High-functioning Autism Research Articles

The language-communication divide

AbstractHas language developed to serve as a system of communication or one of thought? While language is clearly an excellent tool for communication, the possible contribution of higher order cognitive processes other than language to communication may provide insights on how we think about language evolution. Studies show that bilingualism improves communication skills, possibly due to boosting domain general processes, thus suggesting a divide between communication and formal language. However, to date little attention has been paid to bilingual atypical child populations presenting asymmetric developmental delays in language and communication skills. In this study, we explore the language-communication divide in bilingual and monolingual children diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (HFA), displaying primary communication difficulties, and those with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), displaying primary language difficulties. Children were tested on language, cognitive control, Theory of Mind (ToM), social comprehension and verbal communication. Results demonstrate that bilingual children with HFA exhibit enhanced cognitive control, ToM and social comprehension, which in turn improve their verbal communication as compared to their monolingual peers with HFA. On the other hand, no boost emerges in bilingual children with SLI, be it in cognitive control or ToM, though a weaker advantage (relative to the children with ASD) can be observed in their verbal communication skills, with significant mediation from social comprehension. The overall evidence suggests that language, though useful for communication, is not sufficient for communication, and may arguably not have evolved primarily for communicative purposes.

Reading Behaviors through Patterns of Finger-Tracking in Italian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The paper proposes an ecological and portable protocol for the large-scale collection of reading data in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children based on recording the finger movements of a subject reading a text displayed on a tablet touchscreen. By capitalizing on recent evidence that movements of a finger that points to a scene or text during visual exploration or reading may approximate eye fixations, we focus on recognition of written content and function words, pace of reading, and accuracy in reading comprehension. The analysis showed significant differences between typically developing and ASD children, with the latter group exhibiting greater variation in levels of reading ability, slower developmental pace in reading speed, less accurate comprehension, greater dependency on word length and word frequency, less significant prediction-based processing, as well as a monotonous, steady reading pace with reduced attention to weak punctuation. Finger-tracking patterns provides evidence that ASD readers may fail to integrate single word processing into major syntactic structures and lends support to the hypothesis of an impaired use of contextual information to predict upcoming stimuli, suggesting that difficulties in perception may arise as difficulties in prediction.

Language impairments in children with developmental language disorder and children with high-functioning autism plus language impairment: Evidence from Chinese negative sentences.

There is controversy as to whether children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and those with high-functioning autism plus language impairment (HFA-LI) share similar language profiles. This study investigated the similarities and differences in the production of Chinese negative sentences by children with DLD and children with HFA-LI to provide evidence relevant to this controversy. The results reflect a general resemblance between the two groups in their lower-than-TDA (typically developing age-matched) performance. Both groups encountered difficulties in using negative markers, which suggests that they might be impaired in feature agreement. Slight differences were detected between the two groups. Specifically, children with DLD experienced difficulties with the agreement on the feature [+telic] and that on the feature [+dynamic], while children with HFA-LI had difficulties with the agreement on the feature [+dynamic] and that on the feature [−dynamic]. This study supports the idea of a common symptomatology for the two disorders. More importantly, it suggests that these two disorders, DLD and HFA-LI, are not altogether the same in terms of language impairment. This paper concludes that general labels should not be simply attached to any children with language disorders. Instead, atypical language is very worthy of further analysis in the categorization of language disorders.

Audiovisual temporal processing in adult patients with first-episode schizophrenia and high-functioning autism

Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are both neurodevelopmental disorders with altered sensory processing. Widened temporal binding window (TBW) signifies reduced sensitivity to detect stimulus asynchrony, and may be a shared feature in schizophrenia and ASD. Few studies directly compared audiovisual temporal processing ability in the two disorders. We recruited 43 adult patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES), 35 average intelligent and verbally-fluent adult patients with high-functioning ASD and 48 controls. We employed two unisensory Temporal Order Judgement (TOJ) tasks within visual or auditory modalities, and two audiovisual Simultaneity Judgement (SJ) tasks with flash-beeps and videos of syllable utterance as stimuli. Participants with FES exhibited widened TBW affecting both speech and non-speech processing, which were not attributable to altered unisensory sensory acuity because they had normal visual and auditory TOJ thresholds. However, adults with ASD exhibited intact unisensory and audiovisual temporal processing. Lower non-verbal IQ was correlated with larger TBW width across the three groups. Taking our findings with earlier evidence in chronic samples, widened TBW is associated with schizophrenia regardless illness stage. The altered audiovisual temporal processing in ASD may ameliorate after reaching adulthood.

