Emotion recognition of static and dynamic faces in autism spectrum disorder

There is substantial evidence for facial emotion recognition (FER) deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The extent of this impairment, however, remains unclear, and there is some suggestion that clinical groups might benefit from the use of dynamic rather than static images. High-functioning individuals with ASD (n = 36) and typically developing controls (n = 36) completed a computerised FER task involving static and dynamic expressions of the six basic emotions. The ASD group showed poorer overall performance in identifying anger and disgust and were disadvantaged by dynamic (relative to static) stimuli when presented with sad expressions. Among both groups, however, dynamic stimuli appeared to improve recognition of anger. This research provides further evidence of specific impairment in the recognition of negative emotions in ASD, but argues against any broad advantages associated with the use of dynamic displays

The Association Between Parent Engagement and Child Outcomes in Social Skills Training Programs: Discovering the Secret Agent Society in Partnership

Previous research in clinical, community, and school settings has demonstrated positive outcomes for the Secret Agent Society (SAS) social skills training program. This is designed to help children on the autism spectrum become more aware of emotions in themselves and others and to ‘problem-solve’ complex social scenarios. Parents play a key role in the implementation of the SAS program, attending information and support sessions with other parents and providing supervision, rewards, and feedback as their children complete weekly ‘home mission’ assignments. Drawing on data from a school-based evaluation of the SAS program, this study examined whether parents’ engagement with these elements of the intervention was linked to the quality of their children’s participation and performance. Sixty-eight 8-14 year olds (mean age 10.7) with a diagnosis of autism participated in the program. The findings indicated that ratings of parental engagement were positively correlated with children’s competence in completing home missions and with the quality of their contribution during group teaching sessions. However, there was a less consistent relationship between parental engagement and measures of children’s social and emotional skill gains over the course of the program

Psychopathology in Young People With Intellectual Disability

Context Comorbid severe mental health problems complicating intellectual disability are a common and costly public health problem. Although these problems are known to begin in early childhood, little is known of how they evolve over time or whether they continue into adulthood. Objective To study the course of psychopathology in a representative population of children and adolescents with intellectual disability. Design, Setting, and Participants The participants of the Australian Child to Adult Development Study, an epidemiological cohort of 578 children and adolescents recruited in 1991 from health, education, and family agencies that provided services to children with intellectual disability aged 5 to 19.5 years in 6 rural and urban census regions in Australia, were followed up for 14 years with 4 time waves of data collection. Data were obtained from 507 participants, with 84% of wave 1 (1991-1992) participants being followed up at wave 4 (2002-2003). Main Outcome Measures The Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC), a validated measure of psychopathology in young people with intellectual disability, completed by parents or other caregivers. Changes over time in the Total Behaviour Problem Score and 5 subscale scores of the DBC scores were modeled using growth curve analysis. Results High initial levels of behavioral and emotional disturbance decreased only slowly over time, remaining high into young adulthood, declining by 1.05 per year on the DBC Total Behaviour Problem Score. Overall severity of psychopathology was similar across mild to severe ranges of intellectual disability (with mean Total Behavior Problem Scores of approximately 44). Psychopathology decreased more in boys than girls over time (boys starting with scores 2.61 points higher at baseline and ending with scores 2.57 points lower at wave 4), and more so in participants with mild intellectual disability compared with those with severe or profound intellectual disability who diverged from having scores 0.53 points lower at study commencement increasing to a difference of 6.98 points below severely affected children by wave 4. This trend was observed in each of the subscales, except the social-relating disturbance subscale, which increased over time. Prevalence of participants meeting criteria for major psychopathology or definite psychiatric disorder decreased from 41% at wave 1 to 31% at wave 4. Few of the participants (10%) with psychopathology received mental health interventions during the study period. Conclusion These results provide evidence that the problem of psychopathology comorbid with intellectual disability is both substantial and persistent and suggest the need for effective mental health interventions

Implementation, Evalution and Maintenance of a Social-Emotional Skills Training Program for Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Specialist School Setting

Socialization difficulties in children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often associated with peer rejection and impaired academic achievement. Schools might appear to offer an ideal setting for social-emotional skills (SES) instruction. However, common challenges to successful implementation of school-based programs include inadequate staffing and resourcing, and a lack of ASD-specific staff training. This paper describes how barriers to program implementation were overcome in a project evaluating the Secret Agent Society (SAS) SES training intervention within Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) specialist classes. Questionnaire data was collected from school staff over a one-year period. Findings supported the effectiveness of the adoption process used, and suggest that SAS was feasible and acceptable to school staff

Do planning and visual integration difficulties underpin motor dysfunction in autism? A kinematic study of young children with autism

This paper examines the upper-limb movement kinematics of young children (3-7 years) with high-functioning autism using a point-to-point movement paradigm. Consistent with prior findings in older children, a difference in movement preparation was found in the autism group (n = 11) relative to typically developing children. In contrast to typically developing children, the presence of a visual distractor in the movement task did not appear to impact on early movement planning or execution in children with autism, suggesting that this group were not considering all available environmental cues to modulate movement. The findings from this study are consistent with the possibility that autism is associated with a difficulty using visual information to prime alternative movements in a responsive way to environmental demands

Bias Due to Left Truncation and Left Censoring in Longitudinal Studies of Developmental and Disease Processes

