Brief Report: A Preference for Biological Motion Predicts a Reduction in Symptom Severity 1 Year Later in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

نویسندگان

  • Martina Franchini
  • Hilary Wood de Wilde
  • Bronwyn Glaser
  • Edouard Gentaz
  • Stephan Eliez
  • Marie Schaer
چکیده

Recent research has consistently demonstrated reduced orienting to social stimuli in samples of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, social orienting greatly varies between individual children on the spectrum. Better understanding this heterogeneity in social orienting may contribute to our comprehension of the mechanisms underlying autistic symptoms thereby improving our ability to intervene. Indeed, children on the autism spectrum who show higher levels of interest in social stimuli demonstrate reduced clinical symptoms and increased adaptive functioning. However, longitudinal studies examining the influence of social orienting on subsequent outcome are critically lacking. Here, we aim to explore the relationship between social interest at the age of 3 and changes in severity of autistic symptoms over the subsequent year, in 20 children with ASD and 20 age-matched typically developing (TD) children. A visual preference for social stimuli was measured using an eye-tracking task at baseline, consisting of a previously studied visual preference paradigm presenting biological and geometric motion side-by-side. The task was altered for the current study by alternating presentation side for each type of stimuli to keep visual perseveration from influencing participants' first fixation location. Clinical data were collected both at baseline and 1 year later at follow-up. As a group, we observed reduced interest for biological motion (BIO-M) in children with ASD compared to TD children, corroborating previous findings. We also confirmed that a preference for BIO-M is associated with better adaptive functioning in preschoolers with ASD. Most importantly, our longitudinal results showed that a preference for BIO-M strongly predicted decreased severity of diagnostic symptoms. Participants who preferred social stimuli at the age of 3 showed drastic reductions in their severity level of autistic symptoms 1 year later, whereas participants who preferred geometric stimuli showed autistic symptoms that were unchanged or more severe after 1 year. As a whole, our results suggest that a preference for BIO-M may be key to understanding the behavioral phenotype of young children with ASD, and may represent a promising candidate behavior for predicting early developmental trajectories and outcome.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Comparison of anxiety symptoms in preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorder

Introduction: Anxiety symptoms have been reported in children with autism. However, most studies have focused on school-aged children and early anxiety symptoms in preschoolers with autism and their comparison in groups of children with different symptom severity and normal children have been less addressed. So, this study sought to compare total anxiety and anxiety symptoms in children with mi...

متن کامل

Relationship Between Executive Functions and Pragmatic Language in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objectives: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have problems in communicating and social interaction skills. Moreover, deficits in pragmatic language and executive functions are among the most important causes of communication and social interaction problems in this group. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between executive functioning and two of its indices (behav...

متن کامل

Vertical Ground Reaction Force Gait Patterns During Walking in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The characteristics of vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) gait patterns in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to identify VGRF gait features that discriminate between children with ASD and the peer control group. The VGRF data were obtained from 30 children with ASD and 30 normal healthy children aged 4 to 12 years. A three-dime...

متن کامل

Relationship between Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the Severity of Symptoms in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background and Objective: Background: The present study investigates the relationship between attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and the severity of symptoms in children with autistic spectrum disorder. Methods: The study was conducted on 80 patients with autistic spectrum disorder visiting Child Psychiatric Clinic of Tehran Psychiatric Institute. The severity of autistic sympt...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره 7  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2016