Cognitive Deficits in Parents from Multiple-incidence Autism Families

This study compares parents of two autistic children with parents of a Down syndrome (DS) proband, on tests of intelligence, reading and spelling, and executive function. Autism parents performed significantly worse than DS parents on performance IQ, a test of executive function, and some reading measures (e.g. passage comprehension and rapid automatized naming). These results suggest that cognitive deficits may be an expression of the underlying genetic liability for autism and that these characteristics may contribute to a more broadly defined autism phenotype.     

Towards a Cognitive Phenotype for Autism: Increased Prevalence of Executive Dysfunction and Superior Spatial Span amongst Siblings of Children with Autism

Two studies were conducted to examine executive function skills in siblings of children with autism. In Study 1, four computerised tasks (three executive tasks: the ID/ED set-shifting task; a spatial working memory task; and the Tower of London planning task; and a control spatial span task) from the CANTAB battery were used to compare 31 siblings of children with autism with 32 siblings of children with developmental delay and 32 children from unaffected families. In Study 2, the two sibling groups were compared on two manually administered executive tasks (verbal fluency and list recall). As a group, autism siblings showed superior spatial and verbal span, but a greater than expected number performed poorly on the set-shifting, planning, and verbal fluency tasks. There were no group differences in working memory performance. The implications of these findings for the broader phenotype of autism is discussed.     

A Broader Phenotype of Autism: The Clinical Spectrum in Twins

The diagnostic boundaries of the behavioural phenotype for autism were examined in 28 MZ pairs and 20 DZ same-sex twin pairs, where one or both twins had autism. In the non-autistic cotwin (i.e. In twin pairs discordant for autism) it was common to find language impairments in childhood and social deficits persisting into adulthood. Concordance for this broader phenotype was much greater in MZ pairs than DZ pairs, indicating a strong genetic component. Behavioural and cognitive manifestations of autism were compared both within and between MZ twin pairs. The variation was as great within MZ twin pairs as between pairs, suggesting that it does not index genetic heterogeneity (although aetiological heterogeneity probably exists). Current diagnostic practices need re-evaluation.     

Social-cognition and the broad autism phenotype: identifying genetically meaningful phenotypes

BACKGROUND: Strong evidence from twin and family studies suggests that the genetic liability to autism may be expressed through personality and language characteristics qualitatively similar, but more subtly expressed than those defining the full syndrome. This study examined behavioral features of this 'broad autism phenotype' (BAP) in relation to performance on a measure of social-cognition in an attempt to tease out this complex clinical picture and identify markers of underlying neuropsychological systems of genetic significance to autism. We hypothesized that mild social-cognitive impairment would be associated with clinically defined social characteristics of the BAP (aloof personality style, lower quality social relationships, and impaired pragmatic language use). METHOD: Forty-eight parents of individuals with autism (13 of whom were identified as 'aloof'), and 22 control parents, were administered the 'Eyes Test', a social-cognitive measure that taps the ability to read complex psychological states from viewing only the eye region of faces. RESULTS: Whereas social-cognitive ability was unimpaired among parents of autistic children in general, the subgroup of parents defined as 'aloof' displayed significant social-cognitive deficits on the 'Eyes Test'. Impaired social-cognitive ability was associated with low quality of friendships and problems with pragmatic language use, associations which mirror those documented in autism. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that social-cognitive impairments co-segregate with conceptually related personality, social, and language features that constitute the BAP, and point towards performance on the Eyes Test as a genetically meaningful endophenotype.     

Asperger Syndrome, Autism and Attention Disorders: A Comparative Study of the Cognitive Profiles of 120 Children

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) was applied (in a Swedish version) in 120 children with Aspcrger syndrome, autistic disorder, and attention disorders. Using stepwise logistic regression analysis, the WISC's discriminating ability was investigated. The overall rate of correct diagnostic classification was 63%. Further. WISC profiles were analysed within each group. The group with autistic disorder was characterised by a peak on Block Design. The Asperger syndrome group had good verbal ability and troughs on Object Assembly and Coding, The group with attention disorders had troughs on Coding and Arithmetic. The results suggest that Kaufman's Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organisation and Freedom from Distractibility factors rather than verbal IQ and performance IQ account for the variance on the WISC. Furthermore, the Asperger syndrome and autistic disorder groups differed in respect of "fluid" and "crystallised" cognitive ability.     

Using self-report to identify the broad phenotype in parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders: a study using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient

Background:  The concept of the 'broad phenotype' of autism refers to the finding that relatives of people with autism often have mild forms of autistic-like characteristics, such as social and communicative difficulties. This study used the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a questionnaire devised to assess features of the broad phenotype in adults, with parents of people with autism, to see whether they would be more likely to obtain extreme scores than a control group.
Methods:  The AQ was administered to parents of 69 people with an autism spectrum disorder and parents of 52 controls.
Results:  On two of the five subscales of the AQ, social skills and communication, parents of people with autism obtained higher scores than control parents. The other three scales, attention to detail, attention switching, and imagination, did not differentiate groups. The correlation between social skills and communication scales was .663. The scales can be combined to give an index of broad phenotype.
Conclusions:  The AQ appears to be sensitive to the broad phenotype, provided attention is restricted to the social skills and communication scales.     

