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Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairment in producing facial expressions adapted to social contexts. Several serious games have been computed to help them dealing with facial expression recognition but very few focused on facial expression production adapted to a given social context. Method: JEMImE is a new serious game which aims to help the player to learn how to produce happiness, anger and sadness in a 3D virtual environment with social situations that should be resolved by producing the correct facial expression. He is guided in the game thanks to facial expression feedback and gauges that help him evaluating the quality of his/her production in real time. The feedbacks on the children productions are timely given by a facial expression recognition algorithm integrated in JEMImE architecture. Specific attention was paid to the visual and motivational aspects of the game. Using a brief feasibility study with children with ASD (N = 23), we evaluated the impression of the players on the game aspect and the possibility to insert algorithmic feedbacks in real time inside JEMImE. Results: During the training phase, children with ASD showed a significant progression during training for facial expression production after algorithmic autonomous feedbacks. This means children understand the challenge and that the algorithmic feedbacks are transparent enough to allow gaming. They expressed an overall good subjective experience with JEMImE in terms of ergonomics, playability, visual aspect and motivation. Conclusion: We conclude that the beta-version of JEMImE shows promising potential and that research should proceed on computing more games and scenarios to offer a longer game exposure to children to allow adequate clinical validation.

Today, it is possible to work on the developmental trajectory of autism spectrum disorders. Due to brain plasticity, the earlier the treatment, the greater the benefits. A pilot unit has been created in a day hospital, offering a quick and intensive approach, between 18 and 36 months, focused on parental skills.

Today, it is possible to work on the developmental trajectory of autism spectrum disorders. Due to brain plasticity, the earlier the treatment, the greater the benefits. A pilot unit has been created in a day hospital, offering a quick and intensive approach, between 18 and 36 months, focused on parental skills.

Being able to produce facial expressions (FEs) that are adequate given a social context is key to harmonious social development, particularly in the case of children plagued with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this paper, we introduce JEMImE, a serious game solution that aims at teaching children how to produce FEs. JEMImE is based on a FE recognition module that is learned on a large video corpus of children performing FEs. This module is validated and incorporated through multiple scenarios of gradual difficulty, ranging from a training phase where children have to perform the FEs on request, with or without an avatar model, to an in-context phase that involves many emotion-eliciting social situations with virtual characters.

Resume L’utilisation de jeux serieux pour favoriser l’emergence de capacites d’interactions sociales plus abouties chez les personnes avec autisme est de plus en plus exploree. Apres une revue de la litterature concernant les jeux serieux focalises sur la reconnaissance des emotions ayant ete proposes et utilises avec des personnes autistes, nous decrirons l’architecture d’un nouveau jeu serieux JEMImE dont l’objectif est de travailler la production emotionnelle uni et bimodale en contexte social. Nous decrirons le principal verrou technologique, a savoir la programmation d’un algorithme de reconnaissance emotionnelle capable de donner en temps reel un feed-back au joueur. Cet algorithme sera developpe suivant des principes d’apprentissage machine sur une base de donnees d’emotions produites par des enfants tout-venant recrutes dans des ecoles et specifiquement creee pour le projet.

International audience; The use of information communication technologies (ICTs) in therapy offers new perspectives for treating many domains in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) because they can be used in many different ways and settings and they are attractive to the patients. We reviewed the available literature on serious games that are used to teach social interactions to individuals with ASD. After screening the Medline, Science Direct and ACM Digital Library databases, we found a total of 31 serious games: 16 that targeted emotion recognition or production and 15 that targeted social skills. There was a significant correlation between the number of reports per year and the year of publication. Serious games appeared promising because they can support training on many different skills and they favour interactions in diverse contexts and situations, some of which may resemble real life. However, the currently available serious games exhibit some limitations: (i) most of them are developed for High-Functioning individuals; (ii) their clinical validation has rarely met the evidence-based medicine standards; (iii) the game design is not usually described; and, (iv) in many cases, the clinical validation and playability/game design are not compatible.

