Convolutional Neural Network for Stereotypical Motor Movement Detection in Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are often associated with specific atypical postural or motor behaviors, of which Stereotypical Motor Movements (SMMs) have a specific visibility. While the identification and the quantification of SMM patterns remain complex, its automation would provide support to accurate tuning of the intervention in the therapy of autism. Therefore, it is essential to develop automatic SMM detection systems in a real world setting, taking care of strong inter-subject and intra-subject variability. Wireless accelerometer sensing technology can provide a valid infrastructure for real-time SMM detection, however such variability remains a problem also for machine learning methods, in particular whenever handcrafted features extracted from accelerometer signal are considered. Here, we propose to employ the deep learning paradigm in order to learn discriminating features from multi-sensor accelerometer signals. Our results provide preliminary evidence that feature learning and transfer learning embedded in the deep architecture achieve higher accurate SMM detectors in longitudinal scenarios.Comment: Presented at 5th NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging (MLINI), 2015, (http://arxiv.org/html/1605.04435), Report-no: MLINI/2015/1

Predictors of mother–child interaction quality and child attachment security in at-risk families

Child healthy development is largely influenced by parent-child interaction and a secure parent-child attachment is predictively associated with positive outcomes in numerous domains of child development. However, the parent-child relationship can be affected by several psychosocial and socio-demographic risk factors that undermine its quality and in turn play a negative role in short and long term child psychological health. Prevention and intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families can efficiently reduce the impact of risk factors on mother and child psychological health. This study examines predictors of mother-child interaction quality and child attachment security in a sample of first-time mothers with psychosocial and/or socio-demographic risk factors. Forty primiparous women satisfying specific risk criteria participated in a longitudinal study with their children from pregnancy until 18 month of child age. A multiple psychological and socioeconomic assessment was performed. The Emotional Availability Scales were used to measure the quality of emotional exchanges between mother and child at 12 months and the Attachment Q-Sort served as a measure of child attachment security at 18 months. Results highlight both the effect of specific single factors, considered at a continuous level, and the cumulative risk effect of different co-occurring factors, considered at binary level, on mother-child interaction quality and child attachment security. Implication for the selection of inclusion criteria of intervention programs that support parenting skills in at-risk families are discussed

Alla “Scuola inclusiva nel Bosco”, per essere liberi di crescere assieme

Abstract – This paper aims to report the “Inclusive School in the Woods” experience, inspired by similar North European Outdoor Education camps. An investigation was carried out to determine the efficacy of a non-formal educational summer camp in creating inclusive activities for both childrenwith typical development and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Pragmatically, we carried on a series of outdoor life activities, such as woods explorations and play, lighting fires, river water activities, and so on. Specifically, our work focused on encouraging positive relationships among children. We adopted a “case study” research design, that allows multiple interpretationcomparisons, and for this reason fulfills our aims: reach an intersubjective and shared synthesis of the considered setting. We strongly believe that, from both an educational and therapeutic point of view, the interest of Outdoor setting lies on many tangible and mental links, e.g. vwith natural and cultural environment, and between people: educators and children, but also children between each others. Those very attractive relationships easily lead to some changes notonly in children with typical development, but also with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As a matter of fact, children have been stimulated to act autonomously, to be self-organized and to act globally. Despite the fact that that “Inclusive School in the Wood” is still a largely unexplored model of inclusiveexperience, it has undoubtedly great educational potential for all. Our recommendation is to further implement it both at an educational planning and scientific research level

Three shades of grey : detecting brain abnormalities in children with autism by using source-, voxel- and surface-based morphometry

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions, communication and stereotyped behavior. Recent evidence from neuroimaging supports the hypothesis that ASD deficits in adults may be related to abnormalities in a specific frontal - temporal network (Autism-specific Structural Network, ASN). To see whether these results extend to younger children and to better characterize these abnormalities, we applied three morphometric methods on brain grey matter of children with and without ASD. We selected 39 sMRI images of male children with ASD and 42 typically developing (TD) from the ABIDE database. We used Source -Based Morphometry (SoBM), a whole-brain multivariate approach to identify grey matter networks, Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM), a voxel-wise comparison of the local grey matter concentration, and Surface-Based Morphometry (SuBM) for the estimation of the cortical parameters. SoBM showed a bilateral frontal - parietal - temporal network different between groups, including the inferior - middle temporal gyrus, the inferior parietal lobule and the postcentral gyrus; VBM returned differences only in the right temporal lobe; SuBM returned a thinning in the right inferior temporal lobe thinner in ASD, a higher gyrification in the right superior parietal lobule in TD and in the middle frontal gyrus in ASD

Representation of disability within the school textbook: primary school teachers' attitudes

