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Differences in audiovisual integration are commonly observed in autism. Temporal binding windows (TBWs) of audiovisual speech can be trained (i.e., narrowed) in non-autistic adults; this study evaluated a computer-based perceptual training in autistic youth and assessed whether treatment outcomes varied according to individual characteristics. Thirty autistic youth aged 8-21 were randomly assigned to a brief perceptual training (n = 15) or a control condition (n = 15). At post-test, the perceptual training group did not differ, on average, on TBWs for trained and untrained stimuli and perception of the McGurk illusion compared to the control group. The training benefited youth with higher language and nonverbal IQ scores; the training caused widened TBWs in youth with co-occurring cognitive and language impairments., Author(s): Jacob I. Feldman [sup.1] [sup.2] , Kacie Dunham [sup.3] [sup.4] , Gabriella E. DiCarlo [sup.3] [sup.5] [sup.6] , Margaret Cassidy [sup.7] [sup.8] , Yupeng Liu [sup.7] [sup.9] , Evan [...]

Interoception, the body's perception of its own internal states, is thought to be altered in autism, though results of empirical studies have been inconsistent. The current study systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed the extant literature comparing interoceptive outcomes between autistic (AUT) and neurotypical (NT) individuals, determining which domains of interoception demonstrate robust between-group differences. A three-level Bayesian meta-analysis compared heartbeat counting performance, heartbeat discrimination performance, heartbeat counting confidence ratings, and self-reported interoceptive attention between AUT and NT groups (15 studies; n.sub.AUT = 467, n.sub.NT = 478). Autistic participants showed significantly reduced heartbeat counting performance [g = - 0.333, CrI.sub.95% (- 0.535, - 0.138)] and higher confidence in their heartbeat counting abilities [g = 0.430, CrI.sub.95% (0.123, 0.750)], but groups were equivalent on other meta-analyzed outcomes. Implications for future interoception research in autism are discussed., Author(s): Zachary J. Williams [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] , Evan Suzman [sup.6] , Samantha L. Bordman [sup.7] , Jennifer E. Markfeld [sup.2] , Sophia M. Kaiser [sup.8] , Kacie [...]

Purpose: Differences in communication development impact long-term outcomes of children with autism. Previous research has identified factors associated with communication in children with autism, but much of the variance in communication skill remains unexplained. It has been proposed that early differences in sensory responsiveness (i.e., hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, and sensory seeking) may produce 'cascading effects' on communication. Evidence for this theory is limited, however, as relations between sensory responsiveness and communication in the earliest stages of development have not been well established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate (a) whether infants with a heightened likelihood of autism diagnosis (i.e., infants with an older sibling with autism) differ from infants at general population-level likelihood of autism (i.e., infants with an older, nonautistic sibling) on patterns of sensory responsiveness, (b) whether early sensory responsiveness is correlated with concurrent communication, and (c) whether the aforementioned between-groups differences and associations are moderated by age. Method: Participants were 40 infants (20 infants with an older sibling with autism, 20 infants with an older, nonautistic sibling) aged 12-18 months. A series of observational and parent report measures of sensory responsiveness and communication skill were administered. Results: Group differences in sensory responsiveness across the 12- to 18-month period were limited (i.e., only observed for one measure of hyporesponsiveness), though selected differences in sensory responsiveness (i.e., parent-reported hyperresponsiveness and sensory seeking) emerged between groups over this developmental window. Parent-reported hyporesponsiveness was unconditionally, negatively associated with communication skills. Associations between expressive communication and (a) parent-reported sensory seeking and (b) an observational measure of hyperresponsiveness were moderated by age. Conclusions: This study provides new insights into the nature of sensory responsiveness and theorized links with communication skill in infants at elevated and general population-level likelihood of autism diagnosis. Further work is needed to better characterize the effects of interest in a larger sample spanning a wider age range. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha. 14515542, Autism is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental condition that has been diagnosed in approximately 2 million people in the United States and tens of millions of people worldwide (Baio et al., [...]