| 1. |
- Carlsson, Emilia, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing False-Belief Understanding in Children with Autism Using a Computer Application: A Pilot Study.
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of psycholinguistic research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-6555 .- 0090-6905. ; 47:5, s. 1085-1099
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have developed a False-Belief (FB) understanding task for use on a computer tablet, trying to assess FB understanding in a less social way. It is based on classical FB protocols, and additionally includes a manipulation of language in an attempt to explore the facilitating effect of linguistic support during FB processing. Specifically, the FB task was presented in three auditory conditions: narrative, silent, and interference. The task was assumed to shed new light on the FB difficulties often observed in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Sixty-eight children with ASD (M=7.5years) and an age matched comparison group with 98 typically developing (TD) children were assessed with the FB task. The children with ASD did not perform above chance level in any condition, and significant differences in success rates were found between the groups in two conditions (silent and narrative), with TD children performing better. We discuss implications, limitations, and further developments.
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| 2. |
- Carlsson, Emilia, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Narrative Skills in Primary School Children with Autism in Relation to Language and Nonverbal Temporal Sequencing
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0090-6905 .- 1573-6555. ; 49, s. 475-489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent research has suggested that temporal sequencing of narrative events might be a domain-general ability that underlies oral narrative capacities. The current study investigated this issue in a group of children with known pragmatic and narrative difficulties, namely Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We hypothesized (1) that children with ASD (n = 45) would retell narratives of poorer quality than both chronological age-matched (CAM) children and younger children matched on sentence-level language skills (LM), and (2) that nonverbal temporal sequencing skills would uniquely predict individual differences in oral narrative performance in children with ASD. The results show that children with ASD performed poorer on all measures of oral narrative quality compared with the CAM group, and on eight of ten measures compared with the LM group. Thus, our first hypothesis was confirmed, suggesting that narrative difficulties in ASD cannot be fully explained by impaired language. The second hypothesis was only partly confirmed: nonverbal temporal sequencing explained significant or marginally significant variance in some, but not all, aspects of oral narrative performance of children with ASD. These results are discussed from theoretical and clinical/educational perspectives, in relation to the heterogeneity of language skills in ASD and to domain-general features of narrative processing.
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| 3. |
- Carlsson, Emilia, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Negotiating knowledge: parents’ experience of the neuropsychiatric diagnostic process for children with autism
- 2016
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Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822. ; 51:3, s. 328-338
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Parents often recognize problems in their child’s development earlier than health professionals do and there is new emphasis on the importance of involving parents in the diagnostic process. In Gothenburg, Sweden, over 100 children were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 2009–11 through a general population language and autism screening of 2.5 year olds at the city’s child healthcare centres. Aims: To increase understanding of parents’ lived experience of the neuropsychiatric diagnostic process, i.e. the period from the initial screening at age 2.5 years to the 2-year follow-up of the ASD diagnosis. Methods & Procedures: A qualitative design, a phenomenological hermeneutic method, was used. Interviews were conducted with parents of 11 children who were diagnosed with ASD 2 years prior. The parents were interviewed about their experiences of the neuropsychiatric diagnostic process, i.e. the time before the screening, the time during the neuropsychiatric multidisciplinary evaluation and the time after diagnosis. The interviews lasted for 45–130 min, and an interview guide with set questions was used. Most of the interviews were conducted at the parents’ homes. Outcomes & Results: The essence that emerged from the data was negotiating knowledge, and the three themes capturing the parents’ experiences of going through the process of having their child diagnosed with ASD were seeking knowledge, trusting and challenging experts, and empowered but alone. Conclusions & Implications: The parents expected intervention to start directly after diagnosis but felt they had to fight to obtain the resources their child needed. After the process, they described that they felt empowered but still alone, i.e. although they received useful and important information about their child, they were left to manage the situation by themselves. As for clinical implications, the study points to the necessity of developing routines to support the parents during and after the diagnostic process. Recommended measures include developing a checklist outlining relevant contacts and agencies, establishing a coordinator responsible for each child, dividing the summary meeting at the clinic into two parts, making more than one visit to the preschool, and providing a parental training programme.
