Relationship between executive functions (EF) and symptomatology of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) were examined. EF of 33 students with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 25 typically development (TD) students were compared. The parent-rated adolescent version of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) was administered. The ASD group displayed an EF profile of intact verbal working memory, impaired nonverbal working memory and nonverbal generativity. Additionally, they showed a tendency of weakness among the mental flexibility, planning, verbal generativity, and inhibition domains. Findings supported AQ as an useful screening tool for ASD. Certain significant relationships were illustrated: weak nonverbal working memory to a lack of imagination; weak nonverbal generativity to weak communication skills and weak imagination but to more attention switching and less manifestation of attention to details; lastly, weak verbal generativity to less attention to details. Explanations were suggested and limitations were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Difficulties in social skills are generally considered defining characteristics of High-Functioning Autism (HFA). These difficulties interfere with the educational experiences and quality of life of individuals with HFA, and interventions must be highly individualized to be effective. I explore ways technologies may play a role in assisting individuals with the acquisition of social problem solving skills. This thesis presents the design, development, and evaluation of two systems; Refl-ex, which is a collection of multimedia instructional modules designed to enable adolescents with HFA to practice social problem solving skills, and REACT, a system to facilitate the authoring of a wider variety of instructional modules. The authoring tool is designed to help parents, teachers, and other stakeholders to create Refl-ex-like instructional modules. The approach uses models of social knowledge created using crowdsourcing techniques to provide the authors with support throughout the authoring process. A series of studies were conducted to inform the design of high-fidelity prototypes of each of the systems and to evaluate the prototypes. The contributions of this thesis are: 1) the creation of obstacle-based branching, an approach to developing interactive social skills instructional modules that has been evaluated by experts to be an improvement to current practices; 2) the development of an approach to building models of social knowledge that can be dynamically created and expanded using crowdsourcing; and 3) the development a system that gives parents and other caregivers the ability to easily create customized social skills instructional modules for their children and students.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of music-based peer mediation interventions to enhance the quality of social interaction for high school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Specifically, it assessed whether adolescents with ASD demonstrate a difference in group participation, eye contact, and smile with peers within a music therapist mediated or a peer mediated instrumental music improvisation group. Two groups consisting of one high school student with ASD and one or two general education peers were evaluated using an alternating treatment design with an initial baseline phase. Partial interval recording was used to measure social interaction within each condition. Both students demonstrated a high level of group participation in music sessions. One student demonstrated eye contact and group participation behavior that was distinctly higher than was demonstrated during baseline. Social validity reports suggested that both students with ASI) were more motivated to participate in the music groups than in other structured social activities at school. There was no marked difference observed in level of group participation demonstrated by cither student with ASD between the music therapist mediated condition and the peer mediated condition. Implications for future research and clinical applications arc discussed.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects one out of every 68 children in the United States. The disorder is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication, social interaction, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, or activities that together limit and impair everyday functioning. Research has shown that the use of visual resources, such as video modeling procedures, can support individuals with ASD to acquire and maintain a variety of daily living skills leading to enhanced levels of independence. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory states that individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) can be identified by a deficit in empathy (social skills, communication skills, and theory of mind) and a propensity for systemizing (islets of ability, obsessions with systems, and repetitive behavior). This theory has been tested in various contexts, but never with adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16. The EQ-A (Empathizing Quotient for Adolescents) and the SQ-A (Systemizing Quotient for Adolescents) were administered to 47 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 who had been diagnosed with ASC and 97 adolescents with no reported physical or mental disorders to discover differences in empathizing and systemizing. To test the specific elements and predictions of the E-S theory, the EQ-A was divided into a set of three subscales derived by conceptually mapping items to factors corresponding to the concepts theoretically underlying the scale. The SQ-A was divided into subscales using factor analysis. It was found that all four subscales resulting from the factor analysis on the SQ-A were associated with obsessions with systems. A weak positive correlation was found between the SQ-A and the EQ-A. Although the EQ-A was able to differentiate significantly between individuals with an ASC and those without, the SQ-A was not. In addition, although the EQ-A and EQ-A subscales scores correlated with similar subscales scores of the GARS-2 (a well-validated existing autism screening test), the SQ-A and its subscales did not. Implications for the E-S Theory are discussed.