Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2023-12-01DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06175-4
Celia Romero, Lauren Kupis, Zachary T Goodman, Bryce Dirks, Adriana Baez, Amy L Beaumont, Sandra M Cardona, Meaghan V Parlade, Michael Alessandri, Jason S Nomi, Lynn K Perry, Lucina Q Uddin
The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated depression, anxiety, and executive function (EF) difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF skills have been positively associated with mental health outcomes. Here, we probed the psychosocial impacts of pandemic responses in children with and without ASD by relating pre-pandemic EF assessments with anxiety and depression symptoms several months into the pandemic. We found that pre-pandemic inhibition and shifting difficulties, measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, predicted higher risk of anxiety symptoms. These findings are critical for promoting community recovery and maximizing clinical preparedness to support children at increased risk for adverse psychosocial outcomes.
2019冠状病毒病大流行可能加剧了自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)儿童的抑郁、焦虑和执行功能困难。EF技能与心理健康结果呈正相关。在这里,我们通过将大流行前EF评估与大流行几个月后的焦虑和抑郁症状联系起来,探讨了有和没有ASD的儿童对大流行反应的社会心理影响。我们发现,通过执行功能行为评定量表(behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function)测量的大流行前抑制和转移困难预示着更高的焦虑症状风险。这些发现对于促进社区康复和最大限度地做好临床准备,以支持面临不良心理社会后果风险增加的儿童至关重要。
{"title":"Pre-pandemic Executive Function Protects Against Pandemic Anxiety in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.","authors":"Celia Romero, Lauren Kupis, Zachary T Goodman, Bryce Dirks, Adriana Baez, Amy L Beaumont, Sandra M Cardona, Meaghan V Parlade, Michael Alessandri, Jason S Nomi, Lynn K Perry, Lucina Q Uddin","doi":"10.1007/s10803-023-06175-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10803-023-06175-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated depression, anxiety, and executive function (EF) difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF skills have been positively associated with mental health outcomes. Here, we probed the psychosocial impacts of pandemic responses in children with and without ASD by relating pre-pandemic EF assessments with anxiety and depression symptoms several months into the pandemic. We found that pre-pandemic inhibition and shifting difficulties, measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, predicted higher risk of anxiety symptoms. These findings are critical for promoting community recovery and maximizing clinical preparedness to support children at increased risk for adverse psychosocial outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":"4610-4623"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138459991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-22DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06614-w
Joshua Anbar, Colleen J Sbeglia, B Blair Braden, Christopher J Smith, Melissa Mitchell, Nicole L Matthews
The delivery of services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was disrupted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which may have affected child functioning and caregiver quality of life (QoL). This study examined changes in service intensity, child adaptive functioning, and caregiver QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 146 caregivers (87% mothers) of children with ASD (M age = 8.22 years; SD = 4.21) who were invited to complete an online survey about service intensity, child functioning, and caregiver QoL at four time points between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021. Simple regressions indicated that child adaptive functioning and caregiver QoL increased over time after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Fixed effects regression models indicated that increases in service intensity were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver physical QoL. Decreases in child repetitive behaviors were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver social and environmental QoL. These findings suggest that children and their caregivers demonstrated resilience in the year after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Additionally, service intensity and child repetitive behaviors may impact caregiver QoL, making these variables areas of opportunity for stakeholders and professionals.
