Interpersonal Synchronization, Motor Coordination, and Control Are Impaired During a Dynamic Imitation Task in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Few studies have longitudinally investigated the development of the motor function in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this chapter, the author investigated trends in how the development of motor coordination ability is closely related to motor functions in children with ASD. The participants were children enrolled in a special education school for persons with developmental disabilities in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. Among them, the study targeted 35 children who took the Body Coordination Test (BCT) continuously for more than three years. Although there were individual differences, the average score on the BCT increased with age. In particular, children with ASD showed moderate development, even during adolescence, when typical children experienced the plateau effect. The results suggest that children with ASD have great educational potential in adolescence.

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Colorful Semantics in Cypriot-Greek-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica ◽

10.1159/000512157 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Maria Christopoulou ◽

Louiza Voniati ◽

Konstantinos Drosos ◽

Spyros Armostis

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Randomized Control Trial Design ◽

Children With Asd ◽

Morphosyntactic Development ◽

Mean Length Of Utterance ◽

And Control

Objectives: The aims of this study were: (1) to investigate the effect of colorful semantics (CS) on the morphosyntactic and semantic development of Cypriot-Greek (CG)-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to obtain a better understanding of its role in an augmentative communication (AC) intervention program; (2) to address the paucity of intervention tools geared for CG-speaking children with ASD. Participants and Methods: The study included 24 boys and 16 girls with ASD, all preschool-aged 4–6 years. All were verbal but with limited production and minimal mean length of utterance. The study followed a randomized control trial design with equally sized experimental and control groups. The experimental group followed a therapeutic program using the AC with a CS protocol, while the control group’s AC intervention did not include the CS protocol. Results: The use of CS significantly improved the children’s semantic and morphosyntactic development. Conclusions: The intervention results illustrate the effectiveness of CS in this study; however, generalizability of effectiveness to other similar CG-speaking children with ASD requires further evidence.

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Exploring the effect of motor coordination on repetitive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder

International Journal of Developmental Disabilities ◽

10.1080/20473869.2021.1948318 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Cebrail Karadaş ◽

Hatice Bakkaloğlu ◽

Şeyda Demir

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Motor Coordination ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Repetitive Behaviours

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Behavioural Improvements in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder after Participation in an Adapted Judo Programme Followed by Deleterious Effects during the COVID-19 Lockdown

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18168515 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (16) ◽

pp. 8515

Author(s):

Jose Morales ◽

David H. Fukuda ◽

Vanessa Garcia ◽

Emanuela Pierantozzi ◽

Cristina Curto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Control Period ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Special Educational Needs ◽

School Closures ◽

Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

And Control

The public health lockdown prompted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which included school closures that may have potentially serious consequences for people with disabilities or special educational needs, disrupted an ongoing adapted judo training intervention in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to compare repetitive behaviours, social interaction, social communication, emotional responses, cognitive style and maladaptive speech scores across four time-points: baseline, after an eight-week control period, after an eight-week judo intervention and after an eight-week lockdown period due to COVID-19. The sample consisted of 11 children diagnosed with ASD according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fifth Edition (DSM-V), with an intelligence quotient (IQ) range between 60 and 70. Significant improvements were shown following the judo intervention period compared to the baseline and control periods. However, the same values significantly declined during the COVID-19 lockdown period resulting in values lower than those recorded at baseline, and following the control period and the judo intervention. The decline in psychosocial and behavioural scores are likely due to the stress caused by the sudden halt in activity and the increase in sedentary practices associated with the lockdown.

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Presence of Contagious Yawning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Research and Treatment ◽

10.1155/2013/971686 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Saori Usui ◽

Atsushi Senju ◽

Yukiko Kikuchi ◽

Hironori Akechi ◽

Yoshikuni Tojo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Eye Tracker ◽

Contagious Yawning ◽

Children With Asd ◽

The Face ◽

And Control

Most previous studies suggest diminished susceptibility to contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it could be driven by their atypical attention to the face. To test this hypothesis, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children were shown yawning and control movies. To ensure participants' attention to the face, an eye tracker controlled the onset of the yawning and control stimuli. Results demonstrated that both TD children and children with ASD yawned more frequently when they watched the yawning stimuli than the control stimuli. It is suggested therefore that the absence of contagious yawning in children with ASD, as reported in previous studies, might relate to their weaker tendency to spontaneously attend to others' faces.

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