Aberrant prefrontal functional connectivity during verbal fluency test is associated with reading comprehension deficits in autism spectrum disorder: An fNIRS study.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show marked difficulties in reading comprehension, a complex cognitive skill fundamental to successful daily functioning that is associated with core executive functions. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying reading comprehension deficits in these children remain elusive. Twenty-one right-handed males with high-functioning ASD (mean age = 10.24 years) and 23 age-, IQ-, educational level-, sex- and handedness-matched typically developing (TD; mean age = 10.14 years) individuals underwent a reading comprehension test and the semantic verbal fluency test that tapped core executive functions underlying reading comprehension during concurrent prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measurement. Participants’ information processing efficiency was also assessed. High-functioning ASD children exhibited general reading comprehension [main effect of group: F(1,40) = 7.58, p = 0.009], selective verbal fluency deficits [Group × category interaction: F(1,42) = 4.90, p = 0.032] and slower processing speed (t42 = 2.36, p = 0.023). Regarding the hemodynamics of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), although ASD individuals showed comparable patterns of PFC brain activation to their healthy counterparts, lower PFC intrahemispheric [main effect of group: F(1,42) = 11.36, p = 0.002] and interhemispheric [main effect of group: F(1,42) = 7.79, p = 0.008] functional connectivity were evident during the semantic verbal fluency test. At the whole-group level, poorer reading comprehension performance was associated with poorer performance in the semantic verbal fluency test (r42 = 0.508, p < 0.001). Moreover, poorer semantic verbal fluency test performance was associated with slower information processing speed (r42 = –0.312, p = 0.044), which is associated with reduced left medial PFC functional connectivity (r42 = –0.319, p = 0.040). Abnormal intrahemispheric and interhemispheric prefrontal hypoconnectivity is associated with deficits in executive processes essential for reading comprehension in ASD. Our study has provided important implications for the neuropsychological and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying reading comprehension deficits in ASD.

High functioning ASD profile adult employees in global labour markets. ICT supported employment.

The present study critically examines the issue of the HF-ASD adult employees’ working life shedding light on some of its aspects (e.g., internal developmental difficulties, employment status of neglected candidates, very special characteristics-promoters to meaningful employment) as well as the support provided to the specific population, especially by means of ICT, so as they could overcome obstacles in the job market and manage their career routes.

Lower Availability of Mitochondrial Complex I in Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Autism: A Positron Emission Tomography Study.

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in previous studies of postmortem brain or peripheral samples. The authors investigated whether and where mitochondrial dysfunction occurs in the living brains of individuals with ASD and to identify the clinical correlates of detected mitochondrial dysfunction. This case-control study used positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-tert-butyl-4-chloro-5-{6-[2-(2-[18F]fluoroethoxy)-ethoxy]-pyridin-3-ylmethoxy}-2H-pyridazin-3-one ([18F]BCPP-EF), a radioligand that binds to the mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I, to examine the topographical distribution of mitochondrial dysfunction in living brains of individuals with ASD. Twenty-three adult males with high-functioning ASD, with no psychiatric comorbidities and free of psychotropic medication, and 24 typically developed males with no psychiatric diagnoses, matched with the ASD group on age, parental socioeconomic background, and IQ, underwent [18F]BCPP-EF PET measurements. Individuals with mitochondrial disease were excluded by clinical evaluation and blood tests for abnormalities in lactate and pyruvate levels. Among the brain regions in which mitochondrial dysfunction has been reported in postmortem studies of autistic brains, participants with ASD had significantly decreased [18F]BCPP-EF availability specifically in the anterior cingulate cortex compared with typically developed participants. The regional specificity was revealed by a significant interaction between diagnosis and brain regions. Moreover, the lower [18F]BCPP-EF availability in the anterior cingulate cortex was significantly correlated with the more severe ASD core symptom of social communication deficits. This study provides direct evidence to link in vivo brain mitochondrial dysfunction with ASD pathophysiology and its communicational deficits. The findings support the possibility that mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I is a novel therapeutic target for ASD core symptoms.

Impaired sequence generation: a preliminary comparison between high functioning autistic and neurotypical adults.

