Characterization of Cross-Genre Writing Skills in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Language, Handwriting, and Cognitive Processing

It has been estimated that writing is one of the most significant academic problems for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with as many as 60% of children having a learning disability in writing (Mayes & Calhoun, 2008). The majority of evidence demonstrating this achievement gap, however, comes from research finding global writing deficits, using standardized tests. As a result, a number of questions remain about how the texts constructed by children with ASD specifically align or deviate from typical development. For instance, do these texts differ in terms of vocabulary, grammar, or structure? Are children with ASD better at writing in a particular genre? Additionally, the mechanisms that influence writing development in children with ASD are still unclear. Therefore, in the present study we (1) comprehensively characterized the cross-genre (i.e., personal narrative, expository) writing development of 8- to- 14-year-old children with and without ASD; and (2) examined how language, handwriting ability, and cognitive processing contribute to written expression. Our findings revealed that children with ASD wrote less and made more grammatical errors in their sentences across writing genres than neurotypical (NT) children. When examining overall quality, children with ASD only differed from neurotypical children on their narrative texts. In contrast, writing high quality expository essays was an area of relative strength for children with ASD compared to NT children. Contrary to expectations, children made few significant style distinctions between personal narrative and expository writing. Current analyses also indicated that oral language skills, handwriting ability, theory of mind, and executive functioning each play a role in a variety of written expression skills in children with and without ASD. For example, theory of mind knowledge appeared to be especially important for the quality of writing among children with and without ASD. These results have important implications for educational instruction as well as the development of writing interventions

Examination of Script and Non-Script Based Narrative Retellings in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study compared the narrative abilities of 19 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 26 neurotypical children (NT), between 6 and 12 years of age, on two story retelling tasks: a script-based story and a non-script based story. The script- based story contained the structural aspects of a narrative, but also had the internal framework of a script (Hayward et al., 2007). Given the reduced cognitive and linguistic demands of the script-based story, it was expected that the script-based narrative measure would minimize narrative differences between children with and without ASD. Additionally, the relation between narrative production, theory of mind (ToM), and linguistic abilities were examined. Unexpectedly, the narration of both story types was equally difficult for children with ASD for the majority of narrative variables, including syntactic complexity, structure, content, appropriate use of references, and causal connectivity, which resulted in narratives that were less coherent and cohesive than the NT group. Closer examination of the script-based story revealed that children with ASD were including the same number of script details as the NT children, but were less likely to include the non-script details. These findings suggested that the children with ASD had more general narrative impairments, instead of abnormalities in their representation of script knowledge. Among children with ASD, ToM uniquely predicted narrative coherence and cohesion for both story types. Implications for the understanding of common events and the need for narrative interventions are discussed

Body Image and Life Satisfaction in Amish, Catholic, and Non-Religious Women

Dissatisfaction with one’s appearance is commonplace among Western women. Body image dissatisfaction is believed to be a consequence of societal emphases on appearance reinforced through norms and media. However, some Amish cultural values and norms differ from prevailing Western influences, which may result in a rate of body image dissatisfaction at variance with Western women. The following pilot study explores how religious affiliation and religiosity may relate to body image factors (body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, and body coping strategies) and life satisfaction in Amish (N = 32), Catholic (N = 40), and non-religious (N = 40) women. Results suggest that the Amish have a more positive body image than Catholic women; results were inconclusive when comparing to non-religious women. As this pilot study’s sampling proceduce and size limit our ability to draw definitive conclusions, future research should work toward an expanded, systematic sample. If results from this study are confirmed, research is needed that examines the specific aspects of the Amish culture that may be associated with higher rates of body image satisfaction

A Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Emotion Processing in Children

Although cogmttve development and emotional development are often viewed as separate components in the development of the child, the two are intricately related to each other. The purpose of this chapter is to review and examine how cognitive development is related to emotional development, and how traditional and current theories of cognitive development provide us with a framework for understanding the development of emotion processing in children. Topics explored in this chapter include the role of executive functioning, language development and cognitive concepts of self on the development of emotional competence. Moreover, three theories of cognitive development: Theory of Mind, Weak Central Coherence theory and Systemizing Theory are considered in relation to cognitive and emotional processing in a special population, children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion of the remaining challenges for theories of cognitive development, especially in terms of exploring the reciprocal relation between cognition and emotion

