| 1. |
- Achermann, Sheila, et al.
(författare)
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Parents' experiences from participating in an infant sibling study of autism spectrum disorder
- 2020
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 69
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background:Prospective longitudinal studies of infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) play an important role in advancing our knowledge about early developmental pathways in ASD. Despite this clear benefit, currently little is known about potential risks or disadvantages for participating families. As a first step in addressing this issue, we asked parents about their experiences from participating in an infant sibling study.Method:Eighty-eight families responded to a questionnaire examining parents' experiences from participating in an infant sibling study. The questions assessed parents' satisfaction with the study, the child's perceived satisfaction, and the parents' motivation for participating. The study included parents of two groups, (1) infants with an older sibling diagnosed with ASD (HR, high risk, n = 43) and (2) infants with no familial history of ASD (LR, low risk, n = 21).Results:The results indicated that parents are generally positive about study participation and few disadvantages were reported. This pattern was mirrored when splitting parents' responses into the two groups. There was no indication for group differences between parents of infants at high risk and low risk for ASD.Conclusion:Our findings present a first step into understanding parents' experiences from participating in an infant sibling study. Most parents were satisfied with participation in the study and only few disadvantages were reported. Our results have implications for ethical discussions about benefits and risks regarding infant sibling studies in various fields.
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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. |
- Backman, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Functioning and quality of life in transition-aged youth on the autism spectrum – associations with autism symptom severity and mental health problems
- 2023
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous research notes difficulties in functioning and low quality of life (QoL) among transition-age youth on the autism spectrum, and poor mental health may contribute to these difficulties. This study examined the role of autism symptom severity and mental health problems on self-reported functioning and QoL in treatment-seeking transition-age autistic youth. The study included 140 autistic youth (16–25 years, M = 20.44 (SD = 2.95); n = 91 females [65%], n = 42 males [30%], n = 7 non-binary [5%]). We assessed functioning using a structured interview and QoL through a self-report questionnaire. Factors potentially associated with functioning and QoL were assessed using standardized self-report questionnaires of autism symptom severity, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and information from medical records. Participants reported functioning on the 90th percentile compared to general population norms, indicating significant disability, and also rated low overall QoL. Regression analysis showed that autism symptom severity and anxiety symptoms, and to some extent gender and having an ADHD diagnosis, explained 46% of the variance in overall functioning. Symptoms of anxiety and depression, and to a lesser extent, active friendship, explained 43% of the variance in QoL. Sampling limitations of the study include the overrepresentation of women and newly diagnosed participants. We highlight that functioning and QoL are multifactorial, necessitating a comprehensive assessment of transition-aged autistic youth, including mental health problems, to plan tangible interventions.
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| 4. |
- 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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| 5. |
- D’Arcy, Emily, et al.
(författare)
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Get it right, make it easy, see it all : Viewpoints of autistic individuals and parents of autistic individuals about the autism diagnostic process in Australia
- 2021
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The clinical process for being evaluated for an autism diagnosis is often time consuming and stressful for individuals and their caregivers. While experience of and satisfaction with the diagnostic process has been reviewed in the literature, few studies have directly investigated the viewpoints of individuals diagnosed with autism and caregivers of autistic individuals about what is important in the autism diagnostic process.Method: A Q methodological design was employed to capture the subjective viewpoints about the diagnostic process of individuals on the autism spectrum and caregivers of autistic individuals. Thirty-eight participants responded to a set of 66 statements representing different aspects of the autism diagnostic process.Results: The analysis identified three significant viewpoints: Get it Right, Make it Easy, and See it All. Participants reflected upon the importance of a comprehensive diagnostic assessment process, ease of diagnostic processes, and a holistic approach to autism diagnosis for autistic individuals and caregivers of autistic individuals.Conclusions: The findings provide a consumer perspective that encourages reform of the current process for diagnosing autism in Australia, and an insight into what consumers are wanting from diagnostic services. This information is useful for policy-makers and service providers to create a more supportive and client-centred diagnostic process at all levels of service delivery.
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| 6. |
- Falck-Ytter, Terje
(författare)
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Gaze performance during face-to-face communication : A live eye tracking study of typical children and children with autism
- 2015
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 17, s. 78-85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by socio-communicative impairments, and limited attention to other people's faces is thought to be an important underlying mechanism. Here, non-invasive eye-tracking technology was used to quantify the amount of time spent looking at another person's face during face-to-face communication in children with ASD (n = 13, age 6 years) and age and IQ-matched neurotypical children (n = 27, 6 years). We found that in one context of high ecological relevance - listening to an adult telling a children's story - children with ASD showed a markedly reduced tendency to look at the adult's face. In interactions between typical children and the adult, the amount of gaze to the other's face aligned between the two individuals. No such relation was found when the ASD group interacted with the adult. Despite these differences in the storytelling context, we also observed that social looking atypicalities did not generalize to another and more structured context, implying that social looking cannot not be considered fundamentally disrupted in children with ASD.
