Social Abilities In Children Research Articles

The Effect of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Characteristics on Aspects of Social Functioning

Aim The purpose of this study was to estimate the extent to which neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD's) symptoms (motor, sensory, attention and executive function) are associated with aspects of social function among school aged children. Methods This cross-sectional study included 39 children aged 6–9 years old (71.8% boys) who were referred to child development centers due to motor, sensory, and/or cognitive difficulties. The parents completed NDD's symptoms questionnaires: Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire; Child Sensory Profile-2; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) Rating Scale and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. They also completed the Social Skills Improvement System and a social participation measure. Results Analysis demonstrated low to moderate correlations between social functioning aspects and the majority of NDD's symptoms. Executive functioning was the only predictor of social skills and social participation and accounted for most of the variability of behavioral problems, alongside a small contribution of ADHD symptoms. Conclusion The findings contribute to the accumulating body of knowledge regarding social abilities of children with NDD's and suggest new information as to the effect of executive functions in this domain. Along with conducting a routine evaluation of social skills among children suspected to have NDD's, executive functions should also be comprehensively evaluated.

Analisis Metode Bermain Peran Terhadap Kemampuan Sosial Pada Anak Usia 4-6 Tahun di Tk Beringin Permai

The aim of this research is to determine the percentage of Role Playing Methods on Social Skills in Children Aged 4-6 Years at Beringin Permai Kindergarten. The method used in this research is a quantitative research method with descriptive statistics. The population is all children aged 4-6 years in Beringi Permai Kindergarten, totaling 15 people, and the sampling technique, namely saturated sampling, is that all members of the population are used as samples, namely 15 people. Data collection techniques were carried out using observation sheets and documentation. Based on the results of the recapitulation of Social Capability data, there were 6.7% in the MB category, 20.0% in the BSH category, and 73.3% in the BSB category. Furthermore, based on the t test, the value of tcount > ttable (29.588 > 1.761) was obtained. then it can be concluded that H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted, namely the Analysis of Role Playing Methods on Social Abilities in Children Aged 4-6 Years at Beringin Permai Kindergarten is >50% of what is expected to be accepted

Pengaruh Pendekatan Saintifik terhadap Kemampuan Sosial Anak pada Lembaga Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini

This study aims to determine the effect of the scientific approach on children's social skills at the Sandalwood Kids Early Childhood Education Institution in Sukomoro, Banyuasin Regency. This type of research is a Pre-Experimental study with the type of One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design by providing treatment using a scientific approach to children, then comparing social abilities in children before and after being given a scientific approach. The method used in collecting research data is through a checklist observation sheet. The research data analysis method is t-test. The study population was all 25 children in group B and the sample in Class B2 was 13 children. The results showed that there was an effect of the scientific approach on social abilities in group B children of Cendana Kids Early Childhood Education in 2022. This can be proven from the results of the calculation of the hypothesis, based on the calculations obtained from the posttest test results of the normality of the data. Then, the variance was recorded uniformly. In addition, after confirming the regularity of the homogeneity of the data carried out, stating that the data is normally distributed and the research variance is homogeneous, the hypothesis is verified from the t test results above the tcount > ttable or 28,562 > 2,179 then reject Ho and accept Ha, the results of this research hypothesis read that there is a significant effect with the use of the scientific approach has an effect on the social abilities of children in Group B Early Childhood Education Cendana Kids.

The perspective of Speech and Language Pathologist about Outcomes of an Early Language Delay in Children Less than 5 Years Old

Background: Language is the systematic and standard use of sounds (or signs or written symbols) for communication or expression purpose. In humans language is controlled primarily by the left cerebral hemisphere, and the right hemisphere is specialized for processing visual-spatial information. This actually depends on the handedness of humans. It is evaluated that around 95% of right-handers and 70% of left-handers appear left-hemisphere dominant for language. Early language delay is a condition that called a common developmental disorder. Persistent delay may lead to adverse impacts on the emotional, behavioral and social abilities of children.
 Objective: The objective of the present study was to find out the perspective of speech and language pathologists/therapists about the outcomes of an early language delay in children less than 5 years old.
 Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was carried out at NUR International University, from 1st March 2021 to 30 September 2021 to determine the outcomes of an early language delay in less than 5 years old. For this purpose data was collected from almost 50 speech therapist working with the language delaychildrensthrough self-designed questionnaire. Questionnaire which was used as data collecting instrument that was designed by expert opinion and literature review.
 Results: Results show that the most facing outcomes are difficulty in understanding verbal communication 30(60%), turn-taking during conversation as well as playing 32(64%), focus and concentration difficulties 28(56%), difficulty in linguists use 30(60%), difficulty in imitation 25(50%), performing cognitive tasks30(60%), academic issues 30(60%), arranging syntactic and semantics 25(50%), non-compliance 29(58%), emotional tantrums 35(70%) and physical aggression on siblings and animals 31(62%).
 Conclusion: The children are facing difficulties in their academic life and extremely confront the behavioral, social and, emotional problems in their daily life.