在 2019 年冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行期间,为患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)的儿童提供的服务受到了干扰,这可能会影响儿童的功能和照顾者的生活质量(QoL)。本研究考察了 COVID-19 大流行期间服务强度、儿童适应功能和照顾者 QoL 的变化。参与者为 146 名 ASD 儿童(中位年龄 = 8.22 岁;标清 = 4.21)的照顾者(87% 为母亲),他们受邀在 2020 年夏季至 2021 年夏季的四个时间点完成了关于服务强度、儿童功能和照顾者 QoL 的在线调查。简单回归结果表明,在家庭留守令取消后,儿童适应功能和照顾者 QoL 随着时间的推移而增加。固定效应回归模型表明,服务强度的增加与照顾者身体 QoL 的同时增加有关。儿童重复行为的减少与照料者社会和环境 QoL 的同步提高相关。这些研究结果表明,在家庭留守令解除后的一年中,儿童及其照顾者表现出了恢复能力。此外,服务强度和儿童重复行为可能会影响照顾者的 QoL,因此这些变量是利益相关者和专业人士的机会所在。
{"title":"A Longitudinal Examination of Autism Services, Child Adaptive Functioning, and Parent Quality of Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic.","authors":"Joshua Anbar, Colleen J Sbeglia, B Blair Braden, Christopher J Smith, Melissa Mitchell, Nicole L Matthews","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06614-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06614-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The delivery of services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was disrupted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which may have affected child functioning and caregiver quality of life (QoL). This study examined changes in service intensity, child adaptive functioning, and caregiver QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 146 caregivers (87% mothers) of children with ASD (M age = 8.22 years; SD = 4.21) who were invited to complete an online survey about service intensity, child functioning, and caregiver QoL at four time points between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021. Simple regressions indicated that child adaptive functioning and caregiver QoL increased over time after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Fixed effects regression models indicated that increases in service intensity were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver physical QoL. Decreases in child repetitive behaviors were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver social and environmental QoL. These findings suggest that children and their caregivers demonstrated resilience in the year after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Additionally, service intensity and child repetitive behaviors may impact caregiver QoL, making these variables areas of opportunity for stakeholders and professionals.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142687133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-22DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06647-1
Anders Dechsling
{"title":"Letter to the Editor: Virtual Reality in Facilitating Interaction with Police During Routine Traffic Stops for Persons with Autism.","authors":"Anders Dechsling","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06647-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06647-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142687135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-21DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06630-w
Jia Ying Sarah Lee, Koa Whittingham, Amy E Mitchell
Currently there are no instruments designed to assess parents' acceptance and understanding of their autistic child. We aimed to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of a parent-report scale assessing parents' acceptance and understanding of their autistic child - the Parental Acceptance and Understanding of Autistic Children Scale (PAUACS). A total of 158 parents (74 non-autistic, 42 autistic, 42 questioning; mean age 42.69 years) of autistic children (mean age 10.80 years) completed an online survey comprising the prototype PAUACS as well as validated measures of parental sensitivity, neurodiversity affirming attitudes, autistic traits, mental health, and child adjustment and family experience. A subsample of participants (n = 97; 61.4%) completed the PAUACS questionnaire a second time, 2 weeks later, to assess for test-retest reliability. The final 30-item scale demonstrated excellent internal reliability (α = 0.89) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.92). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a clean structure comprising four distinct factors: Understanding (α = 0.86), Innate (α = 0.74), Acceptance (α = 0.82), and Expectations (α = 0.73). Overall, the PAUACS demonstrates good construct validity. Preliminary evidence of convergent validity and divergent validity was demonstrated. Preliminary evidence suggests PAUACS is a reliable and valid tool in assessing parents' acceptance and understanding of autistic children.
