Harnessing Repetitive Behaviours to Engage Attention and Learning in a Novel Therapy for Autism: An Exploratory Analysis

Rigorous, quantitative examination of therapeutic techniques anecdotally reported to have been successful in people with autism who lack communicative speech will help guide basic science toward a more complete characterisation of the cognitive profile in this underserved subpopulation, and show the extent to which theories and results developed with the high-functioning subpopulation may apply. This study examines a novel therapy, the “Rapid Prompting Method” (RPM). RPM is a parent-developed communicative and educational therapy for persons with autism who do not speak or who have difficulty using speech communicatively. The technique aims to develop a means of interactive learning by pointing amongst multiple-choice options presented at different locations in space, with the aid of sensory “prompts” which evoke a response without cueing any specific response option. The prompts are meant to draw and to maintain attention to the communicative task – making the communicative and educational content coincident with the most physically salient, attention-capturing stimulus – and to extinguish the sensory–motor preoccupations with which the prompts compete. Video-recorded RPM sessions with nine autistic children ages 8–14 years who lacked functional communicative speech were coded for behaviours of interest. An analysis controlled for age indicates that exposure to the claimed therapy appears to support a decrease in repetitive behaviours and an increase in the number of multiple-choice response options without any decrease in successful responding. Direct gaze is not related to successful responding, suggesting that direct gaze might not be any advantage for this population and need not in all cases be a precondition to communication therapies

Relationship Between Sleep and Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring the Impact of Sleep Variability.

Objective:The relationship between sleep (caregiver-reported and actigraphy-measured) and other caregiver-reported behaviors in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was examined, including the use of machine learning to identify sleep variables important in predicting anxiety in ASD. Methods:Caregivers of ASD (n = 144) and typically developing (TD) (n = 41) participants reported on sleep and other behaviors. ASD participants wore an actigraphy device at nighttime during an 8 or 10-week non-interventional study. Mean and variability of actigraphy measures for ASD participants in the week preceding midpoint and endpoint were calculated and compared with caregiver-reported and clinician-reported symptoms using a mixed effects model. An elastic-net model was developed to examine which sleep measures may drive prediction of anxiety. Results:Prevalence of caregiver-reported sleep difficulties in ASD was approximately 70% and correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with sleep efficiency measured by actigraphy. Mean and variability of actigraphy measures like sleep efficiency and number of awakenings were related significantly (p < 0.05) to ASD symptom severity, hyperactivity and anxiety. In the elastic net model, caregiver-reported sleep, and variability of sleep efficiency and awakenings were amongst the important predictors of anxiety. Conclusion:Caregivers report problems with sleep in the majority of children and adults with ASD. Reported problems and actigraphy measures of sleep, particularly variability, are related to parent reported behaviors. Measuring variability in sleep may prove useful in understanding the relationship between sleep problems and behavior in individuals with ASD. These findings may have implications for both intervention and monitoring outcomes in ASD

Quantifying a Dynamic Risk Landscape: Heterogeneous Predator Activity and Implications for Prey Persistence

Spatial heterogeneity in predation risk can ameliorate impacts on prey populations, particularly for prey of generalists. Spatially heterogeneous risk implies the existence of refugia, and the spatial scale of those refugia and their persistence over time affect whether prey can avoid predation by aggregating therein. Our objective was to quantify the magnitude, spatial scale, and temporal persistence of heterogeneity in risk of predation by white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), an abundant generalist predator of gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) and songbirds. We used track plates to measure white-footed mouse activity at .170 trees in each of three forest plots in upstate New York during summers of 2003–2005. We quantified the mean and coefficient of variation of track activity among trees by fitting the beta-binomial distribution to data from each plot and study period. We measured temporal persistence by disattenuated autocorrelation, and spatial scale by fitting exponential variograms. Mice were much less abundant in 2005 than the other two years, leading to lower overall track activity but higher coefficient of variation among trees. Mouse track activity at individual trees was positively autocorrelated between monthly study periods in 2003 and 2004, and even between the two years, whereas temporal autocorrelation in 2005 was much weaker. Track activity showed positive spatial autocorrelation over lag distances from ;30 to .1000 m. These findings indicate that mouse activity, and hence risk to their prey, varies substantially in space at spatial and temporal scales that appear responsive to mouse population dynamics. The spatial scale and temporal persistence of that variation imply that prey may benefit from returning to, or failing to disperse from, refugia

Use of Track Plates to Quantify Predation Risk at Small Spatial Scales

Spatial heterogeneity in risk is a critical component of predator-prey interactions. However, at small spatial scales, it is difficult to quantify predation risk without altering it. We used track plates to measure local predation risk created by white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) foraging activity on oak-forest plots in Millbrook, New York. Live gypsy moth pupae (Lymantria dispar) were placed at 2 heights on trees and monitored for predation. Pupae deployed on trees visited by mice were more likely to be eaten than those on trees not visited. Logistic regression indicated that predation rates on gypsy moth pupae were positively correlated with track activity, indicating that areas of concentrated mouse activity were areas of heightened risk for gypsy moths. Survival of individual oat grains placed on and 50 cm from track plates were not statistically different, indicating that mice exhibited no detectable behavioral reaction toward track plates. We conclude that track plates offer an economical and reliable means of quantifying local risk of attack by terrestrial mammals without substantially altering the spatial distribution of risk

The experience of gambling problems in British professional footballers: A preliminary qualitative study

Media reports suggest high rates of gambling amongst professional footballers but little is known about how footballers develop and then seek help for gambling problems. Here, we report the findings of in-depth, qualitative interviews with 11 British professional footballers who had, or who were, being treated for gambling problems at a residential clinic. These individuals experienced gambling as a highly salient feature of life as a professional football player in UK professional leagues. Often gambling began as part of social networks of young players, but then progressed to gambling problematically in isolation. Factors that facilitated this transition included structural aspects of professional football as an occupation (e.g. high salaries, spare time, gambling as a shared leisure pursuit) as well as the competitive and emotional challenges of the game (e.g. loss of form, injury or contract release and their effects upon mood). Seeking help was delayed by a reluctance to disclose problems to peers and club managers, but facilitated by recommendations from other players with similar experiences