Leveraging a translational research approach to drive diagnostic and treatment advances for autism.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent and poorly understood neurodevelopmental disorder. There are currently no laboratory-based diagnostic tests to detect ASD, nor are there any disease-modifying medications that effectively treat ASD’s core behavioral symptoms. Scientific progress has been impeded, in part, by overreliance on model organisms that fundamentally lack the sophisticated social and cognitive abilities essential for modeling ASD. We therefore saw significant value in studying naturally low-social rhesus monkeys to model human social impairment, taking advantage of a large outdoor-housed colony for behavioral screening and biomarker identification. Careful development and validation of our animal model, combined with a strong commitment to evaluating the translational utility of our preclinical findings directly in patients with ASD, yielded a robust neurochemical marker (cerebrospinal fluid vasopressin concentration) of trans-primate social impairment and a first-in-class medication (intranasal vasopressin) shown in a small phase 2a pilot trial to improve social abilities in children with ASD. This translational research approach stands to advance our understanding of ASD in a manner not readily achievable with existing animal models, and can be adapted to investigate a variety of other human brain disorders which currently lack valid preclinical options, thereby streamlining translation and amplifying clinical impact more broadly.

Children on the Autism Spectrum and the Use of Virtual Reality for Supporting Social Skills.

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by differences in socio-pragmatic communication. These conditions are allocated within a “spectrum” of phenotypic variability. Virtual reality (VR) is a useful tool for healthcare intervention and particularly safely advancing social abilities in children with ASD. Methods: In our study two types of intervention for improving social skills were compared: (i) emotional training obtained by the use of virtual reality (Gr1), (ii) traditional emotional training performed individually with a therapist (Gr2). We aimed to identify the intervention with the shortest acquisition time for the proposed social tasks. Results: Our findings show that both types of intervention had the same acquisition time for the recognition of primary emotions. However, for the use of primary and secondary emotions, the group using VR showed shorter acquisition times. Conclusions: These findings together with previous preliminary datasuggest that VR can be a promising, dynamic and effective practice for the support of basic and complex social skills of these individuals.

Robot-Mediated Interventions to Enhance Communication and Social Abilities of Children and Youth with Disabilities: a Review of the Literature

Objectives: The current paper presents a review of the literature discussing the trends in research that conducted robot-mediated interventions to enhance communication and social abilities of children and youth with disabilities. Method: Thirty-two dissertation or research articles published after 2000 were selected and divided into thematic categories for analysis, including participants, setting, research method, characteristics of robot-mediated interventions, roles of robots, and the results of studies. Results: First, the research most frequently focused on children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Second, most of the research was conducted in educational settings. Third, most research used quantitative research design, in particular a single-subject research design method was the most common. Fourth, in most of the research humanoid robots assisted the intervention, acting as an interaction partner of participants and as an instrumental medium to prompt the participants to demonstrate desirable behavior. Finally, most studies reported positive effects of robot-mediated intervention in the communication and social abilities of children and youth with disabilities. Conclusion: The paper provides the outcomes and limitations of robot-mediated interventions for children and youth with disabilities and the implications for future research.

Social skills of kindergarten children with Global Developmental Delay (GDD), with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