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| 7. |
- Falkmer, Marita, et al.
(författare)
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Recognition of facially expressed emotions and visual search strategies in adults with Asperger syndrome
- 2011
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Ingår i: RES AUTISM SPECTR DISORD. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 5:1, s. 210-217
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Can the disadvantages persons with Asperger syndrome frequently experience with reading facially expressed emotions be attributed to a different visual perception, affecting their scanning patterns? Visual search strategies, particularly regarding the importance of information from the eye area, and the ability to recognise facially expressed emotions were compared between 24 adults with Asperger syndrome and their matched controls. While wearing a head mounted eye tracker, the participants viewed 12 pairs of photos of faces. The first photo in each pair was cut up into puzzle pieces. Six of the 12 puzzle pieced photos had the eyes bisected. The second photo showed a happy, an angry and a surprised face of the same person as in the puzzle pieced photo. Differences in visual search strategies between the groups were established. Adults with Asperger syndrome had greater difficulties recognizing these basic emotions than controls. The distortion of the eye area affected the ability to identify emotions even more negatively for participants with Asperger syndrome.
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| 8. |
- Falkmer, Marita, et al.
(författare)
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The importance of the eye area in face identification abilities and visual search strategies in persons with Asperger syndrome
- 2010
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 4:4, s. 724-730
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Partly claimed to explain social difficulties observed in people with Asperger syndrome, face identification and visual search strategies become important. Previous research findings are, however, disparate. In order to explore face identification abilities and visual search strategies, with special focus on the importance of the eye area, 24 adults with Asperger syndrome and matched controls viewed puzzle pieced photos of faces, in order to identify them as one of three intact photos of persons. Every second puzzle pieced photo had the eyes distorted. Fixation patterns were measured by an eye tracker. Adults with Asperger syndrome had greater difficulties in identifying faces than controls. However, the entire face identification superiority in controls was found in the condition when the eyes were distorted supporting that adults with Aspergers syndrome do use the eye region to a great extent in face identification. The visual search strategies in controls were more effective and relied on the use of the 'face information triangle', i.e. the two eyes and the mouth, while adults with Asperger syndrome had more fixations on other parts of the face, both when obtaining information and during the identification part, suggesting a less effective use of the 'face information triangle'.
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| 9. |
- Falkmer, Marita, et al.
(författare)
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The influences of static and interactive dynamic facial stimuli on visual strategies in persons with Asperger syndrome
- 2011
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 5:2, s. 935-940
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several studies, using eye tracking methodology, suggest that different visual strategies in persons with autism spectrum conditions, compared with controls, are applied when viewing facial stimuli. Most eye tracking studies are, however, made in laboratory settings with either static (photos) or non-interactive dynamic stimuli, such as video clips. Whether or not these results are transferable to a "real world" dialogue situation remains unclear. In order to examine the consistency of visual strategies across conditions, a comparison of two static conditions and an interactive dynamic "real world" condition, in 15 adults with Asperger syndrome and 15 matched controls, was made using an eye tracker. The static stimuli consisted of colour photos of faces, while a dialogue between the participants and the test leader created the interactive dynamic condition. A within-group comparison showed that people with AS, and their matched controls, displayed a high degree of stability in visual strategies when viewing faces, regardless of the facial stimuli being static or real, as in the interactive dynamic condition. The consistency in visual strategies within the participants suggests that results from studies with static facial stimuli provide important information on individual visual strategies that may be generalized to "real world" situations.
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| 10. |
- Haraguchi, Hideyuki, et al.
(författare)
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One-year outcomes of low-intensity behavioral interventions among Japanese preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders : Community-based study
- 2020
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the need for evidence-based practice for children with autism spectrum disorders in the community, especially in areas with a scarcity of qualified experts and high financial costs, there is a lack of evidence concerning the potential benefits of early interventions which may be affordable in the real world (e.g. low-intensity behavioral or eclectic interventions). This study examined behavioral changes in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorders who received low-intensity behavioral interventions (a mean of 5.5 h per week) or non-behavioral eclectic interventions delivered in community settings in Japan across a 1-year period and compared outcomes between the groups. We assessed children’s developmental quotient, adaptive behavior, autism symptom/severity, and maternal stress and depression at baseline and after 1 year. Our results revealed that children receiving interventions in their communities showed improvement in language and social development. Further, the degree of improvement in children receiving low-intensity behavioral interventions was significantly greater than in children receiving non-behavioral eclectic interventions. The improvement was associated with the intensity of total, especially one-to-one interventions. On the other hand, there were no group differences in the degree of improvement in other outcome measures. Our results suggest that some preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder may benefit from low-intensity behavioral interventions for their language and social development. A greater intensity of one-to-one interventions was found to be associated with greater progress in language development and communication skills. The current study highlights the importance of implementing early interventions in the community, even at a low intensity.
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