Using intraverbal training to increase symbolic play in children with autism spectrum disorder

We evaluated the effects of an intraverbal training procedure on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of object‐substitution symbolic play in three 6‐year‐old Korean boys with autism spectrum disorder. A multiple probe across four behaviors design was used. All children acquired target symbolic play behavior, and novel responses emerged in training and follow‐up conditions. Generalization of object substitutions to untaught objects occurred in all three children. Free play observations indicated that symbolic play emerged in one child, and functional play increased in all three children.     

A comparison of rate‐based and latency‐based assessments for determining demand aversiveness

Demand assessments are used to determine the relative aversiveness of demands. This study compared two demand assessments (i.e., rate‐based and latency‐based) proposed in past research with three children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We compared the hierarchical outcomes of demand aversiveness and efficiency of the two assessments. Differing degrees of correspondence between the assessments was found across participants. The latency‐based measure was most efficient for a participant with high‐rates of problem behavior. The rate‐based assessment was more efficient for a participant with low‐rates of problem behavior. More research is needed to determine when the different assessments should be conducted.     

Does culture shape face perception in autism? Cross‐cultural evidence of the own‐race advantage from the UK and Japan

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with face perception atypicalities, and atypical experience with faces has been proposed as an underlying explanation. Studying the own‐race advantage (ORA) for face recognition can reveal the effect of experience on face perception in ASD, although the small number of studies in the area present mixed findings. This study probed the ORA in ASD by comparing two cultural groups simultaneously for the first time. Children with ASD in the UK (N = 16) and Japan (N = 26) were compared with age‐ and ability‐matched typically developing (TD) children in the UK (N = 16) and Japan (N = 26). Participants completed a two‐alternative forced‐choice task, whereby they had to recognize a just seen face from a foil which was manipulated in one of four ways (IC: identity change; EE: easy eyes; HE: hard eyes; HM: hard mouth). Face stimuli were Asian and Caucasian, and thus the same stimuli were own and other race depending on the cultural group. The ASD groups in the UK and Japan did not show impaired face recognition abilities, or impairments with recognizing faces depending on manipulations to the eye region, and importantly they showed an ORA. There was considerable heterogeneity in the presence of the ORA in ASD and TD and also across cultures. Children in Japan had higher accuracy than children in the UK, and TD children in Japan did not show an ORA. This cross‐cultural study challenges the view that atypical experiences with faces lead to a reduced/absent ORA in ASD.     

书面语言的提前学习对幼儿脑电α波的影响

本研究以脑电α波为分析指标探讨提前学习书面语言对幼儿大脑皮层相应区域发育的促进作用。结果表明对学龄前幼儿提前进行书面语言学习可以使幼儿脑电α波超前发展，本结果提示提前进行书面语言学习对幼儿大脑皮层相应脑区的发育与成熟有促进作用。     

Emergent completion of multistep instructions via joint control

Teaching procedures that facilitate the emergence of novel responses allow for increased efficiency, which is critical when providing early-intervention services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Three 5- and 6-year-old children diagnosed with ASD participated. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated functional control over the effects of teaching echoic rehearsals on the emergence of completing novel two-step instructions via joint control and obtained generalization and maintenance of the effects in an applied, nontraining context. In Experiment 2, we conducted an experimental analysis of joint control by disrupting rehearsal of the instruction and tacts of the objects in the instruction, which served as the sources of joint control. Our results support the efficacy of the procedures for establishing first-trial performance with novel instructions and indicate that joint control is responsible for the emergent performance produced by our teaching procedures.     

Parent-child interaction during the first year of life in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) likely emerges from a complex interaction between pre-existing neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities and the environment. The interaction with parents forms a key aspect of an infant’s social environment, but few prospective studies of infants at elevated likelihood (EL) for ASD (who have an older sibling with ASD) have examined parent-child interactions in the first year of life. As part of a European multisite network, parent-child dyads of free play were observed at 5 months (62 EL infants, 47 infants at typical likelihood (TL)) and 10 months (101 EL siblings, 77 TL siblings). The newly-developed Parent-Infant/Toddler Coding of Interaction (PInTCI) scheme was used, focusing on global characteristics of infant and parent behaviors. Coders were blind to participant information. Linear mixed model analyses showed no significant group differences in infant or parent behaviors at 5 or 10 months of age (all ps≥0.09, d≤0.36), controlling for infant’s sex and age, and parental educational level. However, without adjustments, EL infants showed fewer and less clear initiations at 10 months than TL infants (p = 0.02, d = 0.44), but statistical significance was lost after controlling for parental education (p = 0.09, d = 0.36), which tended to be lower in the EL group. Consistent with previous literature focusing on parent-infant dyads, our findings suggest that differences between EL and TL dyads may only be subtle during the first year of life. We discuss possible explanations and implications for future developmental studies.     

