-01

Humans reason about the mental states of others; this capacity is called Theory of Mind (ToM). In typically developing adults, ToM is supported by a consistent group of brain regions: the bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), precuneus (PC), and anterior temporal sulci (aSTS). How experience and intrinsic biological factors interact to produce this adult functional profile is not known. In the current study we investigate the role of visual experience in the development of the ToM network by studying congenitally blind adults. In experiment 1, participants listened to stories and answered true/false questions about them. The stories were either about mental or physical representations of reality (e.g., photographs). In experiment 2, participants listened to stories about people's beliefs based on seeing or hearing; people's bodily sensations (e.g., hunger); and control stories without people. Participants judged whether each story had positive or negative valance. We find that ToM brain regions of sighted and congenitally blind adults are similarly localized and functionally specific. In congenitally blind adults, reasoning about mental states leads to activity in bilateral TPJ, MPFC, PC, and aSTS. These brain regions responded more to passages about beliefs than passages about nonbelief representations or passages about bodily sensations. Reasoning about mental states that are based on seeing is furthermore similar in congenitally blind and sighted individuals. Despite their different developmental experience, congenitally blind adults have a typical ToM network. We conclude that the development of neural mechanisms for ToM depends on innate factors and on experiences represented at an abstract level, amodally. PMID:19553210

Word-initial /r/-clusters in Swedish speaking children with typical versus protracted phonological development.

PubMed

Lundeborg Hammarström, Inger

2018-01-01

The present study investigated word-initial (WI) /r/-clusters in Central Swedish-speaking children with and without protracted phonological development (PPD). Data for WI singleton /r/ and singleton and cluster /l/ served as comparisons. Participants were twelve 4-year-olds with PPD and twelve age- and gender-matched typically developing (TD) controls. Native speakers audio-recorded and transcribed 109 target single words using a Swedish phonology test with 12 WI C+/r/-clusters and three WI CC+/r/-clusters. The results showed significantly higher match scores for the TD children, a lower match proportion for the /r/ targets and for singletons compared with clusters, and differences in mismatch patterns between the groups. There were no matches for /r/-cluster targets in the PPD group, with all children except two in that group showing deletions for both /r/-cluster types. The differences in mismatch proportions and types between the PPD group and controls suggests new directions for future clinical practice.

The impact of age stereotypes on source monitoring in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Kuhlmann, Beatrice G; Bayen, Ute J; Meuser, Katharina; Kornadt, Anna E

2016-12-01

In 2 experiments, we examined reliance on age stereotypes when reconstructing the sources of statements. Two sources presented statements (half typical for a young adult, half for an old adult). Afterward, the sources' ages-23 and 70 years-were revealed and participants completed a source-monitoring task requiring attribution of statements to the sources. Multinomial model-based analyses revealed no age-typicality effect on source memory; however, age-typicality biased source-guessing: When not remembering the source, participants predominantly guessed the source for whose age the statement was typical. Thereby, people retrospectively described the sources as having made more statements that fit with stereotypes about their age group than they had truly made. In Experiment 1, older (60-84 years) participants' guessing bias was stronger than younger (17-26 years) participants', but they also had poorer source memory. Furthermore, older adults with better source memory were less biased than those with poorer source memory. Similarly, younger adults' age-stereotype reliance was larger when source memory was impaired in Experiment 2. Thus, age stereotypes bias source attributions, and individuals with poor source memory are particularly prone to this bias, which may contribute to the maintenance of age stereotypes over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Greater Perceived Similarity between Self and Own-Age Others in Older than Young Adults

PubMed Central

Lin, Tian; Ankudowich, Elizabeth; Ebner, Natalie C.

2017-01-01

As people age, they increasingly incorporate age-stereotypes into their self-view. Based on this evidence we propose that older compared to young adults identify to a greater extent with their own-age group on personality traits, an effect that may be particularly pronounced for positive traits. Two studies tested these hypotheses by examining associations in young and older adults between evaluations of self and own-age others on personality traits that varied on valence. In both studies, young and older participants rated personality trait adjectives on age typicality, valence, and self typicality. Converging results across both studies showed that older compared to young participants were more likely to endorse personality traits as self-typical when those traits were also perceived as more typical for their own-age group, independent of whether age was made salient to participants prior to evaluation. In addition, there was evidence that the association between evaluations of self and own-age others in older participants was greater for more positive personality traits. This age-differential pattern is discussed in the context of increased age salience in aging and its effect on the similarity between evaluations of self and own-age others in older compared to young adults. PMID:28471216

The Length of Child Anxiety Treatment in a Regional Health System.

PubMed

Whiteside, Stephen P H; Ale, Chelsea M; Young, Brennan; Olsen, Mark W; Biggs, Bridget K; Gregg, Melissa S; Geske, Jennifer R; Homan, Kendra

2016-12-01

Anxiety disorders are often undertreated due to unsuccessful dissemination of evidence-based treatments (EBTs). Lack of empirical data regarding the typical length of treatment in clinical settings may hamper the development of clinically relevant protocols. The current study examined billing records for 335 children ages 7-17 years to quantify the treatment received for newly diagnosed anxiety disorders within a regional health system. The vast majority of patients did not receive a sufficient number of appointments to complete the typical cognitive behavioral therapy protocol or reach the sessions introducing exposure. Although half of the sample received pharmacotherapy, the vast majority received fewer follow-up appointments than participants in pharmacotherapy research studies. Further, the type of treatment (i.e., number of sessions and medication) differed depending on utilization of specialty care. These results underscore the need to develop brief and flexible EBT protocols that can be standardized and implemented in community practice.

EVA Development and Verification Testing at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jairala, Juniper; Durkin, Robert

2012-01-01

As an early step in preparing for future EVAs, astronauts perform neutral buoyancy testing to develop and verify EVA hardware and operations. To date, neutral buoyancy demonstrations at NASA JSC’s Sonny Carter Training Facility have primarily evaluated assembly and maintenance tasks associated with several elements of the ISS. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, completion of ISS assembly, and introduction of commercial participants for human transportation into space, evaluations at the NBL will take on a new focus. In this session, Juniper Jairala briefly discussed the design of the NBL and, in more detail, described the requirements and process for performing a neutral buoyancy test, including typical hardware and support equipment requirements, personnel and administrative resource requirements, examples of ISS systems and operations that are evaluated, and typical operational objectives that are evaluated. Robert Durkin discussed the new and potential types of uses for the NBL, including those by non-NASA external customers.

EVA Development and Verification Testing at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jairala, Juniper; Durkin, Robert

2012-01-01

As an early step in preparing for future EVAs, astronauts perform neutral buoyancy testing to develop and verify EVA hardware and operations. To date, neutral buoyancy demonstrations at NASA JSC's Sonny Carter Training Facility have primarily evaluated assembly and maintenance tasks associated with several elements of the ISS. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, completion of ISS assembly, and introduction of commercial participants for human transportation into space, evaluations at the NBL will take on a new focus. In this session, Juniper Jairala briefly discussed the design of the NBL and, in more detail, described the requirements and process for performing a neutral buoyancy test, including typical hardware and support equipment requirements, personnel and administrative resource requirements, examples of ISS systems and operations that are evaluated, and typical operational objectives that are evaluated. Robert Durkin discussed the new and potential types of uses for the NBL, including those by non-NASA external customers.

Temporal context memory in high-functioning autism.

PubMed

Gras-Vincendon, Agnès; Mottron, Laurent; Salamé, Pierre; Bursztejn, Claude; Danion, Jean-Marie

2007-11-01

Episodic memory, i.e. memory for specific episodes situated in space and time, seems impaired in individuals with autism. According to weak central coherence theory, individuals with autism have general difficulty connecting contextual and item information which then impairs their capacity to memorize information in context. This study investigated temporal context memory for visual information in individuals with autism. Eighteen adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS) and age- and IQ-matched typically developing participants were tested using a recency judgement task. The performance of the autistic group did not differ from that of the control group, nor did the performance between the AS and HFA groups. We conclude that autism in high-functioning individuals does not impair temporal context memory as assessed on this task. We suggest that individuals with autism are as efficient on this task as typically developing subjects because contextual memory performance here involves more automatic than organizational processing.

Children on the autism spectrum update their behaviour in response to a volatile environment.

