Asperger Group Research Articles

A percepção do aluno com transtorno do espectro autista sobre o processo de inclusão na Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG)

This paper portrays the results of a research which objective was to analyze the perception of a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on his own entry process at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG). The data collection technique used in this work was the semi-structured interview and the data were analyzed based on content analysis proposed by Bardin (1977). The research revealed the need for training of professionals involved in the university accessibility center regarding the inclusion of students with autism, considering the lack of preparation of these professionals in understanding the particularities of this group of students. Moreover, it has also become clear that the psychological support provided by the “Programa Saudavelmente” through the Asperger Group has been helping the student with ASD to deal with the stress experienced in different academic situations. In relation to the pedagogical and social issues at the university, it was clear that the specific interests of these students can be used to develop academic activities that enhance their development and learning. Although students with autism have the skills to engage in research activities, the same does not occur with collective activities such as group work, which results in disappointment, stress, and difficulties. To conclude, the research highlights that it is relevant to carry out studies aimed at expanding the information about the inclusion of people with autism in the university, which will allow the understanding of the process of difficulties and overcoming these students until the arrival to Higher Education. Recebido em: 09 de maio de 2019Modificado em: 02 de outubro de 2019Aceito em: 26 de outubro de 2019

Dectin-1 Polymorphism: A Genetic Disease Specifier in Autism Spectrum Disorders?

IntroductionIn autism spectrum disorders (ASD), complex gene-environment interactions contribute to disease onset and progress. Given that gastro-intestinal dysfunctions are common in ASD, we postulated involvement of microbial dysbiosis in ASD and investigated, under a case-control design, the influence of DNA polymorphisms in the CLEC7A gene that encodes a pivotal fungal sensor, Dectin-1.Material and methodsDNAs from 478 ASD patients and 351 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed for the CLEC7A rs16910631G/A and rs2078178 A/G single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Differences in the distribution of allele, genotype and haplotype by Chi-square testing and nonparametric analysis by Kruskal-Wallis/Mann–Whitney tests, where appropriate, were performed. The free statistical package R.2.13 software was used for the statistical analysis.ResultsWe found that the CLEC7A rs2078178 G allele and GG genotype were more prevalent in HC as compared to ASD but failed to reach statistical significance for the latter (pc = 0.01, 0.06 respectively). However, after phenotype-based stratification, the CLEC7A rs2078178 G allele and GG genotype were found to be significantly more frequent in the Asperger group as compared to other ASD subsets (pc = 0.02, 0.01), a finding reinforced by haplotype analysis (rs2078178/rs16910631 G-G/G-G) (pc = 0.002). Further, intellectual quotient (IQ)-based stratification of ASD patients revealed that IQ values increase linearly along the CLEC7A rs2078178 AA, AG and GG genotypes (p = 0.05) and in a recessive manner (GG vs. AA+AG p = 0.02), further confirmed by haplotype distribution (CLEC7A rs2078178-16910631; A-G/A-G, A-G/G-G and G-G/G-G, p = 0.02, G-G/G-G vs. others, p = 0.01).ConclusionOur data suggest that the genetic diversity of CLEC7A gene influences the ASD phenotype by behaving as a disease specifier and imply that the genetic control of innate immune response could determine the ASD phenotype.

Normal P50 Gating in Children with Autism, Yet Attenuated P50 Amplitude in the Asperger Subcategory.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia are separate disorders, but there is evidence of conversion or comorbid overlap. The objective of this paper was to explore whether deficits in sensory gating, as seen in some schizophrenia patients, can also be found in a group of ASD children compared to neurotypically developed children. An additional aim was to investigate the possibility of subdividing our ASD sample based on these gating deficits. In a case-control design, we assessed gating of the P50 and N100 amplitude in 31 ASD children and 39 healthy matched controls (8-12 years) and screened for differences between groups and within the ASD group. We did not find disturbances in auditory P50 and N100 filtering in the group of ASD children as a whole, nor did we find abnormal P50 and N100 amplitudes. However, the P50 amplitude to the conditioning stimulus was significantly reduced in the Asperger subgroup compared to healthy controls. In contrast to what is usually reported for patients with schizophrenia, we found no evidence for sensory gating deficits in our group of ASD children taken as a whole. However, reduced P50 amplitude to conditioning stimuli was found in the Asperger group, which is similar to what has been described in some studies in schizophrenia patients. There was a positive correlation between the P50 amplitude of the conditioning stimuli and anxiety score in the pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified group, which indicates a relation between anxiety and sensory registration in this group.