{"title":"Parental Acceptance and Understanding of Autistic Children (PAUACS) - an Instrument Development Study.","authors":"Jia Ying Sarah Lee, Koa Whittingham, Amy E Mitchell","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06630-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06630-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Currently there are no instruments designed to assess parents' acceptance and understanding of their autistic child. We aimed to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of a parent-report scale assessing parents' acceptance and understanding of their autistic child - the Parental Acceptance and Understanding of Autistic Children Scale (PAUACS). A total of 158 parents (74 non-autistic, 42 autistic, 42 questioning; mean age 42.69 years) of autistic children (mean age 10.80 years) completed an online survey comprising the prototype PAUACS as well as validated measures of parental sensitivity, neurodiversity affirming attitudes, autistic traits, mental health, and child adjustment and family experience. A subsample of participants (n = 97; 61.4%) completed the PAUACS questionnaire a second time, 2 weeks later, to assess for test-retest reliability. The final 30-item scale demonstrated excellent internal reliability (α = 0.89) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.92). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a clean structure comprising four distinct factors: Understanding (α = 0.86), Innate (α = 0.74), Acceptance (α = 0.82), and Expectations (α = 0.73). Overall, the PAUACS demonstrates good construct validity. Preliminary evidence of convergent validity and divergent validity was demonstrated. Preliminary evidence suggests PAUACS is a reliable and valid tool in assessing parents' acceptance and understanding of autistic children.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142681717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-21DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06642-6
Einat Karin, Ronny Geva, Shahar Bar-Yehuda, Yael Estrugo, Nirit Bauminger-Zviley
Common ground (CG)-a pragmatic capability that reflects the construction of shared meaning by two interlocutors during conversation-is widely accepted as crucial for effective communication, but its exploration has been limited in the context of children's peer-to-peer interaction. Specifically, this study aimed to explore CG differences between typically developing (TD) and autistic populations, CG's developmental trajectories, as well as the link between CG and motor coordination skills during peer interactions. Study participants included 148 children (6-16 years), comparing 64 TD and 84 autistic children across three age levels. Fixed dyads matched on IQ, age, sex, and mother's education performed a CG tangram-card task and complementary joint action (JA) tasks to evaluate peer-to-peer movement coordination. Individual motor skills were also assessed. As expected, both autistic and TD groups showed increasing efficacy over the 6-turn CG task (fewer words and shorter duration to communicate), although autistic participants were less efficient than TD participants. Better motor skills and JA synchronization correlated with both groups' more efficient CG performance. Additionally, the indirect relationship between group (TD/autism) and CG was mediated by motor skills and JA, with age moderating the relationship between JA and CG. Specifically, better motor skills and socio-motor coordination were associated with more efficient CG creation, particularly in younger children (under 10 years). These findings suggest potential novel avenues for early interventions targeting motor and language challenges in autism to enhance pragmatic abilities and peer interactions, offering insights into language development in this population.
{"title":"Movement Coordination's Link with Common Ground During Dyadic Peer Discourse in Typically Developing and Autistic Speakers.","authors":"Einat Karin, Ronny Geva, Shahar Bar-Yehuda, Yael Estrugo, Nirit Bauminger-Zviley","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06642-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06642-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Common ground (CG)-a pragmatic capability that reflects the construction of shared meaning by two interlocutors during conversation-is widely accepted as crucial for effective communication, but its exploration has been limited in the context of children's peer-to-peer interaction. Specifically, this study aimed to explore CG differences between typically developing (TD) and autistic populations, CG's developmental trajectories, as well as the link between CG and motor coordination skills during peer interactions. Study participants included 148 children (6-16 years), comparing 64 TD and 84 autistic children across three age levels. Fixed dyads matched on IQ, age, sex, and mother's education performed a CG tangram-card task and complementary joint action (JA) tasks to evaluate peer-to-peer movement coordination. Individual motor skills were also assessed. As expected, both autistic and TD groups showed increasing efficacy over the 6-turn CG task (fewer words and shorter duration to communicate), although autistic participants were less efficient than TD participants. Better motor skills and JA synchronization correlated with both groups' more efficient CG performance. Additionally, the indirect relationship between group (TD/autism) and CG was mediated by motor skills and JA, with age moderating the relationship between JA and CG. Specifically, better motor skills and socio-motor coordination were associated with more efficient CG creation, particularly in younger children (under 10 years). These findings suggest potential novel avenues for early interventions targeting motor and language challenges in autism to enhance pragmatic abilities and peer interactions, offering insights into language development in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142681814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06601-1
