Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur personal inom verksamheter för Lag om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade (LSS) arbetar för att utveckla kommunikationen hos individer med autismliknande spektrum. Vi har valt att undersöka hur verksamhetschefer inom LSS uppfattar att deras personal arbetar för att individer med autism skall utveckla sin kommunikationsförmåga. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ intervjustudie med sex respondenter som är chefer över olika LSS-verksamheter i fyra kommuner i Mellansverige. Vi har analyserat det insamlade materialet utifrån studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter, kommunikationsteori och empowerment. Resultatet har även analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning. Studiens resultat visar hur LSS-verksamheter arbetar för att hjälpa individer med autism att kommunicera och att bli så självständiga som möjligt. Inom LSS-verksamheter använder sig personal av olika hjälpmedel som är individuellt utvalda efter varje brukare. Hjälpmedlen hjälper individer med autism att få sin röst hörd och kommunicera med personal samt med andra människor i sin omgivning, vilket kan leda till individens självständighet. / The aim of our study is to examine how the personnel within the activities for the Swedish law about act on support and service for certain disabled (LSS) is working to develop communication in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have chosen to examine how managers within the LSS perceive that their personnel are working to individuals with autism to develop their communication skills. We have conducted a qualitative interview study of six respondents who are managers of various LSS-activities in four municipalities in the middle of Sweden. We have analyzed the collected material in relation to the study's theoretical ground, communication theory and empowerment. The result of the study was also analyzed regarding previous research. Our results demonstrate how LSS-activities are committed to helping individuals with autism to communicate and to become as independent as possible. LSS-activities personnel use different tools that are individually selected for each individual. These assistive technologies help individuals with autism to have their voice heard and communicate with personnel and with other people in their environment, who give opportunity to the independence of the individual.

The Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), a parent report autism screening tool, is higher for males than for females (Ludwig et al., IMFAR 2011). Given the long waitlists and high costs for ASD evaluations, there is a need to reduce the number of false positive females on the M-CHAT. The current study examined the sex specific clinical profiles of toddlers who received an ASD evaluation based on M-CHAT screen positive status in order to explore potential differences that may contribute to the differential PPV of the M-CHAT in boys and girls. The sample included 250 males and 106 females (mean age=25.3 months, SD=4.6) who were evaluated based on screen positive status on the M-CHAT. Although children with ASD demonstrated greater ASD symptoms, lower IQ and weaker language and motor skills, minimal sex differences were discovered.

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Background According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, an individual with a disability has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (ADA, 2014). A large body of literature indicates a strong relationship between disability and poor health. Adults with disabilities are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions than adults with no limitations. Thus, this vulnerable population with disabilities should be targeted for health promotion efforts. Healthy People 2020 calls for the inclusion of people with disabilities in U.S. health promotion efforts (Dixon, 2014). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), individuals with disabilities that begin during the developmental period and last throughout their lifetime causing impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas, are defined as having developmental disabilities (DD) (CDC, 2014). Despite the increasing prevalence of DD in the US, there is little known about the association of DD and chronic health conditions such as obesity, cancer, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Developmental disability can impact healthy eating habits and physical activity; thus, people living with DD are a vulnerable population at risk of becoming overweight and/or obese and developing a multitude of chronic diseases. Emerging research supports an association between childhood obesity and ASD, one type of DD, documenting that the problem of overweight/obesity in children with ASD is at least as common, if not higher, than in the general pediatric population (Curtin, Anderson, Must, & Bandini, 2010). Although there are some studies that document the association of chronic diseases and intellectual disability among adults (Bhaumik, Watson, Thorp, Tyrer, & McGrother, 2008; de Winter, Bastiaanse, Hilgenkamp, Evenhuis, & Echteld, 2012b; de Winter, Magilsen, van Alfen, Penning, & Evenhuis, 2009; Melville, Hamilton, Hankey, Miller, & Boyle, 2007; Morin, Merineau-Cote, Ouellette-Kuntz, Tasse, & Kerr, 2012; Reichard & Stolzle, 2011; Rimmer & Wang, 2005), limited research has examined whether adults diagnosed with DD are more likely to become obese or have other chronic diseases. This is increasingly important as most recent data suggest that approximately 1 in 6 children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with a DD, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to more pervasive DDs, such as intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (CDC, 2014). Based on the paucity of research examining the relationship between DDs, including ASD, and chronic diseases that emerge during adolescence and adulthood, the purpose of this study is to examine these relationships, and to provide information about the health status of children and adolescents with DDs as they transition into adulthood. In order to achieve this purpose, an evaluation project was adopted that examined a health promotion program for adults with DDs that aimed to improve or maintain current health status, increase knowledge about healthy food and exercise choices and improve overall health behavior of adults with DDs.

Discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is one of the principal techniques used in Applied Behaviour Analysis programs for children with autism. Although the demand for training individuals to implement DTT is high, published studies on strategies to do so are few. I conducted two experiments to investigate a training package for teaching individuals to implement DTT. In Experiment 1, I used a modified multiple-baseline design to evaluate the training package for teaching five university students to implement DTT to teach three tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. Also, in an AB within-subject design with each participant, I compared two components of the training package, a Self-Instructional Manual and Feedback plus Demonstration. Experiment 2 was a systematic replication of Experiment 1, with 2 teaching assistants, a resource teacher, and 3 parents of children with autism as participants. In both experiments I assessed the generalization (G1) of participants’ ability to implement DTT (while teaching the confederate) to teach tasks not targeted for Feedback plus Demonstration, as well as generalization (G2) of DTT while teaching a child with autism. After an average of approximately 3 hours to master the self-instructional manual, participants’ DTT accuracy in both experiments improved from an average of 34% in Baseline to an average of 61% following the Self-Instructional Manual. Results appeared to be due to the Self-Instructional Manual phase for 9 of the 11 participants. Following an average of 35 minutes of Feedback plus Demonstration of DTT of one task, participants’ DTT accuracy improved to an average of 91% while teaching a confederate. The improvement appeared to be due to the intervention with 10 of the 11 participants. The participants’ DTT accuracy averaged 90% during G1 and 86% during G2. These results demonstrate that this training package has considerable potential for teaching DTT to tutors, educational assistants, and parents of children with autism.

A widely used instructional method for teaching children with autism is Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), and a main component of ABA programming is discrete-trials teaching (DTT). DTT is made up of a series of brief teaching trials, with each trial including an antecedent (e.g., an instruction from the teacher), a response from the child, and an immediate consequence (e.g., a reinforcer provided for a correct response). Using a modified multiple-baseline design across participants, Experiment 1 assessed the effectiveness of a DTT self-instructional package (Fazzio & Martin, 2007) for teaching 4 pairs of newly-hired ABA tutors how to apply 21 components of DTT to teach 3 tasks to a confederate role-playing a child with autism. In Experiment 2, a group of 8 additional tutors were each independently presented with the same procedure. In both experiments, in Phase 1(baseline), tutors attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. In Phase 2 (manual), tutors mastered a 37-page self-instructional manual and once again attempted to teach the same 3 tasks to the confederate. Phase 3 was a within-subject AB design component. That is, if tutors did not meet a DTT mastery criterion of 80% after studying the manual in Phase 2, then they watched a brief video demonstration of a DTT expert teaching a task to a child role-playing a child with autism (Fazzio, 2007), and then once again attempted to teach the 3 tasks to the confederate. Across both experiments: a) The 16 tutors averaged 4.6 hours to master the self-instructional manual, and showed an average improvement in DTT accuracy of 32.2% from baseline; b) For the 13 tutors who did not meet the mastery criterion after reading the manual, their average DTT performance improved an additional 12% after watching the video; c) 13 of the 16 participants met mastery (3 after the manual and 10 after the manual plus video), and the other 3 tutors were very close to mastery. The results suggest that the training package is a practical, economical and efficient method of instructing newly-hired tutors in ABA programs for children with autism.

Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder, is assumed to result from early neural tube damage. Individuals with Autism exhibit macroencephaly during childhood. To examine increased neurogenesis as a factor in macroencephaly, the valproic acid (VPA) model of Autism was used to examine how exposure to enrichment affects neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. To induce the model, pregnant rats received two 100mg/kg VPA injections on days 11, 12, and 13 of gestation. Half the pups in each group were exposed to enrichment from post-natal days 30-60. Neurogenesis was examined by fluorescence microscopy for the proliferation marker bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and neuronal specific nuclear marker (NeuN). Counts of double-labeled cells were done from the dentate gyrus, an area known for adult neurogenesis. Results indicate that neurogenesis is not abnormal in the VPA model and enrichment increases the neurogenesis similarly in both VPA and control animals. This research provides a better understanding of brain plasticity in the VPA model of Autism.

