Exploring the nature of joint attention impairments in young children with autism spectrum disorder: associated social and cognitive skills

It is generally accepted that joint attention skills are impaired in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, social preference, attention disengagement and intention understanding, assumed to be associated with the development of joint attention, are explored in relation to joint attention skills in children with ASD at the age of 36 months. Response to joint attention was related to intention understanding, whereas the number of joint attention initiations was associated with attention disengagement, and somewhat less stronger with social preference. The level on which children initiated joint attention was related to social preference. Possible interpretations of these findings are discussed

Working memory in children with reading and/or mathematical disabilities

Elementary school children with reading disabilities (RD; n = 17), mathematical disabilities (MD; n = 22), or combined reading and mathematical disabilities (RD+MD; n = 28) were compared to average achieving (AA; n = 45) peers on working memory measures. On all working memory components, 2 (RD vs. no RD) x 2 (MD vs. no MD) factorial ANCOVAs revealed clear differences between children with and without RD. Children with MD had lower span scores than the AA children on measures of the phonological loop and the central executive. A significant interaction effect between RD and MD was found only for listening recall and had a small, partial effect size. In addition, analyses showed that the best logistic regression model consisted of a visuospatial and a central executive task. The model significantly distinguished between the AA and clinical groups and between the MD and RD+MD groups. Evidence was found for domain-general working memory problems in children with learning disabilities. Management of working memory loads in structured learning activities in the classroom, at home, or during therapy may help these children to cope with their problems in a more profound manner

No evidence for inhibitory deficits or altered reward processing in ADHD: data from a new integrated incentive delay go/no-go task

Objective: Cognitive and motivational factors differentially affect individuals with mental health problems such as ADHD. Here we introduce a new task to disentangle the relative contribution of inhibitory control and reward anticipation on task performance in children with ADHD and/or autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method: Typically developing children, children with ADHD, ASD, or both disorders worked during separate sessions for monetary or social rewards in go/no-go tasks with varying inhibitory load levels. Participants also completed a monetary temporal discounting (TD) task. Results: As predicted, task performance was sensitive to both the effects of anticipated reward amount and inhibitory load. Reward amount had different effects depending on inhibitory load level. TD correlated with inhibitory control in the ADHD group. Conclusion: The integration of the monetary incentive delay and go/no-go paradigms was successful. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of inhibitory control deficits or altered reward anticipation in the clinical groups

Altered intrinsic organisation of brain networks implicated in attentional processes in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting state study of attention, default mode and salience network connectivity

Deficits in task-related attentional engagement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been hypothesized to be due to altered interrelationships between attention, default mode and salience networks. We examined the intrinsic connectivity during rest within and between these networks. Six minutes resting state scans were obtained. Using a network-based approach, connectivity within and between the dorsal and ventral attention, the default mode and the salience networks was compared between the ADHD and control group. The ADHD group displayed hyperconnectivity between the two attention networks and within the default mode and ventral attention network. The salience network was hypoconnected to the dorsal attention network. There were trends towards hyperconnectivity within the dorsal attention network and between the salience and ventral attention network in ADHD. Connectivity within and between other networks was unrelated to ADHD. Our findings highlight the altered connectivity within and between attention networks, and between them and the salience network in ADHD. One hypothesis to be tested in future studies is that individuals with ADHD are affected by an imbalance between ventral and dorsal attention systems with the former playing a dominant role during task engagement making individuals with ADHD highly susceptible to distraction by salient task-irrelevant stimuli

Quality of life in parents of young adults with ASD : EpiTED cohort

The impact of ASD on parental QOL was evaluated in the EpiTED cohort study at early adulthood. Two-third of parents of young adults with ASD (66.7%) reported that their QoL was at least moderately altered. The perceived impact of ASD on parental QoL was related to the young adults' level of adaptive skills, as well as to symptom severity and the presence of challenging behaviors, which appeared to be the main risk factor. The study of change between adolescence and early adulthood showed that parents whose children had a decrease in challenging behaviors perceived a decreased impact on their QoL. These results argue for the importance to propose specific interventions to target associated challenging behaviors in ASD