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Previous research demonstrates an uneven pattern of cognitive abilities in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study examined whether this uneven pattern exists in preschool children. Participants include 24 children with high-functioning ASD and 28 typically developing (TD) children aged 4 to 6 with comparable average age and development level. No significant group difference in cognitive abilities was found between the ASD and TD group on the MANOVA. Patterns of cognitive functioning found include better performance on memory, weaker performance on language comprehension and expression, fine motor and speed of processing. Nonverbal and visual motor abilities were comparable between groups. Language expression was less impaired than language comprehension, and fine motor abilities were correlated with more cognitive abilities. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Imitation deficits are well-documented in autism although the specific nature of these deficits is not completely understood. Researchers have attempted to account for imitation deficits within the context of cognitive theories of autism but these theories have not been successful in explaining all of the gestural disturbances reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The types of gestural impairments along with error patterns observed in autism are similar to those reported in adult patients with limb apraxia. In this thesis, a neuropsychological account of apraxia was explored. A cognitive model of praxis processing that has been tested in adults with limb apraxia was adapted for a group of children with autism. An experimental battery of tasks was designed to assess the different levels of gestural processing following the cognitive model. The battery included seventeen different experimental tasks: nine tasks assessing the production of meaningful gestures across modalities (verbal, visual, tactile, and imitation); two tasks assessing the imitation of meaningless gestures; six tasks assessing gestural recognition and gesture comprehension. The main aim of the thesis was to determine if the gestural performance patterns identified in individuals with autism could be more parsimoniously explained by disorders of praxis processing than by the traditional cognitive theories of autism. More specifically the aims were: (1) Determine if an ASD group differs from a group of typically developing controls in their ability to imitate meaningful and/or meaningless gestures, (2) Determine if deficits in gesture production are task dependent (transitive, intransitive, pantomimes), (3) Determine if group differences in gesture production are better accounted for by underlying cognitive deficits in visual motor (VMI), visual perceptual (VP), and working memory abilities (listening recall, (LR) digit recall (DR) and word list matching (WLM), (4) identify the specific patterns of gestural impairments using a single case approach to analysis using results of recognition, comprehension, production and imitation tasks across gesture types. Experiments testing gesture imitation and gesture production across modalities employed a logistic regression approach to analysis which was designed to compare a group of individuals with autism to that of a typically developing control group. Five main findings emerged: (1) Individuals with autism performed more poorly in tasks of imitation and production across modalities than their typically developing peers; (2) Meaningful gesture imitation and production tasks were not performed equally, supporting the theory of task dependency; (3) The same cognitive variables predicting imitative success of meaningful gestures also predicted production success. An increase in visual perception and listening recall were associated with greater success; an increase in LR was also associated with greater success; (4) Different cognitive variables predicted imitation success of meaningless gestures. Listening recall was associated with increased success of hand imitation but not finger imitation. Finger matching was associated with higher performance of finger imitation but not hand imitation and this effect was slightly stronger in the TD group; (5) Results of the single case approach to analysis revealed that patterns of praxis processing were identified in individuals with autism that were similar to those of previously reported cases of limb apraxia. Ideational, ideomotor, and ideational with ideomotor praxic syndromes were all revealed. The results of this study confirm that the cognitive model of Cubelli and colleagues (2000) successfully predicted patterns of praxis processing in ASD thereby confirming that the deficit extends beyond imitation. Standard cognitive theories of autism were unable to accommodate all of the findings. The implications of these results and synthesis of dyspraxia and current autism theories are discussed.

This thesis is a short novel written for a high-functioning autistic audience, about a high-functioning autistic student named Roger. It works on the strengths of autistic youth to create a story to which they can relate and from which they may hopefully learn. It is a character study above anything else, and creates a young student to whom both autistic and non-autistic students alike can relate.

The use of projective assessments has a long history and tradition within psychological testing. However, there is a relative lack of research using these techniques with people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Asperger Syndrome (AS). People with ASD have common features known as the „triad of impairments‟: (a) impairments in social interaction (b) qualitative impairments in communication and (c) restricted, repetitive or stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests or attitudes. Herbert Phillipson‟s (1955) Object Relations Technique (ORT) is a well-established projective assessment that examines an individual‟s ability to describe object relationships. A review of the literature has revealed no published papers using the ORT with this client group. The ORT is a story-based assessment in which the participants respond to a set of ambiguous pictures displaying one, two, three person, or group situations and one blank plate. The test seeks to show the different ways an individual experiences, or will avoid, the particular object relationships. The expectation is that the participants will display a consistency between the four dimensions assessed and how they conduct and view relationships, and this will be reflected in the stories. Five participants were assessed using the ORT. The results were compared to the normative data supplied by Phillipson (1955). The study found that all the participants had difficulties with meeting the full criteria for the stories. Stories lacked emotional connections and interactions between the characters, with a reliance on basic emotional states. Problems were encountered in story production for the blank plate. When compared to normative data the participants displayed a range of perceptual variations in relation to the figures in the pictures. Further analysis was also conducted using Labov‟s (1972, 1982) structural analysis which revealed difficulties with including all the elements in the stories. Miles and Huberman‟s (1994) thematic analysis was also undertaken. The themes that emerged highlighted that the participants‟ stories reflected their adolescent stage of development, though these are not always clearly articulated. Overall, the study highlighted the difficulties with using the ORT with an ASD population, which affects its practicality and usefulness for assessment purposes. The possible reasons for these difficulties are discussed.