The broader language phenotype of autism: a comparison with specific language impairment

BACKGROUND: Some individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience linguistic difficulties similar to those found in individuals with specific language impairment (SLI). Whether these behaviours are indicative of a common underlying genetic cause or a superficial similarity is unclear. METHODS: Standardised language assessments were administered to three participant groups: parents of children with ASD (Par-A), parents of children with specific language/literacy impairment (Par-L) and parents of typically developing children (Par-T) (n = 30, in each group). Additionally, the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) was used to assess autism-like tendencies, in particular, social language use. RESULTS: The Par-A group performed better than the Par-L group (and identical to the Par-T group) on all language tests. Conversely, the Par-A group was characterised by higher levels of pragmatic difficulties than the other two groups, as measured by the communication subscale of the AQ. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence was found for a shared phenotype in parents of children with ASD and SLI. A model is presented describing the relation between SLI and ASD.     

On Developing Self-concepts: A Controlled Study of Children and Adolescents with Autism

This study employed the self-understanding interview of Damon and Hart (1988) to assess the self-concepts of two groups of children and adolescents: a group of individuals with autism and a group of nonautistic mentally retarded individuals who were matched for age and for verbal ability. On the basis of an hypothesis concerning the interpersonal origins of social and psychological self-concepts (Hobson, 1990; Neisser, 1988), it was predicted that the participants with autism would show a relative dearth of such concepts in their talk about themselves. In accordance with our predictions, there was a significant group difference in the number and quality of statements that fell into the social category of self-concept; contrary to our predictions, however, there was no group difference in the number of statements that fell into the psychological category. In addition, although there were not significant group differences in the overall production of verbally expressed concepts concerning self-attributes of a physical, active, or psychological kind, even within these categories individuals with autism made fewer references to social interactions or qualities. These results are discussed with regard to theories of self-concept development in typically developing as well as autistic and mentally retarded individuals, and with reference to the limitations of interpersonal understanding ("theory of mind") in people with autism.     

Coaching Mothers of Children with Autism: A Qualitative Study for Occupational Therapy Practice

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who participated in 10 one-hour coaching sessions. Coaching occurred between an occupational therapist and mother and consisted of information sharing, action, and reflection. Researchers asked 10 mothers six open-ended questions with follow-up probes related to their experiences with coaching. Themes were identified, labeled, and categorized. Themes emerged related to relationships, analysis, reflection, mindfulness, and self-efficacy. Findings indicate that parents perceive the therapist–parent relationship, along with analysis and reflection, as core features that facilitate increased mindfulness and self-efficacy. The findings suggest that how an intervention is provided can lead to positive outcomes, including increased mindfulness and self-efficacy.     

Studying Weak Central Coherence at Low Levels: Children with Autism do not Succumb to Visual Illusions. A Research Note

While anecdotal reports of abnormal perceptual experiences in autism abound, there have been to date no experimental studies showing fundamental perceptual peculiarities. The present paper reports results from a first study of low-level visual integration in autism. Twenty-five subjects with autism, 21 normal 7- and 8-year-olds, and 26 children with learning difficulties were asked to make simple judgements about six well-known visual illusions. Two conditions were used, in an attempt to explore group differences; standard two-dimensional black and white line drawings, and the same figures augmented with raised coloured lines. The subjects with autism were less likely to succumb to the two-dimensional illusions than were the other groups, and were less aided by the three-dimensional disembedded' condition. These striking results are discussed with reference to the 'central coherence' account of autism.     

Autism Under Age 3 Years: A Clinical Study of 28 Cases Referred for Autistic Symptoms in Infancy

Twenty-eight children referred with a preliminary diagnosis of autistic disorder under age 3 yrs were extensively examined from the neuropsychiatric point of view and followed up for several months to several years. A diagnosis of autistic disorder was confirmed in 75% of the cases. A variety of associated medical conditions was identified. It was concluded that autism can be diagnosed in a substantial proportion of cases before age 3 yrs and that the neurobiological background is similar to that seen in older autistic children.     

Control of Action and Thought: Normal Development and Dysfunction in Autism: A Research Note

Thirty-six children with autism, 24 children with learning difficulties (matched with the autistic group for sentence comprehension), and 41 normally-developing preschoolers were given two simple tasks: a hand-game requiring inhibitory control, and a delayed-reward situation tapping metacognitive awareness of strategies for coping with the delay period. For both clinical groups, performance on the two tasks was correlated, even when the effect of comprehension level was partialled out. However, no such correlation was observed for the preschoolers, once age was taken into account. The results are discussed in terms of potential links between executive-function and mental-state awareness.