PubMed

Manning, Catherine; Kilner, James; Neil, Louise; Karaminis, Themelis; Pellicano, Elizabeth

2017-09-01

Typical adults can track reward probabilities across trials to estimate the volatility of the environment and use this information to modify their learning rate (Behrens et al., 2007). In a stable environment, it is advantageous to take account of outcomes over many trials, whereas in a volatile environment, recent experience should be more strongly weighted than distant experience. Recent predictive coding accounts of autism propose that autistic individuals will demonstrate atypical updating of their behaviour in response to the statistics of the reward environment. To rigorously test this hypothesis, we administered a developmentally appropriate version of Behrens et al.'s (2007) task to 34 cognitively able children on the autism spectrum aged between 6 and 14 years, 32 age- and ability-matched typically developing children and 19 typical adults. Participants were required to choose between a green and a blue pirate chest, each associated with a randomly determined reward value between 0 and 100 points, with a combined total of 100 points. On each trial, the reward was given for one stimulus only. In the stable condition, the ratio of the blue or green response being rewarded was fixed at 75:25. In the volatile condition, the ratio alternated between 80:20 and 20:80 every 20 trials. We estimated the learning rate for each participant by fitting a delta rule model and compared this rate across conditions and groups. All groups increased their learning rate in the volatile condition compared to the stable condition. Unexpectedly, there was no effect of group and no interaction between group and condition. Thus, autistic children used information about the statistics of the reward environment to guide their decisions to a similar extent as typically developing children and adults. These results help constrain predictive coding accounts of autism by demonstrating that autism is not characterized by uniform differences in the weighting of prediction error. © 2016 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Survey of Migraine Sufferers with Dogs to Evaluate for Canine Migraine-Alerting Behaviors

PubMed Central

Bhowmick, Amrita

2013-01-01

Abstract Objectives Anecdotal reports suggest that changes in dog behavior might be used to predict impending migraine episodes. This survey was designed to investigate how companion dogs react to migraines that occur in their owners. Design Online survey was available from January 4–31, 2012. Settings/location Survey was conducted through SurveyMonkey, with links to the survey posted at Migraine.com and promoted through social media. Subjects Adults ≥18 years old who experience migraine episodes and live with a dog were eligible to participate. Interventions and outcome measures Participants completed an 18-question online survey that asked about participant demographics, migraines, and their dog's behavior before or during migraine episodes. Results The survey was completed by 1029 adult migraineurs (94.9% women), with migraines typically occurring ≤8 days per month in 63.4% of participants. A recognized change in the dog's behavior prior to or during the initial phase of migraine was endorsed by 552 participants (53.7%), most commonly unusual attentiveness to the owner (39.9%). Among the 466 participants providing details about their dog's behavior with their migraines, 57.3% were able to identify dog alerting behavior before symptoms of a migraine attack would typically begin, with changes usually noticed within 2 hours before the onset of initial migraine symptoms. The dog's behavior was considered to be often or usually linked with the development of a migraine for 59.2% of migraineurs, and 35.8% of migraineurs endorsed beginning migraine treatments after the dog's behavior was recognized and before migraine symptoms had started. Participant demographics, migraine frequency, and breed of dog in the home were similar between the 470 participants with no alerting behavior endorsed and the 466 participants providing detailed alerting information. Conclusions About one in four migraineurs living with a companion dog endorsed recognizing a change in their dog's behavior before recognizing initial symptoms of a migraine attack. PMID:23210467

Effects of environmental sounds on the guessability of animated graphic symbols.

PubMed

Harmon, Ashley C; Schlosser, Ralf W; Gygi, Brian; Shane, Howard C; Kong, Ying-Yee; Book, Lorraine; Macduff, Kelly; Hearn, Emilia

2014-12-01

Graphic symbols are a necessity for pre-literate children who use aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems (including non-electronic communication boards and speech generating devices), as well as for mobile technologies using AAC applications. Recently, developers of the Autism Language Program (ALP) Animated Graphics Set have added environmental sounds to animated symbols representing verbs in an attempt to enhance their iconicity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of environmental sounds (added to animated graphic symbols representing verbs) in terms of naming. Participants included 46 children with typical development between the ages of 3;0 to 3;11 (years;months). The participants were randomly allocated to a condition of symbols with environmental sounds or a condition without environmental sounds. Results indicated that environmental sounds significantly enhanced the naming accuracy of animated symbols for verbs. Implications in terms of symbol selection, symbol refinement, and future symbol development will be discussed.

Judgments of Nonverbal Behaviour by Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: Can They Detect Signs of Winning and Losing from Brief Video Clips?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Christian; Furley, Philip; Mulhall, Kathleen

2016-01-01

Typically developing children are able to judge who is winning or losing from very short clips of video footage of behaviour between active match play across a number of sports. Inferences from "thin slices" (short video clips) allow participants to make complex judgments about the meaning of posture, gesture and body language. This…

Parent-Reported Patterns of Loss and Gain in Communication in 1- to 2-Year-Old Children Are Not Unique to Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brignell, Amanda; Williams, Katrina; Prior, Margot; Donath, Susan; Reilly, Sheena; Bavin, Edith L.; Eadie, Patricia; Morgan, Angela T.

2017-01-01

We compared loss and gain in communication from 1 to 2 years in children later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (n = 41), language impairment (n = 110) and in children with typical language development at 7 years (n = 831). Participants were selected from a prospective population cohort study of child language (the Early Language in…

Assessing the patient's mammogram experience.

PubMed

Dodendorf, Diane M; Deogun, Gurvinder K; Rodie, Amy Risch; Pol, Louis G

2004-01-01

This study overviews an operational blueprint that diagrams the activities and interactions of all participants in a typical screening mammography appointment in a large medical center. The blueprint is constructed from multiple sources of data collected from mammography patients, service providers in the radiology department, and medical records. The benefits from using patient perspectives, the insights gained from the blueprint development process, and the value of the resulting screening mammography appointment blueprint are included.

Beyond Capacity Limitations II: Effects of Lexical Processes on Word Recall in Verbal Working Memory Tasks in Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mainela-Arnold, Elina; Evans, Julia L.; Coady, Jeffry

2010-01-01

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of lexical processes on target word recall in sentence span tasks in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Participants were 42 children (ages 8;2-12;3 [years;months]): 21 with SLI and 21 typically developing peers matched on age and nonverbal IQ. Children completed a…

The Relationship between Class Attitudes towards Peers with a Disability and Peer Acceptance, Friendships and Peer Interactions of Students with a Disability in Regular Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petry, Katja

2018-01-01

Students with a disability in inclusive classes often face problems with peer acceptance, friendships and peer interactions. In this paper, the relationship between these difficulties in social participation and the attitudes that typically developing adolescents hold towards peers with a disability at the level of the class was explored. A…

Data Selection for Within-Class Covariance Estimation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-08

recognition performance. While developers have typically exploited the vast archive of speaker labeled data available from earlier NIST evaluations...utterances from a large population of speakers. Fortunately, participants in NIST evaluations have access to a vast repository of legacy data from earlier...previous NIST evaluations. Training data for the UBM and T-matrix was obtained from the NIST Switchboard 2 phases 2-5 [12] and SRE04/05/06 utterances

Friendship Satisfaction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Nominated Friends.

PubMed

Petrina, Neysa; Carter, Mark; Stephenson, Jennifer; Sweller, Naomi

2017-02-01

The current study examined the level of friendship satisfaction of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their nominated friends (with and without diagnosis of ASD). A total of 77 target children with ASD and friends from 49 nominated friendships participated in the study. Relatively high levels of friendship satisfaction were reported by both target children and their nominated friends with no overall difference between dyads involving typically developing friends and friends with ASD. Analysis at the individual dyad level showed a high level of agreement on the reported level of satisfaction across the target participants and their friends. Limitations and directions for future research are presented.

Training play behavior in a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities.

PubMed

Arntzen, Erik; Halstadtrø, Ann-Mari; Halstadtrø, Monica

2003-01-01

The purpose of the current study was twofold: (a) to investigate if it was possible to train three different games (both as a leader and as a participant) to a child with developmental disabilities through interaction with 4 typically developing peers, and (b) to examine if correct responding would be maintained after the training was faded. A multiple probe design across three games was used. The results showed that the child learned both skills as a leader and as a participant in all three games, and that skills were maintained for a period of 3 weeks after the training had stopped.

Training play behavior in a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities.

PubMed Central

Arntzen, Erik; Halstadtrø, Ann-Mari; Halstadtrø, Monica

2003-01-01

The purpose of the current study was twofold: (a) to investigate if it was possible to train three different games (both as a leader and as a participant) to a child with developmental disabilities through interaction with 4 typically developing peers, and (b) to examine if correct responding would be maintained after the training was faded. A multiple probe design across three games was used. The results showed that the child learned both skills as a leader and as a participant in all three games, and that skills were maintained for a period of 3 weeks after the training had stopped. PMID:14596578

Responding to concerning posts on social media: Insights and solutions from American Indian and Alaska Native youth.

PubMed

Gritton, Jesse; Rushing, Stephanie Craig; Stephens, David; Ghost Dog, Thomas; Kerr, Bradley; Moreno, Megan A

2017-01-01

This study aimed to understand American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents' perspectives on concerning social media posts, including those expressing suicidal intent. A purposive sample of AI/AN youth were recruited; trained facilitators conducted focus groups. Participants discussed experiences viewing concerning posts on social media. Qualitative analysis used the constant comparative method. A total of 32 AI/AN youth ages 14-22 participated. Three salient themes emerged: 1) youth typically respond alone; 2) barriers to action; 3) recommended training and support - trusted adults, anonymity, and privacy. Study findings will guide the development of resources trusted by AI/AN youth.

