Assimilation from the East and the Spectrum of Consciousness

Beginning with an eastern concept of human beings rooted in the Buddhist and Yogic traditions, this paper describes a theoretical assimilation of western models and therapies into the eastern paradigm. It traces the beginning of the east–west psychotherapy dialogue in the United States, citing early examples of Buddhist and yogic practices in the west. Ken Wilber's spectrum of consciousness model is presented and its unifying value for psychotherapy is explored. An integrative model of wholistic therapy, developed by a group of eastern and western practitioners, is then described. The paper concludes with an exploration of the issues and implications for psychotherapy integration raised by this model.     

Effects of foreign mand training on the emergence of foreign tact and listener responses for Chinese-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder

In China, there is an increasing demand for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) enrolled in general education to learn English vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of foreign mand training in English on the acquisition of mand responses, and the emergence of tact and listener responses for three Chinese-speaking preschool children (boys; 4–5 years of age) with ASD. Echoic-to-mand training was implemented to teach mands in English. The study employed a concurrent multiple-probe design across behaviors. The results of the study indicated that the training was effective in the acquisition of mand responses. Moreover, untaught tacts and listener responses for the same vocabulary emerged without explicit training. Implications for small-group mand training in foreign language acquisition were discussed.     

An evaluation of a multi-component intervention for loud speech among children with autism spectrum disorder

Idiosyncratic patterns of speech are common among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and can greatly affect their ability to participate successfully in various social and educational settings. We evaluated a treatment package with three children with ASD and a history of loud speech. A multiple baseline across participants design and a decibel meter application were used to evaluate whether the multi-component intervention (i.e., a rule, differential reinforcement, and in vivo feedback) would effectively reduce participants' rates of loud speech. The results showed that the intervention decreased rates of loud speech for all participants. Results are discussed in terms of (a) their extension of the literature regarding speech prosody in ASD by demonstrating an effective intervention for loud speech, (b) clinical implications, and (c) potential future research regarding this nuanced, yet crucial aspect of social communication, including appropriate methods for addressing loud speech in individuals with ASD.     

Greeting skills: A systematic review of the literature

Individuals with disabilities often demonstrate difficulty in social communication skills such as greetings. Studies have shown that deficits in greetings may negatively affect social interactions and vocational opportunities. Therefore, previous research has evaluated a variety of teaching procedures to increase greetings for individuals with disabilities with varying efficacy. This review of the literature provides an overview of studies to date in which greetings were taught to individuals with intellectual disabilities. A variety of teaching procedures were identified, and implications of those procedures are discussed. Results suggest that multiple teaching procedures may be effective; however, component analyses, further replication, and modified generalization procedures are necessary. Implications for future researchers include identifying a technological definition of greetings and evaluating effective teaching procedures and generalization strategies. Implications for practitioners include teaching one greeting type at a time, limiting the number of social skills taught simultaneously, identification of effective teaching procedures and generalization considerations.     

5～7岁自闭症谱系障碍幼儿数感的特点

本研究采用《幼儿数感测评量表》对26名自闭症谱系障碍（autism spectrum disorders,ASD）幼儿、20名智力障碍幼儿及32名正常幼儿进行数感能力测评,并比较三组幼儿的数感特点。结果发现：（1）ASD幼儿的数感整体和各维度水平均显著低于正常幼儿,但与智力障碍幼儿相当;（2）三组幼儿数感各维度水平在5～7岁之间无明显变化;（3）三组幼儿在数量比较、数量估算和大小比较的能力水平均领先于其他维度,而类比推理和大小推理均相对落后。另外,ASD幼儿和智力障碍幼儿的体积比较与大小推理、类比推理的能力较为接近,而正常幼儿的体积比较能力显著优于大小推理和类比推理。研究表明5～7岁ASD幼儿的数感能力整体落后于同龄正常幼儿,且数感各维度的能力发展不均衡、不同步。本研究揭示了5～7岁ASD幼儿数感能力发展的特点及需求,可为制定相应数感干预方案、促进其数学学习提供参考。     

Behind the wheels with autism and ADHD: Brain networks involved in driving hazard detection

Driving is a cognitively challenging task, and many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle to drive safely and effectively. Previous evidence suggests that core neuropsychological deficits in executive functioning (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) may impact driving in ASD and ADHD. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study compares the brain mechanisms underlying ToM and EF during a hazard perception driving task. Forty-six licensed drivers (14 ASD, 17 ADHD, 15 typically developing (TD)), ages 16–27 years, viewed a driving scenario in the MRI scanner and were instructed to respond to driving hazards that were either “social” (contained a human component such as a pedestrian) or “nonsocial” (physical objects such as a barrel). All groups of participants recruited regions part of the “social brain” (anterior insula, angular gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, right cuneus/precuneus, and right inferior frontal gyrus) when processing social hazards, and regions associated with motor planning and object recognition (postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus, and supplementary motor area) when processing nonsocial hazards. While there were no group differences in brain activation during the driving task, years licensed was predictive of greater prefrontal and temporal activation to social hazards in all participants. Findings of the current study suggest that high-functioning ASD and ADHD licensed drivers may be utilizing similar cognitive resources as TD controls for decisions related to driving-related hazard detection.     