Operant conditioning techniques were used to establish imitation in the manner outlined by Baer. Countercontrol was assessed in motor and vocal imitation across four motivational levels. Three levels of food deprivation, i.e., three hour, fourteen hour, and twenty-one hour, plus a final response contingent shock level, composed the parameters.

There is limited research pertaining to the effects of exercise on the behavior of children with autism. Previous researchers focused on exploring the dimensions of the exercise itself, leaving a functional account of the effects of exercise undetermined. There is recent evidence that exercise suppresses responses maintained by automatic reinforcement. The purpose of the present study was to better identify the relevant independent variable in such research and to assess if there were differential effects of exercise across functional response classes. The experimenter conducted a trial-based functional analysis and then implemented a sedentary or vigorous activity on alternating days to determine the impact of exercise on engagement, stereotypy, and challenging behavior. Results across functional response classes were variable as were data across individual sessions. There was a mean suppression of behavior maintained by nonsocial reinforcement during post-sedentary (4.3%) and post-exercise sessions (2.3%). A discussion of the role of matched stimulation and heart rate as a pertinent variable follows.

Several evidence-based procedures based upon operant learning principles have been developed to teach language, and for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), naturalistic interventions are commonly implemented as they are both effective and developmentally appropriate. The current investigation compared contingent responsive intervention and combined intervention on the effects of language use in four children diagnosed with ASD. Results suggest that a combined intervention procedure increases target language and requests in children with simplified language (e.g., one-word phrase) as well as complex language (e.g., simple sentences).

Parents of children with autism experience high degrees of stress. Research pertaining to the reduction of parental stress in families with a child with autism is needed. In this study, the relationship between family resilience, parent gender, and parental stress was examined. Seventy-one parents of young children with autism were surveyed. Regression and correlational analyses were performed. Results indicated that the vast majority of respondents reported significantly high levels of stress. Lower degrees of parental stress were correlated with higher degrees of family resilience. Family resiliency factors were significant contributors to the shared variance in parental stress. Mothers of children demonstrated higher levels of stress than fathers. Suggested explanations of these findings are presented and clinical and research implications are provided. The findings of this study provide evidence for the importance of facilitating family resilience for parents of children with autism and affirm differing stress levels between mothers and fathers.

Early intervention is a critical component of efforts to optimize outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. One promising target for early intervention is joint attention, an early developing social-cognitive competency that is foundational to many other social, communicative, and cognitive skills; and a core deficit in children with ASD. While joint attention interventions are gaining interest among researchers, many are limited by their failure to situate joint attention development within the caregiver-child relationship and to adequately examine child and caregiver outcomes and transactional processes. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in child and caregiver joint attention actions and transactions across the course of a parent-mediated joint attention intervention. The Child-Caregiver Joint Attention coding system was developed and applied to videotaped caregiver-child interaction sessions from all phases of the Joint Attention Mediated Learning intervention. Participants included five mothers and their toddler aged sons. Joint attention actions examined included gaze alternations, pointing, showing, joint attention responding, and joint attention initiating for both children and caregivers. Four of five children demonstrated increases in gaze alternations, joint attention responding, and joint attention initiating by the end of the intervention. Three caregivers demonstrated increases in gaze alternations and joint attention responding, and four displayed increases in joint attention initiating. There was no clear pattern of change across children or caregivers in pointing or showing. All participants, with the exception of one caregiver, responded to a higher percentage of opportunities for joint attention in the final intervention phase than in Baseline, suggesting that most participants became more responsive to their social partners by the end of the intervention. The findings of this study suggest that parent-mediated joint attention interventions have the potential to promote changes in both child and caregiver joint attention actions and transactional relationships. Future research should continue to examine outcomes for both children and primary caregivers and changes in child-caregiver transactions over the course of different types of joint attention interventions in order to inform intervention development and selection, and explore mechanisms for change.