| 1. |
- Black, Melissa H., et al.
(författare)
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Disembedding performance and eye gaze behavior of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- 2019
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Atypical visual perception in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) may contribute to superiority in disembedding tasks. Gaze behavior has provided some insights in to mechanisms underlying this purported superiority in children, however evidence is limited and requires additional investigation.Method: The performance and gaze behavior of 27 adolescents with ASD and 27 matched typically developing (TD) peers were examined during the Figure Ground Subtest of the Test of Visual Perception Skills-third edition (TVPS-3).Results: Compared to their TD counterparts, adolescents with ASD were no different in accuracy, however, had a longer response time. Differences in gaze behavior were also observed, characterized by adolescents with ASD spending less time viewing the incorrect and target figures, and spending a greater proportion of time viewing irrelevant areas of the stimuli compared to TD adolescents.Conclusions: Results suggest that while altered visual perception was observed, this did not contribute to superiority in disembedding tasks in adolescents with ASD. Future research is required to elucidate conditions under which altered visual perception may contribute to behavioral superiority.
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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Leung, Denise, et al.
(författare)
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Facial emotion recognition and visual search strategies of children with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome
- 2013
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - Elsevier : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 7:7, s. 833-844
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adults with high functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger syndrome (AS) are often less able to identify facially expressed emotions than their matched controls. However, results regarding emotion recognition abilities in children with HFA/AS remain equivocal. Emotion recognition ability and visual search strategies of 26 children with HFA/AS and matched controls were compared. An eye tracker measured the number of fixations and fixation durations as participants were shown 12 pairs of slides, displaying photos of faces expressing anger, happiness or surprise. The first slide of each pair showed a face broken up into puzzle pieces. The eyes in half of the puzzle piece slides were bisected, while those in the remaining half were whole. Participants then identified which of three alternative faces was expressing the same emotion shown in the preceding puzzle piece slide. No differences between the participant groups were found for either emotion recognition ability or number of fixations. Both groups fixated more often on the eyes and performed better when the eyes were whole, suggesting that both children with HFA/AS and controls consider the eyes to be the most important source of information during emotion recognition. Fixation durations were longer in the group with HFA/AS, which indicates that while children with HFA/AS may be able to accurately recognise emotions, they find the task more demanding.
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| 4. |
- Scott, Melissa, et al.
(författare)
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Employers perception of the costs and the benefits of hiring individuals with autism spectrum disorder in open employment in Australia
- 2017
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 12:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- d Research has examined the benefits and costs of employing adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the perspective of the employee, taxpayer and society, but few studies have considered the employer perspective. This study examines the benefits and costs of employing adults with ASD, from the perspective of employers. Fifty-nine employers employing adults with ASD in open employment were asked to complete an online survey comparing employees with and without ASD on the basis of job similarity. The findings suggest that employing an adult with ASD provides benefits to employers and their organisations without incurring additional costs.
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| 5. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Belongingness in Early Secondary School : Key Factors that Primary and Secondary Schools Need to Consider
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is unknown if, and how, students redefine their sense of school belongingness after negotiating the transition to secondary school. The current study used longitudinal data from 266 students with, and without, disabilities who negotiated the transition from 52 primary schools to 152 secondary schools. The study presents the 13 most significant personal student and contextual factors associated with belongingness in the first year of secondary school. Student perception of school belongingness was found to be stable across the transition. No variability in school belongingness due to gender, disability or household-socio-economic status (SES) was noted. Primary school belongingness accounted for 22% of the variability in secondary school belongingness. Several personal student factors (competence, coping skills) and school factors (low-level classroom task-goal orientation), which influenced belongingness in primary school, continued to influence belongingness in secondary school. In secondary school, effort-goal orientation of the student and perception of their school's tolerance to disability were each associated with perception of school belongingness. Family factors did not influence belongingness in secondary school. Findings of the current study highlight the need for primary schools to foster belongingness among their students at an early age, and transfer students' belongingness profiles as part of the handover documentation. Most of the factors that influenced school belongingness before and after the transition to secondary are amenable to change.
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| 6. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Is using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in a community sample the optimal way to assess mental health functioning?