Effectiveness of adaptive pretend play on affective expression and imagination of children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Hsieh, Hsieh-Chun

2012-01-01

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have difficulty participating in role-pretending activities. The concept of adaptive play makes play accessible by modifying play materials for different needs or treatment goals for children with CP. This study examines the affective expressions and imagination in children with CP as a function of ordinary versus adaptive pretend play. The Affect in Play Scale-Brief Rating measured the affective expression and imagination for 29 children with CP and 29 typically developing children (mean age=7.34 years). Two groups of children were observed while playing with a standard set of ordinary toys for ten times and with a standard procedure of adaptive pretend play for ten times. The results show significantly different affective expressions and imagination between the two groups. Typically developing children displayed much more affective expression and imagination. However, a more positive influence of affective expression and imagination occurred in children with CP than in typically developing children. In repeated measures analysis, the frequency of positive affective expression and imagination of children with CP was higher when pretending with adaptive toys. Adaptive pretend play can promote more role-pretending behaviors and a sense of environmental control during the manipulating process for children with CP. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The capacity to adapt to changing balance threats: a comparison of children with cerebral palsy and typically developing children.

PubMed

Burtner, P A; Woollacott, M H; Craft, G L; Roncesvalles, M N

2007-01-01

This study investigated differences in reactive balance abilities of typically developing children and those with spastic diplegia. Recovery from balance threats was compared by: (i) Platform velocity and amplitude thresholds: Speed and size of platform movement at which children required assistance to remain upright, (ii) percentage of trials with feet-in-place vs. loss of balance, and (iii) center of pressure measures. Participants included 8 children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, 15 developmentally matched children (similar walking stages) and 21 age-matched control children. Backward platform movements graded as easy, moderate and difficult were unexpectedly imposed on children standing on a moveable platform. Children with cerebral palsy (CP) had lower platform velocity thresholds, greater percentages of loss of balance trials, increased distances and increased frequency of directional changes in center-of-pressure (COP) trajectories than control children. Older children with CP fell more often than those under 5 years. Greatest differences between children with and without CP were found in comparisons based on age rather than developmental levels. Using balance perturbations that challenged children with CP to the limits of their balance abilities effectively identified age performance differences and differences compared to typically developing children. Implications for rehabilitation programs are presented.

Auditory evoked potentials: predicting speech therapy outcomes in children with phonological disorders.

PubMed

Leite, Renata Aparecida; Wertzner, Haydée Fiszbein; Gonçalves, Isabela Crivellaro; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Matas, Carla Gentile

2014-03-01

This study investigated whether neurophysiologic responses (auditory evoked potentials) differ between typically developed children and children with phonological disorders and whether these responses are modified in children with phonological disorders after speech therapy. The participants included 24 typically developing children (Control Group, mean age: eight years and ten months) and 23 children clinically diagnosed with phonological disorders (Study Group, mean age: eight years and eleven months). Additionally, 12 study group children were enrolled in speech therapy (Study Group 1), and 11 were not enrolled in speech therapy (Study Group 2). The subjects were submitted to the following procedures: conventional audiological, auditory brainstem response, auditory middle-latency response, and P300 assessments. All participants presented with normal hearing thresholds. The study group 1 subjects were reassessed after 12 speech therapy sessions, and the study group 2 subjects were reassessed 3 months after the initial assessment. Electrophysiological results were compared between the groups. Latency differences were observed between the groups (the control and study groups) regarding the auditory brainstem response and the P300 tests. Additionally, the P300 responses improved in the study group 1 children after speech therapy. The findings suggest that children with phonological disorders have impaired auditory brainstem and cortical region pathways that may benefit from speech therapy.

Comparison of auditory comprehension skills in children with cochlear implant and typically developing children.

PubMed

Mandal, Joyanta Chandra; Kumar, Suman; Roy, Sumit

2016-12-01

The main goal of this study was to obtain auditory comprehension skills of native Hindi speaking children with cochlear implant and typically developing children across the age of 3-7 years and compare the scores between two groups. A total of sixty Hindi speaking participants were selected for the study. They were divided into two groups- Group-A consisted of thirty children with normal hearing and Group-B thirty children using cochlear implants. To assess the auditory comprehension skills, Test of auditory comprehension in Hindi (TACH) was used. The participant was required to point to one of three pictures which would best correspond to the stimulus presented. Correct answers were scored as 1 and incorrect answers as 0. TACH was administered on for both groups. Independent t-test was applied and it was found that auditory comprehension scores of children using cochlear implant were significantly poorer than the score of children with normal hearing for all three subtests. Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed poor correlation between the scores of children with normal hearing and children using cochlear implant. The results of this study suggest that children using cochlear implant have poor auditory comprehension skills than children with normal hearing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Barack Obama or Barry Dunham? The appearance of multiracial faces is affected by the names assigned to them.

PubMed

Hilliar, Kirin F; Kemp, Richard I

2008-01-01

Does semantic information in the form of stereotypical names influence participants' perceptions of the appearance of multiracial faces? Asian-Australian and European-Australian participants were asked to rate the appearance of Asian-Australian faces given typically Asian names, European-Australian faces given typically European names, multiracial faces given Asian names, and multiracial faces given European names. Participants rated the multiracial faces given European names as looking significantly 'more European' than the same multiracial faces given Asian names. This study demonstrates how socially derived expectations and stereotypes can influence face perception.

Minimizing Noise in Pediatric Task-Based functional MRI; Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities and Typical Development

PubMed Central

Fassbender, Catherine; Muhkerjee, Prerona; Schweitzer, Julie B.

2017-01-01

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) represents a powerful tool with which to examine brain functioning and development in typically developing pediatric groups as well as children and adolescents with clinical disorders. However, fMRI data can be highly susceptible to misinterpretation due to the effects of excessive levels of noise, often related to head motion. Imaging children, especially with developmental disorders, requires extra considerations related to hyperactivity, anxiety and the ability to perform and maintain attention to the fMRI paradigm. We discuss a number of methods that can be employed to minimize noise, in particular movement-related noise. To this end we focus on strategies prior to, during and following the data acquisition phase employed primarily within our own laboratory. We discuss the impact of factors such as experimental design, screening of potential participants and pre-scan training on head motion in our adolescents with developmental disorders and typical development. We make some suggestions that may minimize noise during data acquisition itself and finally we briefly discuss some current processing techniques that may help to identify and remove noise in the data. Many advances have been made in the field of pediatric imaging, particularly with regard to research involving children with developmental disorders. Mindfulness of issues such as those discussed here will ensure continued progress and greater consistency across studies. PMID:28130195

Face perception in high-functioning autistic adults: evidence for superior processing of face parts, not for a configural face-processing deficit.

PubMed

Lahaie, A; Mottron, L; Arguin, M; Berthiaume, C; Jemel, B; Saumier, D

2006-01-01

Configural processing in autism was studied in Experiment 1 by using the face inversion effect. A normal inversion effect was observed in the participants with autism, suggesting intact configural face processing. A priming paradigm using partial or complete faces served in Experiment 2 to assess both local and configural face processing. Overall, normal priming effects were found in participants with autism, irrespective of whether the partial face primes were intuitive face parts (i.e., eyes, nose, etc.) or arbitrary segments. An exception, however, was that participants with autism showed magnified priming with single face parts relative to typically developing control participants. The present findings argue for intact configural processing in autism along with an enhanced processing for individual face parts. The face-processing peculiarities known to characterize autism are discussed on the basis of these results and past congruent results with nonsocial stimuli.

Emergent symbolic relations in speakers and nonspeakers.

PubMed

Brady, N C; McLean, L K

2000-01-01

Eight adults with developmental disabilities and four typically developing preschool children participated in an experiment studying emergent stimulus-stimulus relations after match-to-sample instruction. Participants were taught to match lexigrams (arbitrary graphic stimuli) to objects. Each object was functionally related to another object in the teaching set. For example, brush and comb were members of the teaching set. Most participants were able to select objects when the objects were named in pretests. Postteaching probes assessed emergent relations between spoken names and lexigrams. In addition, we included probes to detect emergent relations between related lexigrams. That is, would participants select the lexigram for comb when the experimenter displayed the lexigram for brush (without explicit teaching)? Two preschool children and five adults with developmental disabilities showed emergent relations between lexigrams and spoken words. However, only two preschool children showed the emergent lexigram to related lexigram relations.

Working memory and proverb comprehension in adolescents with traumatic brain injury: a preliminary investigation.

