Sensory Processing Patterns and Internalizing Behaviors in the Pediatric and Young Adult General Population: A Scoping Review

Background: While research has largely focused on the relationship between sensory processing patterns and internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) in children with autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, this relationship is not fully understood among the general population or across development. Method: This scoping review addressed the following research question: How are sensory processing patterns associated with internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) among children with various conditions as well as typically developing children from birth to 22 years of age? Results: Since 2005, n = 97 peer-reviewed articles have addressed this topic and were included in the current review. Overall, findings show a complex interplay between sensory processing patterns, internalizing behaviors, cognitive factors (intolerance of uncertainty, ritualism, cognitive rigidity), and personality characteristics. Discussion: The results of this review showed that research primarily focused on individuals with ASD, and many articles used mediation models to examine complex relationships. Implications for future research are discussed

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF STRESS, WETTING, AND COMPACTION ON SETTLEMENT POTENTIAL OF MINE SPOILS

Strip mining in Kentucky has left large areas of land that could potentially be used for business and housing developments. However, the mine spoils underlying these areas are prone to severe differential settlement due to a variety of factors. Mine spoil from the Gateway Business Park in Jenkins, Kentucky was used for a series of laboratory tests to develop relationships between shear wave velocity, confining stress, compaction energy, and dry unit weight to develop a method to assess settlement potential. It was found that a stress-corrected shear wave velocity of greater than 275 ft/s/psi0.25 typically indicated dry mine spoil, and less than 275 ft/s/psi0.25 typically indicated wet mine spoil. Equations were developed to predict the amount of settlement of a mine spoil profile based on the load, the mine spoil lithology, and the shear wave velocity of the mine spoil. With regards to compaction, it was found that if the mine spoil was compacted to at least 120 pcf (18.8 kN/m3), or a void ratio of 0.45 or less, the mine spoil would suffer little to no volume change when wetted. The results provided herein form the basis of a methodology for screening mine spoil sites for development based on settlement potential

Social Networking Site Use among Caregivers of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience higher levels of stress relative to those of children with other developmental disabilities and typical development. To date, little research has empirically examined the relationship between social supports, social networking site (SNS) use, and stress among caregivers of children with ASD. Using the resiliency model of family stress, adjustment, and adaptation as a theoretical framework, we explore the links between perceived social supports, SNS use, and stress among caregivers of children with ASD. We do this by conducting a crosssectional research design and using a structural equation modeling statistical approach. Practical and theoretical implications will be revealed by this study

Adaptations to Early Intervention Service Delivery During COVID-19

Background: Early Intervention (EI) systems made a rapid shift to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the limited preparation of EI providers in the telehealth service delivery model, it is unclear how providers implemented adaptations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of the Service Delivery Adaptations Questionnaire and examine the influence of provider type, years of EI experience, and willingness to return to in-person services on the questionnaire’s subscales. Method: We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the structure of the Service Delivery Adaptations Questionnaire among n = 704 EI providers. We used multivariate linear regression (subsample of n = 595 EI providers) to understand the influence of person factors on the subscales of the measure. Results: EFA results showed a four-factor solution that accounted for 57.33% of the variance. Willingness to return to in-person services had a significant influence on scores; provider type showed significant differences on the intervention adaptations subscale, and the effects were moderated by years of experience in EI. Conclusion: The ways that occupational therapists rated practice changes, particularly intervention adaptations as a result of using telehealth during COVID-19, was highly influenced by their willingness to return to in-person services and years in practice

Exploring the Use of Ecological Momentary Assessment within a Telehealth Intervention for Families of Children with Autism

Background. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to measure parent self-efficacy and stress throughout a 9-week occupation-based coaching telehealth intervention for families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods. The participants included seven families of children with ASD 2 to 6 years of age. The parents were sent emails to gather EMA measures weekly during the intervention. We used percentages to examine response rates to EMA surveys and a mixed-model regression to examine changes in parent-self efficacy and stress during the intervention. Results. The parents responded to 78.57% of EMA requests, with five parents completing all measures. Using mixed-model regression, findings suggest that EMA captured a significant increase in parenting self-efficacy (p \u3c .01) and a decrease in parenting stress (p \u3c .05) over the course of the intervention. Conclusion. EMA may be a useful method to gather measures of parent factors, and preliminary findings suggest that EMA may be an innovative way to measure outcomes of occupational therapy telehealth interventions for families of children with ASD

Parent Perspectives of an Occupational Therapy Telehealth Intervention

Occupational therapy services delivered via telehealth can support families of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in everyday routines such as mealtime, bedtime, and play. The aim of the current study was to understand the lived experiences of parents who participated in a 12-week, telehealth-delivered occupational therapy intervention (Occupation-Based Coaching). We used semi-structured interviews and subsequent thematic content analysis to understand how parents perceived the mechanism of service delivery (i.e., videoconferencing) and the content of the intervention. Themes that emerged from the data included Compatibility with Everyday Life, Collaborative Relationship, and Parent Empowerment. Parents expressed how telehealth fit within their daily lives, how telehealth supported a collaborative relationship with the occupational therapist, and how the content of the intervention built a sense of empowerment

Home and community activities: dimensions and associations with patterns of sensory response among children with autism spectrum disorders

