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This dissertation explores the functioning and participation of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their natural environments, with a focus on the preschool years. Chapter 1 provides the context for this dissertation through introducing the theoretical frameworks that were used, exploring function-based measures, and social communication functioning. Chapter 2 is a qualitative evidence synthesis of the literature to identify the cultural factors that are associated with parents’ engagement in their children’s healthcare services. This chapter highlights the challenges that parents of children with ASD faced and the importance of health providers to be culturally competent in family-centered care. Chapter 3 is a descriptive study that aims to explore the participation patterns of preschool children with ASD at home and in the community. The association of environmental factors and social communication abilities on children’s participation are also explored. This chapter emphasizes that children with ASD participated in a variety of activities at home and in the community. It also highlights the importance of supporting parents to engage their children in activities and the need for community to support their participation. Chapter 4 examines the stability of a function-based categorization system – the Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication (ACSF:SC). Children’s social communication abilities were rated using the ACSF:SC at baseline and six months. This chapter indicates that rating of social communication abilities can vary over time. Therefore, frequent assessment using the ACSF:SC is recommended for accurate identification of the child’s current social communication abilities. Chapter 5 discusses the clinical and research implications of this dissertation work. It also discusses knowledge translation opportunities and potential future work. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis consists of a series of studies examining factors associated with the abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder and their participation in daily activities. The first study provides a review of the literature examining the association between cultural backgrounds of parents and their engagement in autism child services. The second study explores the patterns of engagement in childhood activities for preschool children with autism using parent-reported measures. This study also examines the associations between environmental factors and the social communication abilities of a child and their participation in childhood activities. The third study examines the social communication abilities of children with autism using a new approach to describing levels of ability, rather than deficits. This study looks at the social communication abilities of preschool children with autism over six months. The importance of this work is that it adds to the literature by generating new knowledge on the abilities of children with autism, rather than their deficits. It also emphasizes the need for support in healthcare settings and in the community to improve these children’s participation.

The unique characteristics of people with autism influence their spatial experience and interaction with the physical environment resulting in struggles not only to them but also to their families and caregivers. This research, which drew on the therapeutic landscapes theory, aimed at exploring these challenges in home environment and the role of modifying the physical home environment in alleviating these challenges. The research employed qualitative methods on three phases: a) learning from the experience of key informants who are involved in creating or modifying the home environment of people with autism. This phase involved interviews (n=4) with architects and interviews (n=2) and a focus group (n= 9 participants) with Occupational Therapists OTs) ; b) online survey across Canada and U.S.A with families of children with autism (n=168) , and; c) in-depth diary interviews with three selected case studies of families having children with autism and living in different housing typology (house, townhouse and apartment) in the Great Toronto Area. The identified themes provided comprehensive understanding on the following: (1) the common characteristics of people with autism affecting their interaction with the built environment; (2) the physical, social and psychological challenges that affect the quality of life of children with autism and their families in their home environment and the physical elements contributing to these challenges; (3) the common home modifications adapted by families to face these challenges; and; (4) the role of home modifications in shaping home environment as a therapeutic landscapes of healing. It was evident that the implemented modifications positively affected the families’ experiences of home as a physical, social, and; symbolic space. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis advisor: Kristen Bottema-Beutel / Upon high school exit, many autistic adolescents experience a period of disengagement, whereby they are not employed, enrolled in post-secondary education, or participating in community activities. This gap in services suggests that autistic adolescents receive inadequate support in high school to prepare them for the transition to adulthood (Shattuck et al., 2012). Autistic adolescents and adults who do obtain employment opportunities are often underemployed, work fewer hours and receive less pay when compared to non-autistic people (Howlin, 2013; Roux et al., 2013). Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand the transition supports provided to autistic high school students and the experiences of autistic adults in employment contexts. In Study 1, an online survey was distributed to 21 school professionals. They were asked to report on the supports they provide the transition-age autistic youth with whom they work and the barriers that make it difficult for them to provide high quality transition services. Open-ended responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Many school professionals identified barriers that were inherent to autistic children and their families, while others described contextual features that make it difficult to provide quality transition supports. In Study 2 (a registered report), 121 autistic employees completed a battery of assessments to determine the predictors associated with job satisfaction. A linear regression revealed that social support in the workplace was significantly associated with job satisfaction, and a mediation analysis demonstrated that person-environment fit partially mediated the relationship between work volition and job satisfaction. Eight of the participants from Study 2 were recruited for participation in Study 3, where they were prompted to tell stories about their work experiences. Discourse analysis was used to understand the discursive resources that autistic adults employ in the construction of their work identities. While telling stories about their professional successes, autistic employees registered surprise at their accomplishments, imagined future interactions, and used character perspectives to construct their work identity. The findings of these studies suggest the need for more widespread training among school professionals, employers, and co-workers, to reframe current understandings of autistic people. With improved knowledge, acceptance, and support, the employment context may foster positive work experiences for autistic people. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