Earlier research demonstrated robust cerebellar involvement in sequencing, including high-level social information sequencing that requires mental state attributions, termed mentalizing. Earlier research also found cerebellar deficiencies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which are characterized by social difficulties. However, studies on high-level social sequencing functionality by persons with ASD are almost non-existent. In this study, we, therefore, perform a comparison between behavioral performances of high-functioning ASD and neurotypical participants on the Picture and Verbal Sequencing Tasks. In these tasks, participants are requested to put separate events (depicted in cartoon-like pictures or behavioral sentences, respectively) in their correct chronological order. To do so, some of these events require understanding of high-level social beliefs, of social routines (i.e., scripts), or nonsocial mechanical functionality. As expected, on the Picture Sequencing task, we observed longer response times for persons with ASD (in comparison with neurotypical controls) when ordering sequences requiring an understanding of social beliefs and social scripts, but not when ordering nonsocial mechanical events. This confirms our hypotheses that social sequence processing is impaired in ASD. The verbal version of this task did not reveal differences between groups. Our results are the first step toward new theoretical insights for social impairments of persons with ASD. They highlight the importance of taking into account sequence processing, and indirectly the cerebellum when investigating ASD difficulties.

Study and Comparison Reading Problems in children with High-Functioning Autism with Normal Matched Peers

Study and Comparison Reading Problems in children with High-Functioning Autism with Normal Matched Peers

Gender Differences in Stress Resistance of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective: The research provided the empirical study of the gender differences in the experience of stress and coping with it in boys and girls diagnosed with high-functioning autism through qualitative methods. Methods: Observation was the main method used in the study, which was implemented by filling in the observation diary by specialists and parents of adolescents with autistic disorders. The main coping strategies under research were addressing others, avoiding the problem, and working on the problem. Content analysis was used as the main data processing method.&#x0D; Results: The study found some gender differences in coping with stress between males and females. Besides, it was found that the use of certain forms of coping behavior differs depending on age.&#x0D; Conclusions: The study allowed us to determine that boys tend to choose a strategy of working on the problem in interpersonal interaction, while girls are disposed to avoid the problem. The opposite picture was observed for the social environment: girls with ASD tend to use a strategy of addressing others, and boys avoid the problem through self-isolation.

The relationship of learning and memory disfunction with NEURL1 and RGS14 genes in patients with autism spectrum disorders

Aim: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between learning-memory difficulties and NEURL1 and RGS14 genes in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).Method: Forty children with ASD (20 ASD, 20 high functioning autism (HFA)) and 20 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. NEURL1 and RGS14 gene expressions in blood samples of volunteers were assessed by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR). The clinical and demographical findings in patients were determined and examined in relation to the gene expressions.Results: According to our findings, NEURL1 gene expression was decreased in both patient groups compared to the control (p&amp;lt;0.05). No significant difference between the groups in terms of the RGS14 gene (p&amp;gt;0.05). A statistically significant correlation was found between learning and memory difficulties and RGS14 gene expression in HFA patients (p=0.045). A positive correlation was observed between NEURL1 and RGS14 gene expressions of ASD patients (p=0.032, r=0,59).Conclusion: In this study, we showed that the NEURL1 gene may affect learning and memory difficulties in ASD patients. Nonetheless, we recommend that both genes be studied with more patients and preferably with brain tissues. These genes were evaluated for the first time in a clinical study on autism, and we believe that they will contribute to the literature in this respect.

The Psychometric Proprieties of the Jordanian Version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale – Second Edition (CARS2-HF)

The purpose of this study was to verify the psychometric proprieties of the Jordanian version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale - HF (second edition) to diagnose the individuals with high functional autism spectrum disorder, on a sample of (20) students distributed in three districts areas in Jordan ranging from (6-18) years, including (10) high functional autistic students, (5) students with ADHD, and (5) ordinary. The scale was applied to the previous sample after being presented to a group of arbitrators and practitioners in the field. The results showed that the measure have an excepted level of contend validity, where the correlation of paragraphs with the instrument as a whole ranged from (0 – 0.92), and the discriminatory honesty through the existence of statistically significant differences (∞ = 0.05) between the ordinary students on the one hand and other students; On the other hand the differences came in favor of both students with ASD-HF, ADHD, as shown by statistically significant differences between students with ASD-HF, ADHD and there were also statistically significant differences between students with ASD-HF, ADHD, and the differences were in favors of students with ASD-HF, while persistence in internal consistency was calculated by calculating the alpha-Cronbach equation (0.96). Also the results showed the existence of another characteristic of scale such as objectivity, ease of application, correction and interpretation of results