Wen Ma, Xuequn Dai, Hao Zhang
This study investigated the categorical perception (CP) of linguistic pitch (lexical tones) and nonlinguistic pitch (pure tones), as well as tonal production in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A total of 26 Mandarin-speaking children with ASD and 29 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were recruited for this study. The Mandarin T2-T3 contrast and corresponding pure tones with identical pitch contours were adopted to assess the nuanced pitch processing abilities of the child participants via the CP paradigm. Accordingly, tonal production was focused on T2 and T3 with analyses of the dynamic pitch contours and tonal differentiation. Mandarin-speaking children with ASD exhibited atypical CP for linguistic pitch in comparison with their TD peers. However, the categorization of linguistic pitch exceeded that of nonlinguistic pitch among the ASD participants, indicating a global over local processing pattern contrary to autistic individuals in non-tonal languages. Additionally, despite atypical pitch contours in producing T2 and T3, the ASD group showed comparable differentiable degrees of the two tones in production to the TD group. Findings of this study served as a foray into contesting current theories' claims of local bias and/or global impairment in the autistic population, prompting further inspections on individuals with different language backgrounds and stimuli processing with various complexities. Additionally, findings of this study underscore the necessity of developing tailored assessments and interventions to enhance the perception and production of complex and confusable tones, thereby improving perceptual robustness and communication skills in Mandarin-speaking children with ASD.
{"title":"Perception and Production of Pitch Information in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.","authors":"Wen Ma, Xuequn Dai, Hao Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06601-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06601-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the categorical perception (CP) of linguistic pitch (lexical tones) and nonlinguistic pitch (pure tones), as well as tonal production in Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A total of 26 Mandarin-speaking children with ASD and 29 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were recruited for this study. The Mandarin T2-T3 contrast and corresponding pure tones with identical pitch contours were adopted to assess the nuanced pitch processing abilities of the child participants via the CP paradigm. Accordingly, tonal production was focused on T2 and T3 with analyses of the dynamic pitch contours and tonal differentiation. Mandarin-speaking children with ASD exhibited atypical CP for linguistic pitch in comparison with their TD peers. However, the categorization of linguistic pitch exceeded that of nonlinguistic pitch among the ASD participants, indicating a global over local processing pattern contrary to autistic individuals in non-tonal languages. Additionally, despite atypical pitch contours in producing T2 and T3, the ASD group showed comparable differentiable degrees of the two tones in production to the TD group. Findings of this study served as a foray into contesting current theories' claims of local bias and/or global impairment in the autistic population, prompting further inspections on individuals with different language backgrounds and stimuli processing with various complexities. Additionally, findings of this study underscore the necessity of developing tailored assessments and interventions to enhance the perception and production of complex and confusable tones, thereby improving perceptual robustness and communication skills in Mandarin-speaking children with ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142648035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06636-4
Cassandra J Franke, Jason W Griffin, Adam J Naples, Julie M Wolf, James C McPartland
Autism and social anxiety (SA) share behavioral features like reduced eye contact, variable social attention, and differences in social interactions. However, the impact of the co-occurrence of these conditions (e.g., autism with co-occurring SA) on social attention remains unknown. Therefore, we evaluated whether the degree of SA characteristics in autistic youth modulated (e.g., amplified or lessened) a core hallmark feature of autism: social attention, or looking at faces. Fifty-four autistic and 35 non-autistic children and adolescents completed a gaze-contingent eye-tracking (ET) paradigm, in which faces dynamically expressed happy or fearful expressions contingent on participant eye contact. SA characteristics were assessed via standardized self- and parent-report measures. Social attention was measured by calculating the average percent looking time at the face and eye regions of each emotional expression. Autistic participants looked less at faces than non-autistic participants, and higher self-report SA was associated with less looking at eyes in both autistic and non-autistic participants. SA features affect social attention similarly in autistic and non-autistic youth, highlighting the importance of considering co-occurring psychiatric characteristics when assessing social attention and eye contact in autistic individuals.
