This study examined the use of an iPhone and List Recorder application to teach three adolescents with autism spectrum disorder to enhance their interpersonal daily living skills in a community setting. Participants were taught to use interpersonal skills to perform an ordering and purchasing task. A multiple probe design across participants was used to demonstrate the effects of the intervention on the participants’ performance. Results indicated an increase in interpersonal skills used in a community setting. Participants were able to generalize these skills to another community setting. Finally, participants were able to demonstrate these skills once the intervention was removed during follow-up. Implications for future research are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-06-30T17:22:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_ANIBAL_SOLON_HEINSFELD_COMPLETO.pdf: 12807619 bytes, checksum: d11b60094a8bde0d839a6f7a23bbb56c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T17:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_ANIBAL_SOLON_HEINSFELD_COMPLETO.pdf: 12807619 bytes, checksum: d11b60094a8bde0d839a6f7a23bbb56c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-28 / O Espectro Autista (EA) compreende uma s?rie de desordens no desenvolvimento neurol?gico, caracterizado por defici?ncias sociais e dificuldades de comunica??o, comportamentos repetitivos e atrasos cognitivos. Atualmente, o diagn?stico do EA ? amplamente baseado em medi??es comportamentais, que pode ser demorado, e depende da coopera??o do paciente e da experi?ncia do examinador. Para mitigar esta limita??o, investigamos padr?es neurais que ajudem no diagn?stico de desordens do EA. Nesta disserta??o, usamos t?cnicas de deep learning, a fim de extrair caracter?sticas robustas de neuroimagens de pacientes com autismo. Neuroimagens cont?m cerca de 300.000 pontos espaciais, com aproximadamente 200 medi??es cada. As t?cnicas de deep learning s?o ?teis para extrair caracter?sticas relevantes que diferenciam autistas de n?o-autistas. Ao utilizar denoising autoencoders, uma t?cnica de deep learning espec?fica que visa reduzir a dimensionalidade dos dados, n?s superamos o estado da arte, atingindo 69% de acur?cia, comparado com o melhor resultado encontrado na literatura, com 60% de acur?cia. / Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) comprise a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by social deficits and communication difficulties, repetitive behaviors, and cognitive delays. The diagnosis of ASD is largely based on behavioral measurements, which can be timeconsuming and relies on the patient cooperation and examiner expertise. In order to address this limitation, we aim to investigate neural patterns to help in the diagnosis of ASD. In this dissertation, we use deep learning techniques to extract robust characteristics from neuroimages of autistic subject brain function. Since neuroimage contains about 300,000 spatial points, with approximately 200 temporal measurements each, deep learning techniques are useful in order to extract important features to discriminate ASD subjects from non-ASD. By using denoising autoencoders, a specific deep learning technique that aims to reduce data dimensionality, we surpass the state-of-the-art by achieving 69% of accuracy, compared to 60% using the same dataset.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-25T11:52:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Cristina Reis Merli Martins.pdf: 1391280 bytes, checksum: 7de33478438070c31011d566fa2007f8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-25T11:52:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Cristina Reis Merli Martins.pdf: 1391280 bytes, checksum: 7de33478438070c31011d566fa2007f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-25 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Objectives: Assessment of oral and verbal praxias in four 4 to 7-year-old children diagnosed in Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Method: This research is an exploratory study on the evaluation of praxias in four autistic children. Oral Praxias: First, the responses presented to verbal commands are observed, and, in case of no response, performance of movement by imitation is tried. For the verbal praxias, a situation of playful interaction with the child for the recording was developed.Results: Evaluation of Oral Praxias: the assesment of praxias voiced had its worst performance presented by the youngest child, and the absence of achievement lies on two motor acts. The assessment of oral-facial praxias presented the worst performance for the youngest child. Praxias assessment with increased difficulty action being imitation the privileged way recognized by everyone in the children’s achievement. In praxias assessment involving parallel movements, Child One presents the worst result, performing one movement only, the simplest in the series. Child Three uses imitation for most achievements and finally, Child Four does not perform two movements, precisely those involving sounds. Verbal Praxias Assessments: In general the main features presented were breathy and monotonous voice, heightened pitch and intersected speech with alternations in rhythm. Every participant involved in the research showed a strong tendency to centralize the sounds in their emission. The prosody is altered in two cases, the youngest child still uses a very childish prosody, Child Two, in its turn, alters the vocal tone. Conclusion: The praxic configuration condition verified in each patient points to disorders that seem to be linked to superior processes of motor planning, called apraxia. This research has made it possible to present data that show that these children present a co-occurrence of alterations: autism and apraxia. However, these findings do not confirm a direct connection of such co-occurrence in all children with