Autistic Disorder Children Research Articles

Application Research of Music Therapy in Mental Health of Special Children

A healthy psychological state is the premise for children to carry out various activities. Previous surveys have shown that children with special needs are affected by their own obstacles and are more prone to psychological problems such as sensitivity, low self-esteem, and impulsiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to provide more systematic mental health education support for special children. Mental health education programs are an efficient form of maintaining children’s mental health. However, in the field of special education, the number of mental health education courses developed according to the physical and mental characteristics and developmental needs of special children is relatively small, and there are many difficulties in the implementation process. Autism disorder (ASD) is a kind of pervasive developmental dysfunction that is relatively common and representative in clinical practice. In recent years, the number of autistic children has continued to surge, and has gradually expanded from a family problem to a serious social problem. At present, the evaluation of the effect of autism intervention mainly relies on various behavioral scales, which are subjective to a certain extent. At the same time, due to the unclear pathogenesis of autism, the treatment of autism cannot be predicated on the right medicine, and can only be intervened in various ways. The purpose of this paper is to explore the difference between the EEG signals of autistic children and typically developing control (TD) children through the analysis method of EEG signals, and based on the analysis of EEG signals from an objective point of view, to study whether the music therapy method of Chinese Zither playing training can effectively Improving the brain functional status of children with autism yields positive therapeutic outcomes. The experimental results show that the complexity of brain electrical signals of ASD children is much lower than that of TD children, and there is a significant difference in the brain functional state between the two. The music therapy method based on Chinese zither playing training can improve the brain function of autistic patients, and there is a positive therapeutic effect. And with the extension of the training period, the effect may be more significant. Chinese zither playing training can provide a new direction for the intervention of autism.

Dysregulated gene expression associated with inflammatory and translation pathways in activated monocytes from children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions, communication, and stereotypical behaviors. Immune dysfunction is a common co-morbidity seen in ASD, with innate immune activation seen both in the brain and periphery. We previously identified significant differences in peripheral monocyte cytokine responses after stimulation with lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which activate toll-like receptors (TLR)−2 and 4 respectively. However, an unbiased examination of monocyte gene expression in response to these stimulants had not yet been performed. To identify how TLR activation impacts gene expression in ASD monocytes, we isolated peripheral blood monocytes from 26 children diagnosed with autistic disorder (AD) or pervasive developmental disorder—not otherwise specified (PDDNOS) and 22 typically developing (TD) children and cultured them with LTA or LPS for 24 h, then performed RNA sequencing. Activation of both TLR2 and TLR4 induced expression of immune genes, with a subset that were differentially regulated in AD compared to TD samples. In response to LPS, monocytes from AD children showed a unique increase in KEGG pathways and GO terms that include key immune regulator genes. In contrast, monocytes from TD children showed a consistent decrease in expression of genes associated with translation in response to TLR stimulation. This decrease was not observed in AD or PDDNOS monocytes, suggesting a failure to properly downregulate a prolonged immune response in monocytes from children with ASD. As monocytes are involved in early orchestration of the immune response, our findings will help elucidate the mechanisms regulating immune dysfunction in ASD.

Risk Factors for Autistic Disorder: A Case-Control Study

Background: Autistic disorder (AD) is one of the most serious psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Identification of relevant risk factors is a main step in disease management. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine probable risk factors for AD. Methods: This case-control study was carried out in the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. By convenience sampling method, 115 children with autism were selected from Rehabilitation Center of Autism Society in Tabriz, Iran. Moreover, 112 children were selected as control. AD was diagnosed based on DSM-IV-TR criteria by a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Results: Asthma, epilepsy, microcephaly, hearing / vision impairments, allergy to milk/wheat, side effects of rubella vaccines, and language disorders in the immediate family members including siblings, parents’ low education and lack of breastfeeding were more prevalent in AD children. Based on the logistic regression results, mothers’ low education [Exp (B) = 4.59, CI = 2.13 - 9.87, P < 0.001] and lack of breastfeeding until the age of two [Exp (B) = 2.91, CI = 1.54 - 5.50, P < 0.01] were the predictors of AD. Conclusions: Parents’ education and lack of breastfeeding until the age of two could predict AD in children. Improving educational system and increasing families’ awareness about benefits of breastfeeding will be valuable.

