Toward the identification of adaptive functioning intervention targets for intellectually ‐able, transition‐aged youth with autism: An examination of caregiver responses on the Vineland‐II
Little is known about specific adaptive functioning impairments in intellectually‐able individuals with autism spectrum disorder. In adolescents (n = 22) and young adults (n = 22) matched on composite IQ scores, this study examined profiles of cognitive and adaptive functioning, and caregiver responses on individual Vineland‐II items. Adaptive functioning standard scores were significantly lower than IQ scores, and the adult group had significantly lower adaptive functioning standard scores than the adolescent group. Examination of caregiver responses to individual Vineland‐II items identified more than 100 p...
Source: Autism Research - August 29, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Nicole L. Matthews, Amanda Malligo, Christopher J. Smith Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
INSAR President's Message – August 2017
(Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SOCIETY PAGE Source Type: research
Scientific Summaries for Families with ASD
(Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Tags: SCIENTIFIC SUMMARIES FOR FAMILIES WITH ASD Source Type: research
Issue Information
(Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Tags: ISSUE INFORMATION Source Type: research
Processing of co ‐reference in autism spectrum disorder
This study examined whether a difference in the speed with which individuals with ASD form connections between words (co‐reference processing) may contribute to comprehension difficulties. No evidence was found to suggest that ASD readers differ to typically developing readers in the speed of co‐reference processing. Therefore, this data would suggest that differences in co‐reference processing are unlikely to account for reading comprehension difficulties in ASD. (Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 22, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Philippa L. Howard, Simon P. Liversedge, Valerie Benson Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Production and perception of emotional prosody by adults with autism spectrum disorder
This study examined production and perception of affective prosody by adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has reported increased pitch variability in talkers with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) controls in grammatical speaking tasks (e.g., comparing interrogative vs. declarative sentences), but it is unclear whether this pattern extends to emotional speech. In this study, speech recordings in five emotion contexts (angry, happy, interested, sad, and neutral) were obtained from 15 adult males with ASD and 15 controls (Experiment 1), and were later presented to 52 listeners (22 with ASD) ...
Source: Autism Research - August 17, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Daniel J. Hubbard, Daniel J. Faso, Peter F. Assmann, Noah J. Sasson Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Sticking with it: Psychotherapy outcomes for adults with autism spectrum disorder in a university counseling center setting
This study aimed to discover how individuals with ASD fare in psychotherapy within a college counseling setting, compared to their neurotypical peers. Clients with ASD (n = 76) or possible ASD (n = 91) were retrospectively identified from counseling center case notes. Data from the Outcome Questionnaire‐45 (OQ) were retrieved for each therapy session as a measure of client distress. Clients with ASD showed no difference in level of distress at intake compared to their neurotypical peers (n = 21,546), and improved about the same amount from pre‐ to post‐treatment. However, students with ASD stayed in treat...
Source: Autism Research - August 17, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Emily Anderberg, Jonathan C. Cox, E. Shannon Neeley Tass, David M. Erekson, Terisa P. Gabrielsen, Jared S. Warren, Jared Cline, Devin Petersen, Mikle South Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Early autism symptoms in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex
We examined early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), approximately 50% of whom will meet criteria for ASD by age 3. Infants with TSC and ASD showed deficits in social communication behaviors by 9 months of age that were clearly distinguishable from behaviors in infants with TSC who do not develop ASD and low risk infants. Results support the importance of early ASD screening and intervention for infants with TSC. (Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 11, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Nicole M. McDonald, Kandice J. Varcin, Rujuta Bhatt, Joyce Y. Wu, Mustafa Sahin, Charles A. Nelson, Shafali S. Jeste Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Altered task ‐related modulation of long‐range connectivity in children with autism
Functional connectivity differences between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children have been described in multiple datasets. However, few studies examine the task‐related changes in connectivity in disorder‐relevant behavioral paradigms. In this paper, we examined the task‐related changes in functional connectivity using EEG and a movement‐based paradigm that has behavioral relevance to ASD. Resting‐state studies motivated our hypothesis that children with ASD would show a decreased magnitude of functional connectivity during the performance of a motor‐control task. Contr...