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| 4. |
- Cederlund, Mats, 1962, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-schoolchildren with autism spectrum disorders are rarely macrocephalic: A population study.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Research in developmental disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 35:5, s. 992-998
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Numerous clinical studies over the past decades have concluded that there is an association between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and large head size. Lately, some studies have reported conflicting results. The present study was conducted with a view to assess the presence of macrocephaly in a community-representative group of pre-school children with ASD. The prevalence of ASD in this general population was 0.8%. Thirty-three children (5 girls, 28 boys) recruited after general population screening for ASD, and diagnosed with ASD (two-thirds not globally delayed) were assessed as regards growth parameters; height, weight, and head circumference (HC), at birth and at comprehensive medical-psychiatric diagnostic examinations at a mean age of 3 years. Macrocephaly in the present study was defined as HC above the 97th percentile, and ≥2 SD above recorded length/height. Only one of the 33 children (3%) had macrocephaly which is similar to the general population prevalence. Another 9% had a big but proportional head. None of the children were microcephalic. In this community-based study we found no evidence to support a strong link between a large head size and ASD. Conclusions must be guarded because of the relatively small number of ASD cases included.
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| 5. |
- Engman, Mona-Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Prenatal acquired cytomegalovirus infection should be considered in children with autism
- 2015
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Ingår i: Acta Paediatrica. - : Wiley. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 104:8, s. 792-795
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of congenital cytomegalovirus infection (CMV) in a representative sample of children with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: In a representative group of 115 preschool children with autism spectrum disorder, of whom 33 also had intellectual disability, the dried blood spots from the newborn metabolic screening were analysed for CMV DNA using TaqMan polymerase chain reaction. Results: One of the 33 children with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability - 3% of that group - had congenital CMV infection. The corresponding prevalence in newborn infants in Sweden is 0.2%. None of the 82 children without intellectual disability had congenital CMV. Conclusion: The finding lends some further support for congenital CMV being one of the many aetiologies underlying autism spectrum disorder with intellectual disability. The rate of 3% of congenital CMV in children with autism spectrum disorder with intellectual disability has implications for the medical work-up. The finding of congenital CMV also indicates the need for repeated hearing assessments in the child. There is a need for similar studies with much larger samples.
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| 6. |
- Eriksson, Mårten, et al.
(författare)
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Problems and limitations in studies on screening for language delay.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Research in Developmental Disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 31:5, s. 943-950
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study discusses six common methodological limitations in screening for language delay (LD) as illustrated in 11 recent studies. The limitations are (1) whether the studies define a target population, (2) whether the recruitment procedure is unbiased, (3) attrition, (4) verification bias, (5) small sample size and (6) inconsistencies in choice of "gold standard". It is suggested that failures to specify a target population, high attrition (both at screening and in succeeding validation), small sample sizes and verification bias in validations are often caused by a misguided focus on screen positives (SPs). Other limitations are results of conflicting methodological goals. We identified three such conflicts. One consists of a dilemma between unbiased recruitment and attrition, another between the comprehensiveness of the applied gold standard and sample size in validation and the third between the specificity of the gold standard and the risk of not identifying co-morbid conditions.
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| 7. |
- Fernell, Elisabeth, 1948, et al.
(författare)
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Autism spectrum disorder and low vitamin D at birth : a sibling control study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Molecular Autism. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2040-2392. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Insufficient vitamin D activity has attracted increasing interest as a possible underlying risk factor in disorders of the central nervous system, including autism.Methods: In this study, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D) was analysed in 58 Sweden-born sibling pairs, in which one child had autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the other did not. The study group consisted of two representative samples; 47 Gothenburg sibling pairs with mixed ethnicities and 11 Stockholm sibling pairs with Somali background. 25(OH) D levels were analysed in the stored dried blood spots taken in the neonatal period for metabolic screening.Results: The collapsed group of children with ASD had significantly lower vitamin D levels (M = 24.0 nM, SD = 19.6) as compared with their siblings (M = 31.9 nM, SD = 27.7), according to a paired samples t-test (P = 0.013). The difference was-most likely-not only accounted for by a difference in season of birth between ASD and non-ASD siblings since the mean 25(OH)D levels differed with similar effect size between the sibling pairs born during winter and summer, respectively. All children with African/Middle East background, both the children with ASD and their non-ASD siblings, had vitamin D deficiency.Conclusions: The findings suggest that low prenatal vitamin D may act as a risk factor for ASD, however, there is a need for replication with larger samples. Future research should study whether or not adequate supplementation of vitamin D to pregnant women might lower the risk for ASD in the offspring.