Model Komunikasi Interpersonal Orangtua terhadap Anak Autis

Communication has an important role in human life, since childhood, humans have communicated through the presence of parents. The role of parents greatly determines the process of developing communication in a child. But not all children are born in a normal state, including those who are blessed with a child with special needs such as autism. Even though every child has the potential in him, if he is not aware and cared for, it causes self-distrust in the child, a slow process of self-development, and some problems that are generally found in children with autistic disorders are in the social and communication aspects that are very lacking or slow . This paper focuses on discussing the model of interpersonal communication in developing the self potential of autistic disorder children. With document study methods that utilize various related research literature, as well as analytical techniques carried out by organizing and reducing data, then categorizing data, formulating to draw conclusions. The results of this paper indicate that many communication models must adapt to the characteristics of autistic disorders experienced by each child.

통합학급에서의 긍정적 행동지원이 자폐성 장애유아의 문제행동에 미치는 영향*

The purpose of this study is to find out the effects of positive behavior support (PBS) in integrated classes on the behavior of autistic behavior disorder in young children. One 5-year old autistic behavior disorder child in the integrated class of public kindergarten in Gyeonggi-do was selected. The study was conducted multiple factors mediations based on functional assessment of the target child using "Multiple baseline design across behavior”. Mediations were conducted to provide positive action support including danger and distraction behaviors and intervention in background and prior events about rejection of food, arbitrations of alternative technology professors, follow-up results and long-term support for risk behavior. Mediation was performed after measuring the baseline, and maintenance data was collected 10 days after the end of arbitrations. Research has shown that positive behavior support in integrated classes has had a positive effect on maintaining a reduction in problem behavior after the termination of arbitration and reduction of problem behavior in autistic disorder children. This study is meaningful to demonstrate that positive behavior support in integrated class is an effective strategy for preventing and mediating problem behavior in autistic disorder children.

A Comparison of Marital Satisfaction of Mothers Raising a Child with Intellectual Disability versus a Child with Autism Disorder in Bahrain: Mixed Method Study

The purpose of the current mixed method study was to explore marital satisfaction of mothers raising children with Intellectual disability (I.D), or Autism disorder Children (A.D).The participants were thirty seven mothers, 21 of them had a child with autism disorder and 16 had a child with Intellectual disability. Twenty two of the mothers participated in the semi-structured interviews using the marital satisfaction questionnaire (MSQ) which is a self-report questionnaire prepared to assess marital satisfaction. The results reported 70% of the mothers had high level marital satisfaction. Results showed no significant difference in the level of marital satisfaction between mothers of children with (I.D) and mothers of children with (A.D). The regression analyses indicated that social support, significantly predicted mothers' marital satisfaction, while other variables (income, child birth order, gender of a child, age of a child, age of mother, age of husband, social support, marital years) were not found to be influential in predicting marital satisfaction. Qualita­tive thematic analysis showed that most of the mothers have a high level of marital satisfaction and received support from their husbands, their families and their mothers’ in-law, as well as support from professional specialists like pediatricians, psychologists, special education teachers and some friends.

Characteristic of Malocclusion among Saudi Special Need Group Children.

