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Globally, all the articles involved 63 authors and 12 reviewers actively engaged in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and neurodevelopmental disorders. The results did not show any significant difference in the considered psychological variables between the caregivers of ASD and non-ASD people. A web survey disseminated via social media was completed by 383 individuals, of which 141 were primary caregivers of people with ASD, and 242 of them were primary caregivers of people with other conditions. [Extracted from the article]

The computational analysis of facial expressions is an emerging research topic that could overcome the limitations of human perception and get quick and objective outcomes in the assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorders, ASD). Unfortunately, there have been only a few attempts to quantify facial expression production and most of the scientific literature aims at the easier task of recognizing if either a facial expression is present or not. Some attempts to face this challenging task exist but they do not provide a comprehensive study based on the comparison between human and automatic outcomes in quantifying children's ability to produce basic emotions. Furthermore, these works do not exploit the latest solutions in computer vision and machine learning. Finally, they generally focus only on a homogeneous (in terms of cognitive capabilities) group of individuals. To fill this gap, in this paper some advanced computer vision and machine learning strategies are integrated into a framework aimed to computationally analyze how both ASD and typically developing children produce facial expressions. The framework locates and tracks a number of landmarks (virtual electromyography sensors) with the aim of monitoring facial muscle movements involved in facial expression production. The output of these virtual sensors is then fused to model the individual ability to produce facial expressions. Gathered computational outcomes have been correlated with the evaluation provided by psychologists and evidence has been given that shows how the proposed framework could be effectively exploited to deeply analyze the emotional competence of ASD children to produce facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: When COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic, many countries imposed severe lockdowns that changed families' routines and negatively impacted on parents' and children's mental health. Several studies on families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) revealed that lockdown increased the difficulties faced by individuals with ASD, as well as parental distress. No studies have analyzed the interplay between parental distress, children's emotional responses, and adaptive behaviors in children with ASD considering the period of the mandatory lockdown. Furthermore, we compared families with children on the spectrum and families with typically developing (TD) children in terms of their distress, children's emotional responses, and behavioral adaptation. Methods: In this study, 120 parents of children aged 5–10 years (53 with ASD) participated. Results: In the four tested models, children's positive and negative emotional responses mediated the impact of parental distress on children's playing activities. In the ASD group, parents reported that their children expressed more positive emotions, but fewer playing activities, than TD children. Families with children on the spectrum reported greater behavioral problems during the lockdown and more parental distress. Conclusions: Our findings inform the interventions designed for parents to reduce distress and to develop coping strategies to better manage the caregiver–child relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pediatric surveillance through screening procedures is needed to detect warning signs of risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder under 24 months of age and to promote early diagnosis and treatment. The main purpose of this study is to extend the literature regarding the psychometric properties of two screening tools, the First Year Inventory (FYI) and the Quantitative-CHecklist for Autism in Toddler (Q-CHAT), testing their criterion validity. They were administered during a three-wave approach involving the general population. At T1, 657 children were tested with the FYI and 36 of them were found to be at risk. At T2, 545 were tested with the Q-CHAT and 29 of them were found to be at risk. At T3, 12 out of the 36 children with a high score on the FYI and 11 out of the 29 children with a high score on the Q-CHAT were compared to 15 typically developing children. The criterion validity was tested considering the severity of the autistic symptoms, emotional/behavioral problems, and limited global functioning as criteria. Accuracy parameters were also calculated. Furthermore, we investigated which dimension of each questionnaire better predicted the aforementioned criterion. The results corroborated the hypotheses and confirmed the criterion validity of FYI and Q-CHAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides a systematic review of level 1 and level 2 screening tools for the early detection of autism under 24 months of age and an evaluation of the psychometric and measurement properties of their studies. Methods: Seven databases (e.g., Scopus, EBSCOhost Research Database) were screened and experts in the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) field were questioned; Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and Consensus-based Standard for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist were applied. Results: the study included 52 papers and 16 measures; most of them were questionnaires, and the Modified-CHecklist for Autism in Toddler (M-CHAT) was the most extensively tested. The measures' strengths (analytical evaluation of methodological quality according to COSMIN) and limitations (in term of Negative Predictive Value, Positive Predictive Value, sensitivity, and specificity) were described; the quality of the studies, assessed with the application of the COSMIN checklist, highlighted the necessity of further validation studies for all the measures. According to COSMIN results, the M-CHAT, First Years Inventory (FYI), and Quantitative-CHecklist for Autism in Toddler (Q-CHAT) seem to be promising measures that may be applied systematically by health professionals in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the cross-cultural generalisability of the First Year Inventory (FYI) on an Italian sample, testing its construct validity, consistency, and structural validity. Six hundred ninety-eight parents of children aged 11–13 months completed the questionnaire. Similarities between analyses of Italian and American/Israeli samples were found, as were demonstrations of the instrument's construct validity and internal consistency with both groups. The original factorial structure was not demonstrated; thus, a new factorial structure was tested, and a short version of the FYI was demonstrated via confirmatory factor analysis. The findings supported the generalisability of the Italian version of the FYI and its validity. The FYI may aid in medical decision-making on further steps for referral of the child to an early diagnostic assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a computational approach is proposed and put into practice to assess the capability of children having had diagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to produce facial expressions. The proposed approach is based on computer vision components working on sequence of images acquired by an off-the-shelf camera in unconstrained conditions. Action unit intensities are estimated by analyzing local appearance and then both temporal and geometrical relationships, learned by Convolutional Neural Networks, are exploited to regularize gathered estimates. To cope with stereotyped movements and to highlight even subtle voluntary movements of facial muscles, a personalized and contextual statistical modeling of non-emotional face is formulated and used as a reference. Experimental results demonstrate how the proposed pipeline can improve the analysis of facial expressions produced by ASD children. A comparison of system's outputs with the evaluations performed by psychologists, on the same group of ASD children, makes evident how the performed quantitative analysis of children's abilities helps to go beyond the traditional qualitative ASD assessment/diagnosis protocols, whose outcomes are affected by human limitations in observing and understanding multi-cues behaviors such as facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]