Effects of computer-assisted explicit instruction on map-reading skills for students with autism

Educational reform for students with disabilities, including autism, has a history of focusing solely on the content areas of reading, mathematics, and science. To date, few empirical studies examining social studies have been published. This study investigated the effects of a computer-assisted explicit instruction package to teach map-reading skills to three elementary school students with autism. A multiple probe across participants design was used to examine the effectiveness of the intervention package. While results did not show a functional relationship, all three students’ data indicated a change in level and two students’ data showed a change in trend. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Effects of acute beta-adrenergic antagonism on verbal problem solving in autism spectrum disorder and exploration of treatment response markers

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social communication as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors. Evidence suggests that some individuals with ASD have cognitive impairments related to weak central coherence and hyperrestricted processing. Reducing noradrenergic activity may improve aspects of network processing and thus improve cognitive abilities, such as verbal problem solving, in individuals with ASD. The present pilot study explores the effects of acute administration of the beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol on verbal problem solving in adults and adolescents with ASD. In a within-subject crossover-design, 20 participants with ASD received a single dose of propranolol or placebo on one of two sessions in a double-blinded, counterbalanced manner. Verbal problem solving was assessed via an anagram task. Baseline measurements of autonomic nervous system functioning were obtained, and anxiety was assessed at baseline and following drug administration. Participants solved the anagrams more quickly in the propranolol condition, as compared to the placebo condition, suggesting a potential cognitive benefit of this agent. Additionally, we observed a negative linear relationship between response to propranolol on the anagram task and two measures of baseline autonomic activity, as well as a positive linear relationship between drug response and baseline anxiety. These relationships propose potential markers for treatment response, as propranolol influences both autonomic functioning and anxiety. Further investigation is needed to expand on the present single-dose psychopharmacological challenge and explore the observed effects of propranolol in a serial-dose setting.     

Judgments of social appropriateness by children and adolescents with autism

Children and adolescents with autism (autism group, n = 19) and those without autism (Nonautism group, n = 19) of similar age and IQ were asked to make judgments of the social appropriateness of 24 videotaped, staged scenes with adult actors. Each scene depicted an appropriate or an inappropriate interaction. Half contained verbalizations, and half did not. After each scene, the participant was asked: (1) Was that o.k. or was something wrong with it? If the participant judged the scene was wrong, she or he was asked: (2) What was wrong with it?; and (3) Why was that wrong? Both groups correctly identified inappropriate behaviors most of the time, and correct behaviors almost all of the time. However, the Nonautism group detected inappropriate behaviors significantly more often than the Autism group, for verbal but not nonverbal scenes. It was also significantly easier for both groups to identify inappropriate behaviors in the nonverbal than in the verbal scenes. Ratings of the explanations given for Question 3 differed significantly between the groups for verbal but not for nonverbal scenes, with Nonautism participants more likely to give explanations involving social norms and principles, and the Autism group more likely to give explanations that were irrelevant or idiosyncratic.     

Effect of propranolol on verbal problem solving in autism spectrum disorder

The noradrenergic system modulates performance on tasks dependent on semantic and associative network flexibility (NF) in individuals without neurodevelopmental diagnoses in experiments using a beta-adrenergic antagonist, propranolol. Some studies suggest drugs decreasing noradrenergic activity are beneficial in ASD. In individuals without neurodevelopmental diagnoses, propranolol is beneficial only for difficult NF-dependent problems. However, in populations with altered noradrenergic regulation, propranolol also benefits performance for simple problems. Due to decreased flexibility of access to networks in ASD, we wished to examine the effect of propranolol on NF in ASD. ASD subjects benefited from propranolol on simple anagrams, whereas control subjects were impaired by propranolol. Further study will be necessary to confirm this finding in a larger sample and to compare clinical response with cognitive response to propranolol.     

Decreasing disruptive behaviors of children with autism using social stories

Few studies have been conducted in the area of social stories, and the limitations of these studies (i.e., improper story construction and methodological confounds) raise questions about effectiveness of social story interventions. This study examined the effectiveness of properly constructed social stories that have been introduced into the natural environment to target the disruptive behavior of three children with autism. A multiple baseline design across participants was employed, and a decrease in disruptive behavior was evidenced when the intervention was implemented for all participants. Based on the results of the present research, future areas of investigation outlining the limitations and potential benefits of social stories were discussed.     