PubMed

Moran, Catherine A; Nippold, Marilyn A; Gillon, Gail T

2006-04-01

This study investigated the relationship between working memory and comprehension of low-familiarity proverbs in adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Ten adolescents, aged 12-21 years who had suffered a TBI prior to the age of 10 years and 10 individually age-matched peers with typical development participated in the study. The participants listened to short paragraphs containing a proverb and interpreted the meaning of the proverb using a forced-choice task. In addition, participants engaged in a task that evaluated working memory ability. Analysis revealed that individuals with TBI differed from their non-injured peers in their understanding of proverbs. In addition, working memory capacity influenced performance for all participants. The importance of considering working memory when evaluating figurative language comprehension in adolescents with TBI is highlighted. Implications for future research, particularly with regard to varying working memory and task demands, are considered.

Research and education at the NASA Fisk University Center for Photonic Materials and Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silberman, Enrique

1996-07-01

In 1992, NASA awarded Fisk University a 5 year grant to establish a center for research and education on photonic materials are synthesized, characterized and, in some cases, developed into devices with applications in the fields of radiation detectors and nonlinear optical crystals, glasses and nanomaterials. The educational components include participation in the research by 3 types of students majoring in Physics, Chemistry and Biology: 1) Fisk undergraduates participating during the academic year. 2) Fisk graduates performing their Maser Thesis research. 3) Fisk and other HBCU's and Minority Institutions' undergraduates attending a 10 week summer workshop with a very rigorous program of study, research and progress reporting. Funds are available for supporting participating students. Prerequisite, schedules of activities, evaluation procedures and typical examples of the outcome are presented.

Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to Play Board Games: Effects of a Least to Most Prompting Procedure to Increase Independent Performance.

PubMed

Davis-Temple, Janet; Jung, Sunhwa; Sainato, Diane M

2014-05-01

We investigated the effects of a least to most prompting procedure on the performance of board game steps and game-related on-task behavior of young children with special needs and their typically developing peers. This study was conducted employing a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. After teaching the board game steps using a systematic prompting strategy, the participants demonstrated increases in the performance of board game steps and game-related on-task behavior. In addition, the participants maintained high levels of performance and game-related on-task behavior during post-game training. The effects of teaching board games using prompting strategies, implications for practice, and areas for future study are presented.

Analyzing Army Reserve Unsatisfactory Participants through Logistic Regression

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-08

Unsatisfactory Participants by State/Territory ...............................45 Figure 14. Observed vs . Expected Unsatisfactory Participants by Grade...47 Figure 15. Observed vs . Expected Unsatisfactory Participants by Age ............................47 x TABLES Page Table...rank, and previous military experience. “A typical 1995-96 USAR Unsatisfactory Participant was a white, unmarried male whose highest level of

Color Vision Losses in Autism Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Zachi, Elaine C.; Costa, Thiago L.; Barboni, Mirella T. S.; Costa, Marcelo F.; Bonci, Daniela M. O.; Ventura, Dora F.

2017-01-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by impairments in social/communication abilities and restricted behaviors. The present study aims to examine color vision discrimination in ASD children and adolescents without intellectual disability. The participants were also subdivided in order to compare color vision thresholds of autistic participants and those who achieved diagnostic criteria for Asperger Syndrome (AS). Nine subjects with autism, 11 participants with AS and 36 typically developing children and adolescents participated in the study. Color vision was assessed by the Cambridge Color Test (CCT). The Trivector protocol was administered to determine color discrimination thresholds along the protan, deutan, and tritan color confusion lines. Data from ASD participants were compared to tolerance limits for 90% of the population with 90% probability obtained from controls thresholds. Of the 20 ASD individuals examined, 6 (30%) showed color vision losses. Elevated color discrimination thresholds were found in 3/9 participants with autism and in 3/11 AS participants. Diffuse and tritan deficits were found. Mechanisms for chromatic losses may be either at the retinal level and/or reflect reduced cortical integration. PMID:28713324

Development and Testing of the MyHealthyPregnancy App: A Behavioral Decision Research-Based Tool for Assessing and Communicating Pregnancy Risk

PubMed Central

Davis, Alexander L; Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Fischhoff, Baruch; Sadovsky, Yoel; Simhan, Hyagriv N

2017-01-01

Background Despite significant advances in medical interventions and health care delivery, preterm births in the United States are on the rise. Existing research has identified important, seemingly simple precautions that could significantly reduce preterm birth risk. However, it has proven difficult to communicate even these simple recommendations to women in need of them. Our objective was to draw on methods from behavioral decision research to develop a personalized smartphone app-based medical communication tool to assess and communicate pregnancy risks related to preterm birth. Objective A longitudinal, prospective pilot study was designed to develop an engaging, usable smartphone app that communicates personalized pregnancy risk and gathers risk data, with the goal of decreasing preterm birth rates in a typically hard-to-engage patient population. Methods We used semistructured interviews and user testing to develop a smartphone app based on an approach founded in behavioral decision research. For usability evaluation, 16 participants were recruited from the outpatient clinic at a major academic hospital specializing in high-risk pregnancies and provided a smartphone with the preloaded app and a digital weight scale. Through the app, participants were queried daily to assess behavioral risks, mood, and symptomology associated with preterm birth risk. Participants also completed monthly phone interviews to report technical problems and their views on the app’s usefulness. Results App use was higher among participants at higher risk, as reflected in reporting poorer daily moods (Odds ratio, OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.99-1.47, P=.08), being more likely to smoke (OR 4.00, 95% CI 0.93-16.9, P=.06), being earlier in their pregnancy (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.12, P=.005), and having a lower body mass index (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.00-1.15, P=.05). Participant-reported intention to breastfeed increased from baseline to the end of the trial, t15=−2.76, P=.01. Participants’ attendance at prenatal appointments was 84% compared with the clinic norm of 50%, indicating a conservatively estimated cost savings of ~US $450/patient over 3 months. Conclusions Our app is an engaging method for assessing and communicating risk during pregnancy in a typically hard-to-reach population, providing accessible and personalized distant obstetrical care, designed to target preterm birth risk, specifically. PMID:28396302

Developmental memory capacity resources of typical children retrieving picture communication symbols using direct selection and visual linear scanning with fixed communication displays.

PubMed

Wagner, Barry T; Jackson, Heather M

2006-02-01

This study examined the cognitive demands of 2 selection techniques in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), direct selection, and visual linear scanning, by determining the memory retrieval abilities of typically developing children when presented with fixed communication displays. One hundred twenty typical children from kindergarten, 1st, and 3rd grades were randomly assigned to either a direct selection or visual linear scanning group. Memory retrieval was assessed through word span using Picture Communication Symbols (PCSs). Participants were presented various numbers and arrays of PCSs and asked to retrieve them by placing identical graphic symbols on fixed communication displays with grid layouts. The results revealed that participants were able to retrieve more PCSs during direct selection than scanning. Additionally, 3rd-grade children retrieved more PCSs than kindergarten and 1st-grade children. An analysis on the type of errors during retrieval indicated that children were more successful at retrieving the correct PCSs than the designated location of those symbols on fixed communication displays. AAC practitioners should consider using direct selection over scanning whenever possible and account for anticipatory monitoring and pulses when scanning is used in the service delivery of children with little or no functional speech. Also, researchers should continue to investigate AAC selection techniques in relationship to working memory resources.

Supporting Knowledge Integration in Chemistry with a Visualization-Enhanced Inquiry Unit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, Jennifer L.; Linn, Marcia C.

2014-02-01

This paper describes the design and impact of an inquiry-oriented online curriculum that takes advantage of dynamic molecular visualizations to improve students' understanding of chemical reactions. The visualization-enhanced unit uses research-based guidelines following the knowledge integration framework to help students develop coherent understanding by connecting and refining existing and new ideas. The inquiry unit supports students to develop connections among molecular, observable, and symbolic representations of chemical reactions. Design-based research included a pilot study, a study comparing the visualization-enhanced inquiry unit to typical instruction, and a course-long comparison study featuring a delayed posttest. Students participating in the visualization-enhanced unit outperformed students receiving typical instruction and further consolidated their understanding on the delayed posttest. Students who used the visualization-enhanced unit formed more connections among concepts than students with typical textbook and lecture-based instruction. Item analysis revealed the types of connections students made when studying the curriculum and suggested how these connections enabled students to consolidate their understanding as they continued in the chemistry course. Results demonstrate that visualization-enhanced inquiry designed for knowledge integration can improve connections between observable and atomic-level phenomena and serve students well as they study subsequent topics in chemistry.

Applying an Integrative Framework of Executive Function to Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairment.