UBE3A is a protein with dual functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase and as a Steroid Hormone Receptor (SHR) transcriptional coactivator. It is expressed ubiquitously in tissues and has significant importance in neurons, where it is expressed exclusively from the maternal allele. Thus, while UBE3A has a wide variety of targets in various tissues, it is especially important in the brain as UBE3A regulates several aspects of neuronal growth, function, and maintenance. Therefore deficits of Ube3a cause Angelman Syndrome (AS) and increased dosage causes Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), two neurological disorders. The pathological phenotype of both diseases involves behavioral dysfunctions in learning, motor skills, and sociability. Through microarray studies, our laboratory has found that Ube3a is involved in the regulation of neuronal proteins such as CBLN1, which has been found to have significant importance in parallel fiber synapse formation onto Purkinje cells. To determine how regulation of CBLN1 occurs, mutant variants of human Ube3a isoform III were then generated. E3 ligase-dead, substrate-binding defective, nonphosphorylatable mutant, and phosphor-mimetic mutants were produced and inserted into a pLVX-IRES-mCherry vector. A quantitative transcriptional analysis demonstrated that increasing wild-type (WT) UBE3A decreased Cbln1 expression. The ligase dead mutant mimicked the WT suggesting that E3 ligase activity is not required in the regulation of Cbln1. The nonphosphorylatable mutant demonstrated an increase in Cbln1 expression, which may be due to a dominant negative effect on native UBE3A causing its degradation. The phosphor-mimetic mutant had no statistical effect. This may be due to its inability to enter the nucleus and affect transcription. The substrate-binding mutant also showed no statistical effect possibly because of its inability to bind to any substrate and that may be necessary to regulate transcription. These preliminary results demonstrate that UBE3A may be regulating CBLN1 at the transcriptional level independent of its E3 ubiquitin ligase function. Future studies will be required to more precisely determine the mechanisms involved in UBE3A’s regulation of CBLN1. / 2018-06-16T00:00:00Z

The problem of practice that has been identified is the lack of games as a social skills tool. Individuals with Autism may face many daily challenges. One of the known deficits for this population is their challenges related to social skills. One way to provide social skills instruction is through game-based strategies. When thinking about play it is not uncommon to automatically envision young children, but the inclusion of game-based play during social skills instruction can be appropriate for all age groups. As children age interventions tend to move away from the inclusion of play. In order to teach social skills the individuals must first be willing to come together as a group and interact with each other. One way to bring resistant individuals together is through play. During the pilot study of social skills training, for middle school aged students with high functioning autism, it was discovered that the inclusion of playing board games became a positive and productive way to bring resistant individuals together for the purpose of social skills training. With the inclusion of game playing as part of the social skills pilot study the results were positive interactions between individuals who initially avoided any interactions, other than negative ones, with each other. The model will be implemented with individuals who have autism and may also have other disabilities who are functioning at a much lower cognitive level. The goals of the pilot program are to increase social interactions and to improve social skills through the inclusion of play during social skills instruction. Social skills instruction requires individuals to be engaged; the inclusion of play is a natural non-threatening way to promote cooperative social interactions as a precursor to social skills instruction.