ASD / Objetivos: Avaliar as praxias oral e verbal em quatro crianças de 4 a 7 anos de idade diagnosticadas no Transtorno do Espectro Autista. Método: Esta pesquisa é um estudo exploratório sobre a avaliação de praxias em quatro crianças autistas. Praxias Orais: Em primeiro lugar são observadas as respostas apresentadas a comandos verbais, sendo que, no caso de não resposta, tenta-se a realização do movimento por imitação. Para as praxias verbais, foi criada uma situação de interação lúdica com a criança para a gravação. Resultados: Avaliação das Praxias Orais: Avaliação das praxias sonorizadas, O pior desempenho, apresentado foi da criança menor, sendo que a ausência de realização se localiza em dois atos motores. A avaliação das praxias orofaciais apresentou o pior desempenho para a criança menor. A avaliação de praxias com movimentos em sequência a dificuldade tem um incremento, sendo a imitação a maneira privilegiada por todos na realização das crianças. A avaliação de praxias envolvendo movimentos paralelos, a criança um apresenta o pior desempenho, realizando apenas um movimento, o mais simples da série. A criança três utiliza imitação para maior parte das realizações e por fim, a criança quatro não realiza dois movimentos e exatamente os que envolvem sonorização. Avaliação das Praxias Verbais: De um modo geral as características principais apresentadas foram voz soprosa e monótona, pitch agudizado e fala entrecortada, alterando o ritmo. Todos os participantes envolvidos na pesquisa apresentam uma forte tendência a centralizar os sons em sua emissão. A prosódia está alterada em dois casos, a menor de todas as crianças se utiliza de uma prosódia ainda muito infantil, a criança dois, em sua vez, altera a tonicidade vocabular. Conclusão: A condição práxica verificada em cada paciente, aponta para desordens que parecem ligadas a processos superiores de planejamento do ato motor, o que se denomina dispraxia. Esta pesquisa permitiu apresentar dados que comprovam que nestas crianças há uma co-ocorrência de alterações: autismo e dispraxia. Entretanto, estes achados não permitem apostar que tal co-ocorrência será verificada em todas as crianças com TEA

Orientador: Lucia Pereira Leite / Banca: Silvia Ester Orrú / Banca: Andrea Regina Nunes Misquiatti / Resumo: Esta pesquisa objetivou descrever e analisar como estudantes com Transtornos do Espectro Autista (TEA) percebem sua trajetória acadêmica, no contexto universitário. Participaram da investigação seis estudantes de uma universidade pública do Estado de São Paulo, que se autodeclararam com Transtornos do Espectro Autista no ato da rematrícula no sistema eletrônico de graduação da instituição. Para a coleta de dados, foi utilizada a Escala de Percepção do Suporte Social - EPSS, a Escala de Avaliação de Traços Autísticos - ATA e um roteiro norteador de entrevista. Os dados extraídos com a aplicação do roteiro de entrevista foram analisados qualitativamente, de acordo com o procedimento de núcleo de significação, descrito por Aguiar e Ozella (2006). Os dados obtidos por meio da correção da "Escala de percepção do suporte social" e da "Escala de Traços Autísticos" foram analisados quantitativamente. A média dos escores obtidos com a EPSS foi de 2,1 para o suporte prático e 1,9 para o suporte emocional. Os núcleos de significação encontrados por meio da análise das entrevistas foram: 1) Trajetória escolar básica de estudantes com TEA: experiências educacionais e dificuldades enfrentadas; 2) Trajetória Universitária de estudantes com TEA: vivências e fatores influenciadores; e 3) Significado e sentido da trajetória universitária de estudantes com TEA. Foi possível averiguar falta de percepção do suporte social, durante a graduação. Os participantes do estudo relataram principalmente a... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study aimed to describe and analyze how students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) perceive their academic trajectory in the university context. Six students from a public university in the State of Sao Paulo participated, who declared themselves to have Autism Spectrum Disorders at the time of re-enrollment in the institution's electronic system of graduation. The Social Support Perception Scale (SSPS), the Scale of Autistic Traits (SAT) and a guideline interview were used to collect data. Data extracted with the application of the guideline interview was analyzed qualitatively, according to the core meaning procedure, described by Aguiar and Ozella (2006). Data obtained through the correction of the "Social Support Perception Scale" and the "Scale of Autistic Traits" were analyzed quantitatively. The mean scores obtained with SSPS were 2.1 for practical support and 1.9 for emotional support. The nuclei of significance found through the analysis of the interviews were: 1) Basic school trajectory of students with ASD: educational experiences and difficulties faced by the students; 2) University trajectory of students with ASD: experiences and influencing factors; and 3) Meaning and sense of the university trajectory of students with ASD. It was possible to verify the lack of perception of social support during graduation. The study participants reported mainly aspects related to bullying; unprepared professionals and complications related to the condition of ASD. In... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Peer aggression can take the form of physical hostility, adverse peer pressure, teasing, shunning, and social rejection (Little, 2002). Repeated acts of peer aggression are considered peer victimization and affect children with disabilities more often than children with no reported disabilities or psychiatric disorders (Baumeister, Storch, & Geffken, 2008; Pittet, Berchtold, Akre, Michaud & Suris, 2011). Personal characteristics and contextual factors have been linked to higher rates of peer aggression and the presence of peer victimization (Baumeister, et al., 2008; Bejerot & Morthberg, 2009; Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999; Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999; Mishna, 2003). Youth who have experienced peer victimization have been found to suffer consequent loneliness, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and suicidal ideation (Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin, & Patton, 2001; Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Hunter, Boyle & Warden, 2007; Siegal, La Greca, & Harrison, 2009). The present study used a caregiver survey to investigate experiences of peer aggression and peer victimization, as well as factors linked to such victimization among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with other disabilities (OD), and without disabilities (WD). The main analyses addressed five sets of research questions. The first three research questions pertained to all three groups of participants and (1) compared rates of peer aggression and the proportion of children who experienced peer victimization between the ASD, OD and WD groups, (2) asked which personal factors were associated with peer aggression and peer victimization, and (3) asked which personal factors best predicted peer aggression and peer victimization. The last two research questions pertained to the ASD and OD groups only (disability group) and asked (1) which personal factors and contextual factors were associated with peer aggression and peer victimization, and (2) which personal factors and contextual factors best predicted peer aggression and peer victimization. The main analyses indicated that children with ASD and OD experienced significantly greater rates of peer aggression than peers in the WD group. Additionally, the ASD and OD groups of children were more likely to experience peer victimization than the WD group.Peer aggression was correlated with autistic traits, anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, thought problems, and attention problems. A multiple regression analysis indicated that the variable of anxious/depressed was the only variable that significantly contributed to the model and it accounted for approximately one-third of the variance. Caregivers whose children experienced peer victimization reported significantly higher scores in autistic characteristics, anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, thought problems, and attention problems. A forward logistic regression analysis indicated that anxious/depressed was the only variable that predicted peer victimization. The multiple regression and forward logistic regression models produced for the combined ASD and OD group were similar to the models produced during the prior analyses for all three groups. Anxious/depressed was the only variable that significantly contributed to the multiple linear regression and forward logistic regression models. Contextual variables were not correlated with peer aggression or associated with peer victimization and they did not significantly contribute to the regression models.

Two testing conditions (immediate and delayed) were used to test for the presence of imitation and emulation in typically developing and developmentally delayed children, including children with autism spectrum disorder, ranging in age from 2.8-years old and 4.0-years old, in two experiments, Experiment I (n=20), Experiment II (n=30). Using a mixed within-between design, I compared the performance of the two groups across various tasks in two testing conditions and analyzed their performance. The participants were selected because they fit the criteria of 1) being between the age of 2.5 and 4 years of age at the onset of the study, 2) had gross motor and generalized imitation in repertoire, and 3) observational learning was present. The independent variable was the test interval in both experiments across both testing conditions, immediate and delayed. The dependent variables were the unconsequated responses during the test interval (Experiment I and II). The embedded dependent variable in Experiment II was the number of 5s intervals participants interacted with a puzzle box in the free play setting. Responses were defined as imitation (copy the specific actions with point-to-point correspondence), or emulation (bring about the model’s goal by the observer’s own methods and means, no point-to-point correspondence but same end result). In the first experiment I found that although typically developing preschoolers often imitate in the short term, they were more likely to emulate in the long term when not shown again how to use the items. In contrast the participants with autism spectrum disorder were more likely to imitate across both testing conditions. My findings support evidence that typically developing children naturally shift from imitation to emulation and that children are in fact emulators in contrast to research that suggests otherwise. For those children with autism, Experiment I, supports evidence that they are potentially missing a developmental cusp (emulation). Experiment II sought to replicate the findings in Experiment I and differed in that 1) more tasks were added, 2) more participants were used, and 2) a free play observation session was added. The results from Experiment II supported the results from Experiment I, in that, all participants (typically developing and those with autism) were more likely to imitate in the short-term immediate testing condition; however, typically developing children naturally shifted to an emulative response given a delay, whereas, those children with autism continued to emit imitative behaviors given a delay, signifying that children with autism are missing the developmental cusp of emulation. The findings support the notion that emulation is a developmental cusp and that children with autism often are missing this developmental cusp.

