Do Parents Recognize Autistic Deviant Behavior Long before Diagnosis? Taking into Account Interaction Using Computational Methods

BACKGROUND: To assess whether taking into account interaction synchrony would help to better differentiate autism (AD) from intellectual disability (ID) and typical development (TD) in family home movies of infants aged less than 18 months, we used computational methods. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: First, we analyzed interactive sequences extracted from home movies of children with AD (N = 15), ID (N = 12), or TD (N = 15) through the Infant and Caregiver Behavior Scale (ICBS). Second, discrete behaviors between baby (BB) and Care Giver (CG) co-occurring in less than 3 seconds were selected as single interactive patterns (or dyadic events) for analysis of the two directions of interaction (CG→BB and BB→CG) by group and semester. To do so, we used a Markov assumption, a Generalized Linear Mixed Model, and non negative matrix factorization. Compared to TD children, BBs with AD exhibit a growing deviant development of interactive patterns whereas those with ID rather show an initial delay of development. Parents of AD and ID do not differ very much from parents of TD when responding to their child. However, when initiating interaction, parents use more touching and regulation up behaviors as early as the first semester. CONCLUSION: When studying interactive patterns, deviant autistic behaviors appear before 18 months. Parents seem to feel the lack of interactive initiative and responsiveness of their babies and try to increasingly supply soliciting behaviors. Thus we stress that credence should be given to parents' intuition as they recognize, long before diagnosis, the pathological process through the interactive pattern with their child

Les incitations prosodiques au cours du développement de l enfant à devenir autistique (Etude du mamanais dans les films familiaux)

Différemment des bébés typiques, qui expriment un intérêt pour la communication, les bébés à devenir autistique se caractérisent par la présence d anomalies dans les interactions sociales et dans la communication. Cette recherche se focalise sur le mamanais , un langage utilisé par les adultes lorsqu ils s adressent aux bébés. Caractérisé par un pitch élevé et des contours d intonation exagérés, il éveille l attention du bébé et communique de l émotion et des informations phonétiques de la langue. Il dépend de la qualité des réponses du bébé ce qui suggère que le bébé est activement impliqué dans le processus d interaction précoce. Nous postulons que : si l'apprentissage du langage dépend d'une appétence sociale normale pour les personnes et les signaux qu'elles produisent, les enfants autistes, qui manquent d intérêt social, peuvent être en désavantage cumulatif dans l'apprentissage du langage. Leur faible réponse aux incitations de leurs parents peut appauvrir la production de mamanais. Cela pourrait en retour renforcer le retrait et le retard dans l acquisition du langage. Nous avons participé au développement de méthodes computationnelles et d'un algorithme permettant la caractérisation et la détection automatique du mamanais pour l analyse des interactions précoces parents-bébé dans des films familiaux. Nous avons testé nos hypothèses en deux observations : un enfant contrôle et un enfant à développement autistique. Ces études de cas montrent que les hypothèses sont testables et non contredites, mais qu elles impliquent de tenir compte des rôles respectifs des mères et des pères dont la dynamique est très différente au cours des premiers mois de vie du bébé.Differently of typical babies, who express an interest for communication, infants who will become autistic are characterized by the presence of abnormalities in social interactions and communication. This research is focused on motherese , a language used by the adults when addressing to infants. Characterized by a raised pitch' and exaggerated contours of intonation, motherese wakes up infants attention and communicates emotion and phonetic information of the language. This type of speech depends on the quality of the answers of the baby which suggests that infant is actively implicated in early interaction process. We postulate that: if language learning depends on a normal social interest for people and the signals they produce, autistic children, who lack social interest, may be in a cumulative disadvantage in language acquisition. Their poor answers to the incentives of their parents can impoverish their motherese production. That could in return reinforce the withdrawal and the delay in language acquisition. We participate on the development of computational methods and an algorithm allowing the characterization and the automatic detection of motherese for the analysis of early parents-infants interactions in family movies. We tested our hypothesis in two observations: a control child and a child with autistic development. These case studies show that the hypothesis are testable and not contradicted, but this imply to consider the respective roles of mothers and fathers from which dynamics is very different during the first months of child s life.BOULOGNE-BU Psych. Henri Pieron (920125201) / SudocSudocFranceF

