Social Approach and Autistic Behavior in Children with Fragile X Syndrome

Social avoidance is a core phenotypic characteristic of fragile X syndrome (FXS) that has critical cognitive and social consequences. However, no study has examined modulation of multiple social avoidant behaviors in children with FXS. In the current study, we introduce the Social Approach Scale (SAS), an observation scale that includes physical movement, facial expression, and eye contact approach behaviors collected across multiple time points. Our findings suggested that social approach behaviors in children with FXS were affected by age, gender, setting, and time spent with an examiner. Selected social approach behaviors were related to autistic behavior. Increased eye contact over the course of a research assessment, in particular, was found to be a strong predictor of lower autistic behavior.     

Social Media and Cyber-Bullying in Autistic Adults

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Social media can lead to rejection, cyber-bullying victimisation, and cyber-aggression, and these experiences are not fully understood as experienced...     

Regression Versus No Regression in the Autistic Disorder: Developmental Trajectories

Developmental regression is a complex phenomenon which occurs in 20–49% of the autistic population. Aim of the study was to assess possible differences in the development of regressed and non-regressed autistic preschoolers. We longitudinally studied 40 autistic children (18 regressed, 22 non-regressed) aged 2–6 years. The following developmental areas were considered fundamental in the first years of life, and were assessed at ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6: receptive and expressive language, communicative and request modalities, play activities, and mental age. Children who regressed showed lower mean performances than those who did not regress and, in the time intervals considered, non-regressed children improved their ratings in the above mentioned variables significantly more than regressed children.     

Cognitive and Social Cognitive Self-assessment in Autistic Adults

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - An aspect of metacognition associated with broader functional abilities in several clinical conditions, but previously unexamined in autism, is...     

Autistic Behavior in Young Boys with Fragile X Syndrome

A sample of 57 boys with fragile X syndrome (fraX) between the ages of 24 and 133 months was rated using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) to assess the extent to which autism and autistic features were evident in a young population. Fourteen subjects (approximately 25% of the sample) scored above the cutoff for autism, suggesting a relatively high incidence of autistic behavior. All but 2 of these 14 were in the mildly or moderately autistic range, however, and only a few items received severe ratings, suggesting that severe autism is relatively rare in fraX, at least during the early years. The CARS resulted in a continuum of autistic ratings in the fraX population, but no particular items on the CARS contributed disproportionately to autism ratings. A visual comparison of ratings on an autistic, non-fraX sample revealed similar profiles of ratings, suggesting that differentiating fraX and autism on the basis of CARS ratings is not likely. Within the fraX group, chronological age and socioeconomic status did not correlate with CARS ratings, but severity of delay was strongly related, such that more severely delayed children scored higher (more autistic) on the CARS.     

Alexithymic But Not Autistic Traits Impair Prosocial Behavior

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Social impairments are a core feature of autism-spectrum disorders. However, there is a considerable variability in these impairments. Most autistic...     

Visual Attention and Autistic Behavior in Infants with Fragile X Syndrome

Aberrant attention is a core feature of fragile X syndrome (FXS), however, little is known regarding the developmental trajectory and underlying physiological processes of attention deficits in FXS. Atypical visual attention is an early emerging and robust indictor of autism in idiopathic (non-FXS) autism. Using a biobehavioral approach with gaze direction and heart activity, we examined visual attention in infants with FXS at 9, 12, and 18?months of age with a cross-sectional comparison to 12-month-old typically developing infants. Analyses revealed lower HR variability, shallower HR decelerations, and prolonged look durations in 12-month old infants with FXS compared to typical controls. Look duration and increased latency to disengage attention were correlated with severity of autistic behavior but not mental age.     

Behavioral Deviance and Teacher Ratings of Prosocial Behavior: Preliminary Findings

The development of a new Teachers' Questionnaire concerned with rating children's prosocial behavior is described. Validation was achieved by comparing questionnaire scores with independent peer judgment of prosocial behavior. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory (r = +0.81). In a preliminary study of 132 8-year-old children, those children rated as showing behavior deviance of the conduct disorder type had significantly lower prosocial scores than children rated as neurotic or undisturbed. Implications of this finding and areas of future research are discussed.     

