Autism Spectrum Symptomatology in Children with Williams Syndrome Who Have Phrase Speech or Fluent Language

To characterize autism spectrum-related symptomatology in children with Williams syndrome (WS) with phrase speech or fluent language, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Module 2 or 3 was administered. The cutoff for autism spectrum was met by 35% (14/40) who completed Module 2 and 30% (18/60) who completed Module 3. Similarities and differences in socio-communicative strengths and weaknesses as a function of language ability were identified. Symptom severity was negatively associated with IQ for participants with phrase speech but not for those with fluent language. The findings suggest an elevated risk of ASD for individuals with WS relative to the general population and contribute to a more nuanced sense of the socio-communicative functioning of children with WS.     

Brief Report: Question-Asking and Collateral Language Acquisition in Children with Autism

The literature suggests children with autism use communication primarily for requests and protests, and almost never for information-seeking. This study investigated whether teaching “Where” questions using intrinsic reinforcement procedures would produce the generalized use of the question, and whether concomitant improvements in related language structures, provided as answers to the children’s questions, would occur. In the context of a multiple baseline across participants design, data showed that the children could rapidly acquire and generalize the query, and that there were collateral improvements in the children’s use of language structures corresponding to the answers to the questions the children asked. The results are discussed in the context of teaching child initiations to improve linguistic competence in children with autism.     

Parental Report of Sleep Problems in Children with Autism

This research evaluated parent reports of sleep behaviors of four groups of children: those with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorders, those with General Mental Retardation alone, those attending Special Education classes (with no MR diagnosis), and a control group of similar aged children without a developmental diagnosis. Diagnostic classification and demographic information were determined through parent report, report of classroom registration, and the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (Gilliam, 1995). To evaluate sleeping behavior the study used a 28-item, five-factor scale (Behavioral Evaluation of Disorders of Sleep/BEDS; Schreck, 1997/1998) constructed from the diagnostic criteria for childhood sleep disorders found in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders: Diagnostic and Coding Manual (ICSD, American Sleep Disorders Association, 1990). Findings suggest that reports of parents with children with autistic characteristics exhibit expected quantities of sleep, but parent perception of their sleep difficulties and sleep quality is different for children with autism than for children in all other study groups.     

Brief Report: The Effects of Tomatis Sound Therapy on Language in Children with Autism

Due to the myriad of problems associated with autism, parents often consider alternative treatments. The investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of the Tomatis Method on language skills in children with autism utilizing a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. The results indicated that although the majority of the children demonstrated general improvement in language over the course of the study, it did not appear to be related to the treatment condition. The percent change for Group 1 (Placebo/Treatment) for treatment was 17.41%, and placebo was 24.84%. Group 2 (Treatment/Placebo) showed −3.98% change for treatment and 14.15% change for placebo. The results reflect a lack of improvement in language using the Tomatis Method for children with autism.     

Brief Report: Theatre as Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The pilot investigation evaluated a theatrical intervention program, Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) Theatre, designed to improve socioemotional functioning and reduce stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eight children with ASD were paired with typically developing peers that served as expert models. Neuropsychological, biological (cortisol and oxytocin), and behavioral measures were assessed in a pretest–posttest design. The intervention was embedded in a full musical theatrical production. Participants showed some improvement in face identification and theory of mind skills. The intervention shows potential promise in improving the socioemotional functioning in children with ASD through the utilization of peers, video and behavioral modeling, and a community-based theatrical setting.     

Brief Report: The Relationship between Discourse Deficits and Autism Symptomatology

This study investigated the relationship between discourse deficits to a broader range of other symptoms in 57 children with autism. We hypothesized that autism symptomatology, as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), would be related to the children’s difficulty in maintaining an ongoing topic of discourse. Children provided a natural language sample while interacting with one parent. These language samples were coded for the child’s use of off-topic or noncontingent utterances. Results showed significant relationships between overall diagnostic symptomatology, and more specifically, deficits in communication as measured by the ADOS-G, and noncontingent discourse. The findings provide diagnostic validity to the ADOS-G and highlight in greater detail the significant communication impairment in autism.     