Autisme de Kanner, syndrome d’Asperger : une genèse de leur opposition

ObjectiveDespite the reunification of the two diagnostic entities that are Kanner's autism and Asperger's syndrome within the autism spectrum disorder, an opposition persists making one as representing the lower part of the spectrum, the other the upper part. We propose to update this perception of an opposition between these two disorders based on an analysis of the original documents. MethodWe will review the original articles that named the two troubles, Kanner's 1943 article and Wing's 1981 article, and analyze their differences, commonalities, and the socio-historical context of their elaboration. ResultsRegarding the 11 clinical cases described by Kanner, we can observe that some clinical cases noted by the latter could correspond to cases of high-functioning autism. Regarding Lorna Wing's article, she tends to demonstrate the uselessness of maintaining the difference between the two syndromes. DiscussionThe socio-historical context of the different eras, 1943, 1981, and the present, impacts the way people are viewed and their disorder. That of Asperger, i.e. the Nazi regime, not taken into consideration by Wing at the time of her research, particularly influenced the constitution of the disorder, pulling it towards the top and towards “normality,” while people too handicapped by the symptoms were most often euthanized. Nowadays, the modification of the diagnosis of mental retardation in intellectual and social deficiency, as well as the development of early detection, supports the diagnosis of Kanner's autism. ConclusionIt would seem that this opposition of the two syndromes is more the result of the different socio-cultural contexts that built them than a clinical reality. The dissensions that characterize the field of autism constitute a form of splitting, of which the opposition of these two syndromes could be one of the manifestations. It also manifests itself in the opposition of the behaviors of Kanner and Asperger, one oriented towards the parents, the other towards the patients themselves. It would be interesting, beyond the clinical and scientific data, to question the foundations of these intense splits that persist, regardless of the historical moment.

Regional homogeneity of adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder and its association with symptom severity.

Background and purposePrevious studies have revealed abnormal regional homogeneity (ReHo) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, there is little consistency across the findings within these studies, partly due to small sample size and great heterogeneity among participants between studies. Additionally, few studies have explored the association between ReHo aberrance and clinical symptoms in individuals with ASD.MethodsForty‐eight adolescents with high‐functioning ASD and 63 group‐matched typically developing (TD) controls received functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest. Group‐level analysis was performed to detect differences in ReHo between ASD and TD. Evaluation of symptom severity in individuals with ASD was based on the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC). Voxel‐wise correlation analysis was undergone to examine the correlations between the symptom severity and ReHo map in individuals with ASD within brain areas with ReHo abnormalities.ResultsCompared with the TD controls, individuals with ASD exhibited increased ReHo in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, left caudate, right posterior cerebellum (cerebellar tonsil), and bilateral brainstem and decreased ReHo in the left precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, bilateral postcentral gyrus, and right anterior cerebellum (culmen). The correlation analysis indicated that the ReHo value in the brainstem was negatively associated with the ABC total scores and the scores of Relating factor, respectively.ConclusionsOur findings indicated that widespread ReHo abnormalities occurred in ASD, shedding light on the underlying neurobiology of pathogenesis and symptomatology of ASD.

Use of Aspect Markers by Mandarin-speaking Children with High-Functioning Autism Plus Language Impairment and Children with Developmental Language Disorder

IntroductionThis study investigates the comprehension and production of four typical Mandarin aspect markers zai-, -le, -zhe, and -guo by preschool children with high functioning autism plus language impairment (HFA-LI) and those with developmental language disorder (DLD), by comparing them with typically developing age-matched (TDA) children. MethodsTwenty children with HFA-LI (M/F: 18/2; mean age: 5.20), 20 with DLD (M/F: 11/9; mean age: 5.25), and 20 TDA children (M/F:14/6; mean age:5.27) completed a picture-choice task and priming picture-description task. The results were analyzed using non-parametric methods. ResultsIn the comprehension task, the HFA-LI and DLD groups achieved lower accuracy than the TDA group on zai-, -le, and -guo. The comprehension of aspect markers in the HFA-LI and DLD groups was affected by lexical aspect. In the production task, the HFA-LI and DLD groups produced fewer sentences with the target aspect marker for all four aspect markers than the TDA group. However, they produced more sentences with bare verb forms for zai- and -guo than the TDA group. Furthermore, all three groups tended to combine aspect markers with their semantically inherent types of verbs (e.g, zai-+Activity verbs). The HFA-LI group produced more sentences irrelevant to the task than the other two groups for -zhe and -guo, and some children in the HFA-LI group produced ungrammatical sentences in which both the progressive zai- and perfective -le were used. ConclusionsChildren with HFA-LI and DLD demonstrate similarities in the comprehension and production of Mandarin aspect markers, given their poor comprehension of the aspect markers zai-, -le and -guo, and poor production of all four aspect markers compared to their TDA peers. Their performance was also impacted by lexical aspect.

