Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research
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To investigate whether there are global white matter (WM) differences between autistic and healthy adults, we performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in 14 male adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) and 19 gender-, age-, and intelligence quotient-matched controls. We focused on individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), AS, to decrease heterogeneity caused by large variation in the cognitive profile. Previous DTI studies of ASD have mainly focused on finding local changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), two indexes used to characterize microstructural properties of WM. ⋯ Our main finding indicated that adults with AS had higher mean FA values than controls. A less complex neural structure in adults with AS could have explained the results, but no significant difference in CP was found. Our results suggest that there are global abnormalities in the WM tissue of adults with AS.
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Young people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to have heightened levels of anxiety compared with their typically developing (non-ASD) peers. The reasons for this are poorly understood, and there has been little research investigating the cognitive correlates of anxiety in individuals with ASD. Typically developing youth with anxiety disorders have frequently been found to show an attentional bias toward threatening information. ⋯ Our findings suggest that, for young people with ASD, unlike non-ASD individuals with an anxiety disorder, high levels of anxiety may not be associated with attentional bias to threat. This may indicate that anxiety in ASD has different cognitive correlates from anxiety in the typically developing population. Further conclusions, study limitations, and future directions are discussed.
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Features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and impairments on neuropsychological, tests of attention have been documented in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To date, there has been a lack of research comparing attention in adults with ASD and adults with ADHD. In study 1, 31 adults with ASD and average intellectual function completed self-report measures of ADHD symptoms. ⋯ Significant group differences were seen on measures of attentional switching; adults with ADHD were significantly faster and more inaccurate, and individuals with Asperger's syndrome showed a significantly slower and more accurate response style. Self-reported rates of ADHD among adults with ASD are significantly higher than in the general adult population and may be underdiagnosed. Adults with ASD have attentional difficulties on some neuropsychological measures.
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The primary purpose of this study was to examine the underlying factor structure of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) in a large cohort of parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A secondary goal was to examine relationships between PSI-SF factors and autism severity, child behavior problems, and parental mental health variables that have been shown to be related to parental stress in previous research. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the three-factor structure described in the PSI-SF manual [Abidin, 1995]: parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child. ⋯ Spearman's correlations revealed significant positive correlations with moderate to large effect sizes between the revised PSI-SF factors and autism severity, externalizing and internalizing child behaviors, and an index of parent mental health. The revised factors represent more narrowly defined aspects of the three original subscales of the PSI-SF and might prove to be advantageous in both research and clinical applications. Autism Res 2011,4:336-346. © 2011 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Behavioral therapies are currently the most effective interventions for treating the diagnostic symptoms of autism. We employed a mouse model of autism to evaluate components of behavioral interventions that improve sociability in mice. BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) is an inbred mouse strain that exhibits prominent behavioral phenotypes with face validity to all three diagnostic symptom categories of autism, including robust and well-replicated deficits in social approach and reciprocal social interactions. ⋯ High levels of repetitive self-grooming in BTBR were not rescued by peer-rearing with B6, indicating specificity of the intervention to the social domain. These results from a robust mouse model of autism support the interpretation that social enrichment with juvenile peers is a beneficial intervention for improving adult outcome in the social domain. This novel paradigm may prove useful for discovering factors that are essential for effective behavioral treatments, and biological mechanisms underlying effective behavioral interventions.