The present study analyzed the characteristics of malocclusions, occlusal traits among Special Health care Needs (SHCN) children with Down syndrome (DS) and autism disorder (AD) in Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 100 DS and 100 AD children from five rehabilitation centers in and around Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were included in the study. Any children with history of ongoing medical treatment, extraction, or orthodontic treatment were excluded from the study. Out of the 200 patients examined, 131 were males and 69 were females and the age of the children ranged from 6 to 14 years. The children were examined for malocclusion characteristics using the Angle's classification of malocclusion, and also other occlusal traits, such as overjet, overbite, cross bite, and open bite were also determined. The data obtained were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 16 to generate descriptive statistics for each variable. The analyzed data of the right and left permanent molar relation showed higher incidence of class III malocclusion (66%) in DS children as compared with (3-4%) AD children. The AD children presented with higher percentage of class I malocclu-sion (40-41%) as compared with (10-14%) DS children. During examination of the primary molars, the analyzed data showed that left primary molar had more mesial shift in AD children as compared with DS children. Down syndrome children had high incidence of class III malocclusion and autistic children had high incidence of class I malocclusion. Overall, the DS children were more prone to malocclusion. This study provides database for health professionals in Saudi Arabia in regard to malocclusion of autis-tics and DS patients.

Stressful life events during pregnancy as risk factors for developing autistic disorder in children

Introduction: This study aimed to examine the role of prenatal stressful events in mothers of children and adolescents with autistic disorder (AD). Methods: This case-control study was conducted in 2014. A total number of 115 children and adolescents with AD were selected by convenience method from the autism rehabilitation centers in Tabriz, Iran. Moreover, 112 typically developing (TD) children and adolescents were selected from public schools using a random clustering method. Two groups were matched in terms of mother's and child's age and mother's educational level. The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS) semi-structured diagnostic interview was used to evaluate the presence of psychiatric disorders. The diagnosis of AD was made based on the DSM-IV criteria during separate diagnostic interviews by two child and adolescent psychiatrists. The life stressful events’ inventory was used to assess the presence of stressful events during pregnancy. Results: According to Fisher's exact test, the frequency of stressful life events including failure to achieve life goals, high debt, frequent marital conflict, conflict with spouse's family, changes in sleeping habits, and sexual difficulties in the mothers of AD children during pregnancy was significantly higher than the mothers of TD children. Also, mothers of AD children reported significantly higher frequency for the positive stressful life events including the major job progress, starting or finishing education, change of education, location, and summer vacation during pregnancy. Conclusion: Some stressful life events in mothers during pregnancy may be considered as risk factors for developing AD in their children. Further researches are needed to establish the results of this study.

Family dynamics in different development disorders

Objective To explore the characteristics of family dynamics in different developmental disorders. Methods In this study cross-sectional survey were used.Parents of 69 Autistic Disorder(AD)children, 18 Asperger Syndrome (AS) children, 51 Mental Retardation(MR)children and 69 Normal Group(NG)children were investigated by Self-rating Inventory of Systemic Family Dynamics to assess their family dynamic characteristics.SPSS18.0 package for statistics were used. Results Covariance analysis by controlling children's age showed: there were significant differences in both fathers' and mothers' family atmosphere , systemic logic and disease concept dimension among the four groups (Ffather=5.355, 3.946, 6.961, P<0.05; Fmother=4.325, 2.977, 5.878, P<0.05). Pairwise comparison indicated that scores of both fathers' and mothers' family atmosphere, disease concept dimension in AD(father (24.24±5.89), (10.60±2.81); mother (24.90±8.18), (10.59±3.07)), AS(father (24.67±7.07), (11.39±2.52); mother (26.83±6.24), (10.61±2.55)), MR(father (25.02±7.89), (10.94±2.94); mother(24.02±7.59), (11.42±3.54)) groups were significant higher than that of NG(father (20.19±5.75), (8.74±2.63); mother (20.87±5.85), (8.88±2.64))(P<0.05). Scores of both fathers' and mothers' systemic logic dimension in MR group(father (24.26±4.36), mother(23.54±4.58)) were higher than that of NG(father (21.61±3.97), mother (21.03±3.66), P<0.01). Conclusion In families of AD, AS and MR children, the family atmosphere is more boring, parents are more likely to consider themselves full of victims . Parents of MR children are more prone to one or the other way of looking at problems. Key words: Autistic disorder; Asperger syndrome; Mental retardation; Family dynamics

