Search

Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI) is effective for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parental measures are rarely included in EIBI effectiveness studies, yet parental distress and lower self-efficacy are associated with poorer child outcomes. Parents of preschoolers with ASD (N = 485) were surveyed at baseline (T1), one-year post-intervention (T2), and school entry (T3) about family distress/crisis, parental self-efficacy, and satisfaction with services in two Canadian provinces. Family distress/crisis decreased and parental self-efficacy increased from T1 to T2. Increases in self-efficacy were largely maintained at T3. Parents were highly satisfied with services. Greater satisfaction for those residing in the province utilizing a parent-coaching model suggests that parent involvement is associated with positive parent outcomes.

This study measured resource utilization and costs for pre-school autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related services in community-based sectors from multiple payer perspectives in two Canadian provinces, Nova Scotia (NS) and New Brunswick (NB), during the 12 months prior to and following the start of early intensive behavioural intervention (EIBI). The results indicate significant differences between NB and NS in utilization of services and costs to families, public sector and society. Differences can be attributed to variation in EIBI delivery models and may also be influenced by differences in diagnostic assessment practices. The study results provide resource utilization rates and costs which could be used in future economic evaluations and to inform policy making to improve outcomes for children with ASD.

The Psychoeducational Profile-3's (PEP-3) ability to estimate cognitive and language skills of 136 children (20-75 months) with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) across a range of functioning, and the association between the PEP-3 and ASD symptomatology was examined using retrospective data. PEP-3 cognitive and language measures were positively correlated with similar measures on the Child Development Inventory, the Merrill-Palmer Revised, and the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale-2. The PEP-3 sometimes provided higher or lower estimates than other measures. Significant differences were found between diagnostic groups on PEP-3 cognitive and language measures. PEP-3 cognitive scores correlated positively with scores on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Findings support the use of the PEP-3 to measure cognition and language in children with ASDs.

Seventy-nine 3- and 4-year-old children were tested on gaze-reporting ability and Wellman and Liu's (2004) continuous measure of theory of mind (ToM). Children were better able to report where someone was looking when eye and head direction were provided as a cue compared with when only eye direction cues were provided. With the exception of younger boys, a significant number of children were able to perform at better-than-chance levels in both conditions. Children performed equally well with static and dynamic displays. A composite gaze-reporting measure was only weakly correlated with overall ToM; however, analyses of individual tasks revealed that children were more likely to pass a desire-reasoning task and fail gaze reporting than the reverse. The opposite was found for the relation between gaze reporting and the belief tasks. It was suggested that the ability to understand others' subjective desires, not the ability to understand others' representational, may be a precursor to having a "mentalistic" understanding of gaze. (Contains 4 tables.)

To determine whether children with autism (CWA) would selectively imitate intentional, as opposed to accidental actions, an experimenter demonstrated either an "intentional" and an "accidental" action or two "intentional" actions on the same toy [Carpenter, Akhtar, & Tomasello ("1998a") "Infant Behavior and Development, 21," 315-330]. CWA tended to imitate the experimenter exactly. Children with developmental delay and older typically developing children (TD) reproduced only the intentional action as often as they imitated the experimenter exactly. Younger TD mostly produced only the intentional action. It is concluded that, contrary to comparison groups, the CWA did not show an appreciation of the model's intentions. Results are discussed in terms of theories of social cognition.

Tomasello, Carpenter, and Liszkowski (2007) present a comprehensive review of the infant pointing literature. They conclude that infant pointing demonstrates communicative intent from its onset, at about 1 year of age. In this commentary, it is noted that for infants to understand communicative intent, they must have a concept of self and others as intentional agents. Evidence is reviewed to argue that this is not possible until 18-24 months of age. A leaner explanation of how infants might initially succeed in pointing tasks without understanding communicative intent is considered.

An understanding of intentionality is thought to underlie developing joint attention. Similarly, early social-communicative behaviours have been argued to reflect an appreciation of adult intentionality. This study explored the relation between social-communicative behaviours during the still-face effect at 6 months and joint attention at 12 months in a longitudinal sample of 42 infants. Three types of joint attention were investigated: coordinated joint attention (infant alternates looks between an adult and objects), initiating joint attention (infant uses communicative gestures to engage or direct adult attention) and attention following (infant follows an adult's line of gaze and pointing towards an object). The still-face effect was correlated with later attention following, but not coordinated or initiating joint attention. Initiating joint attention was correlated with coordinated joint attention. We propose that the former association reflects a lower-level detection of adult intentionality rather than a higher-level interpretation of an agent's intentions towards outside entities. The findings support two bodies of research--one advocating for a distinction between types of joint attentional ability and a second proposing that infants can detect intentional actions without understanding or attributing mental states to objects.

Thirty 12- to 13-month-olds were tested to determine whether they could use the self as an analogy for understanding others' looking. Using a procedure similar to Brooks and Meltzoff (2002), we examined gaze-following when the adult's view of a target was occluded by a blindfold (blindfold without training). Some infants received experience with the blindfold's sight-blocking qualities (blindfold with training). The control was a headband condition. Gaze-following was highest in the headband condition. Gaze-following in the headband and blindfold without training conditions, but not the blindfold with training conditions, were significantly greater than zero. These results demonstrate that 12- to 13-month-olds have some understanding of the looking behaviour of others. Only weak support was found for simulation theories of the development of social cognition.

For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition, assessment and treatment services vary widely across Canada—potentially creating inequities. To highlight this, the Preschool Autism Treatment Impact study compared children's services and outcomes in New Brunswick (NB) and Nova Scotia (NS). Diagnostic practices, service delivery models, wait times, and treatment approaches differed, as did children's 1-year outcomes and costs for families and the public sector. Considering NB and NS strengths, we suggest that an optimal system would include: rapid access to high-quality diagnostic and intervention services; adherence to research-informed practice guidelines; interventions to enhance parents' skills and self-efficacy; and measures to minimize financial burdens for families. Our results also suggest that provinces/territories must do more to ensure equitable access to effective services, including sharing and reporting on national comparative data. Canadian children with ASD deserve access to effective and consistent services, no matter where they live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether children with autism (CWA) would selectively imitate intentional, as opposed to accidental actions, an experimenter demonstrated either an “intentional” and an “accidental” action or two “intentional” actions on the same toy [Carpenter, Akhtar, & Tomasello () Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 315–330]. CWA tended to imitate the experimenter exactly. Children with developmental delay and older typically developing children (TD) reproduced only the intentional action as often as they imitated the experimenter exactly. Younger TD mostly produced only the intentional action. It is concluded that, contrary to comparison groups, the CWA did not show an appreciation of the model’s intentions. Results are discussed in terms of theories of social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the possibility that perceptual-attentional constraints may affect young infants' gaze following. Conducting of gaze following experiments with three- and six-month-old infants; Positioning of moving and stationary targets; Influence of structure of environment; Ability of infants to disengage attention and initiate saccadic eye movements.