Podcast: More on that Korea Daily mess. Plus early detection of ASD does improve outcomes.
Previous work has demonstrated that social attention is related to early language abilities. We explored whether we can facilitate word learning among children with autism by directing attention to areas of the scene that have been demonstrated as relevant for successful word learning. We tracked eye movements to faces and objects while children watched videos of a woman teaching them new words. Test trials measured participants’ recognition of these novel word-object pairings. Results indicate that for children with autism and typically developing children, pointing to the speaker’s mouth while labeling a novel object impaired performance, likely because it distracted participants from the target object. In contrast, for children with autism, holding the object close to the speaker’s mouth improved performance.
Keywords: Attention to faces; Autism; Eye-tracking; Joint attention; Word-learning.
Up to 40% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit co-occurring anxiety symptoms. Despite recent success in mitigating anxiety symptoms in school-aged children with ASD (mean age >9 years) using adapted versions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, little is known about potential treatment outcomes for younger children. To address the gap in the literature, this open-label study evaluated change in anxiety following a 16-week open-label trial of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) in children with ASD aged 4-8 years. PRT is a behavioural treatment based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis and has a primary aim of increasing social communication skills in children with ASD through natural reinforcements. To minimise conflation of anxiety and other co-occurring symptoms such as disruptive behaviour and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, we measured anxiety using the autism anxiety subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory (CASI) devised by Sukhodolsky et al. (2008). We observed significant anxiety reduction over 16-weeks of PRT. Furthermore, anxiety reduction was independent of changes in autism symptom severity. This study shows promising results for PRT as an intervention for reducing anxiety in young children with ASD.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT); anxiety.
Few evidence-based practices, defined as the use of empirically supported research and clinical expertise for children with autism, have been successfully implemented and sustained in schools. This study examined the perspectives of school personnel ( n = 39) on implementing a social engagement intervention for children with autism. Semi-structured interviews, informed by the Domitrovich et al. (2008) framework, were conducted. Participants were asked about (1) school factors that affect the general implementation of evidence-based practices, (2) their specific experiences implementing the social engagement intervention, and (3) barriers to and facilitators of implementing the social engagement intervention. Data were analyzed using an integrated approach. General (e.g. implementation process, leadership, support, and staff) and intervention-specific (e.g. staff, barriers, and facilitators) implementation themes were identified. These findings suggest that a variety of factors should be considered when implementing evidence-based practices in schools and that implementing social engagement interventions for children with autism may require additional specific support for implementation.
Keywords: autism; implementation; schools; social engagement intervention.
Background: We examined racial/ethnic disparities in school-based behavioral health service use for children with psychiatric disorders.
Methods: Medicaid claims data were used to compare the behavioral healthcare service use of 23,601 children aged 5-17 years by psychiatric disorder (autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], conduct/oppositional defiant disorder, and “other”) and by race/ethnicity (African-American, Hispanic, white, and other). Logistic and generalized linear regression analyses were used.
Results: Differences in service use by racial/ethnic group were identified within and across diagnostic groups, both for in-school service use and out-of-school service use. For all disorders, Hispanic children had significantly lower use of in-school services than white children. Among children with ADHD, African-American children were less likely to receive in-school services than white children; however, there were no differences in adjusted annual mean Medicaid expenditures for in-school services by race/ethnicity or psychiatric disorders. Statistically significant differences by race/ethnicity were found for out-of-school service use for children with ADHD and other psychiatric disorders. There were significant differences by race/ethnicity in out-of-school service use for each diagnostic group.
Conclusions: Differences in the use of school-based behavioral health services by racial and ethnic groups suggest the need for culturally appropriate outreach and tailoring of services to improve service utilization.
Keywords: Medicaid; behavioral health; health disparity; mental health; school-based health services.