Background Phelan-Mc Dermid syndrome is a contiguous disorder resulting from 22q13.3 deletion implicating the SHANK3 gene. The typical phenotype includes neonatal hypotonia, moderate to severe intellectual disability, absent or delayed speech, minor dysmorphic features and autism or autistic-like behaviour. Recently, point mutations or micro-deletions of the SHANK3 gene have been identified, accompanied by a phenotype different from the initial clinically description in Phelan McDermid syndrome. Case presentation Here we present two case studies with similar psychiatric and genetic diagnosis as well as similar clinical history and evolution. The two patients were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders in childhood and presented regression with catatonia features and behavioural disorders after a stressful event during adolescence. Interestingly, both patients presented mutation/microdeletion of the SHANK3 gene, inducing a premature stop codon in exon 21. Different pharmacological treatments (antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizer drugs, antidepressants, and methylphenidate) failed to improve clinical symptoms and lead to multiple adverse events. In contrast, lithium therapy reversed clinical regression, stabilized behavioural symptoms and allowed patients to recover their pre-catatonia level of functioning, without significant side effects. Conclusion These cases support the hypothesis of a specific SHANK3 phenotype. This phenotype might be linked to catatonia-like deterioration for which lithium use could be an efficient treatment. Therefore, these cases provide an important contribution to the field of autism research, clinical genetics and possible pharmacological answers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0490-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Introduction Deficits in social cognition are major descriptors of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Measurable effects of training methods and psychological treatments have been reported in some psychiatric disorders, but few studies were conducted in the domain of neurodevelopmental disorders. Objectives The aims of the study were: 1) to investigate the use of event-related potentials (ERPs) as valuable markers of neurocognitive basis of emotional face processing in children with and without ASD; 2) to explore whether components of the ERPs can be used as potential markers of enhanced emotional processing in children with ASD who benefited from interactive computer training focused on emotion comprehension. Methods ERPs were recorded during an implicit emotion recognition task in 19 children with ASD and 11 paired controls, along with other clinical and cognitive measures. Another recording session was conducted after a two-week training with a multisensory video game performed by 12 children from the ASD group. Results Preliminary results showed that before the training, children with ASD exhibited abnormal P100 and N170 ERP components which reflect abnormal face perception strategies. After training, some of the children exhibited normalized ERP components and enhanced ERP components’ modulation by emotions. Conclusions The results are promising although the training was short and not intensive.

Adolescents with early-onset-schizophrenia (EOS) and with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit similar cognitive impairments which may be related to different neurocognitive processes. The present study aimed to compare the semantic memory structure and function in adolescents with EOS and ASD in order to highlight some fundamental similarity or distinctions between the two disorders. Adolescents with EOS (n = 16), with ASD (n = 14) and with typical development (n = 24) matched on general, verbal and performance IQ, participated to a verbal fluency task. A quantitative analysis (number of words correctly reported) was made in letter and category fluency task. Qualitative analysis (number of clusters and switches and cluster size) was made using the CFT. The semantic memory structure was derived from a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) using sequential word outputs from the CFT. Adolescents with EOS and with ASD exhibited performance reduction compared to control group. EOS and ASD exhibited similar quantitative performance and produced similar number of clusters on CFT. In contrast, qualitative analysis showed that EOS produced more switches and smaller cluster size compared to ASD. MDS analysis of the semantic memory structure revealed atypical associations of category members in EOS compared to ASD and to healthy adolescents. Despite quantitatively similar results, EOS and ASD appear to use different sematic strategies of memory search which may results from qualitative differences of the functional organization of the semantic memory. Semantic memory disorganization appear to be specific to schizophrenia and may be a considered as specific marker to the disorder.

