The Effectiveness of a School-Based Social Cognitive Intervention on the Social Participation of Chinese Children with Autism

This study was completed by the first author in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a PhD degree in occupational therapy at Monash University under the supervision of the second, third, and fourth authors. The authors are grateful to Dr Cynthia Waugh for giving permission to use her social cognitive intervention. We would like to thank the parents and children who participated in the groups

Sensory over-responsivity: parent report, direct assessment measures, and neural architecture

BACKGROUND: Sensory processing difficulties are common across neurodevelopmental disorders. Thus, reliable measures are needed to understand the biological underpinnings of these differences. This study aimed to define a scoring methodology specific to auditory (AOR) and tactile (TOR) over-responsivity. Second, in a pilot cohort using MRI Diffusion Tensor Imaging, we performed a proof of concept study of whether children with AOR showed measurable differences in their white matter integrity. METHODS: This study included children with AOR and TOR from a mixed neurodevelopmental disorder cohort including autism and sensory processing dysfunction (n = 176) as well as neurotypical children (n = 128). We established cohorts based on sensory over-responsivity using parent report (Short Sensory Profile (SSP)) and direct assessment (Sensory Processing-Three Dimensions: Assessment (SP-3D:A)) measures. With a subset of the children (n = 39), group comparisons, based on AOR phenotype, were conducted comparing the white matter fractional anisotropy in 23 regions of interest. RESULTS: Using direct assessment, 31% of the children with neurodevelopmental disorders had AOR and 27% had TOR. The inter-test agreement between SSP and SP-3D:A for AOR was 65% and TOR was 50%. Children with AOR had three white matter tracts showing decreased fractional anisotropy relative to children without AOR. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified cut-off scores for AOR and TOR using the SSP parent report and SP-3D:A observation. A combination of questionnaire and direct observation measures should be used in clinical and research settings. The SSP parent report and SP-3D:A direct observation ratings overlapped moderately for sensory related behaviors. Based on these preliminary structural neuroimaging results, we suggest a putative neural network may contribute to AOR

Measuring social skills of children and adolescents in a Chinese population : preliminary evidence on the reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of the social skills improvement system-rating scales (SSIS-RS-C)

2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journal201812_a bcmaVersion of RecordSelf-fundedPublishe

Development and psychometric evaluation of the chinese version of the participation and environment measure for children and youth

202103 bcvcAccepted ManuscriptOthersP0000406Publishe