A study of serum interleukin-12 in a sample of autistic children in Egypt

Introduction Autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) prevalence varies widely by sex and the racial/ethnic group. The male-to-female ratio ranged from 3 to 4 : 1. Some consider ASD to be an autoimmune disorder, in which the autoimmune response to the developing brain myelin may impair anatomical development of neural pathways in autistic children; this affects the speed of impulse transmission. Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is an interleukin that is naturally produced by dendritic cells and macrophages in response to antigenic stimulation; it plays an important role in the activities of natural killer cells and T lymphocytes involved in the immune system. Aim of the work The present study was conducted to compare the level of serum IL-12 between children with autistic disorder (AD) and healthy control children, and also to study the relation of serum IL-12 with the severity of autistic symptoms. Participants and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on two groups; group I included 20 patients with AD and group II included 20 normal children matched for age and sex, recruited from the Child and Adolescent Outpatients Clinic at Al Hadra University Hospital. All children were subjected to a complete psychiatric history, physical and neurological examination, psychometric assessment by Childhood Autistic Rating Scale, and estimation of serum IL-12 using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Results The mean serum level of IL-12 was significantly higher in AD children than in controls and was related to a younger age, male sex, a positive family history and ante/natal/postnatal history, nondevelopment of spoken language, the presence of comorbidities, and higher Childhood Autistic Rating Scale mean scores. Conclusion The study pointed out an immunological impairment in the form of an elevated serum level of IL-12 in autistic children and its positive relation to autistic symptom severity. This supports the immunological etiology of ASD.

Oxidative stress induces mitochondrial dysfunction in a subset of autistic lymphoblastoid cell lines

There is an increasing recognition that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with autism spectrum disorders. However, little attention has been given to the etiology of mitochondrial dysfunction and how mitochondrial abnormalities might interact with other physiological disturbances such as oxidative stress. Reserve capacity is a measure of the ability of the mitochondria to respond to physiological stress. In this study, we demonstrate, for the first time, that lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from children with autistic disorder (AD) have an abnormal mitochondrial reserve capacity before and after exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ten (44%) of 22 AD LCLs exhibited abnormally high reserve capacity at baseline and a sharp depletion of reserve capacity when challenged with ROS. This depletion of reserve capacity was found to be directly related to an atypical simultaneous increase in both proton-leak respiration and adenosine triphosphate-linked respiration in response to increased ROS in this AD LCL subgroup. In this AD LCL subgroup, 48-hour pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine, a glutathione precursor, prevented these abnormalities and improved glutathione metabolism, suggesting a role for altered glutathione metabolism associated with this type of mitochondrial dysfunction. The results of this study suggest that a significant subgroup of AD children may have alterations in mitochondrial function, which could render them more vulnerable to a pro-oxidant microenvironment as well as intrinsic and extrinsic sources of ROS such as immune activation and pro-oxidant environmental toxins. These findings are consistent with the notion that AD is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Oxidative Stress Induces Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Subset of Autism Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines in a Well-Matched Case Control Cohort

There is increasing recognition that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with the autism spectrum disorders. However, little attention has been given to the etiology of mitochondrial dysfunction or how mitochondrial abnormalities might interact with other physiological disturbances associated with autism, such as oxidative stress. In the current study we used respirometry to examine reserve capacity, a measure of the mitochondrial ability to respond to physiological stress, in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from children with autistic disorder (AD) as well as age and gender-matched control LCLs. We demonstrate, for the first time, that LCLs derived from children with AD have an abnormal mitochondrial reserve capacity before and after exposure to increasingly higher concentrations of 2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-napthoquinone (DMNQ), an agent that increases intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Specifically, the AD LCLs exhibit a higher reserve capacity at baseline and a sharper depletion of reserve capacity when ROS exposure is increased, as compared to control LCLs. Detailed investigation indicated that reserve capacity abnormalities seen in AD LCLs were the result of higher ATP-linked respiration and maximal respiratory capacity at baseline combined with a marked increase in proton leak respiration as ROS was increased. We further demonstrate that these reserve capacity abnormalities are driven by a subgroup of eight (32%) of 25 AD LCLs. Additional investigation of this subgroup of AD LCLs with reserve capacity abnormalities revealed that it demonstrated a greater reliance on glycolysis and on uncoupling protein 2 to regulate oxidative stress at the inner mitochondria membrane. This study suggests that a significant subgroup of AD children may have alterations in mitochondrial function which could render them more vulnerable to a pro-oxidant microenvironment derived from intrinsic and extrinsic sources of ROS such as immune activation and pro-oxidant environmental toxicants. These findings are consistent with the notion that AD is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Brief Report: Do Children with Autism Gather Information from Social Contexts to Aid Their Word Learning?