AimA high prevalence of co-occurring Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) has been noted in the population of children with global developmental delays (GDD). The presence of developmental disabilities in general, and DCD in particular, constitute a risk factor for difficulties in social skills. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies, have examined the unique contribution of DCD to social skills, over and above the effect of other general developmental impairments. The aim of this study was to compare the social skills of kindergarten children with Global Developmental Delay, with and without DCD. MethodsParticipants included 26 kindergarten children with Global Developmental Delay and DCD (Mage = 4.92, 61 % boys), and 26 children with Global Developmental Delay without DCD (Mage = 5.09, 69.25 % boys). All participants' parents and kindergarten teachers completed the Social Skills Improvement System Questionnaire (SSIS). ResultsChildren with GDD only performed significantly better on social skills compared to children with GDD and DCD. Parents in general reported better social skills and less behavioral problems compared to kindergarten teachers. ConclusionsThe findings contribute to the accumulating body of knowledge regarding social abilities of children with developmental disabilities and present new information as to the unique effect of DCD in this domain. Routine evaluation of social skills should be conducted among children with GDD and DCD, taking into account the negative influence that motor dysfunction has in this domain. Furthermore, children's social performance in different environments needs to be considered by relating to both parents and kindergarten teachers' perspective. Subsequent intervention programs should then address the unique profile of this population.

Interactive Psychometrics for Autism With the Human Dynamic Clamp: Interpersonal Synchrony From Sensorimotor to Sociocognitive Domains.

The human dynamic clamp (HDC) is a human–machine interface designed on the basis of coordination dynamics for studying realistic social interaction under controlled and reproducible conditions. Here, we propose to probe the validity of the HDC as a psychometric instrument for quantifying social abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical development. To study interpersonal synchrony with the HDC, we derived five standardized scores following a gradient from sensorimotor and motor to higher sociocognitive skills in a sample of 155 individuals (113 participants with ASD, 42 typically developing participants; aged 5 to 25 years; IQ > 70). Regression analyses were performed using normative modeling on global scores according to four subconditions (HDC behavior “cooperative/competitive,” human task “in-phase/anti-phase,” diagnosis, and age at inclusion). Children with ASD had lower scores than controls for motor skills. HDC motor coordination scores were the best candidates for stratification and diagnostic biomarkers according to exploratory analyses of hierarchical clustering and multivariate classification. Independently of phenotype, sociocognitive skills increased with developmental age while being affected by the ongoing task and HDC behavior. Weaker performance in ASD for motor skills suggests the convergent validity of the HDC for evaluating social interaction. Results provided additional evidence of a relationship between sensorimotor and sociocognitive skills. HDC may also be used as a marker of maturation of sociocognitive skills during real-time social interaction. Through its standardized and objective evaluation, the HDC not only represents a valid paradigm for the study of interpersonal synchrony but also offers a promising, clinically relevant psychometric instrument for the evaluation and stratification of sociomotor dysfunctions.

Socioeconomic Status in Infancy and the Developing Brain: Functional Connectivity of the Hippocampus and Amygdala

The development of the hippocampus and amygdala is particularly sensitive to environmental factors, including socioeconomic status (SES). Studies that have investigated associations between SES and brain development markers have rarely focused on connectivity. Accordingly, this longitudinal study examined whether SES in infancy (parental education and income-to-needs ratio) predicts the functional connectivity of the hippocampus and amygdala in late childhood, and in turn whether functional connectivity is associated with child socioemotional adjustment in a middle-class sample. SES indices were measured when children (n = 28) were 7 months old. When children were 10 years of age, they underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging exam, and their school teachers completed a questionnaire assessing child socioemotional adjustment. Whole-brain regression analyses, including left and right hippocampi and amygdalae as seeds and SES indices as predictors, revealed that higher parental education predicted stronger functional connectivity between the left and right hippocampi and the right amygdala with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and between the left amygdala and bilateral angular gyrus, after accounting for child age and sex. In turn, the connectivity of these regions was associated with higher child prosocial behavior. These findings contribute to the emerging literature suggesting that SES is associated with variability in the neural substrates of social abilities in children.

Children’s Drawings and Development

Children’s drawings were studied to discover cognitive and social abilities of children. Children’s development is also identified through drawings. A number of theories were developed on the development of children’s drawings. The purpose of the study is to compare drawings done by 5-year-old and 8-year-old children with Lowenfeld’s theory on stages of art development since none is found in Malaysia. Qualitative method was used in the study, where observation and interviews were done in collecting data. The children were observed when they draw and interviews were done afterwards in order to find out what was drawn. Findings indicate that the drawings made were incongruent with the theories of development. The theory was found to be applicable to Malaysian children as well.