A lack of self-consciousness in Asperger's disorder but not in PDDNOS: Implication for the clinical importance of ASD subtypes

Self-consciousness plays an important role in a person's social life. Assuming that self-consciousness is a key to understanding social impairments in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we examined self-consciousness in individuals with Asperger's disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDDNOS) and their controls using an episodic memory task. The PDDNOS group consisted of individuals in a milder subgroup of PDDNOS, with less autistic features than Asperger's disorder. In the learning phase, one of three types of questions (phonological, semantic, self-referential) was asked about each following target word. The target words were all personality trait adjectives. Next, a recognition test was conducted. The PDDNOS group, like the control, showed the most superior performance in self-referential processing (i.e. the self-reference effect) while the Asperger's group did not; however, both the ASD groups revealed an atypical pattern of relationship between memory performance and IQ. Individuals with PDDNOS, unlike those with Asperger's disorder, may be self-conscious to the same degree as typically developing individuals, but the cognitive process leading them to self-consciousness seems atypical, causing social impairments similar to those seen in individuals with Asperger's disorder who lack self-consciousness.

주의력결핍 과잉행동장애 아동과 아스퍼거장애 아동에서 사회기술훈련의 효과 비교

Objectives : Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's disorder (AD) in children are associated with attentional problems, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and difficulties with social interactions. Pharmacological treatment may alleviate symptoms of ADHD, but seldom solves difficulties with social interactions. Social skills training (SST) may assist in improving their social interactions. We examined the effects of SST on children's social competences, general behavior, and ADHD symptoms. Methods : Thirty four children, aged 7 to 12 years, participated in the cognitive behavioral SST program once a week at the outpatient division of child-adolescent psychiatry. SST was composed of 24 sessions (ninety minutes) for 6 months. Twenty-five children were diagnosed with ADHD, and 9 children were diagnosed with AD. Parents of the children rated Korea-Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), Conner's rating scales, Korean-ADHD Rating Scale (K-ARS), Social Skill Rating System (SSRS), and Matson's Social Skill Rating Scale as an evaluation of the treatment effect, before the first session and after the final session of the training. Results : The ADHD group showed significantly increased scores of social and social competence of CBCL and SSRS. Further, scores of externalizing problems of CBCL, CRS, and ARS were significantly decreased. The Asperger's group showed significantly increased scores of social competence of CBCL, SSRS, and MESS. There was a significant difference of the improvement in CBCL's school and total behavior problem score, CRS between drug change group and no drug change group. Conclusion : The result of this study suggests that SST is effective in improving social skills for children with ADHD and AD. In addition, SST has shown its effectiveness in treating attentional problems for children with ADHD. To prove objective usefulness of SST, further studies with a more structured design and long-term duration along with a sufficient number of AD participants will be necessary.

Recognition of Facial Expressions and Prosodic Cues with Graded Emotional Intensities in Adults with Asperger Syndrome

This study investigated the ability of adults with Asperger syndrome to recognize emotional categories of facial expressions and emotional prosodies with graded emotional intensities. The individuals with Asperger syndrome showed poorer recognition performance for angry and sad expressions from both facial and vocal information. The group difference in facial expression recognition was prominent for stimuli with low or intermediate emotional intensities. In contrast to this, the individuals with Asperger syndrome exhibited lower recognition accuracy than typically-developed controls mainly for emotional prosody with high emotional intensity. In facial expression recognition, Asperger and control groups showed an inversion effect for all categories. The magnitude of this effect was less in the Asperger group for angry and sad expressions, presumably attributable to reduced recruitment of the configural mode of face processing. The individuals with Asperger syndrome outperformed the control participants in recognizing inverted sad expressions, indicating enhanced processing of local facial information representing sad emotion. These results suggest that the adults with Asperger syndrome rely on modality-specific strategies in emotion recognition from facial expression and prosodic information.

2076 – Psychometric properties of the spanish version of the movie for assessment of social cognition (MASC)

Background The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) has been shown to have good psychometric properties. Objectives To translate, adapt, and validate a Spanish version of the MASC (MASC-SP) for use in patients with Asperger's syndrome. Aims To develop an ecological and standardized assessment of social cognition for the Spanish-speaking community. Methods MASC-SP was administered to a sample of twenty-two patients diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (3 women, 19 men; mean age 21.94) and twenty-six healthy volunteers (9 women, 17 men; mean age 22.92). Other measures of social cognition were also administered: the Strange Stories Task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and a emotion recognition task. A brief scale for cognitive evaluation in psychiatric patients was also administered (SCIP). Results The Asperger group scored lower on the MASC-SP (p = 0.000), had fewer correct answers on the emotion recognition test (p = 0.000), and poorer understanding of social situations (p = 0.000). The area under the ROC curves was 0.814 for the MASC-SP, 0.795 for the emotion recognition test, 0.912 for the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and 0.806 for the Strange Stories Task. The Asperger group did not show cognitive deterioration and MASC-SP was proven to be independent for other general cognitive functions. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.86, demonstrating satisfactory internal reliability (> 0.80) very similar to the original instrument (0.84). Conclusions The Spanish adaptation of the MASC can be a useful, ecologically valid tool for assessing social cognition.