{"title":"Social Anxiety Reduces Visual Attention to the Eyes of Emotional Faces in Autistic Youth.","authors":"Cassandra J Franke, Jason W Griffin, Adam J Naples, Julie M Wolf, James C McPartland","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06636-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06636-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autism and social anxiety (SA) share behavioral features like reduced eye contact, variable social attention, and differences in social interactions. However, the impact of the co-occurrence of these conditions (e.g., autism with co-occurring SA) on social attention remains unknown. Therefore, we evaluated whether the degree of SA characteristics in autistic youth modulated (e.g., amplified or lessened) a core hallmark feature of autism: social attention, or looking at faces. Fifty-four autistic and 35 non-autistic children and adolescents completed a gaze-contingent eye-tracking (ET) paradigm, in which faces dynamically expressed happy or fearful expressions contingent on participant eye contact. SA characteristics were assessed via standardized self- and parent-report measures. Social attention was measured by calculating the average percent looking time at the face and eye regions of each emotional expression. Autistic participants looked less at faces than non-autistic participants, and higher self-report SA was associated with less looking at eyes in both autistic and non-autistic participants. SA features affect social attention similarly in autistic and non-autistic youth, highlighting the importance of considering co-occurring psychiatric characteristics when assessing social attention and eye contact in autistic individuals.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142647983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06646-2
Josie Kearney, Catherine Bosyj, Victoria Rombos, Alicia Brewer Curran, Brenda Clark, Wendy Cornell, Shannon Mah, Melissa Mahurin, Nicholas Piroddi, Kristin Sohl, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Melanie Penner
{"title":"Correction: Community Provider Perspectives on an Autism Learning Health Network: A Qualitative Study.","authors":"Josie Kearney, Catherine Bosyj, Victoria Rombos, Alicia Brewer Curran, Brenda Clark, Wendy Cornell, Shannon Mah, Melissa Mahurin, Nicholas Piroddi, Kristin Sohl, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Melanie Penner","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06646-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10803-024-06646-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142647901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lockdown imposed by the COVID 19 pandemic increased the time families spent together at home. A negative impact of the lock-down on children with autism has been reported. Few studies described the positive impact of parents' presence on the severity of their children's autism symptoms during lockdown. To describe the positive impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the evolution of Children' Symptoms with autism and parents' emotional status and to determine which variables had a positive or negative impact on the severity of autism features in Kinshasa. From April 15 to July 15, 2020, we analyzed the evolution of core symptoms of 68 children with autism and correlated these findings with the presence of a parent at home during lockdown. We performed multivariate logistic regression to assess the factors associated to autism symptoms improvement after adjustment by sex, age at ASD diagnosis, education, parent occupation, child's occupancy time, presence of parent's depression, and presence of comorbidities and core symptoms in children. Parents reported ASD symptom improvement in 42.6% of children. Factors positively associate with ASD symptoms improvement were presence of a parent for more than 8 h per day, improvement of social communication and autonomy. In contrast, severe to moderate depression in parents and presence of main comorbidities in children were associated with more severe autistic symptoms in their children. The presence of a parent at home, improved child communication and autonomy improved autism symptoms. On the other hand, parental depression and comorbidities in children with ASD aggravated the symptoms during lockdown in Kinshasa/DRC. These findings emphasize the importance of the physical presence of parents as well as the length of time they spend with their children with ASD. In addition, they show that depressive feelings in parents and comorbidities in ASD have a negative impact in the severity of their symptoms during lockdown.
