Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 170 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-112).

Title from title page (viewed April 28, 2010) Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Dept. of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-176).

Background: There is presently a lack of consistency in research designed to measure executive functioning (EF) in autism that may be attributable to lack of homogeneity or comorbid conditions (i.e. learning disability or additional diagnosis) in test samples. Aim: A systematic review focused on a subset of EF (verbal fluency: VF) was conducted, using only studies of high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA) without an additional diagnosis or learning disability. An empirical study was conducted comparing the executive functioning profile of individuals with HFA and typically developed (TD) individuals. Method: For the systematic review, 16 studies met the specified inclusion criteria, depicting 15 semantic (category), 14 phonological (letter), and 6 switching (categories) VF tasks. In order to assess potential bias, the available VF information of the included papers was scrutinised by the author and an independent clinical practitioner. For the empirical paper, 22 HFA and 22 TD participants (mean age = 28, range = 17-73, 52% male) without a comorbid condition, learning disability or brain injury completed three subtests from the WAIS-IV (vocabulary, block design and digit span) and all subtests of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Functioning System (D-KEFS). Results: For the systematic review, a minority of semantic and phonological VF studies reported a significant difference between typically developed and HFA populations. Five of the six semantic switching studies reported a significant difference between groups. All papers included were of good or adequate quality and inter-rater reliability was high. For the empirical paper, the HFA group performed significantly poorer on the switching condition of the design fluency task, semantic conditions of the verbal fluency task and on the word context task overall. No other significant differences were observed. Summary: Although the systematic review concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support that disfluency can be attributed to autistic symptomology, the empirical study found that the HFA group performed poorer than TD in semantic VF and other subtests designed to measure generating novel ‘imaginative’ ideas, without visual cues to aid performance. The deficit on these subtests was increased when there was the added condition requiring the participant to switch between newly formed concepts. Conclusions: Although in VF, results are mixed, the empirical study demonstrates that even in a group of high-functioning individuals there are still measurable differences in EF between TD and HFA samples that may not be apparent through more general cognitive testing. Implications for using a neuropsychological profile for adults with HFA are discussed.

Les TSA représentent un groupe de troubles neurodéveloppementaux défini par des déficits des interactions sociales, de la communication et des comportements restreints et répétitifs. A ce jour le diagnostic de l’autisme se fait uniquement sur la base de symptômes cliniques. Il n’existe aucun biomarqueur des TSA. Ce travail s’inscrit donc (1) dans la recherche de biomarqueurs prédictifs dans les TSA et (2) dans la mise en évidence des dysfonctions métaboliques cérébrales dans un modèle de rat (rat valproate, VPA). Pour mettre en évidence des biomarqueurs urinaires prédictifs nous avons analysé simultanément les données issues de plusieurs technologies analytiques afin d’améliorer la robustesse et la capacité prédictive des modèles statistiques. L’autre partie de la thèse consistait à caractériser et à comparer au cours du développement l’évolution du métabolome du rat VPA. Nous avons mis en évidence des perturbations des voies de la neurotransmission, énergétique, du stress oxydatif etc. Même si on ne peut pas transposer les résultats obtenus chez le rat, à l’homme, le modèle VPA permet néanmoins de mieux comprendre les perturbations physiologiques cérébrales induites par ce médicament. / ASDs are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders defined by deficits in social interaction, communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors. To date, the diagnosis of autism is made only on the basis of clinical symptoms. There is no biomarker of ASD. The aim of this work is (1) the search of predictive biomarkers in ASD and (2) the better understanding of brain metabolic dysfunctions in a rat model (valproate rat, VPA). To highlight urinary predictive biomarkers we analyzed together data from different analytical technologies in order to improve the robustness and predictive power of statistical models. The second part of the thesis was to characterize and compare the cerebral metabolome of VPA rat during development. We showed disturbances of neurotransmission, energy, oxidative stress pathways. Even if results obtained in rats cannot be transposed to humans, the VPA model still allows a better understanding the brain physiological disturbances induced by the drug.

Little is known about the factors involved in parents’ with a child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) decisions to visit a community outing with their family. The purpose of this research is to describe the factors that families consider when making a decision to visit a museum of science with their child with ASD. Data were analyzed based on data from a previous study in which observations and interviews were completed in order to describe the experiences of nine children and their families visiting a science museum. The findings indicated that families considered their child and his/her age and abilities, the community environment, and the features of the activities in the community space as a family when deciding whether their child was ready to visit the museum. Additionally, parents appeared to consider their available strategies for use while in the community when making readiness decisions. The information learned in this study may aid families who are trying to appraise whether their child is ready for a family community outing. Additionally, findings from this research may benefit museums interested in creating inclusive experiences for families with a child with ASD. Recommendations are provided for future research in the area of readiness for community outings for families with a child with ASD.

The aim of this study was to describe the humor use by an 11-year-old adolescent with ASD. Through an iterative coding process to identify a successful, unsuccessful, and neutral rating of instances of humor, we describe how does an adolescent with ASD uses humor and the functions humor serves in his interactions with a friend. We describe the personal and environmental factors that support the successful use of humor. The adolescent used two main types of humor (self-initiated and environmentally-initiated), consisting of two forms (verbal and physical). We describe 12 main behavioral indicators to identify the instances of humor. Humor appeared to sever as a means of engaging his friend and he appeared to be most successful in using humor with his friend when in a familiar environment and engaging in a familiar activity. The implications for future research are discussed.

