What Facilitates Social Engagement in Preschool Children with Autism?

We studied the association between an adult’s behavior and episodes of social engagement (ESEs) in young children with autism during play-based assessment. ESEs were defined as events in which a child looked toward the adult’s face and simultaneously showed an additional form of communicative behavior. The adult’s behavior before each ESE, and before time-sampled control periods, was rated using Coding Active Sociability in Preschoolers with Autism (CASPA). As predicted, adult musical/motoric activity, communications that followed the child’s focus of attention, scaffolding through social routines, imitations of the child, and adult repetitions were significantly more prevalent before ESEs, but cognitive assessment activities, adult inactivity, and “ignoring” were significantly less prevalent. We consider the implications for understanding the developmental psychopathology of autism.     

Does an Autism Spectrum Disorder Care Pathway Improve Care for Children and Adolescents with ASD in Inpatient Psychiatric Units?

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are psychiatrically hospitalized at high rates. Though specialized psychiatric units are effective, few specialized units exist. The ASD Care Pathway (ASD-CP) was developed as a scalable approach to improving care in general psychiatric units through staff training and a package of autism-specific intervention strategies. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the ASD-CP in a public hospital child psychiatric service compared 18 months (n?=?17) versus 18 months (n?=?20) post implementation. Average length of hospital stay decreased 40% (22.4–13.4 days) and use of crisis interventions decreased 77% (holds/restraints; 0.65/day to 0.15/day), though each result only approached statistical significance (p?=?0.07; 0.057). This study provides preliminary evidence for improved outcomes after implementation of an ASD-CP.     

Classroom Teachers’ Implementation of the Social Stations Intervention to Improve the Verbal Initiations and Responses of Students with Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Students with autism often show challenges in social communication, particularly in initiating and responding behaviors. While the classroom offers a...     

Preschoolers’ Social Skills: Advances in Assessment for Intervention Using Social Behavior Ratings

Social skills play an important role in young children’s successes in and outside of school. For two decades, educators have used the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990) as a tool for describing children’s social behaviors and for planning interventions to improve social skills. Although widely used, some researchers have criticized certain aspects of the preschool version of the SSRS. In 2008, a revision of the instrument, the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSiS-RS; Gresham & Elliott), was published. In this article, we examine the development of the preschool versions of SSRS and SSiS-RS and provide a comparison of the two rating systems, focusing on the content, structure, psychometric properties, and intended use of the instruments. We then describe the SSiS-RS within an assessment for intervention model. We conclude that the SSiS-RS is an improved assessment instrument over the preschool SSRS and provide recommendations for future studies that will contribute to the evolving validity evidence for the resulting scores and decisions made from them.     

Examining the Effectiveness of an Outpatient Clinic–Based Social Skills Group for High-Functioning Children with Autism

Although social skills group interventions for children with autism are common in outpatient clinic settings, little research has been conducted to determine the efficacy of such treatments. This study examined the effectiveness of an outpatient clinic-based social skills group intervention with four high-functioning elementary-aged children with autism. The group was designed to teach specific social skills, including greeting, conversation, and play skills in a brief therapy format (eight sessions total). At the end of each skills-training session, children with autism were observed in play sessions with typical peers. Typical peers received peer education about ways to interact with children with autism. Results indicate that a social skills group implemented in an outpatient clinic setting was effective in improving greeting and play skills, with less clear improvements noted in conversation skills. In addition, children with autism reported increased feelings of social support from classmates at school following participation in the group. However, parent report data of greeting, conversation, and play skills outside of the clinic setting indicated significant improvements in only greeting skills. Thus, although the clinic-based intervention led to improvements in social skills, fewer changes were noted in the generalization to nonclinic settings.     

Assessing the Accuracy of the Modi?ed Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scale and Social Responsiveness Scale for Screening Autism Spectrum Disorder in Chinese Children

The reported prevalence of autism spectrum disorder(ASD) has been increasing rapidly in many parts of the world. However, data on its prevalence in China are largely missing. Here, we assessed the suitability of the modi?ed Chinese version of a newly-developed ASD screening tool, the Modi?ed Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scales(MC-ASRS) in screening for ASD in Chi nese children aged 6–12 years, through comparison with the Social Responsiveness Scale(SRS) that has been widely used for ASD screening. We recruited the par ents/caregivers of 1588 typically-developing children and190 children with ASD aged 6–12 years to complete the MC-ASRS and SRS, and evaluated the validity of both scales in discriminating children with ASD from those developing typically. The results showed that MC-ASRSperformed as well as SRS in sensitivity, speci?city, and area-under-the-curve(both [0.95) in receiver operating characteristic analysis, with a fair false-negative rate.These results suggest that MC-ASRS is a promising tool for screening for children with ASD in the general Chinese population.     

Long-Term Treatment Outcomes of PEERS® for Preschoolers: A Parent-Mediated Social Skills Training Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Although parent-assisted social skills interventions may reduce early social challenges in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder...     

A Replication and Extension of the PEERS® for Young Adults Social Skills Intervention: Examining Effects on Social Skills and Social Anxiety in Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Young adults with ASD experience difficulties with social skills, empathy, loneliness, and social anxiety. One intervention, PEERS® for Young Adults, shows promise in addressing these challenges. The present study replicated and extended the original study by recruiting a larger sample (N?=?56), employing a gold standard ASD assessment tool, and examining changes in social anxiety utilizing a randomized controlled trial design. Results indicated improvements in social responsiveness (SSIS-RS SS, p?=?.006 and CPB, p?=?.005; SRS, p?=?.004), PEERS® knowledge (TYASSK, p?=?.001), empathy (EQ, p?=?.044), direct interactions (QSQ-YA, p?=?.059), and social anxiety (LSAS-SR, p?=?.019). Findings demonstrate further empirical support for the intervention for individuals with ASD.     

