Self-reported Pleasantness Ratings and Examiner-Coded Defensiveness in Response to Touch in Children with ASD: Effects of Stimulus Material and Bodily Location

Tactile defensiveness, characterized by behavioral hyperresponsiveness and negative emotional responses to touch, is a common manifestation of aberrant sensory processing in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD). Variations in tactile defensiveness with the properties of the stimulus and the bodily site of stimulation have been addressed in adults with self-report of perceived tactile pleasantness, but not in children. We presented three materials (pleasant, unpleasant, social) at three bodily sites and measured both examiner-coded defensiveness and self-reported pleasantness from a group of children with ASD and two comparison groups (one with DD, one with typical development (TD)). The main findings were: 1) children with ASD and DD showed significantly more defensiveness reactions and lower pleasantness ratings than the TD group, with higher variability, 2) there was a double dissociation for the effects of material and bodily site of stimulation: while bodily site predicted behavioral defensiveness, material predicted pleasantness rating. Additionally, it was noted that 3) the most pleasant material and the social touch conditions best distinguished ASD and DD from TD on defensiveness, and 4) within the ASD group, social impairment and defensiveness in bodily sites associated with social touch were positively correlated, suggesting a clinically relevant distinction between social and discriminative touch in ASD

Absence of stimulus-driven synchronization effects on sensory perception in autism: Evidence for local underconnectivity?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A number of neurophysiological characteristics demonstrated in autism share the common theme of under-connectivity in the cerebral cortex. One of the prominent theories of the cause of the dysfunctional connectivity in autism is based on distinct anatomical structures that differ between the autistic and the neurotypical cortex. The functional minicolumn has been identified as occupying a much smaller space in the cortex of people with autism as compared to neurotypical controls, and this aberration in architecture has been proposed to lead to under-connectivity at the local or within-macrocolumn level, which in turn leads to dysfunctional connectivity globally across cortical areas in persons with autism. Numerous reports have indicated reduced synchronization of activity on a large scale in the brains of people with autism. We hypothesized that if the larger-scale aberrant dynamics in autism were due – at least in part – to a widespread propagation of the errors introduced at the level of local connectivity between minicolumns, then aberrations in local functional connectivity should also be detectable in autism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Recently, we reported a method for measuring the perceptual changes that are impacted by the presence of synchronized conditioning stimuli on the skin. In this study, the temporal order judgment (TOJ) and temporal discriminative threshold (TDT) of 10 adult autism subjects were assessed both in the absence and presence of synchronized conditioning vibrotactile stimuli.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our previous report demonstrated that delivering simultaneous and synchronized vibrotactile stimuli to near-adjacent skin sites decreases a subject's ability to determine temporal order by 3 to 4-fold. However, results presented in this report show that subjects with autism do not demonstrate such decreased capacity in temporal order judgment (TOJ) in the presence of synchronized conditioning stimuli, although these same subjects do have TOJ thresholds well above that of controls.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is speculated that the differences in sensory perceptual capacities in the presence of synchronized conditioning stimuli in autism are due to local under-connectivity in cortex at the minicolumnar organizational level, and that the above-average TOJ thresholds in autism could be attributed to structural differences that have been observed in the frontostrial system of this population.</p

Eye Tracking Reveals Impaired Attentional Disengagement Associated with Sensory Response Patterns in Children with Autism

This study used a gap-overlap paradigm to examine the impact of distractor salience and temporal overlap on the ability to disengage and orient attention in 50 children (4–13 years) with ASD, DD and TD, and associations between attention and sensory response patterns. Results revealed impaired disengagement and orienting accuracy in ASD. Disengagement was impaired across all groups during temporal overlap for dynamic stimuli compared to static, but only ASD showed slower disengagement from multimodal relative to unimodal dynamic stimuli. Attentional disengagement had differential associations with distinct sensory response patterns in ASD and DD. Atypical sensory processing and temporal binding appear to be intertwined with development of disengagement in ASD, but longitudinal studies are needed to unravel causal pathways

Sensory experiences of children with autism spectrum disorder: In their own words

First-person perspectives of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are rarely included in research, yet their voices may help more clearly illuminate their needs. This study involved phenomenological interviews with children with ASD (n=12, ages 4-13) used to gain insights about their sensory experiences. This article addresses two study aims: determining the feasibility of interviewing children with ASD and exploring how they share information about their sensory experiences during the qualitative interview process. With the described methods, children as young as four and across a broad range of autism severity scores successfully participated in the interviews. The manner with which children shared information about their sensory experiences included themes of normalizing, storytelling, and describing responses. The interviews also revealed the importance of context and the multisensory nature of children's experiences. These findings contribute strategies for understanding the sensory experiences of children with ASD with implications for practice and future research

Caregiver Strain and Sensory Features in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities

Caring for children with disabilities contributes to increased levels of parent stress, or caregiver strain. However, the potential relationship of sensory features to strain among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD) is unknown. Sensory features include over-reactions, under-reactions, and unusual interests in sensations, which may negatively impact family functioning. This descriptive study confirmed three caregiver strain types (i.e., objective, subjective internalized, subjective externalized) and explored differences among ASD (n=71) and DD (n=36) groups, with the ASD group reporting higher levels. Furthermore, this study explored the contribution of sensory features to caregiver strain, finding differential contributions to strain in the ASD group and covariate contributions (i.e., child cognition, mother’s education) in the DD group

Sensory and repetitive behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorder at home

Atypical sensory and repetitive behaviors are defining features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are thought to be influenced by environmental factors; however, there is a lack of naturalistic research exploring contexts surrounding these behaviors. The current study involved video recording observations of 32 children with ASD (2 – 12 years of age) engaging in sensory and repetitive behaviors during home activities. Behavioral coding was used to determine what activity contexts, sensory modalities, and stimulus characteristics were associated with specific behavior types: hyperresponsive, hyporesponsive, sensory seeking, and repetitive/stereotypic. Results indicated that hyperresponsive behaviors were most associated with activities of daily living and family-initiated stimuli, whereas sensory seeking behaviors were associated with free play activities and child-initiated stimuli. Behaviors associated with multiple sensory modalities simultaneously were common, emphasizing the multi-sensory nature of children’s behaviors in natural contexts. Implications for future research more explicitly considering context are discussed

Neuropsychological Profile of Autism and the Broad Autism Phenotype

Context: Multiple articles describe a constellation of language, personality, and social-behavioral features present in relatives that mirror the symptom domains of autism, but are much milder in expression. Studies of this broad autism phenotype (BAP) may provide a potentially important complementary approach for detecting the genes causing autism and defining associated neural circuitry by identifying more refined phenotypes that can be measured quantitatively in both affected and unaffected individuals and that are tied to functioning in particular regions of the brain. Objective: To gain insight into neuropsychological features that index genetic liability to autism. Design: Case-control study. Setting: The general community. Participants: Thirty-eight high-functioning individuals with autism and parents of autistic individuals, both with and without the BAP (n = 83), as well as control individuals. Main Outcome Measures: A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tasks assessing social cognition, executive function, and global vs local processing strategies (central coherence). Results: Both individuals with autism and parents with the BAP differed from controls on measures of social cognition, with performance in the other 2 domains being more similar to controls. Conclusions: Data suggest that the social cognitive domain may be an important target for linking phenotype to cognitive process to brain structure in autism and may ultimately provide insight into the genes involved in autism

Development and Pilot of the Caregiver Strategies Inventory

Children with autism spectrum disorder often demonstrate unusual behavioral responses to sensory stimuli (i.e., sensory features). To manage everyday activities, caregivers may implement strategies to address these features during family routines. However, investigation of specific strategies used by caregivers is limited by the lack of empirically developed measures. In this study, we describe the development and pilot results of the Caregiver Strategies Inventory (CSI), a supplement to the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire Version 3.0 (SEQ 3.0; Baranek, 2009) that measures caregivers’ strategies in response to their children’s sensory features. Three conceptually derived and empirically grounded strategy types were tested: cognitive–behavioral, sensory–perceptual, and avoidance. Results indicated that the CSI demonstrated good internal consistency and that strategy use was related to child age and cognition. Moreover, parent feedback after completing the CSI supported its utility and social validity. The CSI may be used alongside the SEQ 3.0 to facilitate a family-centered approach to assessment and intervention planning

Child and Family Characteristics Influencing Intervention Choices in Autism Spectrum Disorders

A myriad of treatment options are available for children with autism, yet little is understood regarding characteristics of parents (e.g., education) and children (e.g., severity of autism symptoms) that influence types and amounts of therapy utilization. Interviews from 70 families were analyzed to determine potential influences on utilization (e.g., start of first services, use of traditional services). Descriptive findings regarding therapy types were similar to national studies. However, only three of the variables predicted utilization of specific therapies: severity of sensory processing problems was associated with earlier initiation of services in general, and higher maternal and paternal education was associated with the use of dietary and/or vitamin therapy as well as with more types of services. No other variables had predictive value; thus, the amount and type of therapies received may be more related to diagnostic practices and/or to the affordances/constraints of service delivery and reimbursement systems at particular ages

The Neural Circuitry Mediating Shifts in Behavioral Response and Cognitive Set in Autism

Recent studies have suggested that the social and cognitive impairments in autism are associated with neural processing deficits in specific brain regions. However, these studies have primarily focused on neural systems responsible for face processing and social behaviors. Although repetitive, stereotyped behaviors are a hallmark of autism, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying these behaviors in the disorder