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ajay S. Pillai, Danielle McAuliffe, Balaji M. Lakshmanan, Stewart H. Mostofsky, Nathan E. Crone, Joshua B. Ewen Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Erratum to article “Mid‐childhood outcomes of infant siblings at familial high‐risk of autism spectrum disorder” Autism Research, 10 (3), 546–557
(Source: Autism Research)
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Tags: Erratum Source Type: research
Children with autism spectrum disorder who improve with fever: Insights from the Simons Simplex Collection
This study aims to (a) investigate the subset of children who show parent‐reported behavioral improvements associated with fever and (b) compare the demographic, behavioral, and genetic characteristics of this subset of children to children whose parents report no change during fever. Parents of 2,152 children from the Simons Simplex Collection provided information about whether and in which areas their child improved during fever. Children were randomly assigned into discovery or replication samples. In discovery analyses, children who reportedly improved with fever (Improve Group) were compared to those who reportedly ...
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Rebecca Grzadzinski, Catherine Lord, Stephan J. Sanders, Donna Werling, Vanessa H. Bal Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Analysis and functional characterization of sequence variations in ligand binding domain of thyroid hormone receptors in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neuro developmental disorder, reported to be on a rise in the past two decades. Thyroid hormone‐T3 plays an important role in early embryonic and central nervous system development. T3 mediates its function by binding to thyroid hormone receptors, TRα and TRβ. Alterations in T3 levels and thyroid receptor mutations have been earlier implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and have been linked to environmental toxins. Limited reports from earlier studies have shown the effectiveness of T3 treatment with promising results in children with ASD and that the thyroid hormone levels in the...
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Mahesh Kumar Kalikiri, Madhu Poornima Mamidala, Ananth N. Rao, Vidya Rajesh Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Altered attentional processing in male and female rats in a prenatal valproic acid exposure model of autism spectrum disorder
We examined sustained, spatially divided attention in a prenatal valproic acid (VPA) model of ASD using the 5‐choice serial reaction time task (5‐CSRTT). As compared to controls, male and female VPA rats had progressively lower accuracy and higher omissions with increasing attentional demands during 5‐CSRTT training, and showed further performance decrements when subjected to parametric task manipulations. It is noteworthy that although VPA exposure induced attentional deficits in both sexes, there were task parameter specific sex differences. Importantly, we did not find evidence of impulsivity or motivational defic...
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Kumari Anshu, Ajay Kumar Nair, U.D. Kumaresan, Bindu M. Kutty, Shoba Srinath, T. Rao Laxmi Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Characterization of early communicative behavior in mouse models of neurofibromatosis type 1
Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic neurodevelopmental disease caused by germline loss‐of‐function mutations in the NF1 tumor suppressor gene. Cognitive impairments are observed in approximately 80% of children with this disease, with 45–60% exhibiting autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptomatology. In light of the high comorbidity rate between ASD and NF1, we assessed early communicative behavior by maternal‐separation induced pup ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) and developmental milestones in two distinct Nf1 genetically engineered models, one modeling clinical germline heterozygous loss of Nf1 function (...
Source: Autism Research - August 1, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Susan E. Maloney, Krystal C. Chandler, Corina Anastasaki, Michael A. Rieger, David H. Gutmann, Joseph D. Dougherty Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Shared atypical default mode and salience network functional connectivity between autism and schizophrenia
Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are two prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders sharing some similar genetic basis and clinical features. The extent to which they share common neural substrates remains unclear. Resting‐state fMRI data were collected from 35 drug‐naïve adolescent participants with first‐episode schizophrenia (15.6 ± 1.8 years old) and 31 healthy controls (15.4 ± 1.6 years old). Data from 22 participants with ASD (13.1 ± 3.1 years old) and 21 healthy controls (12.9 ± 2.9 years old) were downloaded from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. Resting‐state function...
Source: Autism Research - July 21, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Heng Chen, Lucina Q. Uddin, Xujun Duan, Junjie Zheng, Zhiliang Long, Youxue Zhang, Xiaonan Guo, Yan Zhang, Jingping Zhao, Huafu Chen Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
