Autism Research最新文献

Narrative skills involve retelling or generating stories, reflecting cognitive and communication development. This use of language is decontextualized and requires a fluent interplay of various components. Autistic children often demonstrate atypical language development and restricted communication tailored to specific needs. This cross-sectional study examines narrative microstructure in language-level-matched Tamil-speaking autistic children and those without autism, aged 3–5 years. Six microstructure parameters were analyzed through story-retelling and story-generation tasks to assess narrative abilities. The research included 38 Tamil-speaking children, divided based on autism diagnosis and matched for language level using standardized tests. The assessment focused on a retelling task and sequencing cards for story retelling (SR) and story generation (SG). The six microstructure variables evaluated were: total number of words (TNW), total number of utterances (TNU), mean length of utterances in words (MLU-W), mean length of utterances in morphemes (MLU-M), number of different words (NDW), and type-token ratio (TTR). The results indicated that autistic children consistently scored lower across all parameters, exhibiting difficulties with fluency and using shorter, simpler sentences. This study highlights the significance of narrative assessment in enhancing our understanding and support of language development in autistic children.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) remain poorly understood in adolescents, particularly in middle-income countries like China. To assess NDDs prevalence and their associations with health conditions among Chinese general junior high school students, data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS, 2013–2015) were used. A total of 8324 junior high school students were included. Validated questionnaires and tests assessed NDDs (autism spectrum disorder [ASD], language disorder [LD], and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and health conditions (physical health through overweight/obesity and myopia; mental health through anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms; cognitive functioning through academic performance and cognitive ability; adherence to social norms). Of 8324 participants, 299 (4.59%) had NDDs. Students with NDDs showed higher rates of anxiety symptoms and poor cognitive ability compared to those without NDDs. Specific NDD associations included anxiety symptoms with LD and ADHD, depression symptoms with ASD and ADHD, and poor cognitive ability with ASD and LD. Sex-specific disparities were observed in the associations: the link between NDDs and depression symptoms was evident solely in boys, whereas the association between NDDs and academic performance was significant only in girls. Increased surveillance of NDDs prevalence nationwide and improved support services through better integration of families, schools, and society are needed.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication skills, with semantic processing difficulties being a hallmark feature that significantly impacts social communication. While traditional neuroimaging studies have provided insights into language processing in ASD, ecological validity remains a challenge, particularly when assessing young children. This study introduces a novel approach to evaluate atypical semantic processing in children with ASD (aged 4–10 years) through electroencephalography (EEG) data collection during cartoon viewing, offering a more natural assessment environment. We developed an innovative methodology combining pretrained language models with regression techniques in a machine learning framework. The analysis incorporated the Six-dimensional Semantic Database system and EEG topographical mapping to investigate semantic processing preferences and neural mechanisms across various word dimensions. Our semantic processing model demonstrated robust performance with high sensitivity (91.3%) and moderate specificity (61.0%); findings successfully replicated in validation analysis. These results reveal distinct patterns in how children with ASD process semantic information, particularly in their integration and response to emotional semantic dimensions. These findings help us understand the language processing patterns in ASD and provide potential applications for auxiliary diagnosis in more natural settings, meeting important needs in clinical practice.

Listeners accommodate rampant variability in speech input, at least in part, by adapting to structured phonetic variation. However, most work demonstrating this type of perceptual learning has focused on group-level effects in modal populations. This approach masks potentially meaningful differences—present among all listeners but particularly associated with autism—in sensory perception, social functioning, and language processing. These differences may be expected to influence adaptation, but their roles remain unclear. The present investigation aimed to clarify the relationships between autism, perceptual acuity, and adaptation. Listeners (n = 80, of which 40 were diagnosed with autism) were exposed to spectral energy ambiguous between /s/ and /ʃ/ in lexical contexts designed to elicit adaptation. Learning was assessed by comparing categorization of an ashi–asi test continuum before and after the critical lexically guided exposure. Autistic traits and pitch pattern sensitivity were also assessed. Robust learning was observed by both the general population and autistic listeners, with no evidence to suggest that learning was associated with autistic traits or pitch pattern sensitivity. These results advance theories of speech adaptation by constraining determinants of lexically guided perceptual learning to suggest that the social language traits of autism may be orthogonal to adaptation in speech perception.

This study presents a post hoc analysis of our parent study “Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Transcranial Pulse Stimulation on Autism Spectrum Disorder” study which was a double-blind, sham-controlled, randomized controlled trial. In this study, we examined associations between changes in brain network connectivity and cognitive performance in young adolescents (12–17 years) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) following the administration of transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) which is considered non-invasive, evidenced-based brain stimulation for neurodegenerative disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders. Our findings indicate that increased connectivity in specific brain networks is associated with improvements in cognitive measures, suggesting that connectivity changes may underpin cognitive changes observed after six TPS intervention. These results highlight potential neural mechanisms underlying cognitive improvements in ASD, although causality cannot be inferred from these associations.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05408793

Some reports show that children exposed to hyperandrogenemia or hyperglycemic states in utero are more prone to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to assess the association between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) or gestational diabetes (GD) and ASD. A systematic review (1980–2023) in Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus, using specific search terms “gestational diabetes”, “polycystic ovary syndrome,” “neurodevelopmental disorder” and “autism spectrum disorder” was performed. Generic inverse-variance method was used to pool the adjusted or crude effect measures with a random-effects model. Results were presented as relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Only studies from the northern hemisphere were found. All the articles evaluated the association between either GD (n = 16) or PCOS (8) and ASD separately. The overall analysis revealed that there is an increased risk of ASD in the offspring of women diagnosed with GD [RR = 1.23 (95% CI 1.13–1.34), n = 14] and in women diagnosed with PCOS [RR = 1.35 (95% CI 1.17–1.56), n = 6]. In a sensitivity analysis, the risk of ASD was particularly higher in mothers with GD and obesity. Although both GD and PCOS have been associated with ASD in offspring, studies in other geographical regions are needed. Future research should investigate how varying androgen levels in PCOS and the timing of GD diagnosis might influence the observed associations. Additional studies are needed to confirm these associations, address potential confounding variables, and explore whether these maternal conditions contribute directly or indirectly to autism risk.

To develop targeted interventions aimed at reducing loneliness among autistic youth, it is critical to understand which social experiences are associated with loneliness in this population. The current study examined associations between loneliness, social interaction/solitary experiences (i.e., time spent interacting and alone, feelings during time spent interacting and alone) and peer experiences (i.e., victimization, being ignored, and being included) among autistic youth. Autistic youth (N = 241) between 15 and 26 years old (M = 18.7) completed online surveys that measured their levels of loneliness and the degrees to which they were victimized, ignored, and included by peers. Furthermore, at 9 PM each day for 7 consecutive days, participants were prompted via a smartphone app to report events that occurred within five specific time frames throughout that day. Youth reported how long they participated in each event, whether they were interacting with others or alone, and for the longest lasting activity in each time frame, the degree to which they experienced positive and negative feelings. Results revealed that more negative feelings when interacting and when alone were associated with increased loneliness, whereas more positive feelings when alone were associated with reduced loneliness. Neither time spent interacting nor time spent alone was significantly associated with loneliness. Greater frequency of being ignored was also associated with increased loneliness. Therefore, rather than focusing on the amount of time autistic youth spend interacting and alone, it is equally important for future interventions to consider ways to increase youth's satisfaction with the quantity and quality of their social interactions.