Metacognitive Aspects of Executive Function Are Highly Associated with Social Functioning on Parent-Rated Measures in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by social dysfunction. Even though executive dysfunction has been recognized as important in understanding ASD, the findings are inconsistent. This might be due to different definitions of executive function (EF), which part of EF that has been studied, structured vs. unstructured tasks, inclusion of different moderators (age, IQ, sex) and different diagnostic categories within the spectrum. The main finding is that people with ASD have more EF difficulties than normal controls and more difficulties on open-end tasks than on structured cognitive tasks. Since some EF difficulties may not be observable in a laboratory setting, informant measures might have higher ecological validity than neuropsychological tests. Evidence suggests that executive dysfunctions are associated with social impairments, but few studies have investigated the details of this relationship, and it remains unclear what types of EF deficits are relevant for the social problems of individuals with ASD. Here we investigated which EF domains were associated with various domains of social function on parent-rated measures. A total of 86 children and adolescents with a diagnosis of ASD were included and tested for general cognitive abilities. Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Multiple regression analysis revealed significant associations between SRS scores and age, sex, total IQ and the BRIEF indexes. The Metacognition Index from the BRIEF added significantly to the prediction of the SRS total score and the subscales Social Communication, Social Motivation and Autistic Mannerisms. The findings suggest that metacognitive aspects of EF are of particular importance for social abilities in children and adolescents with ASD. Earlier research has shown that typically developing (TD) children have a different relationship between EF and social function than children with ASD. They found that in TD children the EF domain related to behavioral regulation was most important to social function. The results from the current study may have implications for understanding the cognitive components of the social problems that define ASD, and may be relevant in developing more targeted clinical EF interventions related to core ASD dysfunctions.

Intranasal oxytocin treatment for social deficits and biomarkers of response in children with autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by core social deficits. Prognosis is poor, in part, because existing medications target only associated ASD features. Emerging evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) may be a blood-based biomarker of social functioning and a possible treatment for ASD. However, prior OXT treatment trials have produced equivocal results, perhaps because of variability in patients' underlying neuropeptide biology, but this hypothesis has not been tested. Using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel design, we tested the efficacy and tolerability of 4-wk intranasal OXT treatment (24 International Units, twice daily) in 32 children with ASD, aged 6-12 y. When pretreatment neuropeptide measures were included in the statistical model, OXT compared with placebo treatment significantly enhanced social abilities in children with ASD [as measured by the trial's primary outcome measure, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS)]. Importantly, pretreatment blood OXT concentrations also predicted treatment response, such that individuals with the lowest pretreatment OXT concentrations showed the greatest social improvement. OXT was well tolerated, and its effects were specific to social functioning, with no observed decrease in repetitive behaviors or anxiety. Finally, as with many trials, some placebo-treated participants showed improvement on the SRS. This enhanced social functioning was mirrored by a posttreatment increase in their blood OXT concentrations, suggesting that increased endogenous OXT secretion may underlie this improvement. These findings indicate that OXT treatment enhances social abilities in children with ASD and that individuals with pretreatment OXT signaling deficits may stand to benefit the most from OXT treatment.

Attentional set-shifting and social abilities in children with schizotypal and comorbid autism spectrum disorders.

While diagnostically independent, autism and schizotypal disorders can co-occur. Their concurrent impact on outcomes and phenotypes has not been investigated. We investigated the impact of comorbid autism and schizotypal disorders in children on executive functioning and socio-pragmatic skills - core features of both disorders. Executive functioning (assessed with the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery) and socio-pragmatic skills (assessed using the Melbourne Assessment of Schizotypy in Kids) were investigated in a total of 67 (6-12 year old) children with autism ( n = 15; M/F = 10/5), schizotypal disorder ( n = 8; M/F = 5/3) and comorbid autism and schizotypal disorder ( n = 12; M/F = 5/7) and typically developing children ( n = 32; M/F = 17/15). Both the autism and schizotypal disorder groups performed more poorly than the typically developing group on socio-pragmatic skills and overall performance (i.e. number of stages completed) of the intra-/extra-dimensional set-shifting task (all ps < 0.001). Clear distinctions between the autism and schizotypal groups were present in the intra-/extra-dimensional task relative to the typically developing group - the autism group had difficulties with extra-dimensional shifts ( p < 0.001), and the schizotypal disorder group with intra-dimensional shifts ( p = 0.08). Interestingly, the overall performance of the comorbid group on the intra-/extra-dimensional task was not significantly different from the typically developing group, and they were superior to both the autism ( p = 0.019) and schizotypal disorder ( p = 0.042) groups on socio-pragmatic skills. The phenotypical overlap between autism and schizotypal disorders may be precipitated by different cognitive styles and/or mechanisms associated with attention and information processing. We propose that sustaining and switching attention represent two poles of irregularities across the autism and schizotypal spectra, which appear to converge in a compensatory manner in the comorbid group. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating children with a dual diagnosis of autism and schizotypal disorders, and raise intriguing questions about possible mechanisms to explain the attenuated impairment observed in the group of children with comorbid autism and schizotpyal disorders.

