Reduced engagement with social stimuli in 6-month-old infants with later autism spectrum disorder: a longitudinal prospective study of infants at high familial risk

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects more than 1 % of the population and close to 20 % of prospectively studied infants with an older sibling with ASD. Although significant progress has been made in characterizing the emergence of behavioral symptoms of ASD, far less is known about the underlying disruptions to early learning. Recent models suggest that core aspects of the causal path to ASD may only be apparent in early infancy. Here, we investigated social attention in 6- and 12-month-old infants who did and did not meet criteria for ASD at 24 months using both cognitive and electrophysiological methods. We hypothesized that a reduction in attention engagement to faces would be associated with later ASD.

Methods: In a prospective longitudinal design, we used measures of both visual attention (habituation) and brain function (event-related potentials to faces and objects) at 6 and 12 months and investigated the relationship to ASD outcome at 24 months.

Results: High-risk infants who met criteria for ASD at 24 months showed shorter epochs of visual attention, faster but less prolonged neural activation to faces, and delayed sensitization responses (increases in looking) to faces at 6 months; these differences were less apparent at 12 months. These findings are consistent with disrupted engagement of sustained attention to social stimuli.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that there may be fundamental early disruptions to attention engagement that may have cascading consequences for later social functioning.

Keywords: ASD; Event-related potential; Habituation; Social attention; Social information processing.

Little is known about the social behavior of children with and without autism spectrum disorder during recess. This study documented the naturally occurring recess engagement and peer interaction behaviors of children with and without autism spectrum disorder in inclusive school settings. Participants included 51 children with autism spectrum disorder and 51 classmates without autism spectrum disorder who served as peer models matched on gender, classroom, grade, age, and ethnicity. Using a timed-interval behavior-coding system, children with autism spectrum disorder spent approximately 30% of their recess time engaged in solitary activities, whereas their classmates only spent approximately 9% of recess unengaged. In addition, children with autism spectrum disorder spent about 40% of the recess period jointly engaged with peers in a reciprocal activity, conversation, or game as compared to 70% for matched classmates. These findings provide a context for which to interpret intervention outcomes and gains for children with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive settings.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; peers; playground engagement; social communication.

Although children with autism spectrum disorder are frequently included in mainstream classrooms, it is not known how their social networks change compared to typically developing children and whether the factors predictive of this change may be unique. This study identified and compared predictors of social connectivity of children with and without autism spectrum disorder using a social network analysis. Participants included 182 children with autism spectrum disorder and 152 children without autism spectrum disorder, aged 5-12 years in 152 general education K-5 classrooms. General linear models were used to compare how age, classroom size, gender, baseline connectivity, diagnosis, and intelligence quotient predicted changes in social connectivity (closeness). Gender and classroom size had a unique interaction in predicting final social connectivity and the change in connectivity for children with autism spectrum disorder; boys who were placed in larger classrooms showed increased social network fragmentation. This increased fragmentation for boys when placed in larger classrooms was not seen in typically developing boys. These results have implications regarding placement, intervention objectives, and ongoing school support that aimed to increase the social success of children with autism spectrum disorder in public schools.

2016Alycia Halladay

There is a paucity of literature examining the relationship between executive and social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty-three school-aged children with ASD participated. Executive functioning was measured using the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition and Differential Ability Scales, Second Edition, and the teacher-rated Behavior Rating of Inventory of Executive Function. Independent assessors observed children’s social functioning on the playground while children with ASD and their peers completed a survey to measure peer friendships and rejections. Overall, poorer executive functioning was associated with increased playground isolation and less engagement with peers. This suggests that metacognitive skills such as initiation, working memory, and planning and organization are associated with children’s social functioning.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Executive functioning; Social skills.

gesture, imitation, deafness, dyspraxia

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed more frequently in boys than girls, even when girls are equally symptomatic. Cutting-edge behavioral imaging has detected “camouflaging” in girls with ASD, wherein social behaviors appear superficially typical, complicating diagnosis. The present study explores a new kind of camouflage based on language differences. Pauses during conversation can be filled with words like UM or UH, but research suggests that these two words are pragmatically distinct (e.g., UM is used to signal longer pauses, and may correlate with greater social communicative sophistication than UH). Large-scale research suggests that women and younger people produce higher rates of UM during conversational pauses than do men and older people, who produce relatively more UH. Although it has been argued that children and adolescents with ASD use UM less often than typical peers, prior research has not included sufficient numbers of girls to examine whether sex explains this effect. Here, we explore UM vs. UH in school-aged boys and girls with ASD, and ask whether filled pauses relate to dimensional measures of autism symptom severity.

Methods: Sixty-five verbal school-aged participants with ASD (49 boys, 16 girls, IQ estimates in the average range) participated, along with a small comparison group of typically developing children (8 boys, 9 girls). Speech samples from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule were orthographically transcribed and time-aligned, with filled pauses marked. Parents completed the Social Communication Questionnaire and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales.

Results: Girls used UH less often than boys across both diagnostic groups. UH suppression resulted in higher UM ratios for girls than boys, and overall filled pause rates were higher for typical children than for children with ASD. Higher UM ratios correlated with better socialization in boys with ASD, but this effect was driven by increased use of UH by boys with greater symptoms.

Conclusions: Pragmatic language markers distinguish girls and boys with ASD, mirroring sex differences in the general population. One implication of this finding is that typical-sounding disfluency patterns (i.e., reduced relative UH production leading to higher UM ratios) may normalize the way girls with ASD sound relative to other children, serving as “linguistic camouflage” for a naïve listener and distinguishing them from boys with ASD. This first-of-its-kind study highlights the importance of continued commitment to understanding how sex and gender change the way that ASD manifests, and illustrates the potential of natural language to contribute to objective “behavioral imaging” diagnostics for ASD.

Keywords: Autism; Disfluency; Filled pauses; Gender differences; Language; Linguistic camouflage; Pragmatic communication; Sex differences.

Parenting children with ASD has a complex history. Given parents’ increasingly pivotal role in children’s treatment, it is critical to consider parental style and behaviours. This study (1) compares parenting style of parents of children with ASD, parents of children with anxiety disorders, and parents of typically developing (TD) children and (2) investigates contributors to parenting style within and between groups. Parents of children with anxiety had a distinct parenting style compared to ASD and TD parents. Unique relationships between child symptoms and parenting behaviours emerged across the three groups. Understanding factors that impact parenting between and within clinical groups can guide the development of interventions better tailored to support the needs of parents, particularly parents of children with ASD.

Keywords: Anxiety; Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Parenting.

Race is associated with social relationships among typically developing children; however, studies rarely examine the impact of race on social outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder. This study examined how race (African American, Latino, Asian, or White) in conjunction with disability status (autism spectrum disorders or typically developing) and grade (grades K-2 or 3-5) affects friendships and social networks. The sample comprises 85 children with autism spectrum disorders and 85 typically developing controls matched on race, gender, age/grade, and classroom (wherever possible). Race, disability, and grade each had an independent effect on friendship nominations, and there was an interaction among the three variables. Specifically, children with autism spectrum disorders who were African American or Latino in the upper elementary grades received fewer friendship nominations than typically developing White children in the lower elementary grades. Only the presence of autism spectrum disorders was associated with social network centrality. Our results also suggested that Latino children with autism spectrum disorders in the upper elementary grades were at the highest risk of social isolation. Implications for re-conceptualizing social skills interventions are discussed.

Keywords: autism; autism spectrum disorders; friendship; race; social network; social relationships.