PubMed

Kapa, Leah L; Plante, Elena; Doubleday, Kevin

2017-08-16

The first goal of this research was to compare verbal and nonverbal executive function abilities between preschoolers with and without specific language impairment (SLI). The second goal was to assess the group differences on 4 executive function components in order to determine if the components may be hierarchically related as suggested within a developmental integrative framework of executive function. This study included 26 4- and 5-year-olds diagnosed with SLI and 26 typically developing age- and sex-matched peers. Participants were tested on verbal and nonverbal measures of sustained selective attention, working memory, inhibition, and shifting. The SLI group performed worse compared with typically developing children on both verbal and nonverbal measures of sustained selective attention and working memory, the verbal inhibition task, and the nonverbal shifting task. Comparisons of standardized group differences between executive function measures revealed a linear increase with the following order: working memory, inhibition, shifting, and sustained selective attention. The pattern of results suggests that preschoolers with SLI have deficits in executive functioning compared with typical peers, and deficits are not limited to verbal tasks. A significant linear relationship between group differences across executive function components supports the possibility of a hierarchical relationship between executive function skills.

Are Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia Distinct Disorders?

PubMed Central

Catts, Hugh W.; Adlof, Suzanne M.; Hogan, Tiffany; Weismer, Susan Ellis

2010-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific language impairment (SLI) and dyslexia are distinct developmental disorders. Method Study 1 investigated the overlap between SLI identified in kindergarten and dyslexia identified in 2nd, 4th, or 8th grades in a representative sample of 527 children. Study 2 examined phonological processing in a subsample of participants, including 21 children with dyslexia only, 43 children with SLI only, 18 children with SLI and dyslexia, and 165 children with typical language/reading development. Measures of phonological awareness and nonword repetition were considered. Results Study 1 showed limited but statistically significant overlap between SLI and dyslexia. Study 2 found that children with dyslexia or a combination of dyslexia and SLI performed significantly less well on measures of phonological processing than did children with SLI only and those with typical development. Children with SLI only showed only mild deficits in phonological processing compared with typical children. Conclusions These results support the view that SLI and dyslexia are distinct but potentially comorbid developmental language disorders. A deficit in phonological processing is closely associated with dyslexia but not with SLI when it occurs in the absence of dyslexia. PMID:16478378

Distinguishing response to names in Rett and MECP2 Duplication syndrome: An ERP study of auditory social information processing.

PubMed

Peters, Sarika U; Katzenstein, Ashley; Jones, Dorita; Key, Alexandra P

2017-11-15

Despite significant advances at the level of basic research, the characterization of higher-level processes in Rett and MECP2 Duplication syndrome remains understudied. In this pilot study, we assessed social-emotional information processing by testing whether children (ages 4-12years) with Rett (n=9) and MECP2 Duplication syndrome (n=7) distinguished their own spoken name from other names. We hypothesized that own and familiar names would elicit more positive parietal P300 responses than unknown names, and that the groups would have different neural responses to these stimuli. The MECP2 Duplication group partially mirrored the parietal responses to own name observed in typically developing participants, and better name discrimination correlated with more adaptive behaviors. Conversely, participants with RTT did not resemble the typical group, and showed greater responses to close other names at frontal/central regions. These results may reflect the different consequences of too much (MECP2 Duplication) vs. too little (RTT) MeCP2 protein. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for parents of young children with developmental delays: implications for parental mental health and child behavior problems.

PubMed

Neece, Cameron L

2014-03-01

Parents of children with developmental delays (DD) typically report elevated levels of parental stress compared with parents of typically developing children. Children with DD are also at high risk for exhibiting significant behaviour problems. Parental stress has been shown to impact the development of these behaviour problems; however, it is rarely addressed in interventions aimed at reducing child behaviour problems. The current study examined the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for parents of children with DD by investigating whether this intervention is effective in reducing parenting stress and whether decreases in parenting stress lead to reductions in behaviour problems among children with DD. Forty six parents of children with DD were randomly assigned to an immediate treatment or wait list-control group. Participants completed questionnaires assessing parental stress and child behaviour problems at intake and at a second assessment, which took place after only the immediate treatment group had received the MBSR. Parents who participated in MBSR reported significantly less stress and depression as well as greater life satisfaction compared with wait list-control parents. Regarding child outcomes, children whose parents participated in MBSR were reported to have fewer behaviour problems following the intervention, specifically in the areas of attention problems and ADHD symptomatology. Results indicated that MBSR may be an effective intervention for ameliorating parental stress and mental health problems among parents of children with DD. Additionally, these benefits may 'spill over' and improve behaviour challenges among these children. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Word structures of Granada Spanish-speaking preschoolers with typical versus protracted phonological development.

PubMed

Bernhardt, B May; Hanson, R; Perez, D; Ávila, C; Lleó, C; Stemberger, J P; Carballo, G; Mendoza, E; Fresneda, D; Chávez-Peón, M

2015-01-01

Research on children's word structure development is limited. Yet, phonological intervention aims to accelerate the acquisition of both speech-sounds and word structure, such as word length, stress or shapes in CV sequences. Until normative studies and meta-analyses provide in-depth information on this topic, smaller investigations can provide initial benchmarks for clinical purposes. To provide preliminary reference data for word structure development in a variety of Spanish with highly restricted coda use: Granada Spanish (similar to many Hispano-American varieties). To be clinically applicable, such data would need to show differences by age, developmental typicality and word structure complexity. Thus, older typically developing (TD) children were expected to show higher accuracy than younger children and those with protracted phonological development (PPD). Complex or phonologically marked forms (e.g. multisyllabic words, clusters) were expected to be late developing. Participants were 59 children aged 3-5 years in Granada, Spain: 30 TD children, and 29 with PPD and no additional language impairments. Single words were digitally recorded by a native Spanish speaker using a 103-word list and transcribed by native Spanish speakers, with confirmation by a second transcriber team and acoustic analysis. The program Phon 1.5 provided quantitative data. In accordance with expectations, the TD and older age groups had better-established word structures than the younger children and those with PPD. Complexity was also relevant: more structural mismatches occurred in multisyllabic words, initial unstressed syllables and clusters. Heterosyllabic consonant sequences were more accurate than syllable-initial sequences. The most common structural mismatch pattern overall was consonant deletion, with syllable deletion most common in 3-year-olds and children with PPD. The current study provides preliminary reference data for word structure development in a Spanish variety with restricted coda use, both by age and types of word structures. Between ages 3 and 5 years, global measures (whole word match, word shape match) distinguished children with typical versus protracted phonological development. By age 4, children with typical development showed near-mastery of word structures, whereas 4- and 5-year-olds with PPD continued to show syllable deletion and cluster reduction, especially in multisyllabic words. The results underline the relevance of multisyllabic words and words with clusters in Spanish phonological assessment and the utility of word structure data for identification of protracted phonological development. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Identifying Effective and Sustainable Measures for Community-Based Environmental Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKay, Ariana J.; Johnson, Chris J.

2017-09-01

Resource development projects typically result in monitoring programs that fail to fully consider the values and participation of surrounding communities. Also, monitoring protocols for single environmental values can be insufficient for addressing the cumulative impacts of resource development. Community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) has emerged as a way to meaningfully include local citizens in the decision-making process and assessment of the development of natural resources. Our research explored how to develop effective and sustainable CBEM. Interviews were conducted with staff from 15 CBEM programs established across Canada to identify criteria of what constitutes effective CBEM. Results demonstrate that CBEM offers an effective, locally adapted, and culturally applicable approach to facilitate community participation in natural resource management and to track environmental change. Benefits of CBEM include: locally relevant monitoring protocols, inclusion of cumulative impacts, better informed decision-making, and increased awareness and collaboration amongst community, governments, and proponents. Challenges associated with CBEM are cost, capacity, longevity, distribution of results, and establishing credibility. This research validates the use of CBEM for improving resource management.

The profile of social functioning in children with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Næss, Kari-Anne B; Nygaard, Egil; Ostad, Johanne; Dolva, Anne-Stine; Lyster, Solveig-Alma Halaas

2017-06-01

Practitioners and researchers have asserted for decades that social functioning is a strength in children with Down syndrome (DS). Nevertheless, some studies have concluded that children with DS may be at greater risk of impaired social functioning compared to typically developing controls. This cross-sectional study explores the profile of social functioning (social capabilities and social problems) in six-year-old children with DS, compares it with that of typically developing children and reveals possible differences in predictors between groups. Parental reports and clinical tests were utilized. The children with DS had generally weaker social capabilities compared to nonverbal mental age-matched controls, but no significant differences were found for social interactive play, community functioning and prosocial behaviour. No significant differences in predictors for social capabilities between the groups were found. The children with DS had more social problems than the typically developing controls with a similar chronological age and those with a similar nonverbal mental age, but no significant differences in emotional symptoms were found between the children with DS and either comparison group. Vocabulary was a more important predictor of social problems in the children with DS than in the typically developing control groups. Interventions for children with DS should strongly focus on integrating vocabulary skills and social functioning starting at an early age. Implications for Rehabilitation Children with Down syndrome need help and support in social functioning. Systematic training to optimize social capabilities and to prevent social problems should be prioritized. Structured and explicit learning of words important for social interaction with peers and for conflict solutions should be emphasized. Integrated interventions focusing on social functioning and vocabulary should begin in preschool to prepare children for participation in mainstream education.