It is widely accepted that emotion processing difficulties are involved in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). An increasing number of studies have focused on the development of training programs and have shown promising results. However, most of these programs are appropriate for individuals with high-functioning ASC (HFA) but exclude individuals with low-functioning ASC (LFA). We have developed a computer-based game called JeStiMulE based on logical skills to teach emotions to individuals with ASC, independently of their age, intellectual, verbal and academic level. The aim of the present study was to verify the usability of JeStiMulE (which is its adaptability, effectiveness and efficiency) on a heterogeneous ASC group. We hypothesized that after JeStiMulE training, a performance improvement would be found in emotion recognition tasks. A heterogeneous group of thirty-three children and adolescents with ASC received two one-hour JeStiMulE sessions per week over four weeks. In order to verify the usability of JeStiMulE, game data were collected for each participant. Furthermore, all participants were presented before and after training with five emotion recognition tasks, two including pictures of game avatars (faces and gestures) and three including pictures of real-life characters (faces, gestures and social scenes). Descriptive data showed suitable adaptability, effectiveness and efficiency of JeStiMulE. Results revealed a significant main effect of Session on avatars (ANOVA: F (1,32) = 98.48, P < .001) and on pictures of real-life characters (ANOVA: F (1,32) = 49.09, P < .001). A significant Session × Task × Emotion interaction was also found for avatars (ANOVA: F (6,192) = 2.84, P = .01). This triple interaction was close to significance for pictures of real-life characters (ANOVA: F (12,384) = 1.73, P = .057). Post-hoc analyses revealed that 30 out of 35 conditions found a significant increase after training. JeStiMulE appears to be a promising tool to teach emotion recognition not only to individuals with HFA but also those with LFA. JeStiMulE is thus based on ASC-specific skills, offering a model of logical processing of social information to compensate for difficulties with intuitive social processing. Comite de Protection des Personnes Sud Mediterranee V (CPP): reference number 11.046 ( https://cpp-sud-mediterranee-v.fr/ ).

L’essor des outils technologiques dont les tablettes tactiles font partie, ainsi que la création de nombreux logiciels et applications éducatifs destinés aux personnes avec TSA, nous ont amenée à nous intéresser à la place que l’on pourrait conférer à ces outils en orthophonie. En effet, ils font l’objet de nombreuses études scientifiques et semblent être adaptés aux particularités cognitives des personnes avec TSA parmi lesquelles on trouve un déficit dans l’acquisition linguistique et des difficultés de communication. Nous nous sommes intéressée à l’apprentissage de la lecture qui constitue un moyen de communication et de compréhension du monde environnant et avons décidé de mener une étude afin d’apprécier l’impact d’un support tactile sur le développement de l’apprentissage de la lecture chez des enfants avec TSA dont le langage n’est pas fonctionnel.

Dans le trouble du spectre autistique (TSA), on trouve une difficulté dans l’apprentissage de la cognition sociale. Une conversation entre deux personnes nécessite l’intégration d’informations d’origine multi sensorielle (MS). L’individu entend les mots et voit aussi les mouvements articulatoires et du visage de son interlocuteur. La capacité à traiter les informations d’origine MS de façon simultanée et synchrone est altérée dans plusieurs pathologies et dans le TSA. Nous supposons que l’atypie du traitement de l’information MS entrainerait un trouble de la cognition sociale dans le TSA. Nous avons mesuré les scores de rappel à 30 minutes pour 3 listes de mots. Dans la condition I (CI) la liste était présentée de façon audio seule, dans la condition II (CII) chaque mot diffusé était associé à un visage en photo, dans la condition III (CIII) chaque mot était associé à la vidéo du visage prononçant la mot. Les listes étaient homogènes au plan des caractéristiques sémantiques. Les participants avaient entre 7 et 13 ans avec un développement typique (N=19) et avec TSA (N=19). On trouve une prédominance du rappel des mots de CIII dans le groupe Typique. Le rappel des mots de CI est lui prédominant dans le groupe TSA. Nous suggérons que les informations provenant d’un support MS apportent un bénéfice pour la mémorisation à long terme dans le groupe Typique. En revanche, dans le groupe TSA le bénéfice s’observe pour des informations avec un support uni sensoriel. Nous proposons donc de développer de nouveaux outils utilisant un matériel MS pour évaluer la cognition sociale des individus avec TSA.

