| 1. |
- Albrecht, Matthew A., et al.
(författare)
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Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 44:9, s. 2369-2374
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 2. |
- Albrecht, Matthew A., et al.
(författare)
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Visual search strategies during facial recognition in children with ASD
- 2014
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 8:5, s. 559-569
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Facial recognition is a complex skill necessary for successful human interpersonal and social interactions. Given that the most prevalent disorder of social interaction is autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a number of studies have investigated and found impaired facial recognition abilities in people with ASD. Further, this impairment may be critically involved in mediating the deficits in interpersonal and social interactions in people with ASD. We sought to address the question of whether face processing is impaired in children with ASD in the current study. While there were a number of differences in visual search behaviours between the 19 children with ASD and the 15 controls, this did not manifest in deficits in facial recognition accuracy. In addition, there were notable differences with respect to eye fixation behaviours and recognition accuracy in this study compared to the findings in a previous similar study conducted in adults with ASD. These differences suggest a performance enhancing developmental trajectory in facial processing in controls that may not be present in individuals with ASD.
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| 3. |
- Horlin, Chiara, et al.
(författare)
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The cost of autism spectrum disorders
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ObjectiveA diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorders is usually associated with substantial lifetime costs to an individual, their family and the community. However, there remains an elusive factor in any cost-benefit analysis of ASD diagnosis, namely the cost of not obtaining a diagnosis. Given the infeasibility of estimating the costs of a population that, by its nature, is inaccessible, the current study compares expenses between families whose children received a formal ASD diagnosis immediately upon suspecting developmental atypicality and seeking advice, with families that experienced a delay between first suspicion and formal diagnosis.DesignA register based questionnaire study covering all families with a child with ASD in Western Australia.ParticipantsFamilies with one or more children diagnosed with an ASD, totalling 521 children diagnosed with an ASD; 317 records were able to be included in the final analysis.ResultsThe median family cost of ASD was estimated to be AUD $34,900 per annum with almost 90% of the sum ($29,200) due to loss of income from employment. For each additional symptom reported, approximately $1,400 cost for the family per annum was added. While there was little direct influence on costs associated with a delay in the diagnosis, the delay was associated with a modest increase in the number of ASD symptoms, indirectly impacting the cost of ASD.ConclusionsA delay in diagnosis was associated with an indirect increased financial burden to families. Early and appropriate access to early intervention is known to improve a child's long-term outcomes and reduce lifetime costs to the individual, family and society. Consequently, a per symptom dollar value may assist in allocation of individualised funding amounts for interventions rather than a nominal amount allocated to all children below a certain age, regardless of symptom presentation, as is the case in Western Australia.
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| 4. |
- Joosten, Annette, et al.
(författare)
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Gaze and visual search strategies of children with Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism viewing a magic trick
- 2016
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; 19:2, s. 95-102
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To examine visual search patterns and strategies used by children with and without Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism (AS/HFA) while watching a magic trick. Limited responsivity to gaze cues is hypothesised to contribute to social deficits in children with AS/HFA. Methods: Twenty-one children with AS/HFA and 31 matched peers viewed a video of a gaze-cued magic trick twice. Between the viewings, they were informed about how the trick was performed. Participants’ eye movements were recorded using a head-mounted eye-tracker.Results: Children with AS/HFA looked less frequently and had shorter fixation on the magician’s direct and averted gazes during both viewings and more frequently at not gaze-cued objects and on areas outside the magician’s face. After being informed of how the trick was conducted, both groups made fewer fixations on gaze-cued objects and direct gaze.Conclusions: Information may enhance effective visual strategies in children with and without AS/HFA.
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