{"title":"Determinants of Positive Evolution of Symptoms in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (DRC).","authors":"Davin Mbeya Mpaka, Luck Lukusa, Sifa Marie Joelle Muchanga, Annick Vogels, Ally Omba Ndjukendi, Arsene Bukama Mutonji, Dorah Lwanzo Kavira, Julienne Managa Nzuzi, Thierry Matonda-Ma-Nzuzi, Samuel Ma-Miezi Mampunza, Joachim Ebwel Mukau","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06621-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06621-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Lockdown imposed by the COVID 19 pandemic increased the time families spent together at home. A negative impact of the lock-down on children with autism has been reported. Few studies described the positive impact of parents' presence on the severity of their children's autism symptoms during lockdown. To describe the positive impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the evolution of Children' Symptoms with autism and parents' emotional status and to determine which variables had a positive or negative impact on the severity of autism features in Kinshasa. From April 15 to July 15, 2020, we analyzed the evolution of core symptoms of 68 children with autism and correlated these findings with the presence of a parent at home during lockdown. We performed multivariate logistic regression to assess the factors associated to autism symptoms improvement after adjustment by sex, age at ASD diagnosis, education, parent occupation, child's occupancy time, presence of parent's depression, and presence of comorbidities and core symptoms in children. Parents reported ASD symptom improvement in 42.6% of children. Factors positively associate with ASD symptoms improvement were presence of a parent for more than 8 h per day, improvement of social communication and autonomy. In contrast, severe to moderate depression in parents and presence of main comorbidities in children were associated with more severe autistic symptoms in their children. The presence of a parent at home, improved child communication and autonomy improved autism symptoms. On the other hand, parental depression and comorbidities in children with ASD aggravated the symptoms during lockdown in Kinshasa/DRC. These findings emphasize the importance of the physical presence of parents as well as the length of time they spend with their children with ASD. In addition, they show that depressive feelings in parents and comorbidities in ASD have a negative impact in the severity of their symptoms during lockdown.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142647919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06641-7
Michelle L Stransky, Laneva Cobb, Nina Menon, Emily Barnard, Cynthia Belfleur, Lawrence Scahill, Jocelyn Kuhn
The National Institute of Mental Health created the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) to accelerate autism knowledge through data sharing and collaboration. However, our experience using NDAR reveals systematic challenges across several aspects of data submission, selection, management, and analysis that limit utility of this resource. We describe our NDAR experience in an ongoing project examining autism intervention outcomes among marginalized racial, ethnic, and gender groups. For this study, we planned to gather data from NDAR to conduct an individual participant data meta-analysis. Eighteen studies met inclusion criteria and reported data on participants at more than one point in time on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). The difficulties with submitting, selecting, downloading, and managing data from NDAR posed limitations on data availability and analysis. Of the 3,850 unique participants in the selected studies, data at multiple time points were available for 312 participants on the Vineland and 278 on the ADOS. No participants had data on all assessment domains. To accelerate autism research via data sharing and collaboration with NDAR necessitates improving the processes for submitting, selecting, and managing data.
{"title":"Reinvigorating the Promise of the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) to Advance Autism Knowledge.","authors":"Michelle L Stransky, Laneva Cobb, Nina Menon, Emily Barnard, Cynthia Belfleur, Lawrence Scahill, Jocelyn Kuhn","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06641-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06641-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The National Institute of Mental Health created the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) to accelerate autism knowledge through data sharing and collaboration. However, our experience using NDAR reveals systematic challenges across several aspects of data submission, selection, management, and analysis that limit utility of this resource. We describe our NDAR experience in an ongoing project examining autism intervention outcomes among marginalized racial, ethnic, and gender groups. For this study, we planned to gather data from NDAR to conduct an individual participant data meta-analysis. Eighteen studies met inclusion criteria and reported data on participants at more than one point in time on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). The difficulties with submitting, selecting, downloading, and managing data from NDAR posed limitations on data availability and analysis. Of the 3,850 unique participants in the selected studies, data at multiple time points were available for 312 participants on the Vineland and 278 on the ADOS. No participants had data on all assessment domains. To accelerate autism research via data sharing and collaboration with NDAR necessitates improving the processes for submitting, selecting, and managing data.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142648044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}