- 2016
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An important characteristic of a screening tool is its discriminant ability or the measure's accuracy to distinguish between those with and without mental health problems. The current study examined the inter-rater agreement and screening concordance of the parent and teacher versions of SDQ at scale, subscale and item-levels, with the view of identifying the items that have the most informant discrepancies; and determining whether the concordance between parent and teacher reports on some items has the potential to influence decision making. Cross-sectional data from parent and teacher reports of the mental health functioning of a community sample of 299 students with and without disabilities from 75 different primary schools in Perth, Western Australia were analysed. The study found that: a) Intraclass correlations between parent and teacher ratings of children's mental health using the SDQ at person level was fair on individual child level; b) The SDQ only demonstrated clinical utility when there was agreement between teacher and parent reports using the possible or 90% dichotomisation system; and c) Three individual items had positive likelihood ratio scores indicating clinical utility. Of note was the finding that the negative likelihood ratio or likelihood of disregarding the absence of a condition when both parents and teachers rate the item as absent was not significant. Taken together, these findings suggest that the SDQ is not optimised for use in community samples and that further psychometric evaluation of the SDQ in this context is clearly warranted.
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| 7. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: Multi-group cross-lagged analyses
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:6(e99576), s. 1-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.
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| 8. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Should Schools Expect Poor Physical and Mental Health, Social Adjustment, and Participation Outcomes in Students with Disability?
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 10:5, s. e0126630-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The literature on whether students with disabilities have worse physical and mental health, social adjustment, and participation outcomes when compared to their peers without disabilities is largely inconclusive. While the majority of case control studies showed significantly worse outcomes for students with disabilities; the proportion of variance accounted for is rarely reported. The current study used a population cross-sectional approach to determine the classification ability of commonly used screening and outcome measures in determining the disability status. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify the variables, if any, that best predicted the presence of disability. Results of univariate discriminant function analyses suggest that across the board, the sensitivity of the outcome/screening tools to correctly identify students with a disability was 31.9% higher than the related Positive Predictive Value (PPV). The lower PPV and Positive Likelihood Ratio (LR+) scores suggest that the included measures had limited discriminant ability (17.6% to 40.3%) in accurately identifying students at-risk for further assessment. Results of multivariate analyses suggested that poor health and hyperactivity increased the odds of having a disability about two to three times, while poor close perceived friendship and academic competences predicted disability with roughly the same magnitude. Overall, the findings of the current study highlight the need for researchers and clinicians to familiarize themselves with the psychometric properties of measures, and be cautious in matching the function of the measures with their research and clinical needs.
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| 9. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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The Impact of Personal Background and School Contextual Factors on Academic Competence and Mental Health Functioning across the Primary-Secondary School Transition
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 9:3, s. 0089874-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Students negotiate the transition to secondary school in different ways. While some thrive on the opportunity, others are challenged. A prospective longitudinal design was used to determine the contribution of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence (AC) and mental health functioning (MHF) of 266 students, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Data from 197 typically developing students and 69 students with a disability were analysed using hierarchical linear regression modelling. Both in primary and secondary school, students with a disability and from socially disadvantaged backgrounds gained poorer scores for AC and MHF than their typically developing and more affluent counterparts. Students who attended independent and mid-range sized primary schools had the highest concurrent AC. Those from independent primary schools had the lowest MHF. The primary school organisational model significantly influenced post-transition AC scores; with students from Kindergarten - Year 7 schools reporting the lowest scores, while those from the Kindergarten - Year 12 structure without middle school having the highest scores. Attending a school which used the Kindergarten - Year 12 with middle school structure was associated with a reduction in AC scores across the transition. Personal background factors accounted for the majority of the variability in post-transition AC and MHF. The contribution of school contextual factors was relatively minor. There is a potential opportunity for schools to provide support to disadvantaged students before the transition to secondary school, as they continue to be at a disadvantage after the transition.
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| 10. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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The Personal and Contextual Contributors to School Belongingness among Primary School Students
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 10:4, s. e0123353-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- School belongingness has gained currency among educators and school health professionals as an important determinant of adolescent health. The current cross-sectional study presents the 15 most significant personal and contextual factors that collectively explain 66.4% (two-thirds) of the variability in 12-year old students perceptions of belongingness in primary school. The study is part of a larger longitudinal study investigating the factors associated with student adjustment in the transition from primary to secondary school. The study found that girls and students with disabilities had higher school belongingness scores than boys, and their typically developing counterparts respectively; and explained 2.5% of the variability in school belongingness. The majority (47.1% out of 66.4%) of the variability in school belongingness was explained by student personal factors, such as social acceptance, physical appearance competence, coping skills, and social affiliation motivation; followed by parental expectations (3% out of 66.4%), and school-based factors (13.9% out of 66.4%) such as, classroom involvement, task-goal structure, autonomy provision, cultural pluralism, and absence of bullying. Each of the identified contributors of primary school belongingness can be shaped through interventions, system changes, or policy reforms.
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