Activity participation is integral to the study of occupational science. Children's participation in activities provides them with learning opportunities that positively impact their development; however, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience decreased activity participation as compared to children with typical development. Among children with ASD, four sensory response patterns (hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, sensory seeking, enhanced perception) characterize the extreme behavioral responses to the sensory elements of activities, which potentially impact the frequency of activity participation. Research has not yet investigated the home and community activities in which children with ASD participate, or examined the differential effects of sensory response patterns on activity participation. The purpose of this study was to empirically derive dimensions of home and community activities that characterized the participation of a large sample of school-aged children with ASD (n=713). This study also examined the link between the sensory response patterns and dimensions of activity participation among children with ASD, as moderated by child characteristics (i.e., chronological age, developmental age, autism severity). In order to derive dimensions of activity participation, exploratory factor analysis was utilized on a measure of children's activity participation, the Home and Community Activities Scale (HCAS; adapted from Dunst, Hamby, Trivette, Raab, & Bruder, 2002). The associations with dimensions of activity participation and children's sensory response patterns, as moderated by child characteristics, were analyzed using mixed model regression. The results suggested that a six factor model characterized the activity participation among school-aged children with ASD, and included: Parent-Child Household Activities; Community Activities; Routine Errands; Neighborhood Social Activities; Outdoor Activities; and Faith-based Activities. Hyperresponsiveness was negatively associated with each dimension of activity participation, while enhanced perception supported participation in each activity dimension. Hyporesponsiveness and sensory seeking differentially impacted activity participation based on children's chronological age. The findings have implications for an occupational science conceptualization of how activities are categorized, as well as demonstrate that the sensory response patterns among children with ASD play a key role in their home and community activity participation. Implications for occupational therapy research and future research directions are discussed

Fish-finding Fido; Can domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) offer a solution for detecting an invasive freshwater catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus)

Invasive species now dominate many aquatic landscapes in most parts of the world, displacing native plants and animals by disrupting and altering ecosystems. The brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) has been significantly correlated with regime shifts from macrophyte‐dominated clear water states to de‐vegetated turbid states, population declines of endemic species, and the disruption of food webs in New Zealand lakes. Conventional detection methods (e.g., visual surveys, fyke netting, electrofishing, and eDNA) for catfish are limited by their cost, invasiveness, time- consumption, and potential to be prone to error. Given that scent detection dogs are a well-established tool across a variety of fields, it was hypothesised that domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) may be able to detect the presence of catfish from water samples that have contained these fish. This could provide a new potential biosecurity monitoring tool. In this study, five pet dogs were trained to operate an automated apparatus that presented water samples for evaluation. Water samples were presented to dogs from aquaria that had previously contained, catfish, goldfish (Carassius auratus), or no fish. Experiment 1 evaluated if dogs could discriminate between samples that had contained catfish or no fish. In Experiment 2, it was evaluated if dogs can discriminate between fish species (i.e., catfish and goldfish), and at what fish biomass concentrations they can do so. Experiment 3 evaluated if dogs could indicate the presence of catfish when samples were presented at two different biomass concentrations in the same session. It was found that dogs were able to correctly identify water that had contained catfish and largely reject water samples that had contained either no fish or goldfish at above 80% accuracy at biomasses equivalent to environmental biomasses of 4.6 x 1,000 kg/ha. Preliminarily investigations of lower detection limit thresholds were investigated in the study. These results suggest further investigation is warranted to confirm the dogs’ ability to detect catfish at biologically relevant concentrations comparable to real-world sample scenarios. However, these findings support the suggestion that dogs may have an important role to play in waterway conservation and management

Early Intervention Service Delivery via Telehealth During COVID-19: A Research-Practice Partnership

Coaching has been identified as a best practice for early intervention (EI) services provided through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C. The current study describes the establishment and progress of a research-relationship partnership to deliver coaching via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Community-based EI providers implemented 9-weeks of telehealth coaching and evaluated the extent to which child and caregiver outcomes differed between families that had previously received in-person services versus telehealth only. Four EI providers completed the intervention with n=17 families of children aged 6-34 months during the pandemic (April-August 2020). We used the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) to collect outcomes on caregiver identified goals; we used Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests to examine pre- to post-intervention data. Results showed significant improvements in parent satisfaction, child performance, and goal attainment (all p<.01). Findings suggest that telehealth coaching procedures implemented by community-based EI providers resulted in improvements in caregiver identified goals for young children

Coping Strategies among Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Cluster Analysis

Introduction/Background: The variability in coping strategies among caregivers of children with ASD may contribute to broader health outcomes; however, it is unclear if specific coping strategies are related to overall strain in this population. Therefore, this study identified groups of caregivers based on coping mechanisms and investigated differences in strain among groups. Materials & Methods: This study utilized a secondary data analysis, and included survey responses of 273 caregivers of children with ASD. Measures consisted of the COPE Inventory, and the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire. Data analyses consisted of cluster analysis to group caregiver coping strategies, and Analysis of Variance to compare the caregiver coping groups on strain level. Results: There were four distinct groups of caregivers of children with ASD with different coping styles: Social-Supported/ Planning, Spontaneous/ Reactive, Self-Supporting/ Reappraisal, and Religious/ Expressive. Caregivers in the Social-Supported/ Planning group demonstrated significantly higher levels than the remaining three groups in the use of the following coping strategies: planning, use of instrumental social support, and use of emotional social support, relative to the other three groups. Caregivers in group the Spontaneous/ Reactive group used less restraint and less suppression of competing activities relative to the other three groups. Caregivers in the Self-Supporting/ Reappraisal showed more acceptance, and positive reinterpretation and growth coping strategies. Caregivers in the Religious/ Expressive group demonstrated significantly higher levels of religious coping relative to the other three groups and utilized more venting of emotions strategies. Groups did not differ on strain level. Conclusion: This study showed that caregivers of children with ASD may utilize differential combinations of coping strategies. Future research should investigate differences between groups of caregivers based subjective strain