Brief Report: Circumscribed Attention in Young Children with Autism

School-aged children and adolescents with autism demonstrate circumscribed attentional patterns to nonsocial aspects of complex visual arrays (Sasson et al. 2008). The current study downward extended these findings to a sample of 2–5 year-olds with autism and 2–5 year-old typically developing children. Eye-tracking was used to quantify discrete aspects of visual attention to picture arrays containing combinations of social pictures, pictures of objects frequently involved in circumscribed interests in persons with autism (e.g., trains), and pictures of more commonplace objects (e.g., clothing). The children with autism exhibited greater exploration and perseverative attention on objects related to circumscribed interests than did typically developing children. Results suggest that circumscribed attention may be an early emerging characteristic of autism.     

Behavioral and Physiological Responses to Child-Directed Speech of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Typical Development

Young boys with autism were compared to typically developing boys on responses to nonsocial and child-directed speech (CDS) stimuli. Behavioral (looking) and physiological (heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia) measures were collected. Boys with autism looked equally as much as chronological age-matched peers at nonsocial stimuli, but less at CDS stimuli. Boys with autism and language age-matched peers differed in patterns of looking at live versus videotaped CDS stimuli. Boys with autism demonstrated faster heart rates than chronological age-matched peers, but did not differ significantly on respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Reduced attention during CDS may restrict language-learning opportunities for children with autism. The heart rate findings suggest that young children with autism have a nonspecific elevated arousal level.     

Brief Report: Inner Speech Impairment in Children with Autism is Associated with Greater Nonverbal than Verbal Skills

We present a new analysis of Whitehouse, Maybery, and Durkin’s (2006, Experiment 3) data on inner speech in children with autism (CWA). Because inner speech development is thought to depend on linguistically mediated social interaction, we hypothesized that children with both autism and a nonverbal > verbal (NV > V) skills profile would show the greatest inner speech impairment. CWA and typically developing controls (n = 23 in each group) undertook a timed mathematical task-switching test, known to benefit from inner speech use. Participants completed the task with and without articulatory suppression (AS), which disrupts inner speech. The hypothesis was supported: AS interference varied with cognitive profile among CWA but not among controls. Only the NV > V autism group showed no AS interference, indicating an inner speech impairment.     

Brief Report: Incidence of Ophthalmologic Disorders in Children with Autism

Purpose To determine the incidence of ophthalmologic disorders in children with autism and related disorders. Design Retrospective chart review. Four hundred and seven children diagnosed with autism or a related disorder between 1998 and 2006. one hundred and fifty-four of these children completed a comprehensive ophthalmology exam by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Results Ophthalmologic pathology was found in 40% of patients with autism or a related disorder with 29% having significant refractive errors, 21% demonstrating strabismus, and 10% having amblyopia. Conclusions Children with autism or a related disorder will frequently have an ophthalmologic abnormality. Since cooperation with vision screening is understandably limited in these children, a comprehensive eye examination by a pediatric ophthalmologist is recommended for all such children.     

Brief Report: Self-Presentation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The self-presentational behaviour of 43 6- to 12-year-old children with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) and normal intelligence and 43 matched comparisons was investigated. Children were prompted to describe themselves twice, first in a baseline condition and then in a condition where they were asked to convince others to select them for a desirable activity (self-promotion). Even after controlling for theory of mind skills, children with HFASD used fewer positive self-statements at baseline, and were less goal-directed during self-promotion than comparison children. Children with HFASD alter their self-presentation when seeking personal gain, but do this less strategically and convincingly than typically-developing children.     