How to Implement Robots in Interventions for Children with Autism? A Co-creation Study Involving People with Autism,Parents and Professionals

The aim of this study was to gain insight into how robots can be practically implemented into current education and therapy interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This qualitative study included focus groups and co-creation sessions. 73 Participants (professionals and adults with ASD) took part in 13 focus groups to elicit requirements for robot assisted interventions. Additionally, 22 participants (professionals, parents of children with ASD and adults with ASD) generated ideas for interventions using robot KASPAR in three co-creation sessions. This study resulted in: an overview of requirements concerning the robot, end-user, environment and practical implementation; a template to systematically describe robot interventions in general and for KASPAR in particular; and finally new interventions.     

Involvement or Isolation? The Social Networks of Children with Autism in Regular Classrooms

Including children with autism in regular classrooms has become prevalent; yet some evidence suggests such placements could increase the risk of isolation and rejection. In this study, we used social network methods to explore the involvement of children with autism in typical classrooms. Participants were 398 children (196 boys) in regular 2nd through 5th grade classes, including 17 children (14 boys) with high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome. Children reported on friendship qualities, peer acceptance, loneliness, and classroom social networks. Despite involvement in networks, children with autism experienced lower centrality, acceptance, companionship, and reciprocity; yet they did not report greater loneliness. Future research is needed to help children with autism move from the periphery to more effective engagement with peers.     

Teachers’ Peer Buddy Selections for Children with Autism: Social Characteristics and Relationship with Peer Nominations

We examined social and behavioral characteristics of children selected by their teachers to serve as peer buddies for a child with autism. Thirty-one general education teachers and 576 children from five public elementary schools completed social status, behavioral, and peer buddy nomination measures. When compared to non-selected students, teacher selected buddies were: (a) more often boys, (b) popular, and (c) viewed as prosocial leaders by their peers. Agreement between teacher and peer nominations of social status and behavioral characteristics ranged from low to high; agreement between teacher and peer selected buddies was moderate.     

Comparing Acquisition of AAC-Based Mands in Three Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using iPad® Applications with Different Display and Design Elements

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) applications may differ in their use of display and design elements. Using a multielement design, this study compared mand acquisition in three preschool-aged males with autism spectrum disorder, across three different displays in two iPad^® AAC applications. Displays included a Widgit symbol button (GoTalk), a photographical hotspot (Scene and Heard), and a Widgit symbol button along with a photograph (Scene and Heard). Applications had additional design differences. Two participants showed more rapid and consistent acquisition with the photographical hotspot than with the symbol button format, but did not master the combined format. The third participant mastered all three conditions at comparable rates. Results suggest that AAC display and design elements may influence mand acquisition.     

The Problem with Using Eye-Gaze to Infer Desire: A Deficit of Cue Inference in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Children with autism respond atypically to eye-gaze cues, arguably because they fail to understand that eye-gaze conveys mentalistic information. Three experiments investigated whether a difficulty in inferring desire from eye-gaze in autism reflects a failure to understand the mentalistic significance of eye-gaze, an inhibitory deficit or a deficit of cue inference. While there was an inhibitory component to the tasks, children with autism were no more affected by this than controls. In addition, individuals' impairment in inferring desire was not limited to social cues, but was also observed when desire was cued by more general cues. Consequently, children with autism may have a general deficit in using arbitrary cues to make inferences, which impacts particularly on their social development.     

Does the Presence of Anxiety and ADHD Symptoms Add to Social Impairment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience internalizing and externalizing problems at higher rates than typically developing children, which could worsen social impairment. The present study compared impairment scores (social responsiveness scale, 2nd edition; SRS-2 scores) in 57 children (3–17 years, 82.5% male) with ASD, either with or without heightened levels of anxiety or ADHD symptoms, all per parent report. Children with heightened anxiety problems showed higher scores on four SRS-2 subscales (Social Cognition, Social Communication, Social Motivation, and Restricted Interests and Repetitive Behavior). Children with heightened ADHD traits showed higher scores on two subscales (Social Communication and Social Awareness). These findings suggest similarities and differences in how social deficits in ASD may worsen with anxiety or ADHD symptoms.     

Skin Conductance Responses to Another Person’s Gaze in Children with Autism

The effects of another person’s gaze on physiological arousal were investigated by measuring skin conductance responses (SCR). Twelve able children with autism and 12 control children were shown face stimuli with straight gaze (eye contact) or averted gaze on a computer monitor. In children with autism, the responses to straight gaze were stronger than responses to averted gaze, whereas there was no difference in the responses to these gaze conditions in normally developing children. Thus, these results showed that eye gaze elicited differential pattern of SCR in normally developing children and in children with autism. It is possible that the enhanced arousal to eye contact may contribute to the abnormal gaze behaviour frequently reported in the context of autism.     

Are Children with Autism More Responsive to Animated Characters? A Study of Interactions with Humans and Human-Controlled Avatars

Few direct comparisons have been made between the responsiveness of children with autism to computer-generated or animated characters and their responsiveness to humans. Twelve 4- to 8-year-old children with autism interacted with a human therapist; a human-controlled, interactive avatar in a theme park; a human actor speaking like the avatar; and cartoon characters who sought social responses. We found superior gestural and verbal responses to the therapist; intermediate response levels to the avatar and the actor; and poorest responses to the cartoon characters, although attention was equivalent across conditions. These results suggest that even avatars that provide live, responsive interactions are not superior to human therapists in eliciting verbal and non-verbal communication from children with autism in this age range.