Test-retest reliability of the assessment of postural stability in typically developing children and in hearing impaired children.

PubMed

De Kegel, A; Dhooge, I; Cambier, D; Baetens, T; Palmans, T; Van Waelvelde, H

2011-04-01

The purpose of this study was to establish test-retest reliability of centre of pressure (COP) measurements obtained by an AccuGait portable forceplate (ACG), mean COG sway velocity measured by a Basic Balance Master (BBM) and clinical balance tests in children with and without balance difficulties. 49 typically developing children and 23 hearing impaired children, with a higher risk for stability problems, between 6 and 12 years of age participated. Each child performed the modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance (mCTSIB), Unilateral Stance (US) and Tandem Stance on ACG, mCTSIB and US on BBM and clinical balance tests: one-leg standing, balance beam walking and one-leg hopping. All subjects completed 2 test sessions on 2 different days in the same week assessed by the same examiner. Among COP measurements obtained by the ACG, mean sway velocity was the most reliable parameter with all ICCs higher than 0.72. The standard deviation (SD) of sway velocity, sway area, SD of anterior-posterior and SD of medio-lateral COP data showed moderate to excellent reliability with ICCs between 0.55 and 0.96 but some caution must be taken into account in some conditions. BBM is less reliable but clinical balance tests are as reliable as ACG. Hearing impaired children exhibited better relative reliability (ICC) and comparable absolute reliability (SEM) for most balance parameters compared to typically developing children. Reliable information regarding postural stability of typically developing children and hearing impaired children may be obtained utilizing COP measurements generated by an AccuGait system and clinical balance tests. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Australian children with cleft palate achieve age-appropriate speech by 5 years of age.

PubMed

Chacon, Antonia; Parkin, Melissa; Broome, Kate; Purcell, Alison

2017-12-01

Children with cleft palate demonstrate atypical speech sound development, which can influence their intelligibility, literacy and learning. There is limited documentation regarding how speech sound errors change over time in cleft palate speech and the effect that these errors have upon mono-versus polysyllabic word production. The objective of this study was to examine the phonetic and phonological speech skills of children with cleft palate at ages 3 and 5. A cross-sectional observational design was used. Eligible participants were aged 3 or 5 years with a repaired cleft palate. The Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) Articulation subtest and a non-standardised list of mono- and polysyllabic words were administered once for each child. The Profile of Phonology (PROPH) was used to analyse each child's speech. N = 51 children with cleft palate participated in the study. Three-year-old children with cleft palate produced significantly more speech errors than their typically-developing peers, but no difference was apparent at 5 years. The 5-year-olds demonstrated greater phonetic and phonological accuracy than the 3-year-old children. Polysyllabic words were more affected by errors than monosyllables in the 3-year-old group only. Children with cleft palate are prone to phonetic and phonological speech errors in their preschool years. Most of these speech errors approximate typically-developing children by 5 years. At 3 years, word shape has an influence upon phonological speech accuracy. Speech pathology intervention is indicated to support the intelligibility of these children from their earliest stages of development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Extracurricular activities and the development of social skills in children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities.

PubMed

Brooks, B A; Floyd, F; Robins, D L; Chan, W Y

2015-07-01

Children with intellectual disability and specific learning disabilities often lack age-appropriate social skills, which disrupts their social functioning. Because of the limited effectiveness of classroom mainstreaming and social skills training for these children, it is important to explore alternative opportunities for social skill acquisition. Participation in social activities is positively related to children's social adjustment, but little is known about the benefits of activity participation for children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities. This study investigated the association between frequency and type of social activity participation and the social competence of 8-11-year-old children with intellectual disability (n = 40) and specific learning disabilities (n = 53), in comparison with typically developing peers (n = 24). More time involved in unstructured activities, but not structured activities, was associated with higher levels of social competence for all children. This association was strongest for children with intellectual disability, suggesting that participation in unstructured social activities was most beneficial for these children. Future research on the quality of involvement is necessary to further understand specific aspects of unstructured activities that might facilitate social development. © 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Preliminary evaluation of a commercially available videogame system as an adjunct therapeutic intervention for improving balance among children and adolescents with lower limb amputations.

PubMed

Andrysek, Jan; Klejman, Susan; Steinnagel, Bryan; Torres-Moreno, Ricardo; Zabjek, Karl F; Salbach, Nancy M; Moody, Kim

2012-02-01

To examine the safety, feasibility, and balance performance effects of a 4-week home-based balance therapy program using a commercially available videogame system. A pilot study involving a preintervention and postintervention design was conducted with measurements taken at baseline, immediately postintervention (week 5), and at follow-up (week 13) for retention. University hospital outpatient clinic and participants' places of residence. Children and adolescents with unilateral lower limb amputation (n=6; 3 transfemoral [TF] and 3 Van Ness) and age-matched, typically developing individuals (n=10) for baseline comparison. Two videogames involving weight shifting in standing were each played at home for 20 min/d, 4d/wk for a period of 4 weeks. A physical therapist provided initial instruction and monitoring. Postural control characteristics using center of pressure (COP) displacements during quiet standing; functional balance using the Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CB&M); and compliance, safety, and feasibility using custom questionnaires. Average playing times for the first 3 weeks ranged from 16.0 to 21.1 minutes for the 2 games. At baseline, the children and adolescents with TF amputation had substantially greater COP displacements than the Van Ness group and typically developing children and adolescents. Immediately postintervention, the COP displacements decreased in the TF amputees, resulting in values that were closer to those of the typically developing children. The average increase in CB&M score from baseline to follow-up was 6 points across participants. In-home, videogame-based balance training therapies can achieve excellent compliance in children and adolescents with lower limb amputation. With proper instructions and monitoring, the therapeutic intervention can be safely administered. Some improvements in postural control characteristics were seen in children and adolescents with balance deficits immediately postintervention, but long-term retention remains unclear. Copyright © 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Profile of refractive errors in European Caucasian children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder; increased prevalence and magnitude of astigmatism.

PubMed

Anketell, Pamela M; Saunders, Kathryn J; Gallagher, Stephen; Bailey, Clare; Little, Julie-Anne

2016-07-01

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairment of communication, social interaction and repetitive behaviours. Only a small number of studies have investigated fundamental clinical measures of vision including refractive error. The aim of this study was to describe the refractive profile of a population of children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. Refractive error was assessed using the Shin-Nippon NVision-K 5001 open-field autorefractor following the instillation of cyclopentolate hydrochloride 1% eye drops. A total of 128 participants with ASD (mean age 10.9 ± 3.3 years) and 206 typically developing participants (11.5 ± 3.1 years) were recruited. There was no significant difference in median refractive error, either by spherical equivalent or most ametropic meridian between the ASD and TD groups (Spherical equivalent, Mann-Whitney U307 = 1.15, p = 0.25; Most Ametropic Meridian, U305 = 0.52, p = 0.60). Median refractive astigmatism was -0.50DC (range 0.00 to -3.50DC) for the ASD group and -0.50DC (Range 0.00 to -2.25DC) for the TD group. Magnitude and prevalence of refractive astigmatism (defined as astigmatism ≥1.00DC) was significantly greater in the ASD group compared to the typically developing group (ASD 26%, TD 8%, magnitude U305 = 3.86, p = 0.0001; prevalence (χ12=17.71 , p < 0.0001). This is the first study to describe the refractive profile of a population of European Caucasian children with ASD compared to a TD population of children. Unlike other neurodevelopmental conditions, there was no increased prevalence of spherical refractive errors in ASD but astigmatic errors were significantly greater in magnitude and prevalence. This highlights the need to examine refractive errors in this population. © 2016 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2016 The College of Optometrists.

Sex differences in pain anchors revisited: further investigation of "most intense" and common pain events.

PubMed

Robinson, Michael E; George, Steven Z; Dannecker, Erin A; Jump, Rebecca L; Hirsh, Adam T; Gagnon, Christine M; Brown, Jennifer L

2004-08-01

Recent research suggests that the interpretation of maximal endpoints of pain scales vary between sexes. The purposes of this study were to investigate sex differences in (a) maximal endpoints of pain scales and (b) bias, discrimination, and the "better than average effect" for ratings of common pain events. Study participants described and rated the intensity of events that were the "most intense pain imaginable" for the typical woman, typical man, and one's self. Study participants also described and rated the intensity of the "most painful" events they had experienced. Study participants completed the situational pain questionnaire (SPQ), which measured the amount of pain that the typical woman, typical man, or one's self would be expected to experience during thirty common painful events. One hundred and fifteen undergraduate psychology students completed this study. Men and women differed in the categories of events selected for most intense pain imaginable for one's self. There were no significant sex differences for the intensity of most intense self-imagined pain or most painful event experienced. However, women were more likely to report the intensity of their worst self-imagined pain event as 100/100. In addition, only women demonstrated a significant correlation between the intensity of most painful self-experienced event and intensity of most intense self-imagined event. Analyses of the SPQ discrimination scores revealed no sex or version differences. Analyses of the SPQ bias scores showed that both sexes indicated that the typical woman would rate the intensity of common pain events higher than would the typical man. Women rated the intensity of common pain events for themselves lower than for the typical woman, but higher than the typical man, and men rated also rated themselves as lower than the typical women, but the same as the typical man. Thus, there was inconsistent support for the "better than average effect". Future research is needed to determine the clinical relevance of sex differences in pain anchors and gender-related stereotypes for evaluating other people's pain.