Effects of drama-based group language therapy on the development of language and social abilities of children with developmental language delay and social disability

Effects of drama-based group language therapy on the development of language and social abilities of children with developmental language delay and social disability

Motor skills, haptic perception and social abilities in children with mild speech disorders

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate motor skills, haptic object recognition and social interaction in 5-year-old children with mild specific expressive language impairment (expressive-SLI) and articulation disorder (AD) in comparison of age- and gender matched healthy children. Methods: Twenty nine children (23 boys and 6 girls) with expressive-SLI, 27 children (20 boys and 7 girls) with AD and 30 children (23 boys and 7 girls) with typically developing language as controls participated in our study. The children were examined for manual dexterity, ball skills, static and dynamic balance by M-ABC test, haptic object recognition and for social interaction by questionnaire completed by teachers. Results: Children with mild expressive-SLI demonstrated significantly poorer results in all subtests of motor skills ( p < 0.05), in haptic object recognition and social interaction ( p < 0.01) compared to controls. There were no statistically significant differences ( p > 0.05) in measured parameters between children with AD and controls. Children with expressive-SLI performed considerably poorer compared to AD group in balance subtest ( p < 0.05), and in overall M-ABC test ( p < 0.01). Conclusions: In children with mild expressive-SLI the functional motor performance, haptic perception and social interaction are considerably more affected than in children with AD. Although motor difficulties in speech production are prevalent in AD, it is localised and does not involve children’s general motor skills, haptic perception or social interaction.

Avaliação de programas preventivos: relato de experiência

A análise criteriosa de um projeto permite refiná-lo identificando seus aspectos dificultadores e facilitando a inclusão de estratégias efetivas para correção dos problemas. Alguns autores sugerem que a avaliação de programas preventivos seja feita considerando-se as etapas: análise do problema, delineamento do programa, realização de teste-piloto, realização de teste avançado, disseminação ou ampliação para outros contextos. O presente artigo, observando as referidas etapas, procurou avaliar um projeto preventivo que visa a estimular o desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais em crianças de 6 a 8 anos. Constatou-se que o projeto analisado tem vários aspectos positivos: promove mudanças sutis no comportamento das crianças e sensibiliza os pais para que estimulem condutas pró-sociais. Por outro lado, permitiu detectar que a não-utilização de uma estratégia efetiva de recrutamento e retenção dos participantes pode comprometer a transformação deste projeto em um programa.

Comparison of Social Abilities of Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to Those of Children with Similar IQ Scores and Normal Controls

Children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) were assessed with items from the social skills domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) via interviews with their caregivers. Their scores were compared with scores from children in two control groups. The control groups included children matched for IQ to the FAS group (specifically on verbal IQ, henceforth, the VIQ group) and children with IQ scores in the average to above-average range (normal control group). Forty-five children (age range, 5 years 7 months to 12 years 11 months) were assessed (n/group = 15). All groups differed with regard to social ability, as measured by the VABS (NC > VIQ > FAS), even when the effects of socioeconomic status were held constant. The three subdomains of the VABS social scale (interpersonal relationship skills, use of play and leisure time, and coping skills) were assessed, and results showed that the children with FAS were most impaired on the subdomain that assessed interpersonal relationship skills. An additional measure was constructed by obtaining an age-equivalent score for the VABS social scale and calculating a difference score by subtracting the child's chronological age from his/her age-equivalent score. There was a significant correlation between chronological age and difference scores for children in the FAS group but not for children in the two control groups. Specifically, in older children with FAS, there was an increased discrepancy between their ages and their age-equivalent scores, a discrepancy that was not present in children in the control groups. These results suggest that social deficits in children with FAS are beyond what can be explained by low IQ scores and indicate that there may be arrested, and not simply delayed, development of social abilities in children with FAS.

Comparison of Social Abilities of Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to Those of Children with Similar IQ Scores and Normal Controls

Comparison of Social Abilities of Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to Those of Children with Similar IQ Scores and Normal Controls