Orientador: Olga Maria Piazentin Rolim Rodrigues / Banca: Morgana de Fatima Agostini Martins / Banca; Sadão Omote / Resumo: O Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA) pode ser definido como um transtorno do desenvolvimento neurológico com base genética, identificável na primeira infância, com prejuízo persistente na comunicação social, presença de padrões restritos e repetitivos de comportamento, interesses ou atividade, que limitam e prejudicam o desenvolvimento do indivíduo (APA, 2014). Este estudo parte do pressuposto que conhecer as características do TEA possibilita a identificação precoce dos seus sinais e, consequentemente, o encaminhamento de crianças para uma avaliação especializada. Dentro desta perspectiva, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar e descrever o conhecimento e a experiência de profissionais da educação infantil com crianças com TEA e, elaborar, implementar e avaliar a eficácia de um programa desses profissionais para a identificação precoce de sinais do transtorno. Para tal esta pesquisa foi dividida em dois estudos. O primeiro teve como objetivo investigar e descrever o conhecimento de profissionais de Educação Infantil sobre o TEA, o contato destes com este transtorno ao longo de sua carreira na educação, suas decisões ao identificar crianças com sinais de TEA, os encaminhamentos caso tenha como aluno com este diagnóstico e, sua opinião sobre a importância do diagnóstico precoce para a educação infantil. Participaram deste estudo 170 profissionais de 22 escolas da rede pública municipal de Educação Infantil de um município do interior de São Paulo. Os dados indicaram de... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Austitic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be defined as a genetic-based neurodevelopmental disorder, identifiable in early childhood, with persistent impairment in limit and impair the development of the individual (APA, 2014). This study assumes that knowing the characteristics of ASD allows the early identification of its indicators and. consequently, the referral of children to a specialized evaluation. In this perspective, this research aimed to investigate and describe the knowledge and experience of early childhood education professionals with children with ASD, and to elaborate, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a program of these professionals for the early identification of indicators of the disorder. For this, research was divided in two studies. The first one had the objective to investigate and describe: the knowledge of Early Childhood professionals about ASD: The contact of these with this disorder throughout their career in education: Their decisions in identifying children with ASD indicators: The referrals if you have a student with this diagnosis and your opinion about the importance of early diagnossis for early childhood education. A total of 170 professionals from 22 shools of the municipal public education system participated in this study. The data indicated that professionals were not aware of the definition and characteristics of the disorder, despite the fact that most professionals affirmed that they had contact with people with ASD. It was also observed the unpreparedness and insecurity of these in relation to working with children with the disorder, which indicates the need for training on the ASD for the professionals of Early Childhood Education aiming at the early identification of the same. The second study aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating a training program for early childhood education professionals for the early identification of ASD... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The thesis is dedicated to the life stories of adolescents with the Asperg syndrome and their problems in particular periods of development. The theoretical part describes every period of development from the prenatal period to the adolescence. In the next part the pervasive development and autistic spectrum defects are described, main focus is aimed to the Asperg syndrome. Subsequently problems of the family where the individual with the autism is involved, leisure time of the members of the family and their socialization are described. Practical chapter consists from the description, analysis and comparison of the problems of three chosen adolescents with Asperg syndrome.

The PEAK Relational Training Program has been recently published and favorable results for reliability and validity measures have been reported (Dixon, 2014). Results of two studies have demonstrated a high correlation with scores on the PEAK assessment scores, IQ scores as well as high reliability in scoring the PEAK assessments (Dixon, Carman, Tyler, Whiting, Enoch, & Daar, In press; Dixon, Whiting, Rowsey, & Belisle, In press). The current study evaluated normative data for Module 1 using 45 children ages 1 through 6 to validate it's utility in measuring the language of typically developing individuals. Normative data was collected and a strong positive correlation was identified between participants' age and PEAK assessment scores (r=.832, p=<.001). Implications support the use of PEAK to teach language and learning and continual investigation of its psychometric properties.

This study examined the development of social cognition in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as the influence of behavioral and molecular genetics on these higher-order cognitive abilities. Specifically, it was hypothesized that children with ASD would perform more poorly on all social cognitive tasks compared with typically developing peers. In addition, it was hypothesized that typically developing children who performed better on a simpler social cognitive task at ages 3 or 4 would perform better at follow-up (i.e., one time between the ages of 6-10). Lastly, it was hypothesized that children who had at least one risk allele in both the DRD4 and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms would perform worse than those who had at least one risk allele in either polymorphism, who, in turn, would perform worse than children without any risk alleles. The twin sample included 62 families of multiples (twins, triplets, or quadruplets) who were recruited through the Southern Illinois Twins and Siblings Study (SITSS), and the ASD sample included 25 children who were recruited from the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at SIU. Significant group differences were found for children's performance on all of the social cognitive tasks. Furthermore, results showed that some areas of social cognition (theory of mind and the understanding of non-literal language) are more influenced by genetic factors than are other cognitive skills. Lastly, results from the molecular genetic analyses suggest that basic social cognitive skills (e.g., theory of mind) may be influenced by underlying biological factors in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. The present study provided useful information on how psychological and genetic factors influence the development of social cognitive abilities in children with and without ASD.