L'autisme appartient à la catégorie des Troubles envahissants du développement. C'est un trouble précoce, global et sévère du développement de l'enfant. Aujourd'hui, 1 enfant sur 150 naît avec un Trouble envahissant du développement. Plusieurs études mettent en évidence les effets bénéfiques d'une prise en charge précoce et intensive. Pour cela, un diagnostic et une évaluation précise des compétences et connaissances de l'enfant sont nécessaires. Actuellement, il n'existe que peu de tests orthophoniques adaptés à la pathologie autistique. Nous avons donc choisi de créer plusieurs aménagements pour des items de tests orthophoniques. En nous appuyant sur les connaissances que nous avons de l'autisme, nous avons imaginé plusieurs types d'adaptations : la présentation d'images ajoutées à l'énoncé oral, le séquençage des informations, l'ajout d'exemples et l'augmentation du temps imparti. En analysant les effets quantitatifs mais aussi qualitatifs de ces aménagements, nous avons constaté une amélioration qualitative et quantitative des productions, même si celle-ci n'est pas toujours apparente dans les résultats des tests. Une modification du comportement est également observée : les adaptations rassurent souvent la personne, qui est donc plus concentrée, attentive et détendue. Les résultats obtenus montrent l'intérêt des aménagements en situation de bilan, et ce malgré le nombre restreint de personnes constituant notre population. Mettre l'accent sur les capacités de l'enfant plus que sur ses déficits permet d'objectiver les adaptations pédagogiques à mettre en place à l'école et/ou dans l'institution prenant en charge l'enfant et de définir les bases rééducatives.

L’autisme infantile est défini par la Classification Internationale CIM 10 comme un trouble envahissant du développement grave et précoce qui affecte les relations interpersonnelles, la communication, le comportement et les intérêts. Parallèlement à ces altérations, les personnes avec autisme présentent des pics de compétences et des habiletés spéciales, notamment dans le traitement perceptif de bas niveau, sur lesquelles elles s’appuient tout au long de leur développement pour mieux appréhender leur environnement et faire des apprentissages. Le travail que nous avons réalisé s’appuie sur ces dernières données. Notre objectif était de proposer à 5 enfants avec autisme une méthode d’apprentissage globale de la lecture, spécifiquement adaptée aux particularités de leur fonctionnement cognitif et à leurs compétences dans le domaine visuel.Nous avons voulu déterminer si la méthode développée permettait un réel apprentissage de la lecture et si l’acquisition de la lecture pouvait constituer une aide à la communication et à la structuration du langage oral. Dans la première partie de notre mémoire, nous sommes revenus sur l’évolution du concept d’autisme, sa description clinique, les recherches étiologiques et les différentes prises en charge proposées aujourd’hui. Nous avons également mis l’accent sur le fonctionnement cognitif particulier des personnes autistes. Nous avons ensuite décrit les différents modèles d’apprentissage de la lecture, particulièrement ceux qui intéressent la lecture globale. Enfin, nous avons présenté notre projet et exposé la méthodologie employée.Dans la deuxième partie du mémoire nous avons analysé, globalement puis pour chaque enfant, les résultats et les effets de notre prise en charge sur l’apprentissage de la lecture, l’amélioration de la communication et du langage oral. Les résultats de notre étude tendent à valider nos hypothèses de départ en soulignant des évolutions positives dans tous les domaines systématiquement évalués ainsi que dans d’autres domaines (autonomie, socialisation, comportement…) en séance individuelle comme dans la vie quotidienne.