Identification of Young High-Functioning Autism Individuals Based on Functional Connectome Using Graph Isomorphism Network: A Pilot Study.

Accumulated studies have determined the changes in functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and spurred the application of machine learning for classifying ASD. Graph Neural Network provides a new method for network analysis in brain disorders to identify the underlying network features associated with functional deficits. Here, we proposed an improved model of Graph Isomorphism Network (GIN) that implements the Weisfeiler-Lehman (WL) graph isomorphism test to learn the graph features while taking into account the importance of each node in the classification to improve the interpretability of the algorithm. We applied the proposed method on multisite datasets of resting-state functional connectome from Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) after stringent quality control. The proposed method outperformed other commonly used classification methods on five different evaluation metrics. We also identified salient ROIs in visual and frontoparietal control networks, which could provide potential neuroimaging biomarkers for ASD identification.

Qualitative analysis of verbal fluency in school-age children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Associations with age and IQ

This study analyzes performance on both a Semantic and a Letter verbal fluency (VF) task in school-age children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) (n = 20) and without ASD (n = 20) and investigates the relationship between VF indicators and age, verbal and non-verbal IQ, ASD severity, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology. Furthermore, the Poor Lexical-Semantic Structure Model and the Slow-Retrieval Model are tested if they could account for semantic retrieval difficulties in children with HF-ASD. The HF-ASD group generated significantly fewer correct responses in both VF tasks in comparison to the control group. The type of task significantly affected performance and both groups showed higher word generativity on the Semantic task. The groups did not differ in clustering, switching, and errors. Age significantly correlated with the VF indicators in the ASD group, but in the control group, there was a significant negative correlation with the number of errors. Non-verbal and verbal IQ did not correlate with any VF indicators in both groups, while ASD severity and ADHD symptomatology correlated positively and significantly with error responses in the ASD group. The Slow-Retrieval Model explains VF difficulties in the HF-ASD group indicating that poorer word generativity can be attributed to slower retrieval of words from the semantic network.

Moral Agency, Rules, and Temporality in People Who Are Diagnosed With Mild Forms of Autism: In Defense of a Sentimentalist View.

The origin of moral agency is a much-debated issue. While rationalists or Kantians have argued that moral agency is rooted in reason, sentimentalists or Humeans have ascribed its origin to empathic feelings. This debate between rationalists and sentimentalists still stands with respect to persons with mental disorders, such as individuals diagnosed with mild forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), without intellectual impairment. Individuals with ASD are typically regarded as moral agents, however their ability for empathy remains debated. The goal of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms of moral actions in people with ASD, by finding arguments for the origin of their moral actions, supporting either the sentimentalist or the rationalist view of the dispute. We propose to revisit the debate using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to study the autobiographies of individuals with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger Syndrome (AS). While conducting the systematic analysis of 10 autobiographies, we re-examined both the rationalist and the sentimentalist positions, considering the links between empathic feelings and moral agency. The investigation of the temporal dimensions of emotional experiences, an aspect overlooked by previous research, indicated that individuals with ASD empathize with others, but in different ways as compared to neurotypicals. A relationship between emotional experience and the type of moral agency exhibited by individuals with forms of ASD was established. As a consequence, our analyses support the sentimentalist stance on moral action.

The Quantitative Case-by-Case Analyses of the Socio-Emotional Outcomes of Children with ASD in Robot-Assisted Autism Therapy

With its focus on robot-assisted autism therapy, this paper presents case-by-case analyses of socio-emotional outcomes of 34 children aged 3–12 years old, with different cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We grouped children by the following characteristics: ASD alone (n = 22), ASD+ADHD (n = 12), verbal (n = 11), non-verbal (n = 23), low-functioning autism (n = 24), and high-functioning autism (n = 10). This paper provides a series of separate quantitative analyses across the first and last sessions, adaptive and non-adaptive sessions, and parent and no-parent sessions, to present child experiences with the NAO robot, during play-based activities. The results suggest that robots are able to interact with children in social ways and influence their social behaviors over time. Each child with ASD is a unique case and needs an individualized approach to practice and learn social skills with the robot. We, finally, present specific child–robot intricacies that affect how children engage and learn over time as well as across different sessions.

Application Discussion on Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined with Sensory Integration and Cognitive Training in Children with High Functional Autism

Application Discussion on Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined with Sensory Integration and Cognitive Training in Children with High Functional Autism