The school textbook is a cultural artefact capable of conveying a particular cultural and social imagery that clearly affects the attitudes of teachers and learners towards disability. This paper presents an exploratory-descriptive study that aims to investigate the attitudes of primary school teachers towards the representation of disability within the school textbook. Correlation between attitudes and teaching qualifications and experience were also sought. For this purpose, a questionnaire was constructed starting from macro-themes that emerged from semi-structured interviews during the previous qualitative phase. Findings have shown that teachers, while aware of the low educational value of the textbook and the scarcity of images and texts related to disability, have positive attitudes towards inclusive representation, use and design of materials related to special needs. Finally, teachers with the specialization for support activities were found to have more positive attitudes towards the representation and management of materials representing the reality of disability. Rappresentazione della disabilità nei libri di testo: gli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti della scuola primaria. Il libro di testo scolastico costituisce un artefatto culturale che veicola un particolare immaginario destinato ad influenzare le percezioni di insegnanti e alunni. L'articolo presenta uno studio esplorativo-descrittivo che mira ad investigare gli atteggiamenti dei docenti nei confronti della rappresentazione della disabilità all'interno dei libri di testo scolastici. A tale scopo è stato costruito un questionario ad hoc a partire dai macro-temi emersi dalle interviste semi-strutturate durante la precedente fase qualitativa. La ricerca mostra che gli insegnanti, pur consapevoli dello scarso valore educativo del libro di testo e della scarsità di immagini e testi relativi alla disabilità, hanno atteggiamenti positivi nei confronti della rappresentazione inclusiva e delle competenze personali nella gestione di materiali relativi alla realtà dei bisogni speciali. Gli insegnanti in possesso della specializzazione per le attività di sostegno, infine, tendono ad avere atteggiamenti più positivi nei confronti della rappresentazione della e dell'utilizzo di immagini e testi disabilità all'interno dei libri di testo rappresentanti la disabilità

An Intersubjectivity Parental-Based Intervention (I-PBI) for Preschoolers with ASD

Given the influence of parents’ qualities and dyadic characteristics on child developmental outcomes, recent findings strengthened the importance of involving caregivers during the intervention to increase dyadic syntonization levels and to extend the acquisition of competencies in naturalistic contexts. The Intersubjectivity Parental-Based Intervention (I-PBI) presented throughout this chapter is delivered involving caregivers in two different modalities: first, in the therapeutic setting, together with the child to support interactions within the dyad. Second, the focus is on the parental representation of the child and the caregivers in their role. Trained psychologists deliver the intervention after receiving specific licenses on developmental intervention models for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Finally, the team is constantly supervised at least once every month by an expert psychotherapist. Unlike parent-mediated intervention and parent training, the I-PBI does not require home assignments or fidelity schedules, and the therapist entirely delivers the intervention. Throughout this chapter, the structure and therapeutic techniques of the intervention will be presented. Further, results considering the child’s developmental trajectories and changes in caregiver-child interaction will be discussed

Language of mothers and fathers in interaction with their autistic children

IntroductionVerbal language is one of the most immediate and significant means parents have to express affect and information to their children. Parental speech directed to children has been thoroughly examined in typical development. However, the characteristics of parental speech directed to children with neurodevelopmental disorders are far less well documented, and no recent studies have been carried out that involve autistic1 children and their fathers. Therefore, the present study aims to analyze and compare maternal and paternal speech directed to young autistic children, focusing on fathers’ elements of speech in comparison with maternal language.MethodsN = 88 dyads participated in this study. 44 autistic children (41 males and 3 females) (chronological age: M = 40.01 months; SD = 11.96) in interaction with their fathers (paternal age M = 41.84 years; SD = 7.02) and the same 44 children in interaction with their mothers (maternal age M = 37.37 years; SD = 5.45). The language was verbatim transcribed using ELAN software (ELAN Version 6.4, 2022) and coded with an observational tool (Penman) for analyzing functions and referents of speech after reaching a satisfactory level of agreement between two independent transcribers.ResultsNo differences emerged considering the affective aspects of speech. However, mothers seem to direct more informative salient statements (W = 1,259; p = 0.02) and call the child’s attention more often than fathers (W = 1,253.5; p = 0.02). Regarding referents of informative speech, fathers focused more on the child’s internal states rather than mothers (W = 727; p = 0.04).DiscussionThese results reveal that fathers seem to display a relationship-based approach focused on a non-intrusive style with few demands while talking with their children, providing a complementary role to mothers that allows complete and harmonious stimulation of all areas of child development

Perceptual averaging in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Copyright © 2016 Corbett, Venuti and Melcher. There is mounting evidence that observers rely on statistical summaries of visual information to maintain stable and coherent perception. Sensitivity to the mean (or other prototypical value) of a visual feature (e.g., mean size) appears to be a pervasive process in human visual perception. Previous studies in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have uncovered characteristic patterns of visual processing that suggest they may rely more on enhanced local representations of individual objects instead of computing such perceptual averages. To further explore the fundamental nature of abstract statistical representation in visual perception, we investigated perceptual averaging of mean size in a group of 12 high-functioning individuals diagnosed with ASD using simplified versions of two identification and adaptation tasks that elicited characteristic perceptual averaging effects in a control group of neurotypical participants. In Experiment 1, participants performed with above chance accuracy in recalling the mean size of a set of circles (mean task) despite poor accuracy in recalling individual circle sizes (member task). In Experiment 2, their judgments of single circle size were biased by mean size adaptation. Overall, these results suggest that individuals with ASD perceptually average information about sets of objects in the surrounding environment. Our results underscore the fundamental nature of perceptual averaging in vision, and further our understanding of how autistic individuals make sense of the external environment.This research was supported by the Autonomous Province of Trento through the call “Grandi Progetti 2012”, project “Characterizing and improving brain mechanisms of attention – ATTEND”, and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto