Background. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Given the heterogeneity of ASD it is important to understand individual differences within the disorder that are related to cognitive and language development, and how such differences may be related to differences in caregiver behavior or aspects of the social environment. Joint attention is an important component of early social communication and is considered to be a “core deficit” of ASD (Kasari, Freeman, Paparella, Wong, Kwon, & Gulsrud, 2005). Individual differences in joint attention during infancy have been shown to relate to language and cognitive development (Mundy, Block, Delgado, Pomares, Van Hecke, & Parlade, 2007; Nichols, Martin, & Fox, 2005). Therefore, joint attention serves an essential role in the study of child behavior within ASD across development. The present study consists of two manuscripts that explored how joint attention in children with ASD related to sensory responsiveness and social competence (Study 1), and how child joint attention related to mother attention and contextual factors (Study 2). Specifically, Study 1 investigated relations among children's sensory responses, dyadic orienting, joint attention, and their subsequent social competence with peers. Participants were 38 children (18 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 20 developmentally matched children with typical development) between the ages of 2.75 and 6.5 years. Observational coding was conducted to assess children's joint attention and dyadic orienting in a structured social communication task. Children's sensory responses and social competence were measured with parent report. Group differences were observed in children's joint attention, sensory responses, multisensory dyadic orienting, and social competence, with the ASD group showing significantly greater social impairment and sensory responses compared with their typical peers. Atypical sensory responses were negatively associated with individual differences on social competence subscales. Interaction effects were observed between diagnostic group and sensory responses with diagnostic group moderating the relation between sensory responses and both joint attention and social competence abilities. Study 2 investigated relations between child joint attention and mother attention during three social contexts (competing demands, teaching, and free play) among 44 children with ASD between the ages of 2.5 and 5.6 years, and their mothers. Observational coding was conducted to assess children’s joint attention and mother’s dyadic orienting. Children’s expressive and receptive language was measured by teacher report. The rate of children’s joint attention, and mothers’ dyadic orienting differed depending on the context of their interaction. Children’s joint attention, expressive and receptive language, age, and ASD severity, and mother dyadic orienting were related, and these relations differed by context. Child initiating joint attention (IJA) was also related to mother attention, and this relation was moderated by the child’s expressive and receptive language. A temporal contingency was revealed for the association between child IJA and mother attention with a bi-directional association such that child IJA predicted subsequent mother attention, and mother attention predicted subsequent child IJA. When the sample was split by children’s language ability (i.e., minimally-verbal and verbal groups) there was a group by receptive language, and a group by expressive language interaction on the contingency between child IJA and subsequent mother attention. Conclusion. The results from study 1 and study 2 suggest that individual differences in children with ASD, including their sensory responses and social competence, as well as mother attention and contextual factors are related to children’s joint attention. When addressing theory and interventions for children with ASD, it is important to consider children’s language and sensory sensitivities, the demands of the interactive context, and factors related to mother attention and approach to her child.

Thesis PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis(Ph.D.(Nursing Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Families with ASD children who have little support from a partner, friends, community and health care professionals report increased depression and lower life satisfaction compared to families with a good deal of social support. Social support may be a resource to boost an individual’s ability to overcome the negative consequences of stressors related to parenting a child with ASD.The study explored and described the experiences of families and teachers regarding support of families with ASD children, then developed and validated a social support model for families of children with ASD in the Gauteng and Limpopo provinces of South Africa.The method was qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual design employing a phenomenological approach and theory-generating study. Individual semi-structured and focus group interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Eight steps of Tesch’s inductive, descriptive open coding technique by Creswell were used followed by independent coding. Purposive sampling recruited 37 participants from the selected special schools of Gauteng and Limpopo Provinces. Trustworthiness criteria adhered to were credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability. Ethical clearance was sought from the University of Limpopo. The findings showed that there is a lack of social support for families with ASD children. These include difficulties in managing children’s patterns of behaviour and communication skills, severe stress related to having a child with ASD, knowledge deficiencies associated with ASD, the burden of caring, financial constraints, lack of material and human resources within the special schools, overcrowding of ASD learners, lack of a formal curriculum, lack of schools for autistic children in the Limpopo Province, poor infrastructure, and poor school management support.The study addressed the complex needs of ASD children and recommended that families should be assisted to build their capacity to care for, and protect their ASD children. A social support model was developed to serve as a reference framework for professional nurses in different spheres of health care and education, to promote a supportive environment for families with ASD children

No description available.

Imitation enables social communication and is said to be deficient in people with autism. Yet little research has been done into what differentiates poor from good imitators. This project employed novel quantifiable methods of testing manual and facial imitation to determine how ability as well as empathy (which also enables social interaction) correlate with brain activation using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Manual imitation was tested (in- and outside the MRI-scanner) by asking participants to copy model drawings using a touchscreen that captured their kinematic data. Facial imitation was tested by asking people to copy composite facial expressions and blind-scoring the resulting imitation attempts. First, 28 adults were tested to establish what brain areas enable better imitation and how these relate to empathic abilities. Then, 25 young people with autism and 23 matched controls were tested to see how purported group differences in imitation related to brain activation patterns across and within groups. Results revealed that manual imitation ability correlated with increased activation in different brain areas than facial imitation ability. There was only one area of significant overlap, between facial imitation ability and empathy. Young people with autism were found to be impaired on facial imitation, empathy and some aspects of manual imitation. Nevertheless, fMRI results indicated that ability and age differences played a more important role than autism diagnosis in regulating what brain areas were activated during imitation. Only for the facial imitation task did autistic participants appear to use a different neural mechanism, but this was still mediated by ability. Overall, this methodologically innovative project shows that investigating individual differences in imitation ability, regardless of a diagnosis of autism, can shed more light on what neural mechanisms are crucial for imitation.

The present study aims at pushing the identification process earlier to preschool age for children on the mild end of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by validating teachers’ use of the 13-item Classroom Social Behaviors Observation Scale (CSBOS) (Au, Cheung, Tse, & Au, In Prep) that focuses on children’s peer interaction in class. 　　Seven teachers and 149 children in an international kindergarten in Hong Kong participated in the study. The “At-risk” group for mild cases of ASD was identified by using one standard deviations below the mean as the cutoff for CSBOS scores independently given by research assistants and teachers; the control group was formed by random selection from the non-“At-risk” group. Based on the teachers’ input, the CSBOS was revised to clarify its wording and make it more user-friendly (CSBOS-R). These children were also rated by their class teachers again – this time using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and CSBOS-R (the revised CSBOS; based on overall impression). . They were assessed individually by a clinical psychologist using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and observed by a research assistant in the classroom with the revised CSBOS-R and time-sampling methodology. Result showed that teacher’s CSBOS-R impression rating was highly correlated with children’s calibrated ADOS severity score (r(37)= -.62), and total SRS-2 score (r(40)= -.86). Teacher’s CSBOS-R impression rating correlated well with CSBOS-R rated by the clinical psychologist (r(18)= .82) and the research assistant (r(35)= .74). The result, therefore, validated teacher’s use of CSBOS-R in identifying preschool children at risk for mild ASD. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have social-communication deficits and are often targets of bullying or ostracism. However, in the past, little has been done to examine these children’s response to negative social interactions. This study investigated how children with Autism Spectrum Disorder detect and respond to ostracism. Thirty 4-6 years old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder were either included or excluded via an online ball-tossing game. Participant’s detection, feelings, imitative behavior, joint attention, social initiations and reciprocal play were then measured. Relative to those in the inclusion condition, children in the exclusion condition reported higher levels of exclusion, more negative feelings, and showed more increase in motor imitation. Implications of these findings on early interventions were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Reading comprehension of students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) typically falls below their decoding skills. The present study explored the effectiveness of visual-cued facilitation, in forms of activation of prior knowledge and inducing comprehension monitoring behaviours, and inference bridging facilitation on reading comprehension. Twenty-eight primary students with HFASD and their typically-developing peers completed four comprehension exercises with a practical-writing text and three narrative passages with conditions: answering pre-reading questions with illustrations, within-text picture selection tasks, and control. Results indicated that challenges of students with HFASD in Chinese reading comprehension were similar to previous findings. Their performances were no longer statistically differentiable from their peers with visual-cued facilitations. Implication for practice and future direction were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Background: Regarding the research on individuals with autism, more focus was on the behavioral and social aspects, whereas relatively limited attention has received in the domain of learning of this population. As the development of assessments in assessing the needs of the population is getting more comprehensive and sophisticated in recent years, there is a trend of increase in the number of children being identified with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and were placed in general educational settings and engaged in mainstream academic curricula. 　　To survive in the mainstream education setting, proficiency in reading is essential. However, there are evidences suggested that people with ASD show difficulties in reading, especially in reading comprehension. Therefore, it would be valuable to investigate the potential factors that might hinder the reading performance of people with ASD and develops corresponding strategies to cater their needs. 　　In this paper, the role of executive functioning and metacognitive awareness towards reading performance of adolescents with ASD was examined and compared with their typically developing peers, so as to explore the potential factors affecting the reading performance of the group. 　　 Methods: Forty high functioning adolescents with ASD (HFA, aged 12 to 15) and forty matched typically developing (TD) counterparts (aged 12 to 15) participated in this research. There were one main study and one follow-up study. For the main study (Study One), there were three study focuses of investigation. Firstly, it was aimed at investigating the reading performance profile of the two groups (HFA vs TD) and to explore the pattern of reading deficits of students with HFA. Secondly, the EF profile of the two groups was compared to see whether distinct features of impairments were noted in the HFA group. Thirdly, from the results revealed in the profiles on reading performance and EF of the two groups, the association between the impairment of reading performance and the profile of executive dysfunctions was examined, so as to attest the proposition that deficits in EF skills played a role in reading difficulties of individuals with ASD. For the follow-up study (26 participants for the HFA group and 27 participants for the TD group), it was interested to explore the reading metacognitive awareness of the HFA and TD groups, to see whether there was a differentiated pattern on the aspect, and how it might explain the difference in reading performance of the two groups. Results: For the reading performance, the performance of the two groups was comparable in word reading, reading fluency, word knowledge as well as general knowledge, whereas participants with HFA performed significantly worse than TD peers in reading comprehension and distinct weakness was noted in the ability of inference making and generating novel ideas in the HFA group. For the ability in EF skills, participants with HFA were found to be performed poorer only in the Higher-order EF domain (i.e. self-monitoring and generativity) as compared to the TD group. In which, associations were found between reading comprehension performance and some of the EF skills, suggesting that reading comprehension performance was affected by the proficiency of specific EF skills. Moreover, the follow-up study also highlighted the difference in preferences on repair strategies and reading strategies adopted as well as perceived reading difficulties of the HFA and TD group, which further support the findings of Study One. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

Impairments in social interactions are considered core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Given recent findings demonstrating a relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and social outcomes, this research examined the EI of adolescents with ASD to generate novel information for addressing their social deficits. Twenty-five adolescents with ASD and 25 typical adolescents (13 -17 years) completed a battery of tests examining their intellect, EI, and social skills. Their parents also provided information regarding their social skills. The findings revealed that aspects of both trait and ability EI were significantly weaker in adolescents with ASD. In addition, while the ability EI model did not predict the social outcomes of this group, the trait EI model was able to predict 32% of self-reported interpersonal skills and 30% of parent-reported social skills. Implications for the development of social skill interventions for this group and future research are discussed. / October 2015