自闭症谱系障碍个体的疼痛敏感性异常：来自元分析的证据

本研究采用元分析方法, 以疼痛阈限、疼痛诱发生理反应和疼痛评分为结果变量, 考察了自闭症谱系障碍个体(Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD)的疼痛敏感性异常, 以期为ASD的诊断和干预提供参考。元分析共纳入16项研究(总样本量N = 822)。对于疼痛阈限, ASD组和对照组无显著差异, 但受到疼痛模态等变量的调节作用, 如ASD组的压力疼痛阈限显著低于对照组。对于疼痛诱发生理反应, ASD组对现实医疗疼痛的生理反应强于对照组。然而, ASD组和对照组在疼痛评分上无显著差异。将来研究应结合多模态疼痛刺激和多维度疼痛评估, 系统考察ASD个体的疼痛敏感性及其与临床核心症状之间的联系。     

Teaching multiply controlled intraverbals to children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Reciprocal conversations, instructional activities, and other social interactions are replete with multiply controlled intraverbals, examples of which have been conceptualized in terms of conditional discriminations. Although the acquisition of conditional discriminations has been examined extensively in the behavior‐analytic literature, little research has evaluated procedures to establish multiply controlled intraverbals. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of procedures based on conditional discrimination training on the acquisition of multiply controlled intraverbals with 7 participants who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. We evaluated the effects of prompt delay with error correction, a differential observing response (DOR), and a DOR plus blocked trials on the acquisition of intraverbals using a multiple baseline design. Accuracy of intraverbal performance increased for at least 1 set of stimuli for all participants under prompt delay with error correction conditions; however, 4 participants required additional teaching (i.e., DOR, modified DOR, modified prompt delay with error correction). Based on these findings, when prompt delay with error correction is not sufficient to establish multiply controlled intraverbals, prompted DORs may be an effective alternative.     

Declarative verbal memory impairments in middle-aged women who are caregivers of offspring with autism spectrum disorders: The role of negative affect and testosterone

Caring for offspring diagnosed with a chronic psychological disorder such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is used in research as a model of chronic stress. This chronic stress has been reported to have deleterious effects on caregivers' cognition, particularly in verbal declarative memory. Moreover, such cognitive decline may be mediated by testosterone (T) levels and negative affect, understood as depressive mood together with high anxiety and anger. This study aimed to compare declarative memory function in middle-aged women who were caregivers for individuals with ASD (n = 24; mean age = 45) and female controls (n = 22; mean age = 45), using a standardised memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). It also sought to examine the role of care recipient characteristics, negative mood and T levels in memory impairments. ASD caregivers were highly sensitive to proactive interference and verbal forgetting. In addition, they had higher negative affect and T levels, both of which have been associated with poorer verbal memory performance. Moreover, the number of years of caregiving affected memory performance and negative affect, especially, in terms of anger feelings. On the other hand, T levels in caregivers had a curvilinear relationship with verbal memory performance; that is, increases in T were associated with improvements in verbal memory performance up to a certain point, but subsequently, memory performance decreased with increasing T. Chronic stress may produce disturbances in mood and hormonal levels, which in turn might increase the likelihood of developing declarative memory impairments although caregivers do not show a generalised decline in memory. These findings should be taken into account for understanding the impact of cognitive impairments on the ability to provide optimal caregiving.     

Gist-based illusions within and across stimulus modalities in autism spectrum disorder

Some studies have reported a low rate of false recognition (FR) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to non-autistic comparison participants (CPs). This finding, however, has not always been replicated and the source of the discrepancy remains unknown. We hypothesised that poor episodic memory functions may account for this finding. We used an adapted version of the Deese, Roediger and McDermott paradigm which presents lists of words, pictures or word–picture pairs to obtain measures of performance which reflect episodic [hits and false alarms (FAs)] and semantic (FR) memory functions. Results showed a decreased rate of FR in ASD individuals with lists of words which rose above the rate seen in non-autistic CPs with lists of word–picture pairs. This increased rate of FR in ASD was accompanied by a parallel increase in hits and a decrease in FA which reached a similar level in the two groups. Poor episodic memory functions may prevent individuals with ASD from acquiring item information which in turn precludes the formation of semantic links between items. This could render them less prone to FR.