Auditory joint attention skills: Development and diagnostic differences during infancy

To date, joint attention skill assessments have focused on children’s responses to multimodal bids (RJA) and their initiation of bids (IJA) to multimodal spectacles. Here we gain a systematic view of auditory joint attention skills using a novel assessment that measures both auditory and multimodal RJA and IJA. In Study 1, 47 typically developing (TD) children were tested 5 times from 12 to 30 months to document auditory joint attention skill development. In Study 2, 113 toddlers (39 TD, 33 autism spectrum disorder [ASD], and 41 non-ASD developmental disorders [DD]; average age 22.4 months) were tested to discern the effects of ASD. Our findings fit well within the established depiction of joint attention skills with one important caveat: auditory items were far more difficult to execute than multimodal ones. By 24 months, TD children passed multimodal RJA items at the near-ceiling level, an accomplishment not reached even by 30 months for auditory RJA items. Intentional communicative IJA bids also emerged more slowly to auditory spectacles than to multimodal spectacles. Toddlers with DD outperformed toddlers with ASD on multimodal RJA items but toddlers in both groups rarely passed any auditory RJA items. Toddlers with ASD often monitored their partner’s attention during IJA items, albeit less often than toddlers with DD and TD toddlers, but they essentially never produced higher-level IJA bids, regardless of modality. Future studies should investigate further how variations in bids and targets affect auditory joint attention skills and probe the relation between these skills and language development.     

自闭症谱系障碍个体的共情干预：扬长还是补短?

自闭症谱系障碍(autism spectrum disorders, ASD)个体的共情能力缺陷可能导致了他们的社会交往障碍, 因此有必要对ASD个体的共情能力进行干预。有研究者主张应该对ASD个体的共情缺陷进行直接干预, 由此衍生了共情“补短”法, 主要包括心理理论的干预、观点采择的干预、面部表情认知的干预等几种方法。另有一些研究者认为虽然ASD个体存在共情缺陷, 但他们同时也具备系统化能力优势, 应该通过ASD个体的优势能力来改善其共情能力, 由此衍生了共情“扬长”法, 主要包括乐高治疗、严肃游戏干预、基于系统化理论的孤岛能力辅助干预等几种方法。每种方法都存在优点和不足。最后就目前ASD个体共情干预领域存在的问题进行了反思与展望。     

自闭谱系障碍:一种主动性的社会认知控制缺陷

认知控制是一项高级的认知能力,是个体执行功能的一部分。包括认知控制在内的执行功能缺陷被认为是自闭谱系障碍的主要原因之一。本研究基于双重认知控制模型,通过非社会性和社会性两个领域的任务比较了自闭谱系障碍儿童（ASD）与正常发展儿童（TD）的认知控制能力的差异。结果发现：（1）ASD儿童在非社会性领域的认知控制上不存在缺陷,ASD儿童在社会性领域的认知控制上仅表现出了主动性认知控制缺陷,不存在反应性认知控制缺陷;(２)ASD儿童的主动性控制并不像TD儿童一样出现两个领域的加工分化,他们没有像TD儿童一样,表现出社会性领域的主动性控制的优势;（３）社会性领域的主动性控制和反应性控制可以显著从负正两个方向上预测自闭症状的严重程度。本研究认为,可以把ASD看成是一种主动性的社会认知控制缺陷。社会性领域的认知控制指标可为ASD的诊断与训练提供重要参考。     

Effectiveness of Child-Directed Interaction Training for Young Japanese Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of Child-Directed Interaction Training (CDIT), the first phase of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), for Japanese children with autism spectrum disorders. The participants were 21 mother-child dyads with children aged 4–7 years; participants were assigned to an Immediate Treatment (IT) group or to a Waitlist (WL) control group. Across eight training sessions, mothers learned positive attention skills that were adapted from traditional PCIT training. Results showed CDIT not only improved social cognition skills and decreased disruptive behavior in Japanese children, but also reduced stress/distress among their mothers, particularly in relation to their own parenting skills and their child’s problem behaviors.