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| 8. |
- Flynn, T., et al.
(författare)
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Hearing aid use in 11-year-old children with mild bilateral hearing loss: Associations between parent and child ratings and datalogging
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0165-5876 .- 1872-8464. ; 156
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: This study examined the hearing aid use in older school-aged children with mild bilateral hearing loss. More specifically, it investigated children's and parents' estimation of use in comparison to datalogging as well as explored the situations children used their hearing aids.Methods and materials: Sixteen children with mild bilateral hearing loss and their parents participated. Of those, 14 children used hearing aids. Children and parents completed a questionnaire on hours of hearing aid use and situations hearing aids were used. Datalogging of the hearing aids was recorded and compared to the outcome of the questionnaires.Results: Datalogging indicated average hearing aid use time was 6.6 h. Children significantly overestimated their use of their hearing aids while approximately half the parents overestimated their child's use. Children used their hearing aids most often at school and in the car. Conclusion: Children with mild bilateral hearing loss overestimate the amount of time they are wearing their hearing aids. This may impact counselling and intervention on the use of hearing aids. Therefore, school-aged children should be included in the discussions around potentially increasing use of hearing aids.
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| 9. |
- Frost, Morgan, et al.
(författare)
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Social scene perception in autism spectrum disorder: An eye-tracking and pupillometric study
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1380-3395 .- 1744-411X. ; 41:10, s. 1024-1032
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Typically, developing humans innately place subjective value on social information and orient attention to it. This can be shown through tracking of gaze patterns and pupil size, the latter of which taps into an individual's cognitive engagement and affective arousal. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present with atypical social, communicative and behavioral patterns, but underlying substrates of these behavioral differences remain unclear. Moreover, due to high comorbidity with other neurodevelopmental disorders, it is often difficult to distinguish which differences are distinctive to ASD. In this study, a group of 35 adolescents and young adults with neurodevelopmental disorders were tested to investigate the processing of social and non-social scenes in individuals who meet the diagnostic criteria for autism and those who do not. Eye tracking and pupillometry measures were collected while participants observed images of tightly controlled natural scenes with or without a human being. Contrary to individuals without autism diagnosis, participants with autism did not show greater pupillary response to images with a human. Participants with autism were slower to fixate on social elements in the social scenes, and this latency metric correlated with clinical measures of poor social functioning. The results confirm the clinical relevance of eye-tracking and pupillometric indices in the field of ASD. We discuss the clinical implications of the results and propose that analysis of changes in visual attention and physiological level to social stimuli might be an integral part of a neurodevelopmental assessment.
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| 10. |
- Gillberg, Nanna, et al.
(författare)
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Knowledge and belongingness: experiences of a programme for parents of children with autism
- 2024
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Ingår i: Educational Research. - 1002-5731. ; 66:1, s. 1-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Whilst lack of social support has been associated with stress for parents of children with autism, group programmes for parents which bring together those with similar experiences and provide learning and resources can offer a form of social support. Although studies of such programmes suggest positive outcomes, including in terms of children’s adaptive behaviour, research examining parental perspectives on interventions that set out specifically to provide support to reduce stress in parents of children with autism is still scarce. Purpose Set in a Swedish context, the aim was to investigate whether a group education programme for parents of children with autism could be viewed as a site of informal social support and considered fertile ground for procuring social capital. Method Participants were parents of children who had been given an autism diagnosis at around three years of age. They had all taken part in a group education programme designed to facilitate experience-sharing in meetings between parents. The parents were interviewed about their experiences and perceptions of its influence on their everyday lives. Data were analysed qualitatively, using a Community of Practice lens. Findings The in-depth analysis indicated that, according to participants, the programme had helped alleviate feelings of isolation and improve parenting confidence. The findings speak to the importance of personal investment for knowledge acquisition and implementation, demonstrating the connections between the acquisition of social capital and membership of a Community of Practice. Conclusion Building on previous research emphasising the role of social support for the quality of life for parents of children with autism, the study highlights how a parental group education programme can represent a valuable social setting which is conducive for learning and resource procurement. Knowledge and belongingness in a social community – which enables access to, and sharing of, resources – are both of crucial relevance to outcomes and quality of life for families.
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