Brief Report: Narratives of Personal Events in Children with Autism and Developmental Language Disorders: Unshared Memories

Narrative analysis of personal events provides an opportunity for identifying autism specific issues related to language and social impairments. Eight personal events were elicited from three groups of schoolage children: 14 high-functioning with Autism Spectrum Disorders (HFA), 12 non-autistic with developmental language disorders (DLD), and 12 typically developing matched for chronological age and non-verbal IQ. The coding focused on narrative format (constituents) and style (coherence). The analyses indicate basic knowledge of conventional narrative format in all groups but a consistent lack of high-point in HFA children’s stories interpreted as a consequence of their lack of social understanding of narrative. The results suggest novel interventions to foster autobiographical memory in HFA children which may assist in their self-awareness development. This paper is based on a dissertation submitted by the author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree in Psychology at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Portions of this research were presented at a joint meeting of the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders and the International Congress for the Study of Child Language. Madison, WI, in July 2002.     

Parental Broad Autism Phenotype and the Language Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Father–child and mother–child interactions were examined in order to investigate concurrent associations between three characteristics of parental broad autism phenotype (i.e., aloofness, rigidity, pragmatic language deficits), parental verbal responsiveness, and language skills of children with ASD. Results for mothers indicated that aloofness and rigidity were negatively associated with both child-initiated engagement and child language skills. Maternal aloofness was also negatively correlated with verbal responsiveness to their children, but rigidity was not. Results suggest that the association between aloofness and child language are potentially mediated by maternal use of responsive verbal behaviors. Maternal pragmatic language deficits were not concurrently related to child-initiated engagement or language skills. In contrast, for fathers, aloofness and rigidity were unrelated to child-initiated engagement and language skills. Paternal pragmatic deficits were also not associated with child language, however significant positive associations were found between paternal pragmatic language deficits and frequency of child-initiated engagement. Results are discussed in reference to potential clinical implications and directions for future research.     

Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recently, there has been heightened interest in suggestions of enhanced visual acuity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which was sparked by evidence that was later accepted to be methodologically flawed. However, a recent study that claimed children with ASD have enhanced visual acuity (Brosnan et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 42:2491–2497, 2012) repeated a critical methodological flaw by using an inappropriate viewing distance for a computerised acuity test, placing the findings in doubt. We examined visual acuity in 31 children with ASD and 33 controls using the 2 m 2000 Series Revised Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart placed at twice the conventional distance to better evaluate possible enhanced acuity. Children with ASD did not demonstrate superior acuity. The current findings strengthen the argument that reports of enhanced acuity in ASD are due to methodological flaws and challenges the reported association between visual acuity and systemising type behaviours.     

Brief Report: Sex Differences in Parental Concerns for Toddlers with Autism Risk

Research on sex differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggests both higher prevalence and a more easily observable presentation of core ASD symptomology in males, which may lead to sex differences in parental concerns. The current study examined whether sex and diagnosis relate to the timing, number, and types of pre-diagnosis concerns for 669 (N_male = 468) toddlers who screened at risk for ASD. No sex differences in parents’ concerns emerged for toddlers diagnosed with ASD; however, in the overall at-risk sample, parents of boys endorsed ASD symptoms, including restricted and repetitive behaviors, more than parents of girls. Future research should examine why sex differences in pre-diagnosis concerns emerge and how they might impact early diagnosis for at-risk boys versus girls.     

Brief Report: Parental Age and the Sex Ratio in Autism

The male-to-female (M:F) ratio for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), typically about 4:1, appears to decrease with increasing paternal age, but this relationship has not been systematically tested. With 393 ASD cases from families with two or more ASD cases, we categorized paternal age into five age groups (<30, 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, 45+) and found that the M:F ratio was significantly decreased with increasing paternal age groups and remained so after also adjusting for maternal age. No significant relationship between maternal age group and the M:F ratio was observed. This study suggests that the M:F ratio is reduced with increasing paternal age consistent with de novo genetic or genomic anomalies arising more frequently as men age and then conceive children.     

Food Variety as a Predictor of Nutritional Status Among Children with Autism

The frequency of selective eating and nutritional deficiency was studied among 22 children with autism and an age matched typically developing control group. Children with autism ate fewer foods on average than typically developing children. (33.5 vs. 54.5 foods, P < .001) As compared to typical controls, children with autism had a higher average intake of magnesium, and lower average intake of protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. Selective eaters were significantly more likely than typical controls to be at risk for at least one serious nutrient deficiency (P < .001).