Course of maternal prosodic incitation (motherese) during early development in autism: An exploratory home movie study

International audienc

What studies of family home movies can teach us about autistic infants: A literature review

International audienc

Desafios nas entrevistas de uma investigação qualitativa.: Relato de experiência

Report of the perceptions emerged from the experience of the qualitative research Representações Sociais da Internação Domiciliar na terminalidade: o olhar do cuidador familiar data collection. Difficulties for the researcher in performing the interviews, especially in establishing a horizontal relationship between the researcher and the researched, are shown.Relato das percepções surgidas da experiência da recolha dos dados da investigação qualitativa Representações Sociais da Internação Domiciliar na terminalidade: o olhar do cuidador familiar. Mostram-se as dificuldades para o pesquisador na realização das entrevistas, especialmente no estabelecimento de uma relação o mais horizontal possível entre pesquisador e pesquisado.Relato de las percepciones surgidas de la experiencia de recolección de datos de la investigación cualitativa Representações Sociais da Internação Domiciliar na terminalidade: o olhar do cuidador familiar. Se muestran las dificultades para el investigador en la realización de las entrevistas, especialmente en el establecimiento de una relación horizontal entre investigador e investigado

Computerized home video detection for motherese may help to study impaired interaction between infants who become autistic and their parents

International audienc

Do Parentese Prosody and Fathers' Involvement in Interacting Facilitate Social Interaction in Infants Who Later Develop Autism?

<div><p>Background</p><p>Whether development of autism impacts the interactive process between an infant and his/her parents remains an unexplored issue.</p><p>Methodology and Principal Findings</p><p>Using computational analysis taking into account synchronic behaviors and emotional prosody (parentese), we assessed the course of infants' responses to parents' type of speech in home movies from typically developing (TD) infants and infants who will subsequently develop autism aged less than 18 months. Our findings indicate: that parentese was significantly associated with infant responses to parental vocalizations involving orientation towards other people and with infant receptive behaviours; that parents of infants developing autism displayed more intense solicitations that were rich in parentese; that fathers of infants developing autism spoke to their infants more than fathers of TD infants; and that fathers' vocalizations were significantly associated with intersubjective responses and active behaviours in infants who subsequently developed autism.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The parents of infants who will later develop autism change their interactive pattern of behaviour by both increasing parentese and father's involvement in interacting with infants; both are significantly associated with infant's social responses. We stress the possible therapeutic implications of these findings and its implication for Dean Falk's theory regarding pre-linguistic evolution in early hominins.</p></div

Motherese in Interaction: At the Cross-Road of Emotion and Cognition? (A Systematic Review)

<div><p>Various aspects of motherese also known as infant-directed speech (IDS) have been studied for many years. As it is a widespread phenomenon, it is suspected to play some important roles in infant development. Therefore, our purpose was to provide an update of the evidence accumulated by reviewing all of the empirical or experimental studies that have been published since 1966 on IDS driving factors and impacts. Two databases were screened and 144 relevant studies were retained. General linguistic and prosodic characteristics of IDS were found in a variety of languages, and IDS was not restricted to mothers. IDS varied with factors associated with the caregiver (e.g., cultural, psychological and physiological) and the infant (e.g., reactivity and interactive feedback). IDS promoted infants’ affect, attention and language learning. Cognitive aspects of IDS have been widely studied whereas affective ones still need to be developed. However, during interactions, the following two observations were notable: (1) IDS prosody reflects emotional charges and meets infants’ preferences, and (2) mother-infant contingency and synchrony are crucial for IDS production and prolongation. Thus, IDS is part of an interactive loop that may play an important role in infants’ cognitive and social development. </p> </div

Summary of the motherese interactive loop (a) and its socio-cognitive implications (2B).

<div><p>1A: The motherese interactive loop implies that motherese is both a vector and a reflection of mother-infant interaction.</p> <p>2B: Motherese affects intersubjective construction and learning. Its implications for infants’ early socio-cognitive development are evident in affect transmission and sharing, and in infants’ preferences, engagement, attention, learning and language acquisition.</p></div