Typically developing (TD) infants could capitalize on social eye gaze and social contexts to aid word learning. Although children with autism disorder (AD) are known to exhibit atypicality in word learning via social eye gaze, their ability to utilize social contexts for word learning is not well understood. We investigated whether verbal AD children exhibit word learning ability via social contextual cues by late childhood. We found that AD children, unlike TD controls, failed to infer the speaker’s referential intention through information gathered from the social context. This suggests that TD children can learn words in diverse social pragmatic contexts in as early as toddlerhood whereas AD children are still unable to do so by late childhood.

Life quality of children with autistic disorder and its influencing factors

Objective To investigate the life quality status in autistic disorder children and its influencing factors. Methods Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory(PedsQL4.0) was used to measure the life quality of 200 children with autistic disorder and 120 healthy children.Application of Gesell Development Diagnosis Scale (1981) test was used for intelligence development.Clancy Autism Behavior Scale, Autism Behavior Checklist, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale were used to evaluate the illness degree. Results The life quality of autistic disorder group was lower than that of control group in the scores of physical functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning, mental domain and the totals cores of PedsQL, the differences were significant (all P<0.01). High-functioning autism in all aspects and the overall life quality were higher than those of low function group, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.01). By using variance analysis, intelligence factors had an impact on the patient's life quality, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.01). Correlation analysis results suggested that the autism condition degree was heavier, the intelligence level was lower, the life quality was worse, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Children with autistic disorder suffer grievous influence in life quality. Key words: Autistic disorder; Life quality; PedsQL4.0; Child

Broader autistic phenotype in parents of children with autism: Autism Spectrum Quotient–Turkish version

The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) is a self-assessment screening instrument for measuring the degree to which an individual of normal intelligence shows autistic traits. Genetic factors could be responsible for the relatives of individuals with autism exhibiting higher than normal rates of autism-related impairments, referred to as the 'broader autism phenotype' (BAP). The aim of this study was to test whether there is a difference between the parents of autistic and those of typically developing children (TDC) on AQ scores in a Turkish sample. The AQ total and subscale scores of the 100 parents (47 fathers, 53 mothers) of children with autistic disorder (AD) were compared with the 100 parents (48 fathers, 52 mothers) of TDC. The parents of AD children scored significantly higher than the TDC parents on total AQ score, and two of five subscale scores; social skills, and communication. The other three subscales (attention to detail, attention switching, imagination) did not differentiate groups. There was no significant difference between mothers and fathers on any AQ scores, neither in the AD nor TDC group. The group × gender interaction was not significant on the total or the five subscale scores of AQ. Social skill and communication subscales differentiate AD parents more successfully, and are more sensitive, as reported in other studies. The present findings confirm that social skill and communication impairments in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders are indicators of BAP.

Hand stereotypies distinguish Rett syndrome from autism disorder

Rett syndrome (RTT) and autism disorder (AD) are 2 neurodevelopmental disorders of early life that share phenotypic features, one being hand stereotypies. Distinguishing RTT from AD often represents a challenge, and given their distinct long-term prognoses, this issue may have far-reaching implications. With the advances in genetic testing, the contribution of clinical manifestations in distinguishing RTT from AD has been overlooked. A comparison of hand stereotypies in 20 children with RTT and 20 with AD was performed using detailed analyses of videotaped standardized observations. Striking differences are observed between RTT and AD children. In RTT, hand stereotypies are predominantly complex, continuous, localized to the body midline, and involving mouthing. Conversely, in AD children, hand stereotypies are simple, bilateral, intermittent, and often involving objects. These results provide important clinical signs useful to the differential diagnosis of RTT versus AD, especially when genetic testing for RTT is not an option.