Body Image and Life Satisfaction in Amish, Catholic, and Non-Religious Women

Dissatisfaction with one's appearance is commonplace in Western women. Body image dissatisfaction is believed to be a consequence of societal emphases on appearance reinforced through norms and media. However, some Amish cultural values and norms differ from prevailing Western influences, which may result in a rate of body image dissatisfaction at variance within women. The following pilot study explores how religious affiliation and religiosity may relate to body image factors (body dissatisfaction, appearance investment, and body image coping strategies) and life satisfaction in Amish (n = 32), Catholic (n = 40), and non-religious (n = 40) women. Results show that the Amish women reported having more positive body image on several factors than Catholic women, but the same results were not always replicated in non-religious women. Specifically, non-religious women showed similar levels of body satisfaction in comparison to Amish women, although they demonstrated use of different body image coping strategies. Additionally, when comparing women's reported current versus ideal figure, all women showed a preference for a thinner ideal. As this pilot study's methodology is preliminary, our ability to draw definitive conclusions is limited: future research should address these methodological limitations. If results from this study are confirmed, research is needed that examines the specific aspects of the Amish culture that may be associated with higher rates of body image satisfaction

Expressive language abilities of boys with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder and boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder: Cross-context comparisons

Background and aims Understanding the unique expressive language profiles of children with phenotypically similar, but distinct neurodevelopmental disorders, such as idiopathic autism spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome with a co-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder), has both clinical and theoretical implications. However, comparative studies of these two clinical groups have been limited, and results have been inconsistent, partially as a result of different assessment methods being utilized. Thus, the current study compared the expressive language profiles of boys with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder and boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder and examined whether a similar linguistic profile emerged across different language sampling contexts: a semi-structured conversation and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Methods Eighteen boys with autism spectrum disorder ( M age  = 13.25 years) and 19 boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder ( M age  = 12.19 years), matched on autism spectrum disorder symptom severity and similar in terms of chronological age and mean length of utterance, participated in this study. Boys produced two language samples: one semi-structured conversation and one taken from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Language samples were coded for talkativeness, lexical diversity, mean length of utterance, intelligibility, and repetitive or perseverative language. Results Analyses revealed that boys with autism spectrum disorder produced language samples that were more lexically diverse and intelligible, and that included less topic perseveration compared to boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder. With regards to sampling context, boys in both groups were more talkative and produced longer and more intelligible utterances in their conversation sample compared to their Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule sample. However, boys with autism spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder used a higher proportion of topic perseveration during the conversation sample. Conclusions Overall, we found similarities as well as distinctions in the expressive language profiles of boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder and boys with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule sample elicited a relatively different language profile than the conversation sample for boys in both groups. Implications These findings help to further elucidate the unique language phenotypes of boys with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder and boys with fragile X syndrome + autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, our findings indicate that multiple language samples may be needed to obtain a comprehensive account of a child’s expressive language ability

Evidence that the mechanism of antibody-catalysed hydrolysis of arylcarbamates can be determined by the structure of the immunogen used to elicit the catalytic antibody

A kinetically homogeneous anti-phosphate catalytic antibody preparation was shown to catalyse the hydrolysis of a series of O-aryl N-methyl carbamates containing various substituents in the 4-position of the O-phenyl group. The specific nature of the antibody catalysis was demonstrated by the adherence of these reactions to the Michaelis–Menten equation, the complete inhibition by a hapten analogue, and the failure of the antibody to catalyse the hydrolysis of the 2-nitrophenyl analogue of the 4-nitrophenylcarbamate substrate. Hammett σ–ρ analysis suggests that both the non-catalysed and antibody-catalysed reactions proceed by mechanisms in which development of the aryloxyanion of the leaving group is well advanced in the transition state of the rate-determining step. This is probably the ElcB (elimination–addition) mechanism for the non-catalysed reaction, but for the antibody-catalysed reaction might be either ElcB or B(Ac)2 (addition–elimination), in which the elimination of the aryloxy group from the tetrahedral intermediate has become rate-determining. This result provides evidence of the dominance of recognition of phenolate ion character in the phosphate hapten in the elicitation process, and is discussed in connection with data from the literature that suggest a B(Ac)2 mechanism, with rate-determining formation of the tetrahedral intermediate for the hydrolysis of carbamate substrates catalysed by an antibody elicited by a phosphonamidate hapten in which phenolate anion character is minimized. The present paper contributes to the growing awareness that small differences in the structure of haptens can produce large differences in catalytic characteristics