The facilitation of social-emotional understanding and social interaction in high-functioning children with autism: intervention outcomes

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 7-month cognitive behavioral intervention for the facilitation of the social-emotional understanding and social interaction of 15 high-functioning children (8 to 17 years old) with autism. Intervention focused on teaching interpersonal problem solving, affective knowledge, and social interaction. Preintervention and postintervention measures included observations of social interaction, measures of problem solving and of emotion understanding, and teacher-rated social skills. Results demonstrated progress in three areas of intervention. Children were more likely to initiate positive social interaction with peers after treatment; in particular, they improved eye contact and their ability to share experiences with peers and to show interest in peers. In problem solving after treatment, children provided more relevant solutions and fewer nonsocial solutions to different social situations. In emotional knowledge, after treatment, children provided more examples of complex emotions, supplied more specific rather then general examples, and included an audience more often in the different emotions. Children also obtained higher teacher-rated social skills scores in assertion and cooperation after treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the current model of intervention for high-functioning children with autism.     

Social cognition and social problem solving abilities in individuals with alcohol use disorder

Background: Up to now, little is known about higher order cognitive abilities like social cognition and social problem solving abilities in alcohol-dependent patients. However, impairments in these domains lead to an increased probability for relapse and are thus highly relevant in treatment contexts. Method: This cross-sectional study assessed distinct aspects of social cognition and social problem solving in 31 hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 30 matched healthy controls (HC). Three ecologically valid scenario-based tests were used to gauge the ability to infer the mental state of story characters in complicated interpersonal situations, the capacity to select the best problem solving strategy among other less optimal alternatives, and the ability to freely generate appropriate strategies to handle difficult interpersonal conflicts. Standardized tests were used to assess executive function, attention, trait empathy, and memory, and correlations were computed between measures of executive function, attention, trait empathy, and tests of social problem solving. Results: AUD patients generated significantly fewer socially sensitive and practically effective solutions for problematic interpersonal situations than the HC group. Furthermore, patients performed significantly worse when asked to select the best alternative among a list of presented alternatives for scenarios containing sarcastic remarks and had significantly more problems to interpret sarcastic remarks in difficult interpersonal situations.

Conclusions: These specific patterns of impairments should be considered in treatment programs addressing impaired social skills in individuals with AUD.     

Desire for social interaction in children with autism spectrum disorders

In this experimental clinical study, a first attempt was made to examine the desire for social interaction in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children completed both an explicit measure (self-report) and an implicit measure (Face Turn Approach–Avoidance Task) of the desire for social interaction. On the explicit assessment, children with ASD clearly displayed lower scores reflecting less desire for social interaction than TD children. On the implicit assessment, children with ASD showed a stronger tendency to pull both social and non-social stimuli towards them, which indicates a general automatic tendency towards approach, as compared to the TD children. Possible reasons for this dissociation between the explicit and implicit desire for social interaction are discussed and directions for future research are provided.     

Analysis of social referencing skills among children with autism

Social referencing, a form of nonverbal communication, involves seeking out discriminative stimuli provided by others about contingencies in an ambiguous context in order to respond in a manner that produces reinforcement. Although demonstrated by typically developing infants, social referencing is notably absent or impaired in individuals with autism. In this study, behavioral procedures including verbal, visual, and manual prompting and reinforcement were used to teach four children with autism to exhibit a social referencing response chain composed of an observing response and a conditional discriminative response in the presence of variants of standard academic materials. Observing was defined as looking at the experimenter when presented with unfamiliar handwriting materials, verbal models, and video models. Conditional discriminative responding was defined as completing the handwriting task or imitating the verbal and video models in the presence of a head nod and a smile, and placing the handwriting materials or Language Master cards aside, or remaining seated in a chair in the presence of a headshake and a frown. All four children learned to exhibit social referencing. The ambiguous materials were then interspersed among the standard materials. One of the children showed discriminated social referencing, observing in the presence of the ambiguous stimuli and not in the presence of the standard materials. The other children were taught to discriminate the ambiguous and standard stimuli and to exhibit social referencing only in the presence of the ambiguous materials. The effectiveness of the teaching procedures used is discussed in the context of a learning theory analogue of social referencing.     

