Behavioral and Physiological Responses to a Name Call in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Comparison with Typically Developing Children

The current study aimed to determine whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present differences in 1) behavioral and/or 2) physiological responses to a name call compared with language age (LA) and chronological age (CA) matched typically developing (TD) peers. During an experimental session, each child watched a nonsocial video while surface electrodes measured heart rate data. An examiner presented the child's name every 15 seconds for up to one minute until a head turn was observed. Boys with ASD showed reduced behavioral response compared with both TD groups. The change in heart rate was analyzed using several methods, and all results were reported. Some results revealed that children with ASD demonstrate a small increase in heart rate in response to the name call, suggesting that young boys with ASD may have a mildly aversive or defensive physiological response to name call. Possible explanations for these findings are explored