Predicting Weight Outcomes in Preadolescence: The Role of Toddlers’ Self-regulation Skills and the Temperament Dimension of Pleasure

PubMed Central

Graziano, Paulo A.; Kelleher, Rachael; Calkins, Susan D.; Keane, Susan P.; Brien, Marion O

2012-01-01

Objective To investigate the role of toddlers’ self-regulation skills and temperament in predicting weight outcomes in preadolescence. Method Participants for this study included 195 children (114 girls) obtained from three different cohorts participating in a larger ongoing longitudinal study. At 2 years of age, participants participated in several laboratory tasks designed to assess their self-regulation abilities, including emotion regulation, sustained attention, and delay of gratification, while parents filled out a temperament questionnaire to assess toddlers’ pleasure expression. Height and weight measures were collected when children were 4, 5, 7, and 10 years of age. Children also filled out a body image and eating questionnaire at the 10 year visit. Results Self-regulation skills in toddlers were associated with both BMI development, pediatric obesity, and body image/eating concerns. The temperament dimension of pleasure was also associated with BMI development and pediatric obesity but not body image/eating concerns. Conclusion Self-regulation difficulties across domains as well as temperament based pleasure in toddlers represented significant individual risk factors for the development of pediatric obesity eight years later. Early self-regulation difficulties also contributed to body image and eating concerns that typically accompanied overweight children. The mechanisms by which early self-regulation skills and temperament based pleasure may contribute to the development of pediatric obesity and associated weight concerns are discussed. PMID:23044856

[Social inequality and participation in aging urban societies].

PubMed

Rüssler, H; Köster, D; Heite, E; Stiel, J

2013-06-01

The social and political participation of elderly people is characterized by social inequality. Participation processes normally consolidate and intensify the exclusion of senior citizens having low incomes and low educational qualifications. In the research and development project "Quality of Life of Elderly People in Living Quarters" being conducted by Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, one of the questions being examined is whether and to what extent socially disadvantaged elderly people in a social space typical of the Ruhr region (reference area Gelsenkirchen-Schalke) can be included in the shaping of their quarter. This paper is based on the results of a quantitative, written survey (cross-section) on the subjects of quality of life and participation, and on a trend analysis measuring the effects of participation processes initiated on the elderly persons involved. The results of the study show that it is possible to involve socially disadvantaged elderly people in participation processes geared to the specific social space. They also indicate that elderly people from different income groups increase their social capital in the context of enabling structures.

Exercise Performance and Corticospinal Excitability during Action Observation

PubMed Central

Wrightson, James G.; Twomey, Rosie; Smeeton, Nicholas J.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Observation of a model performing fast exercise improves simultaneous exercise performance; however, the precise mechanism underpinning this effect is unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the speed of the observed exercise influenced both upper body exercise performance and the activation of a cortical action observation network (AON). Method: In Experiment 1, 10 participants completed a 5 km time trial on an arm-crank ergometer whilst observing a blank screen (no-video) and a model performing exercise at both a typical (i.e., individual mean cadence during baseline time trial) and 15% faster than typical speed. In Experiment 2, 11 participants performed arm crank exercise whilst observing exercise at typical speed, 15% slower and 15% faster than typical speed. In Experiment 3, 11 participants observed the typical, slow and fast exercise, and a no-video, whilst corticospinal excitability was assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Results: In Experiment 1, performance time decreased and mean power increased, during observation of the fast exercise compared to the no-video condition. In Experiment 2, cadence and power increased during observation of the fast exercise compared to the typical speed exercise but there was no effect of observation of slow exercise on exercise behavior. In Experiment 3, observation of exercise increased corticospinal excitability; however, there was no difference between the exercise speeds. Conclusion: Observation of fast exercise improves simultaneous upper-body exercise performance. However, because there was no effect of exercise speed on corticospinal excitability, these results suggest that these improvements are not solely due to changes in the activity of the AON. PMID:27014037

Theory of Mind Experience Sampling in Typical Adults

PubMed Central

Coffey, Anna; Povinelli, Daniel J.; Pruett, John R.

2013-01-01

We explored the frequency with which typical adults make Theory of Mind (ToM) attributions, and under what circumstances these attributions occur. We used an experience sampling method to query 30 typical adults about their everyday thoughts. Participants carried a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that prompted them to categorize their thoughts as Action, Mental State, or Miscellaneous at approximately 30 pseudo-random times during a continuous 10-hr period. Additionally, participants noted the direction of their thought (self vs. other) and degree of socializing (with people vs. alone) at the time of inquiry. We were interested in the relative frequency of ToM (mental state attributions) and how prominent they were in immediate social exchanges. Analyses of multiple choice answers suggest that typical adults: 1) spend more time thinking about actions than mental states and miscellaneous things, 2) exhibit a higher degree of own- versus other-directed thought when alone, and 3) make mental state attributions more frequently when not interacting (offline) than while interacting with others (online). A significant 3-way interaction between thought type, direction of thought, and socializing emerged because action but not mental state thoughts about others occurred more frequently when participants were interacting with people versus when alone; whereas there was an increase in the frequency of both action and mental state attributions about the self when participants were alone as opposed to socializing. A secondary analysis of coded free text responses supports findings 1–3. The results of this study help to create a more naturalistic picture of ToM use in everyday life and the method shows promise for future study of typical and atypical thought processes. PMID:23685620

Theory of Mind experience sampling in typical adults.

PubMed

Bryant, Lauren; Coffey, Anna; Povinelli, Daniel J; Pruett, John R

2013-09-01

We explored the frequency with which typical adults make Theory of Mind (ToM) attributions, and under what circumstances these attributions occur. We used an experience sampling method to query 30 typical adults about their everyday thoughts. Participants carried a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that prompted them to categorize their thoughts as Action, Mental State, or Miscellaneous at approximately 30 pseudo-random times during a continuous 10-h period. Additionally, participants noted the direction of their thought (self versus other) and degree of socializing (with people versus alone) at the time of inquiry. We were interested in the relative frequency of ToM (mental state attributions) and how prominent they were in immediate social exchanges. Analyses of multiple choice answers suggest that typical adults: (1) spend more time thinking about actions than mental states and miscellaneous things, (2) exhibit a higher degree of own- versus other-directed thought when alone, and (3) make mental state attributions more frequently when not interacting (offline) than while interacting with others (online). A significant 3-way interaction between thought type, direction of thought, and socializing emerged because action but not mental state thoughts about others occurred more frequently when participants were interacting with people versus when alone; whereas there was an increase in the frequency of both action and mental state attributions about the self when participants were alone as opposed to socializing. A secondary analysis of coded free text responses supports findings 1-3. The results of this study help to create a more naturalistic picture of ToM use in everyday life and the method shows promise for future study of typical and atypical thought processes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

“Who said that?” Matching of low- and high-intensity emotional prosody to facial expressions by adolescents with ASD

PubMed Central

Grossman, Ruth B; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2012-01-01

Data on emotion processing by individuals with ASD suggest both intact abilities and significant deficits. Signal intensity may be a contributing factor to this discrepancy. We presented low- and high-intensity emotional stimuli in a face-voice matching task to 22 adolescents with ASD and 22 typically developing (TD) peers. Participants heard semantically neutral sentences with happy, surprised, angry, and sad prosody presented at two intensity levels (low, high) and matched them to emotional faces. The facial expression choice was either across- or within-valence. Both groups were less accurate for low-intensity emotions, but the ASD participants' accuracy levels dropped off more sharply. ASD participants were significantly less accurate than their TD peers for trials involving low-intensity emotions and within-valence face contrasts. PMID:22450703

Physical Activity Levels, Frequency, and Type among Adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Stanish, Heidi I.; Curtin, Carol; Must, Aviva; Phillips, Sarah; Maslin, Melissa; Bandini, Linda G.

