自闭症谱系障碍人群词义加工的脑激活模式：基于fMRI研究的元分析

本研究筛选了11项采用功能性磁共振成像技术探究言语自闭症人群词义加工的研究, 探讨了该人群与典型人群脑激活模式的差异是否具有跨研究的稳定性。结果表明, 差异的脑激活模式稳定存在, 且表现为主要涉及左额上回的典型脑区激活不足。该结果为言语ASD人群语言加工的神经机制提供了来自词义加工的跨研究激活证据, 在明确“减弱的额叶激活”这一稳定差异表现的基础上, 强调了针对不同语言加工任务开展元分析研究的必要性。     

Training School Psychologists in Behavior Support Consultation

SUMMARY

Although school consultation began as a means of providing assistance to individual teachers on a voluntary basis, it has evolved into a stand-alone service regulated by state and federal law. In order to meet the demand for increased accountability in the services they provide, school psychologists and other prereferral intervention team members have expressed a need to develop skills in two key areas: (a) selecting interventions that are conceptually relevant and therefore likely to be effective in responding to children's behavior problems, and (b) providing teachers with the resources and support needed to ensure successful plan implementation. In this paper, we describe various strategies that have been shown to be effective at addressing each of these issues by drawing on recent research in school consultation and applied behavior analysis. Considerations surrounding the use of these strategies by school consultants are discussed, as are implications for increasing the effectiveness and accountability of school consultation services.     

Evaluating information processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The case for Fuzzy Trace Theory

Literature on the developmental trajectory of cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) presents several inconsistent findings. In this review, we focus on information processing, and specifically, the use of gist and verbatim representations to guide memory, reasoning, and concept formation. The added perspective of Fuzzy Trace Theory may help to resolve mixed results regarding the frequency, nature, and effectiveness of gist processing in ASD by providing established process models and tasks suitable for use in individuals at all levels of functioning. In order to demonstrate the utility of FTT to the field of ASD research, we present evidence from three complementary theories–Weak Central Coherence (WCC), Executive Function (EF), and Theory of Mind (ToM)–which have dominated the landscape to date. We discuss the potential utility of FTT tasks and process models, proposing testable hypotheses that address ambiguous or conflicting results in the current literature. Applying a theory of typical development to the study of ASD may add value to past and future research.     

7～10岁自闭症谱系障碍儿童对情绪面孔的觉察与加工

为了考察自闭症谱系障碍(autism spectrum disorder,ASD)儿童对不同情绪面孔的觉察和加工情况,设计两个眼动实验任务,要求14名7～10岁ASD儿童和20名同年龄正常儿童观看图片。实验一采用将情绪面孔嵌入风景图片中引起语义不一致的刺激;实验二采用含有情绪面孔的无意义背景乱序图片刺激。结果发现:(1)ASD儿童对不同情绪面孔的觉察时间都显著长于正常儿童;(2)与正常儿童一样,ASD儿童表现出对恐惧面孔的注意偏向;(3)实验二中,ASD儿童对不同情绪面孔内部特征区的注意分配与正常儿童不同;正常儿童能注意最能展示该类情绪特征信息的区域,如恐惧的眼睛、愉快的嘴巴,而ASD儿童对三类情绪面孔特征区的注意分配方式相似;(4)两个实验条件下,ASD者对不同情绪面孔的觉察、加工模式与正常儿童相似。     

运用游戏观察评量自闭症谱系障碍儿童的探索研究

可否运用游戏观察来评量和区分ASD儿童的功能?这是一个全新的课题。本研究聚焦自由游戏和装扮游戏,对86名ASD幼儿进行了准实验观察研究。结果发现,在自由游戏中,功能越低的ASD儿童,其交流频率越少、跟说语言越多、个体自身的探究和创造性语言愈少。在装扮游戏中,功能越低的ASD儿童,其破坏性行为越多、象征意义游戏的发生频率越少,利用玩具进行装扮游戏的能力越低。由此可见,运用游戏观察评量和区分ASD儿童功能或可为有效方法。     

自闭症谱系障碍儿童心理测评的回溯与探索

自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)儿童是一群已引起高度关注的群体,因其兼具社会发展、人际交流障碍等于一身,更因其中大部分儿童还伴有认知,言语发展和情绪障碍,对其进行心理测评是一个极为艰巨和重要的课题.本文从诊断性、认知性和教育干预三个方面对ASD儿童的心理测评进行了述评.同时还阐述了在此基础上建构"会聚式"、"分层式"和"分类式"ASD儿童心理测评体系之构想.     

Can Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder be differentiated by motor and balance deficits?

There is an ongoing debate regarding the diagnostic overlap between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Differential diagnosis is important because of treatment implications. Children aged 7–10 years (47 ADHD, 30 FASD, 39 controls) participated. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) and the Clinical Observations of Motor and Postural Skills (COMPS) were used. Force plate and electromyography data were collected during static balance and balance perturbation. On the M-ABC both children with ADHD and FASD had more motor problems than controls. The ADHD-Combined and the ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive subgroups were similarly affected in their fine motor skills. On the COMPS, the majority of children in both groups performed in the normal range, but for those children clinically affected, it was the children with ADHD who were more likely to be severely impaired. The children with ADHD were characterized by early onset latencies of the tibialis anterior muscles and increased amplitudes of the gastrocnemius muscles. Difficulty scaling muscle force reflecting medial cerebellar involvement may be the key problem in ADHD. Cerebellar involvement in the postural instability in FASD awaits further study.     

Beery VMI performance in autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have examined the visuomotor integration (VMI) abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An all-male sample consisting of 56 ASD participants (ages 3–23 years) and 36 typically developing (TD) participants (ages 4–26 years) completed the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI) as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. Participants were also administered standardized measures of intellectual functioning and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), which assesses autism and autism-like traits. The ASD group performed significantly lower on the Beery VMI and on all IQ measures compared to the TD group. VMI performance was significantly correlated with full scale IQ (FSIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), and verbal IQ (VIQ) in the TD group only. However, when FSIQ was taken into account, no significant Beery VMI differences between groups were observed. Only one TD participant scored 1.5 standard deviations (SDs) below the Beery VMI normative sample mean, in comparison to 21% of the ASD sample. As expected, the ASD group was rated as having significantly higher levels of social impairment on the SRS compared to the TD group across all major domains. However, level of functioning on the SRS was not associated with Berry VMI performance. These findings demonstrate that a substantial number of individuals with ASD experience difficulties compared to TD in performing VMI-related tasks, and that VMI is likely affected by general cognitive ability. The fact that lowered Beery VMI performance occurred only within a subset of individuals with ASD and did not correlate with SRS would indicate that visuomotor deficits are not a core feature of ASD, even though they present at a higher rate of impairment than observed in TD participants.