Autistic Symptoms and Social Functioning in Psychosis: A Network Approach

Psychotic and autistic symptoms are related to social functioning in individuals with psychotic disorders (PD). The present study used a network approach to (1) evaluate the interactions between autistic symptoms, psychotic symptoms, and social functioning, and (2) investigate whether relations are similar in individuals with and without PD. We estimated an undirected network model in a sample of 504 PD, 572 familial risk for psychosis (FR), and 337 typical comparisons (TC), with a mean age of 34.9 years. Symptoms were assessed with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ; 5 nodes) and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE; 9 nodes). Social functioning was measured with the Social Functioning Scale (SFS; 7 nodes). We identified statistically significant differences between the FR and PD samples in global strength (P < .001) and network structure (P < .001). Our results show autistic symptoms (social interaction nodes) are negatively and more closely related to social functioning (withdrawal, interpersonal behavior) than psychotic symptoms. More and stronger connections between nodes were observed for the PD network than for FR and TC networks, while the latter 2 were similar in density (P = .11) and network structure (P = .19). The most central items in strength for PD were bizarre experiences, social skills, and paranoia. In conclusion, specific autistic symptoms are negatively associated with social functioning across the psychosis spectrum, but in the PD network symptoms may reinforce each other more easily. These findings emphasize the need for increased clinical awareness of comorbid autistic symptoms in psychotic individuals.     

The Reliability and Validity of the Tokyo Autistic Behavior Scale

Abstract: The Tokyo Autistic Behavior Scale (TABS) consisting of 39 items provisionally grouped in four areas–interpersonal-social relationship, language-communication, habit-mannerism and others–is an instrument used by a child's caretaker to rate the child's autistic behaviors on a 3-point scale. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory (i.e., an r for a total score was .94). Among six DSM-III diagnostic groups, infantile autism showed a significantly higher total TABS score than the other five groups, and a taxo-nomic validity coefficient was .54. An r between total scores of the TABS and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale–Tokyo Version was .59. The area scores showed a lower validity than the total score. The TABS appears to be a useful instrument to assess autistic behavior.     

Autistic Traits Mediate Reductions in Social Attention in Adults with Anorexia Nervosa

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with difficulties in social and emotional functioning. A significant proportion of individuals with AN show...     

Camouflaging in Autistic and Non-autistic Adolescents in the Modern Context of Social Media

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Camouflaging is described as a set of strategies used to prevent others from noticing one’s social difficulties. Research indicates heightened...     

A Comparison of Haloperidol and Behavior Therapy and Their Interaction in Autistic Children

Haloperidol and behavior therapy, and the interaction of the two treatments were critically assessed with respect to their effects on symptoms and language acquisition in 40 autistic children aged 2.6 to 7.2 years. The children were randomly assigned to four treatment groups in a factorial design. The study was placebo controlled and double-blind, using multiple independent raters who assessed treatment effects under three types of rating conditions. Haloperidol was found to be significantly superior to placebo in decreasing certain symptoms, depending on the age group. The combination of the two treatments was most effective in facilitating the acquisition of imitative speech. Optimal dosage of haloperidol ranged from 0.5 to 4.0 mg./day; the most common untoward effect was excessive sedation, which was clearly a function of dosage.     

Social-Pragmatic Inferencing,Visual Social Attention and Physiological Reactivity to Complex Social Scenes in Autistic Young Adults

This study examined social-pragmatic inferencing, visual social attention and physiological reactivity to complex social scenes. Participants were autistic young adults (n?=?14) and a control group of young adults (n?=?14) without intellectual disability. Results indicate between-group differences in social-pragmatic inferencing, moment-level social attention and heart rate variability (HRV) reactivity. A key finding suggests associations between increased moment-level social attention to facial emotion expressions, better social-pragmatic inferencing and greater HRV suppression in autistic young adults. Supporting previous research, better social-pragmatic inferencing was found associated with less autistic traits.

     

Anxiety Sensitivity Domains are Differently Affected by Social and Non-social Autistic Traits

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is implicated in the development and maintenance of several psychopathological conditions. Non-clinical individuals with...