Automatic Intonation Recognition for the Prosodic Assessment of Language-Impaired Children

This study presents a preliminary investigation into the automatic assessment of language-impaired children's (LIC) prosodic skills in one grammatical aspect: sentence modalities. Three types of language impairments were studied: autism disorder (AD), pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and specific language impairment (SLI). A control group of typically developing (TD) children that was both age and gender matched with LIC was used for the analysis. All of the children were asked to imitate sentences that provided different types of intonation (e.g., descending and rising contours). An automatic system was then used to assess LIC's prosodic skills by comparing the intonation recognition scores with those obtained by the control group. The results showed that all LIC have difficulties in reproducing intonation contours because they achieved significantly lower recognition scores than TD children on almost all studied intonations (p <; 0.05). Regarding the “Rising” intonation, only SLI children had high recognition scores similar to TD children, which suggests a more pronounced pragmatic impairment in AD and PDD-NOS children. The automatic approach used in this study to assess LIC's prosodic skills confirms the clinical descriptions of the subjects' communication impairments.

Comparison of developmental/intellectual changes between autistic disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified in preschool years

This study is the first to compare the change in developmental quotient (DQ) or IQ between autistic disorder (AD) and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDDNOS) in preschool years. Forty-nine AD children and 77 PDDNOS children were evaluated at age 2 and at age > or =5. The AD children were significantly lower in DQ/IQ at initial evaluation and outcome evaluation (also with initial DQ being controlled for) than the PDDNOS children.

The Effects of Mother-Child Therapeutic Touch Play for Autistic Children

Purpose: This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of Mother-child Therapeutic Touch Play for the autistic children. The subjects of this study consisted of 32 pairs autistic children and their mothers. Methods: The children were between 30months ~ 53months of age and diagnosed as Autism by Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists. Data were collected by using video-taping methods(ADOS), observational methods(CARS) and questionnaires (demographic data). The data were analyzed with paired t-test. The results of this study were as follows. Results: The autistic symptom which was measured by ADOS showed significant differences(t=5.936, p=.000) after Mother-child therapeutic touch play. There were statistically significant differences in communication range(t=5.416, p=.000) and reciprocal social interaction range(t=5.543, p=.000) in ADOS subscale. Although there was no significant difference in CARS, the sub-group showed significant differences in communication(t=4.676, p=.000), Social interaction(t=5.544, p=.000), Sensory area(t=5.106, p=.000), Activity(t=4.435, p=.000). This study suggests that Mother-child therapeutic touch play might be a effective intervention for the autistic disorder children in order to decrease autistic symptom.

Autism and developmental delay

This study improves the knowledge of early autistic symptomatology and research concerning (i) the significant differences in the behaviors of children with autistic disorder (AD) and children with a developmental delay (DD), and (ii) the influence of the cognitive delay on symptomatology. Two groups of 20 young children (7-42 months) were compared: children with AD, and those with DD. The groups were paired by chronological and developmental age. The comparison was extended to four subgroups composed according to age (younger and older children--<24 months, >24 months) and to the global development quotient (GDQ) (the more and less delayed). Each child was evaluated with the Infant Behavior Summarized Evaluation scale (IBSE). For the younger AD children, significant differences affected social communication and their adaptation to the environment (intolerance to frustration, resistance to change). For the older children (>24 months), this study showed the rapid progression of the number of distinctive signs between AD and DD children according to age and/or developmental level. Cognitive delay has an important influence on the symptomatology at the moment of initial recognition of an autistic syndrome. This study is a complement for the fuller understanding of the nature and early diagnosis of disorders specific to autism at the earliest phases of development.