2017-01-01

We compared time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), type, and frequency of participation in physical activities between adolescents with ASD (n=35) and typically developing (TD) adolescents (n=60). Accelerometers measured MVPA and participants were interviewed about engagement in physical activities. Adolescents with ASD spent less time in MVPA compared to TD adolescents (29 min/day vs. 50 min/day, p<.001) and fewer met the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (14% vs. 29%, p>.05). Among adolescents <16 years old, those with ASD participated in fewer activities than TD adolescents (5.3 vs. 7.1 activities, p<.03). Walking/hiking and active video gaming were among the top activities for both groups. Findings support the need for interventions that meet the needs of youth with ASD. PMID:28066867

A descriptive study of the participation of children and adolescents in activities outside school.

PubMed

Imms, Christine; Froude, Elspeth; Adair, Brooke; Shields, Nora

2016-07-08

Knowledge about patterns of participation can be used to highlight groups of children and adolescents with low attendance, or low involvement in activities and who may therefore be at risk of mental or physical health concerns. This study used the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and the Preferences for Activity of Children (PAC) to describe the patterns of participation of children and adolescents in activities outside mandated school in Victoria, Australia. A cross-sectional survey of Victorian children and adolescents was conducted. Eligible participants were aged 6 to 18 years, enrolled in mainstream schools, with sufficient English language skills to complete the questionnaires. Parents of participants completed a demographic questionnaire. Sample representativeness was assessed against Victorian population statistics for gender, school type, language spoken at home and socio-economic status. Data for the CAPE and PAC were summarised using descriptive statistics. Patterns of activity diversity by age were assessed using curve estimation, with additional analyses to describe differences between genders. Of 9337 potential participants targeted through school advertising, 512 agreed (5.5 % consent rate), and 422 questionnaires were returned (82.4 % response rate). The sample was representative in terms of gender and language. Compared to the Victorian population, a slightly higher proportion of participants attended Government and Catholic schools and there was evidence of marginally greater socioeconomic resources than the population average. A broad range of recreational, active physical, social, skill-based and self-improvement activities were completed by all age groups. There was a reduction in the number and enjoyment of recreational activities with increasing age. In contrast, there was relative stability in intensity, frequency and preference scores across the age-groups for all activity types. Female participants typically took part in more activities (higher diversity scores), more intensely, with higher enjoyment and had higher preferences for each activity type than males, with the exception of active physical activities. This study provides evidence of the participation patterns of typically developing children and adolescents in activities outside school. The findings have implications for researchers, clinicians and educators for comparative purposes and to inform future research.

Disparities in visuo-spatial constructive abilities in Williams syndrome patients with typical deletion on chromosome 7q11.23.

PubMed

Muramatsu, Yukako; Tokita, Yoshihito; Mizuno, Seiji; Nakamura, Miho

2017-02-01

Williams syndrome (WS) is known for its uneven cognitive abilities, especially the difficulty in visuo-spatial cognition, though there are some inter-individual phenotypic differences. It has been proposed that the difficulty in visuo-spatial cognition of WS patients can be attributed to a haploinsufficiency of some genes located on the deleted region in 7q11.23, based on an examination of atypical deletions identified in WS patients with atypical cognitive deficits. According to this hypothesis, the inter-individual differences in visuo-spatial cognitive ability arise from variations in deletion. We investigated whether there were inter-individual differences in the visuo-spatial constructive abilities of five unrelated WS patients with the typical deletion on chromosome 7q11.23 that includes the candidate genes contributing visuo-spatial difficulty in WS patients. We used tests with three-dimensional factors such as Benton's three-dimensional block construction test, which are considered to be more sensitive than those with only two-dimensional factors. There were diverse inter-individual differences in the visuo-spatial constructive abilities among the present participants who shared the same typical genomic deletion of WS. One of the participants showed almost equivalent performances to typically developing adults in those tests. In the present study, we found a wide range of cognitive abilities in visuo-spatial construction even among the patients with a common deletion pattern of WS. The findings suggest that attributing differences in the phenotypes entirely to genetic factors such as an atypical deletion may not be always correct. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content: observations of groups' roles shape stereotypes.

PubMed

Koenig, Anne M; Eagly, Alice H

2014-09-01

In applying social role theory to account for the content of a wide range of stereotypes, this research tests the proposition that observations of groups' roles determine stereotype content (Eagly & Wood, 2012). In a novel test of how stereotypes can develop from observations, preliminary research collected participants' beliefs about the occupational roles (e.g., lawyer, teacher, fast food worker, chief executive officer, store clerk, manager) in which members of social groups (e.g., Black women, Hispanics, White men, the rich, senior citizens, high school dropouts) are overrepresented relative to their numbers in the general population. These beliefs about groups' typical occupational roles proved to be generally accurate when evaluated in relation to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, correlational studies predicted participants' stereotypes of social groups from the attributes ascribed to group members' typical occupational roles (Studies 1a, 1b, and 1c), the behaviors associated with those roles (Study 2), and the occupational interest profile of the roles (Study 3). As predicted by social role theory, beliefs about the attributes of groups' typical roles were strongly related to group stereotypes on both communion and agency/competence. In addition, an experimental study (Study 4) demonstrated that when social groups were described with changes to their typical social roles in the future, their projected stereotypes were more influenced by these future roles than by their current group stereotypes, thus supporting social role theory's predictions about stereotype change. Discussion considers the implications of these findings for stereotype change and the relation of social role theory to other theories of stereotype content. 2014 APA, all rights reserved

Educational Programs for Graduate Level Learners and Professionals - National Radio Astronomy Observatory National and International Non-Traditional Exchange Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wingate, Lory Mitchell

2017-01-01

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) National and International Non-Traditional Exchange (NINE) Program teaches concepts of project management and systems engineering to chosen participants within a nine-week program held at NRAO in New Mexico. Participants are typically graduate level students or professionals. Participation in the NINE Program is through a competitive process. The program includes a hands-on service project designed to increase the participants knowledge of radio astronomy. The approach demonstrate clearly to the learner the positive net effects of following methodical approaches to achieving optimal science results.The NINE teaches participants important sustainable skills associated with constructing, operating and maintaining radio astronomy observatories. NINE Program learners are expected to return to their host sites and implement the program in their own location as a NINE Hub. This requires forming a committed relationship (through a formal Letter of Agreement), establishing a site location, and developing a program that takes into consideration the needs of the community they represent. The anticipated outcome of this program is worldwide partnerships with fast growing radio astronomy communities designed to facilitate the exchange of staff and the mentoring of under-represented groups of learners, thereby developing a strong pipeline of global talent to construct, operate and maintain radio astronomy observatories.

Comparing service use and costs among adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, special needs and typical development.

PubMed

Barrett, Barbara; Mosweu, Iris; Jones, Catherine Rg; Charman, Tony; Baird, Gillian; Simonoff, Emily; Pickles, Andrew; Happé, Francesca; Byford, Sarah

2015-07-01

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex condition that requires specialised care. Knowledge of the costs of autism spectrum disorder, especially in comparison with other conditions, may be useful to galvanise policymakers and leverage investment in education and intervention to mitigate aspects of autism spectrum disorder that negatively impact individuals with the disorder and their families. This article describes the services and associated costs for four groups of individuals: adolescents with autistic disorder, adolescents with other autism spectrum disorders, adolescents with other special educational needs and typically developing adolescents using data from a large, well-characterised cohort assessed as part of the UK Special Needs and Autism Project at the age of 12 years. Average total costs per participant over 6 months were highest in the autistic disorder group (£11,029), followed by the special educational needs group (£9268), the broader autism spectrum disorder group (£8968) and the typically developing group (£2954). Specialised day or residential schooling accounted for the vast majority of costs. In regression analysis, lower age and lower adaptive functioning were associated with higher costs in the groups with an autism spectrum disorder. Sex, ethnicity, number of International Classification of Diseases (10th revision) symptoms, autism spectrum disorder symptom scores and levels of mental health difficulties were not associated with cost. © The Author(s) 2014.

Imitation of body postures and hand movements in children with specific language impairment.

PubMed

Marton, Klara

2009-01-01

Within the domain-general theory of language impairment, this study examined body posture and hand movement imitation in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and in their age-matched peers. Participants included 40 children with SLI (5 years 3 months to 6 years 10 months of age) and 40 children with typical language development (5 years 3 months to 6 years 7 months of age). Five tests were used to examine imitation and its underlying cognitive and motor skills such as kinesthesia, working memory, and gross motor coordination. It was hypothesized that children with SLI show a weakness in imitation of body postures and that this deficit is not equally influenced by the underlying cognitive and motor skills. There was a group effect in each cognitive and motor task, but only gross motor coordination proved to be a strong predictor of imitation in children with SLI. In contrast, hand movement imitation was strongly predicted by performance in the Kinesthesia task in typically developing children. Thus, the findings show not only that children with SLI performed more poorly on the imitation tasks than their typically developing peers but also that the groups' performances showed qualitative differences. The results of the current study provide additional support to the view that the weaknesses in children with SLI are not limited to the verbal domain.