I conducted a descriptive analysis on the emission of vocal and non-vocal social/verbal interactions between 35 dyads of preschool-aged-children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their mothers. Using previously recorded videos of 5-min isolated free-play sessions between the mother-child dyads, I transduced each occurrence of verbal operants, attempted verbal operants (i.e., emissions not reinforced by a listener), and additional verbal behaviors such as fantasy play emitted by the child, and approvals and disapprovals emitted by the mother. Each verbal behavior was defined as either vocal verbal behavior, non-lexical vocal verbal behavior, or non-vocal verbal behavior, all with a function to communicate. The procedure consisted of identifying each instance of verbal behavior emitted between the mother and child rotating across listener and speaker responses until either no response occurred, or the session concluded. The listener and speaker responses were further transduced into individual initiated conversational units (speaker-listener-speaker rotations). These data were statistically analyzed with previously collected child educational variables and mother demographic variables: child's level of verbal behavior in accordance with the Verbal Behavior Developmental Assessment-Revised (VBDA-R), number of acquired objectives on the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling International Curriculum and Inventory of Repertoires for Children from Preschool through Kindergarten (C-PIRK), the Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2) severity scores, and the scores on the Vineland-3 Adaptive Behavior Scales-Third Edition (VABS-3). The mother demographic variables were level of education and household income. The results of the study were as follow: (1) a significant relationship was shown between the child's level of verbal behavior (extracted from the VBDA-R) and performance on the C-PIRK, VABS-3, and between the ADOS-2 Modules used to assess for ASD severity; (2) the results did not show a significant difference between the child's level of verbal behavior and the number of child-initiated conversational units. The differences in the verbal behavior exchanged between the mother and child were, however, indicated across the child's form of verbal behavior - vocal, non-lexical, and non-vocal verbal behavior - emitted with the mother. Results are interpreted as parents of children without vocal verbal behavior require parent training tailored to their child's verbal developmental repertoires rather than their chronological age to ensure all communicative opportunities are captured. Educational implications, limitations, and future avenues of research are discussed.

Background. Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) report higher levels of stress and experience more marital strain and divorce than parents of typically developing children and parents of children with other disabilities. However, no studies have yet examined the relationship between parental attributions or beliefs and observed parenting behaviors for parents of children with ASD, a particularly challenging parenting context. Promising experimental and intervention studies suggest that parents’ perception of controllability can be modified, with consequential changes in parents’ actual parenting behaviors (Bugental & Happaney, 2002; Slep & O'Leary, 1998). The present dissertation seeks to extend the study of the relationship between parental cognitions and behaviors by understanding the role of cognitions for mothers in a community sample at high risk for elevated parenting stress, and by evaluating how the relationship between cognitions and parenting behaviors may vary based on the child’s level of functioning. Parenting behaviors were observed across different types of tasks intended to mimic naturalistic dyadic situations in order to identify the degree to which parenting behaviors may vary as a function of context. By identifying whether parental cognitions influence more or less competent parenting strategies, results will guide tailoring of interventions for the needs of this highly stressed population. Methods. Forty-two mother-child dyads, with children ages 2 years and 6 months to 5 years and 6 months, were included in this study. Children were students at a specialized preschool utilizing an Applied Behavior Analysis approach to education, and all participating children had a diagnosis of ASD, verified by either the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (Lord et al., 2012), a gold-standard measure of ASD, or the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition (Schopler, Van Bourgondien, Wellman, & Love, 2010) as part of their study participation. Mother-child dyads participated in several interaction tasks, including a 5-minute teaching task, 5-minutes of free play, and a 2-minute cleanup task, which were videotaped for later coding using the Psychological Multifactor Care Scale — ASD Adapted Preschool Version (Brassard, Donnelly, Hart, & Johnson, 2016). Mothers also completed questionnaires assessing parental stress, cognitions, child behavior problems, and demographic characteristics. Two cognitions were evaluated: attributions of control were measured using an adapted version of the Parent Attribution Test (Bugental, 2011; Woolfson, Taylor, & Mooney, 2011), which has previously been related to harsh parenting behaviors, particularly with maltreating families; and self-efficacy was measured using the Parenting Sense of Competence – Efficacy subscale (Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman, 1978), a widely used measure of parental self-efficacy with a positive relationship to quality of parenting. Parental stress was assessed by the Parenting Stress Index – Fourth Edition, Short Form (Abidin, 2012). Participating children’s classroom teachers completed the Communication domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales –Fourth Edition (Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Saulnier, 2016) as an assessment of children’s level of language functioning, and mothers rated their perceptions of their child’s behavioral functioning using the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). Results. Multiple regression analysis found significant direct effects of attributions of control for both positive and harsh observed parenting behaviors, and significant interactions between attributions of control, parental self-efficacy, and child language functioning for observed harsh parenting behaviors. Observed harsh parenting behaviors were also predicted by the interacting relationship between parenting stress, self-efficacy, and parent perception of child behavior problems. There was no significant difference in the relationship between parental attributions and observed parenting behaviors between each of the three task types, though harsh parenting behaviors were more frequently observed during free play, relative to teaching and cleanup tasks. Regression models controlled for parental race, parent perception of child behavior problems, and the number of adults in the home – a proxy for caregiving support. Though mothers engaged in infrequent and mild levels of harsh parenting behaviors, those who did reported higher levels of stress, lower self-efficacy, and higher attributions of control, particularly during free play. Conclusions. Parental attributions of control have been found to be a powerful and modifiable variable for maltreating samples, where mothers who believe child control is more important than adult control in impacting the outcome of a failed interaction are more likely to engage in harsh parenting. In this sample, a relationship was found in the opposite direction, in that mothers who perceived adult control as more important displayed more harsh parenting behaviors. The difference is likely related to the significantly distinctive context for parenting a child with ASD, given the unique relational and behavioral characteristics associated with the disorder. Whereas self-efficacy did not directly relate to observed parenting behaviors, it interacted with other family factors to predict parenting behaviors. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Purpose: The field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) intervention research is in need of treatment response measures that are sensitive to change and flexible enough to be used across studies. The Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC) was developed to address this need. The purpose of this work is to examine the initial reliability and validity of the BOSCC in two samples of children with ASD. Method: In a sample of 56 children participating in ongoing early intervention, the primary objectives of Study 1 were to 1) determine items for inclusion in the BOSCC coding scheme, 2) explore the relationships among items using factor analysis, 3) assess inter-rater and test-retest reliability, and 4) explore change over time. Using a sample of school-age, minimally-verbal children, the primary objectives of Study 2 were to extend the results of Study 1 to a new sample to 1) assess BOSCC changes over time, 2) compare changes in BOSCC to clinician determinations of improvement, 3) examine the relationship between change in BOSCC scores with changes in baseline cognitive skills, adaptive functioning, and ASD severity, and 4) compare changes in BOSCC scores in children who did and did not change on other standard measures. Results: Study 1 revealed that the BOSCC has high to excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability and shows convergent validity with measures of language and communication skills. The BOSCC Core total demonstrated statistically significant amounts of change over time while the ADOS Calibrated Severity Score over the same period did not. Results of Study 2 confirmed excellent inter-rater reliability but the BOSCC did not change significantly over time. Most children were identified by clinicians as improving in response to treatment. However, only 15% of children changed significantly on the BOSCC over 16 weeks of intervention. Limitations: Both studies had small samples of predominantly male, Caucasian children. When interpreting the results of these studies, it is important to consider the differences between samples, including the shorter time of treatment and more cognitively and language impaired children in Study 2. Conclusions: These studies are a first step in the development of a novel outcome measure for social-communication behaviors with applications to clinical trials and longitudinal studies. Future work should continue to explore the benefits and limitations of the BOSCC in larger independent samples.

Challenging behaviors are considered predictors of poor outcomes and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for such behaviors. There is limited research on how the functions of such behaviors and intervention strategies aimed at reducing them may differ by context. Using a researcher-designed survey, this study examined parents’ and teachers’ descriptions of the function of, and strategies for, challenging behaviors among children with and without ASD. A total of 488 respondents completed the survey, including 251 (51.5%) teachers and 237 (48.5%) parents. The participants were recruited in person and via social networking using snowballing and word-of-mouth. The study findings revealed that while both parents and teachers frequently identified avoidance/escape and attention-seeking as functions of challenging behaviors for children with and without ASD, there were some differences in their reports. Most notably, for children with ASD, 28% of parents reported children’s use of challenging behaviors to get attention at home whereas 2% reported this function at school, while 72% of the teachers indicated children’s use of challenging behaviors to seek attention at school and only 10% reported this function at home. The two most common intervention strategies identified by both teachers and parents were reinforcing positive effortful behavior and providing positive attention such as praise and acknowledgement. These finding are critical as they show the differences in the opinions towards the use of challenging behaviors in the home and school settings as reported by parents and teachers and inform future intervention efforts aimed at addressing challenging behaviors in varying contexts.