Cognitive predictors of skill acquisition on social problem solving in patients with schizophrenia

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between social problem solving ability, clinical features and cognitive functions, and determine the predictors of benefit from social problem solving training in 63 patients with schizophrenia. We administered Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Digit Span Test, Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and the Assessment of Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills (AIPSS). Only BPRS-positive symptoms subscale was negatively related to AIPSS on linear regression analysis. After the completion of the pretest, the patients were randomized to either problem solving training (n = 32) or control groups (n = 31). Patients in training group received 6 weeks problem solving training in-group modality, and those in control group were treated as usual. We readministered AIPSS at the end of 6 weeks. There were significant changes from pretest to posttest on AIPSS-total, AIPSS-receiving skills, and AIPSS-processing skills score in training group but not in control group. The number of correct answers in WCST and CPT hit rate were the predictors of post-training AIPSS scores in training group. Our findings suggest that skill acquisition on social problem solving is related with cognitive flexibility and sustained attention.     

Do children do what they say? Responses to hypothetical and real-life social problems in children with mild intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems

Background Most research on children's social problem-solving skills is based on responses to hypothetical vignettes. Just how these responses relate to actual behaviour in real-life social situations is, however, unclear, particularly for children with mild intellectual disabilities (MID). Method In the present study, the spontaneous and selected responses of 56 children with MID to hypothetical situations from the Social Problem-Solving Test for children with MID (SPT-MID) were compared to their actual behaviour in comparable staged standardized real-life conflict situations. Correlations to externalizing behaviour problems were assessed using the Teacher's Report Form (TRF). Results The results show children with MID and accompanying externalizing behaviour problems to behave more aggressively in the staged real-life conflicts and provide more spontaneous aggressive responses to the hypothetical vignettes than children with MID and no accompanying externalizing behaviour problems; they did not, however, select more aggressive responses from the hypothetical options provided. A moderate correlation was found between the aggressiveness of the spontaneous responses in the hypothetical situations and actual behaviour in the staged real-life situations. In addition, both the spontaneous aggressive responses under hypothetical circumstances and the actual aggressive behaviour under staged real-life circumstances were related to teacher-rated aggressive behaviour in the classroom. Conclusions It is concluded that the hypothetical vignettes from the SPT-MID do provide information on both the actual behaviour and knowledge of social problem-solving skills of children with MID.     

Brief report: imitation effects on children with autism

Twenty children with autism (mean age, 5 years) were recruited for the study from a school for children with autism. The children were randomly assigned to an imitation (n = 10) or contingently responsive (n = 10) interaction group based on a stratification table for gender and developmental and chronological age. The sessions consisted of four phases, with each phase lasting 3 minutes. In the first phase, the child walked into a room that was furnished with a sofa, a table, chairs, and two sets of identical toys. An adult was in the room sitting very still like a statue (first still-face condition). In the second phase, the adult either imitated the child or was contingently responsive to the child. In the third phase, the adult sat still again (second still-face condition), and in the fourth phase, the adult engaged in a spontaneous interaction. During the third phase (the second still-face condition), the children in the imitation group spent less time in gross motor activity and more time touching the adult, as if attempting to initiate an interaction. The contingency condition appeared to be a more effective way to facilitate a distal social behavior (attention), whereas the imitative condition was a more effective way to facilitate a proximal social behavior (touching).     

Quiet ego,perceived social support,and subjective well-being in mothers having children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundThis research aimed to examine the relationship of quiet ego and perceived social support with the subjective well-being of mothers having children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and to find out the predictors of subjective well-being among these mothers. Where multiple resource factors beneficial for the well-being of these mothers are studied worldwide, this study investigates and highlights importance of the scarcely studied concept of quiet ego in a precisely defined study sample.MethodCorrelational research design was used and mothers (N = 70; M_age = 36.20, SD = 5.70) were selected using purposive sampling strategy from different special schools and centres of Lahore, Pakistan. The questionnaires used in the study were, Quiet Ego Scale (Wayment et al., 2015), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988), Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) and Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (Diener et al., 2009)ResultsResults showed a significant positive relationship of quiet ego, and all the aspects of social support, with subjective well-being. After controlling for the effect of control variables, social support from the significant other emerged as significant unique predictor of both cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being while friends’ support significantly predicted affect balance onlyConclusionsThe importance of internal and external protective factors highlighted in this study can be employed by professionals as a part of their counselling or therapeutic interventions while dealing with such mothers, as well as for the awareness of their families and society, at large.     