Inhibition of Return in Response to Eye Gaze and Peripheral Cues in Young People with Asperger’s Syndrome

Inhibition of return (IOR) reflects slower reaction times to stimuli presented in previously attended locations. In this study, we examined this inhibitory after-effect using two different cue types, eye-gaze and standard peripheral cues, in individuals with Asperger's syndrome and typically developing individuals. Typically developing participants showed evidence of IOR for both eye-gaze and peripheral cues. In contrast, the Asperger group showed evidence of IOR to previously peripherally cued locations but failed to show IOR for eye-gaze cues. This absence of IOR for eye-gaze cues observed in the participants with Asperger may reflect an attentional impairment in responding to socially relevant information.

Developmental, familial and educational characteristics of a sample of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Greece

The aim of this study is to describe the developmental, familial and educational characteristics of 91 children with a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), from one educational district of Athens, Greece. Records of the 91 children, aged 4–14 years old, were examined with respect to sex, age of diagnosis, type of ASDs, school placement, co-existing disorders, parental ages, type of conception, prematurity and birth order. The results indicated that the boy:girl ratio was 4.3:1 while the average age of diagnosis was 6 years which implies a delay in the early detection of ASDs. Children with typical autism constituted 80% of the sample, while the Asperger group constituted 20%. The majority of pupils were served in general education, and only a small percentage attended special schools. The preferable type of support was one-to-one support in the classroom (47%). Among the most common disorders that coexist with the ASDs was ADHD, epilepsy, dyslexia and learning difficulties. Interesting findings were obtained for the advanced parental age, birth order and the relationship of assisted conception and premature birth with the presence of autism. The present study offers some useful insights about the characteristics of ASDs in a Greek school-based sample.

SociaBillyQuizz, un jeu pour l’entraînement aux habiletés sociales chez l’enfant et l’adolescent : étude exploratoire

BackgroundThe SociaBillyQuizz is a therapeutic game designed for social skills training groups with children and adolescents. Using an entertaining method, this media requests several dimensions: exposure, cognition, communication skills, imagination, emotional expression and sign decoding. In this preliminary study, the setting includes two groups of six adolescents, one with social anxiety disorder and the other with Asperger syndrome. ObjectiveTo evaluate, in an exploratory study, the effects of a therapeutic device involving this game for these two clinically different groups of adolescents. MethodsDuring 26 of 1 hour weekly sessions, two adolescents groups participate to a program including the SociaBillyQuizz and cognitive behavioral therapies. The groups are moderated by two therapists. The SociaBillyQuizz is a board game for two to six players; its goal is to collect points by answering instructions from the different thematic cards. There are four thematic cards: action cards (players have to do something), brainstorming cards (players have to use their imagination and demonstrate cognitive flexibility), interview cards (players have to express themselves about what they think or feel) and mystery cards (unexpected instructions). According to the groups’ clinical characteristics, some aims are specifically highlighted. In the anxiety disorder group, the cognitive dimension is privileged and in the Asperger syndrome group, we emphasise the pretend, cognitive flexibility and theory of mind. The effects are measured by the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and the Fear Avoidance Hierarchy (FAH) for the social anxiety disorder group and by the Faux Pas Recognition Test and the Social Responsiveness Scale (parent version) for the Asperger group. ResultsThese assessment tools indicate, for both groups, a significant increase of the scores corroborating the observed clinical effects. For eleven of the twelve adolescents, a clinical interview 6 months after the retest shows a continuity of therapeutic benefit. DiscussionThese early results suggest that a social skills training device featuring the SociaBillyQuizz produces clinical improvements in these two groups of adolescents. In future researches, with control group and more complete follow-up, nature and effectiveness of its contribution should be specified. ConclusionIn this preliminary study, the SociaBillyQuizz appears to be an interesting therapeutic tool that can increase implication, motivation, participation and cohesiveness of the group. It also makes easier the cognitive-behavioural-strategies learning.