In longitudinal studies of developmental and disease processes, participants are followed prospectively with intermediate milestones identified as they occur. Frequently, studies enroll participants over a range of ages including ages at which some participants’ milestones have already passed. Ages at milestones that occur prior to study entry are left censored if individuals are enrolled in the study or left truncated if they are not. The authors examined the bias incurred by ignoring these issues when estimating the distribution of age at milestones or the time between 2 milestones. Methods that account for left truncation and censoring are considered. Data on the menopausal transition are used to illustrate the problem. Simulations show that bias can be substantial and that standard errors can be severely underestimated in naïve analyses that ignore left truncation. Bias can be reduced when analyses account for left truncation, although the results are unstable when the fraction truncated is high. Simulations suggest that a better solution, when possible, is to modify the study design so that information on current status (i.e., whether or not a milestone has passed) is collected on all potential participants, analyzing those who are past the milestone at the time of recruitment as left censored rather than excluding such individuals from the analysis

Are aspects of study design associated with the reported prevalence of female sexual difficulties?

Objective: To investigate associations between the prevalence of sexual&nbsp; difficulties reported in published studies and design features of those studies to determine if differences in design contribute to variation in prevalence estimates.Design: Systematic review, multivariate analysis.Setting: Studies published internationally in English.Patient(s): Not applicable.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): Prevalence estimates of difficulty with desire, arousal, orgasm, and sexual pain reported in published studies.Result(s): Our systematic literature search identified 1,380 publications. Fifty-five studies met our inclusion criteria (reporting prevalence, sample size and response rate, sample size greater than 100, not clinic based). Reported prevalence of sexual difficulty varied across studies (up to tenfold). Eleven aspects of research conduct in these studies were included in our multivariate analysis as explanatory variables. Five aspects of study design and conduct (data collection procedures, inclusion criteria, duration of sexual difficulty recorded, sample size, and response rate) were associated with the reported prevalence of at least one type of sexual difficulty independently of likely predictors of true variation in prevalence: study location, study year, and age range of participants.Conclusion(s): This review provides evidence that study design may influence reported prevalence estimates of female sexual difficulties and contribute to the wide variation in published estimates.<br /

The ReSTAGE Collaboration: defining optimal bleeding criteria for onset of early menopausal transition

OBJECTIVE: Criteria for staging the menopausal transition are not established. This article evaluates five bleeding criteria for defining early transition and provides empirically based guidance regarding optimal criteria. DESIGN/SETTING: Prospective menstrual calendar data from four population-based cohorts: TREMIN, Melbourne Women\u27s Midlife Health Project (MWMHP), Seattle Midlife Women\u27s Health Study (SMWHS), and Study of Women\u27s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) with annual serum FSH from MWMHP and SWAN. PARTICIPANTS: 735 TREMIN, 279 SMWHS, 216 MWMHP, and 2270 SWAN women aged 35-57 at baseline who maintained menstrual calendars. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Age at and time to menopause for: standard deviation \u3e6 and \u3e8 days, persistent difference in consecutive segments \u3e6 days, irregularity, and \u3eor=45 day segment. Serum FSH concentration. RESULT(S): Most women experienced each of the bleeding criteria. Except for a persistent \u3e6 day difference that occurs earlier, the criteria occur at a similar age and at approximately the same age as late transition in a large proportion of women. FSH was associated with all proposed markers. CONCLUSION(S): The early transition may be best described by ovarian activity consistent with the persistent \u3e6 day difference, but further study is needed, as other proposed criterion are consistent with later menstrual changes

Psychopathology in Young People with Intellectual Disability

Context—Comorbid severe mental health problems complicating intellectual disability are a common and costly public health problem. Although these problems are known to begin in early childhood, little is known of how they evolve over time or whether they continue into adulthood. Objective—To study the course of psychopathology in a representative population of children and adolescents with intellectual disability. Design, Setting, and Participants—The participants of the Australian Child to Adult Development Study, an epidemiological cohort of 578 children and adolescents recruited in 1991 from health, education, and family agencies that provided services to children with intellectual disability aged 5 to 19.5 years in 6 rural and urban census regions in Australia, were followed up for 14 years with 4 time waves of data collection. Data were obtained from 507 participants, with 84% of wave 1 (1991-1992) participants being followed up at wave 4 (2002-2003). Main Outcome Measures—The Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC), a validated measure of psychopathology in young people with intellectual disability, completed by parents or other caregivers. Changes over time in the Total Behaviour Problem Score and 5 subscale scores of the DBC scores were modeled using growth curve analysis. Results—High initial levels of behavioral and emotional disturbance decreased only slowly over time, remaining high into young adulthood, declining by 1.05 per year on the DBC Total Behaviour Problem Score. Overall severity of psychopathology was similar across mild to severe ranges of intellectual disability (with mean Total Behaviour Problem Scores of approximately 44). Psychopathology decreased more in boys than girls over time (boys starting with scores 2.61 points higher at baseline and ending with scores 2.57 points lower at wave 4), and more so in participants with mild intellectual disability compared with those with severe or profound intellectual disability who diverged from having scores 0.53 points lower at study commencement increasing to a difference of 6.98 points below severely affected children by wave 4. This trend was observed in each of the subscales, except the social-relating disturbance subscale, which increased over time. Prevalence of participants meeting criteria for major psychopathology or definite psychiatric disorder decreased from 41% at wave 1 to 31% at wave 4. Few of the participants (10%) with psychopathology received mental health interventions during the study period. Conclusion—These results provide evidence that the problem of psychopathology comorbid with intellectual disability is both substantial and persistent and suggest the need for effective mental health interventions