School-based social skills training for young people with autism spectrum disorders

ABSTRACT

Background: The Secret Agent Society (SAS) Program, an intervention to enhance social–emotional skills, was provided by schools for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The program was assessed to determine if it improved social skills at school and home, and whether improvements were maintained.

Methods: Eighty-four students participated. Key outcomes were parent and teacher ratings of emotion regulation, social skills, and direct child social problem-solving measures. The standard school curriculum served as the control condition. Phase 1 was a two-group waitlist-control comparison of SAS versus the standard curriculum. Phase 2 was a follow up of all participants before and after the intervention and at 12-months post-intervention.

Results: Parent and child measures improved after the intervention but not in the waitlist condition. Improvements in parent, child, and teacher measures were apparent at 12 months.

Conclusions: The SAS Program warrants further research as a potential program for schools that serve children with ASD.     

Use of a tactile prompt to increase social initiations in children with autism

Making appropriate verbal initiations to others is an aspect of social interaction that can be problematic for individuals with autism. A variety of teaching and prompting methods have been developed to address the issue including the use of a tactile prompt, a small device that can fit in the participant's pocket and can be programmed to vibrate at regular intervals. Our aim was to extend the existing research on the use of the tactile prompt by incorporating reinforcement during intervention and attempting a systematic fading of the prompt. Three children with autism participated in Study 1 and two children in Study 2. In both studies, the intervention was conducted during free-play activities with mainstream peers. Results indicated that the participants’ verbal initiations to their peers increased in comparison to baseline. Additionally in Study 2, the use of both the tactile prompt and the prosthetic reinforcement were successfully faded. Implications regarding the use of covert prompting methods to help individuals with autism in the area of social interactions are discussed.     

Efficacy of ABRACADABRA literacy instruction in a school setting for children with autism spectrum disorders

BackgroundThere is evidence indicating that instruction using ABRACADABRA (ABRA) – a free web application designed to promote literacy development – may benefit children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) when administered on an individualized basis in children’s homes.AimsHere, we investigated the efficacy of ABRA instruction administered in small groups of children with ASD within a school setting.Methods and proceduresChildren were aged 5.83–8.42 years (n = 23). Some children were assigned to an instruction group and received a minimum of 20 h of ABRA instruction over 9 weeks (n = 11). The other children comprised an age- and ability-matched control group (n = 12) and received business as usual literacy instruction. Outcome measures included word-level accuracy, passage-level accuracy, and passage-level comprehension, all assessed using standardized tests that were independent of ABRA.Outcomes and resultsANOVAs comparing pre- versus post-instruction raw scores showed statistically significant improvements in word- and passage-level reading accuracy for the instruction group relative to the control group, with large effect sizes. Gains in reading comprehension for the instruction group were not statistically significant and, in a posthoc correlational analysis, appeared to be related to children’s socialisation skills (r = .62).Conclusions and implicationsLiteracy instruction using ABRA is associated with improvement in reading accuracy for children with ASD when administered in small groups within a school setting. Children with ASD may require additional supports to make gains in reading comprehension when literacy instruction using ABRA is delivered in groups.     

Parent-child predictors of social competence with peers in children with and without autism

The current study investigated the relations among parent-child joint engagement, dyadic interactive behaviors, and children's subsequent social competence with peers. Participants were 40 children (20 children with autism, and 20 developmentally-matched typical children) between the ages of 2.75 and 6.5 years. Observational coding was conducted to assess children's joint engagement initiations, global interactive behaviors with parents, and parents’ responsiveness, behavior regulation, and attention regulation. Children's social competence with peers was measured approximately one year later. Group differences were observed in child-initiated joint engagement, children's interactive behaviors in the parent-child context, and individual aspects of social competence. Child-initiated joint engagement with parents was positively related to social competence with peers overall, and with less exclusion by peers and hyperactive-distractible behaviors with peers, in particular. In addition, parent attention regulation emerged as the most salient predictor of children's behaviors within the parent-child context. Findings are discussed with respect to implications for future research and intervention.