Empathy, values, morality and Asperger’s syndrome

The aims of this study were, first, to re-address the issue of empathy among people with autism conditions; second, to explore the relationships between empathy and values among autistic populations and controls; and third, to explore the capacity for moral agency among those affected by autism. We compared responses of an Asperger group (N = 41) and a control group (N = 139) to measures of self-reported empathy (Davis's IRI) and value priorities (Schwartz's PVQ). Control group results were largely in line with previous studies, such that empathy subscales of perspective taking and empathic concern showed their strongest positive and negative relations to the Schwartz self-transcendence/self-enhancement dimensions. Results for the Asperger group showed that although on the one hand there were self-reported difficulties in perspective taking and the cognitive recognition of affect, and that on the other hand there were less connections between the empathy and value measures, there was nevertheless a comparable prioritization of moral values. Conclusions suggest that different people may acquire moral values through different mechanisms.

Impairments in multisensory processing are not universal to the autism spectrum: no evidence for crossmodal priming deficits in Asperger syndrome

Individuals suffering from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often show a tendency for detail- or feature-based perception (also referred to as "local processing bias") instead of more holistic stimulus processing typical for unaffected people. This local processing bias has been demonstrated for the visual and auditory domains and there is evidence that multisensory processing may also be affected in ASD. Most multisensory processing paradigms used social-communicative stimuli, such as human speech or faces, probing the processing of simultaneously occuring sensory signals. Multisensory processing, however, is not limited to simultaneous stimulation. In this study, we investigated whether multisensory processing deficits in ASD persist when semantically complex but nonsocial stimuli are presented in succession. Fifteen adult individuals with Asperger syndrome and 15 control persons participated in a visual-audio priming task, which required the classification of sounds that were either primed by semantically congruent or incongruent preceding pictures of objects. As expected, performance on congruent trials was faster and more accurate compared with incongruent trials (crossmodal priming effect). The Asperger group, however, did not differ significantly from the control group. Our results do not support a general multisensory processing deficit, which is universal to the entire autism spectrum.

한국판 아스퍼거 증후군 진단척도의 타당화 및 진단 분할점 산출

Objectives : This study examined the reliability and validity of the Korean version of Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (K-ASDS), to calculate the cut-off score in the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. Further, we examined classification error rate when applying cut-off scores. Methods : One hundred sixty-seven children participated in this study, including 46 with Asperger syndrome, 26 with PDD or PDD NOS, 43 with ADHD, and 52 normal children. Results : An ANCOVA demonstrated no significant differences in the K-ASDS total score between the Asperger and the PDD & PDD NOS groups. However, these groups did show significantly higher scores than the ADHD and normal groups. Among the five subscales on the K-ASDS, the Asperger group obtained significantly higher scores on the language and cognition subscales than the PDD & PDD NOS groups. Two scales were found to be useful in distinguishing the Asperger group from the PDD & PDD NOS group through a discriminant analysis. According to an analysis of ROC curve, the cut-off score on the K-ASDS for the diagnosis of PDD including Asperger syndrome was 121. Conclusion : We discussed that K-ASDS has pretty limit.

Asperger Through the Looking Glass: An Exploratory Study of Self-Understanding in People with Asperger’s Syndrome

Hobson (Autism and the development of mind. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hove, UK 1993) has proposed that the cognitive and linguistic disabilities that characterise autism result from abnormalities in inter-subjective engagement during infancy, which in turn results in impaired reflective self-awareness. The aim of the present study was to test Hobson's hypothesis by examining self-understanding in Asperger's syndrome (AS) using Damon and Hart's (Self-understanding in childhood and adolescence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988) model of self-concept. Ten participants with Asperger's syndrome were compared with ten non AS controls using the Self-understanding Interview (Damon and Hart in Self-understanding in Childhood and Adolescence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988). The study found that the Asperger's group demonstrated impairment in the "self-as-object" and "self-as-subject" domains of the Self-understanding Interview, which supported Hobson's concept of an impaired capacity for self-awareness and self-reflection in people with ASD. The results are discussed with reference to previous research regarding the development of self-understanding in people with ASD.

