Theories of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have focused on altered perceptual integration of sensory features as a possible core deficit. Yet, there is little understanding of the neuronal processing of elementary sensory features in ASD. For typically developed individuals, we previously established a direct link between frequency-specific neural activity and the intensity of a specific senso...

Growing evidence suggests that a broad range of behavioral anomalies in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be linked with morphological and functional alterations in the brain. However, the neuroanatomical underpinnings of ASD have been investigated using either structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and the relationships between abnormalities...

BACKGROUND Both self-regulation and insistence on sameness (IS) are related to anxiety, which is a common feature of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we aimed to characterise the IS-self-regulation-anxiety interrelationship by investigating the potential contribution made by self-regulation, assessed via effortful control (EC), to the IS-anxiety relationship in a sample of...

To develop novel interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) core symptoms, valid, reliable, and sensitive longitudinal outcome measures are required for detecting symptom change over time. Here, we tested whether a computerized analysis of quantitative facial expression measures could act as a marker for core ASD social symptoms. Facial expression intensity values during a semi-structured...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE There is increasing recognition that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges in busy clinical environments such as the emergency department (ED). ASD may heighten adverse responses to sensory input or transitions, which can impose greater difficulty for a child to cope with situational demands. These problems can be amplified in the ED because...

Mental and physical benefits of dogs have been reported for adults and children with special needs, but less is known about benefits of cats for children. A cat that can be held by a child could provide important therapeutic companionship for children with severe or less severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who otherwise may lack prosocial behaviors. Because relatively little is known about th...

CONTEXT A growing body of evidence suggests that aberrant immunologic systems underlie the pathophysiologic characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, to our knowledge, no information is available on the patterns of distribution of microglial activation in the brain in ASD. OBJECTIVES To identify brain regions associated with excessively activated microglia in the whole brain...

Socially assistive robots may help the treatment of autism spectrum disorder(ASD), through games using dyadic interactions to train social skills. Existing systems are mainly based on simplified protocols which qualitatively evaluate subject performance. We propose a robotic coaching platform for training social, motor and cognitive capabilities, with two main contributions: (i) triadic interac...

OBJECTIVES This study assessed the ability of live/real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) in measuring (1) atrial septal defect (ASD) maximum dimension, area, and adjacent rim size, (2) ASD occluder left and right atrial disk size, (3) length of contact between the left atrial (LA) disk and the aorta, and in (4) assessing device related complications such as residu...