scholarly journals Two to Ten Years: Developmental Trajectories of Joint Attention in Children With ASD Who Received Targeted Social Communication Interventions

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda C. Gulsrud ◽  
Gerhard S. Hellemann ◽  
Stephanny F.N. Freeman ◽  
Connie Kasari
Keyword(s):  
Joint Attention ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Communication Interventions

scholarly journals Fostering Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Vinícius Silva ◽  
Filomena Soares ◽  
João Sena Esteves ◽  
Cristina P. Santos ◽  
Ana Paula Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Children With Asd

Facial expressions are of utmost importance in social interactions, allowing communicative prompts for a speaking turn and feedback. Nevertheless, not all have the ability to express themselves socially and emotionally in verbal and non-verbal communication. In particular, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in social communication, repetitive patterns of behaviour, and restricted activities or interests. In the literature, the use of robotic tools is reported to promote social interaction with children with ASD. The main goal of this work is to develop a system capable of automatic detecting emotions through facial expressions and interfacing them with a robotic platform (Zeno R50 Robokind® robotic platform, named ZECA) in order to allow social interaction with children with ASD. ZECA was used as a mediator in social communication activities. The experimental setup and methodology for a real-time facial expression (happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and neutral) recognition system was based on the Intel® RealSense™ 3D sensor and on facial features extraction and multiclass Support Vector Machine classifier. The results obtained allowed to infer that the proposed system is adequate in support sessions with children with ASD, giving a strong indication that it may be used in fostering emotion recognition and imitation skills.

scholarly journals Mini-Basketball Training Program Improves Social Communication and White Matter Integrity in Children with Autism

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 803
Author(s):  
Kelong Cai ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
Fabian Herold ◽  
Zhimei Liu ◽  
Jingui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Exercise Intervention ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Exercise Group ◽  
White Matter Integrity ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Children With Asd

Impairments in social communication (SC) represent one of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While previous studies have demonstrated that exercise intervention improves SC in children with ASD, there is currently no neuroscientific evidence supporting its benefits. Therefore, we evaluated the outcomes of a long-term exercise intervention on SC and white matter integrity (WMI) in children with ASD, and further explored the neural mechanism of exercise intervention on SC in these children. Twenty-nine children aged 3–6 years with ASD were assigned to either exercise group (n = 15) or control group (n = 14). The exercise group received a scheduled mini-basketball training program (5 sessions per week, forty minutes per session) for 12 consecutive weeks, while the control group was instructed to maintain their daily activities. Groups were assessed before and after intervention on SC and WMI. SC scores were lower in the exercise group post-intervention. Compared with the control group, WMI of the exercise group showed higher fractional anisotropy in the body of corpus callosum, fornix, right cerebral peduncle, left posterior limb of internal capsule, right retrolenticular part of internal capsule, left anterior corona radiate and left superior fronto-occipital fasciculus; lower mean diffusivity in the left anterior corona radiate and the bilateral corticospinal tract. Furthermore, increased WMI was associated with lower scores on a measure of social cognition in the overall sample. This study is the first to provide evidence that exercise intervention improves SC and white matter integrity in children with autism.

scholarly journals Impaired voice processing in reward and salience circuits predicts social communication in children with autism

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Arthur Abrams ◽  
Aarthi Padmanabhan ◽  
Tianwen Chen ◽  
Paola Odriozola ◽  
Amanda E Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mother’S Voice ◽  
Voice Processing

Engaging with vocal sounds is critical for children’s social-emotional learning, and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often ‘tune out’ voices in their environment. Little is known regarding the neurobiological basis of voice processing and its link to social impairments in ASD. Here, we perform the first comprehensive brain network analysis of voice processing in children with ASD. We examined neural responses elicited by unfamiliar voices and mother’s voice, a biologically salient voice for social learning, and identified a striking relationship between social communication abilities in children with ASD and activation in key structures of reward and salience processing regions. Functional connectivity between voice-selective and reward regions during voice processing predicted social communication in children with ASD and distinguished them from typically developing children. Results support the Social Motivation Theory of ASD by showing reward system deficits associated with the processing of a critical social stimulus, mother’s voice, in children with ASD.Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that minor issues remain unresolved (<xref ref-type="decision-letter" rid="SA1">see decision letter</xref>).

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