Repetitive behaviour and obsessive–compulsive features in Asperger syndrome: Parental and self-reports

Symptoms of repetitive, obsessive and compulsive behaviour were explored in a group of adolescents and young adults with Asperger syndrome and compared to a typically developing group. By means of self-evaluations and an interview regarding such symptoms with the adolescents and young adults and parental evaluations, the parents retrospectively assessed the behaviour of their children from preschool years to middle teens, and the young participants assessed their own behaviour from school years until present time. An anxiety scale was also used. The results revealed no significant differences between the groups on the interview and the anxiety scale. There were, however, significant differences on both the parental and the self-evaluations. Thus, the parents reported that their children had difficulties with repetitive, obsessive–compulsive behaviour, and social interaction from preschool years, and both the parents and the adolescents and young adults reported considerable difficulties in those areas during school years. When comparing the evaluations from the parents and the young participants it was shown that the parents in the Asperger group reported significantly more problems than their children while in the comparison group the parents reported less problems than their children.

Impairment of unconscious, but not conscious, gaze-triggered attention orienting in Asperger's disorder

Impairment of joint attention represents the core clinical features of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), including autism and Asperger's disorder. However, experimental studies reported intact gaze-triggered attentional orienting in PDD. Since all previous studies employed supraliminal presentation of gaze stimuli, we hypothesized that individuals with PDD may be impaired not in conscious but in unconscious gaze-triggered attention shift. We tested the hypothesis in a group of Asperger's disorder ( N = 12) and age- and gender-matched controls ( N = 13), using a cueing paradigm with supraliminal and subliminal presentation of gaze cues. Under supraliminal conditions, the gaze cueing effect was evident in both groups. Under subliminal conditions, the Asperger group, unlike the control group, did not show the gaze cueing effect. These results indicate the impairment of unconscious, but not conscious, joint attention in Asperger's disorder, which may underlie some clinical findings of social malfunction in PDD.

How well can young people with Asperger's disorder recognize threat and learn about affect in faces?: A pilot study

The abilities to identify threat and learn about affect in facial photographs were compared between a non-autistic university student group (NUS), a matched Asperger's group (MAS) on the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), and an unmatched Asperger's group (UAS) who scored lower on the SPM. Participants were given pairs of faces and asked which person looked more dangerous. In addition, they engaged in explicit learning of the facial affect features. This study indicated (a) that the ability to identify threat in faces was intact in the MAS group, but poor in the UAS group; (b) a graded degree of performance in facial affect recognition (NUS > MAS > UAS); (c) that all groups improved their facial affect recognition after the brief explicit teaching intervention. This pilot study obtained first indications for the feasible assessment of the ability to distinguish threat in faces and potential remediation effects of the brief explicit teaching of facial emotions for young people with Asperger's disorder.

Immune allergic response in Asperger syndrome

Asperger's syndrome is a subgroup of autism characterized by social deficits without language delay, and high cognitive performance. The biological nature of autism is still unknown but there are controversial evidence associating an immune imbalance and autism. Clinical findings, including atopic family history, serum IgE levels as well as cutaneous tests showed that incidence of atopy was higher in the Asperger group compared to the healthy controls. These findings suggest that atopy is frequent in this subgroup of autism implying that allergic inflammation might be an important feature in Asperger syndrome.

Dynamic fearful gaze does not enhance attention orienting in individuals with Asperger’s disorder

Although impaired joint attention is one of the core clinical features of pervasive developmental disorder including autistic disorder and Asperger’s disorder, experimental studies failed to report its impairment. This discrepancy might be the result of differences between real-life and experimental situations. The present study examined joint attention in 11 individuals with Asperger’s disorder and 11 age-matched controls under naturalistic conditions using a target detection paradigm with dynamic emotional gaze cues. Although both groups showed gaze-triggered attention orienting as assessed by the differences in reaction time for invalid minus valid cues, enhancement of joint attention by fearful (vs. neutral) gaze was observed in the control, but not in the Asperger group. This suggests that the integration of emotion and gaze direction that elicits strong joint attention is impaired in individuals with Asperger’s disorder.

Parental stress associated with caring for children with Asperger’s syndrome or autism

The levels of parental stress among parents of children with Asperger's syndrome in comparison with parents of children with autism are unknown in the Japanese population. The stress levels in Japanese parents caring for children with Asperger's syndrome were compared with the stress levels found in Japanese parents caring for children with autism using the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form. In a sample of 193 families, both groups had a significant increase in parental stress levels. In addition, strong evidence was obtained for the presence of higher levels of parental stress in the Asperger's group compared with the parents of the autism group after controlling for the impact of confounders, F(5,187) = 9.11, P = 0.003. The elevated levels of parental stress found in the Asperger's group appeared to be attributable to characteristics associated with the child's basic behavior. The potential mechanism, implications and strategies for further research are discussed. There are significantly elevated parental stress levels in Japanese parents of children with Asperger's syndrome or autism. In addition, the total parental stress levels were significantly higher in parents of children with Asperger's syndrome than in parents of children with autism.