Perspective-taking is the ability to see the world from another person’s viewpoint and is often measured using “false belief” (FB) tasks. Although most typically developing children pass FB tasks between 4 and 5 years of age, approximately 80% of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not. Failure on FB tasks remains a persistent deficit among individuals with ASDs. However, relatively little evidence is available on teaching perspective-taking to children with ASDs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether teaching perspective-taking skill components would produce generalization to untrained task materials and to three perspective-taking tasks with children with autism. Perspective-taking was broken down into 6 behavioural components and each component was taught in a multiple-baseline design within each child. Procedures in the training program included prompt-fading, positive reinforcement, error correction, multiple exemplar training, forward chaining, and narrative response training. Participants consisted of 4 children with a diagnosis of an ASD. The results showed that the training program produced generalization to variations of the training materials for 14 of the 17 components. Generalization to the three perspective-taking tasks, however, was modest. This study contributes to the body of behavioural research on teaching perspective-taking skills to children with ASDs, and provides procedures for teaching component skills of perspective-taking.

Bland elever som är i behov av särskilt stöd finns en grupp elever som benämns elever med problemskapande beteenden. Fokus ligger ibland under långa tidsperioder på att hantera beteendeproblematiken, under det att kunskapsutveckling och delaktighet ofta får stiga åt sidan. Detta ställer krav på att personal i skolan har kunskap om verktyg för att hantera problemskapande beteenden.Syftet med denna studie är att få förståelse för hur personalen i grundsärskolan menar att problemskapande beteenden kring elever med autism och intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar uppstår. Denna studie syftar även till att få förståelse för personalens meningar om förebyggande och motverkande verktyg när det gäller problemskapande beteenden.Intervjuer med sju personer som arbetar i grundsärskolan ligger till grund för resultatet i denna studie. Vid analysen av intervjuerna användes George H. Meads teori om att människors handlingar och identitet bildas i sociala relationer, en intersubjektivitets tanke. En pluralistisk utgångspunkt, att olika perspektiv kan samverka, intogs.Resultatet, i denna studie, visar att ett relationellt perspektiv intas av intervjupersonerna. En sammanfattande beskrivning av verktyg, när det gäller att förebygga och motverka problemskapande beteenden, är enligt denna studie: 1. Samtal och reflektion med alla inblandade aktörer runt eleven, 2. Anpassningar utifrån individ och situation, 3. En väl strukturerad dag för eleven. 4. Fokuserat bemötande av eleven där dennes kommunikation vill förstås och 5. En insatt och stöttande rektor. Slutsatsen blir att olika perspektiv och verktyg måste beaktas för att bästa resultat ska uppnås för eleverna, processen är ett lagarbete och intersubjektivitet är en förutsättning för det goda mötet. Detta betyder att alla aktörer runt eleven i verksamheterna måste bidra med sin kunskap i intersubjektiva möten.

Tidigare forskning visar att individer med en diagnos inom autismspektrumet (ASD) upplever en större sinneskänslighet vad gäller hörsel, syn och känsel men få studier har undersökt lukt känsligheten. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att få en djupare förståelse för luktfunktioner hos vuxna med ASD.16 deltagare med ASD (14 kontroller) testades i luktkänslighet, fri- och stödd luktidentifiering. Samtliga deltagare självskattade även den upplevda luktkänslighet samt genomgick ett screeningtest för autism, The adult spectrum quotient, AQ. Lukt känslighet, fri och stödd luktidentifikation skiljde sig inte åt mellan de båda grupperna Självskattning av luktfunktioner korrelerade signifikant positivt med AQ poäng vilket visar att personer med högre grad av ASD också upplevde sig som mer luktkänsliga. Föreliggande resultat påvisade att personer med högre AQ-poäng upplevde att de hade en känsligare luktfunktion. Dock reflekterades denna självskattade känslighet inte i de standardiserade lukttesten där inga signifikanta skillnader mellan ASD och kontroller i luktfunktioner påvisades. / Previous research has shown that individuals with a diagnosis within the autism spectrum (ASD) experience a greater sensory sensitivity, but few studies have investigated the olfaction sensitivity. The aim of the present study is to gain a deeper understanding of the olfactory functions in adults with ASD.16 participants with ASD (14 controls) participated in the study where sniffin sticks were used to evaluate the differences between the groups. All participants answered a questionnaire about perceived olfaction sensitivity and the adult spectrum quotient; AQ. Olfactory discrimination and identification (with and without cue) did not differ between the groups, as for olfaction sensitivity, perceived pleasantness, intensity and edibility. When it came to self-assessed olfactory sensitivity, differences were found. However, this self-rated sensitivity did not appear in the standardized odor tests, where no significant differences between ASD and controls odor features were detected.