Background Patients with co-occurring anorexia nervosa and autism respond differently to eating disorder treatments. Previous interviews with patients with both conditions and clinicians working in eating disorder services has highlighted service and treatment adaptations might be beneficial and could improve outcomes for these individuals. Aims The aim of this study was to explore carers’ experiences of current treatment approaches for people with autism who have anorexia nervosa, and their views on how these can be improved. Method Ten carers of a loved one diagnosed with autism and anorexia nervosa were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule and the transcripts were analysed with thematic analysis. Results Four key themes emerged from the interviews: the role of autism in anorexia nervosa, carers’ problems with clinical services, the impact on carers and suggestions for future improvements. Conclusions Carers agreed that autism played a significant role in the development and maintenance of their daughters’ anorexia nervosa. However, this comorbidity does not appear to be appropriately addressed in current treatment provisions. They described several difficulties, including problems getting an autism diagnosis and the perception that eating disorder services did not accept or adapt around the condition. This resulted in feelings of frustration and isolation for families, a scenario exacerbated by a perceived lack of support or specific resources for carers of individuals on the autism spectrum. Clinical recommendations on the basis of the current and previous studies are outlined.

Background Carers of people with eating disorders (EDs) are known to experience a lack of support, high levels of unmet needs and resulting distress. Specific support and interventions for carers may benefit both the carer, and their loved one with an ED. Individuals with co-occurring autism and EDs may present with additional needs and difficulties relating to their Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) that impact their carers. However, there is a lack of research exploring whether carers of people with ASC and EDs have specific support needs, and what kinds of support may be most beneficial for this population. Methods This study used a qualitative interview design, utilising peer interviews. Eleven carers participated in interviews about their experiences as a carer, and their views on existing support systems and potential improvements. As the study took place during the initial UK coronavirus lockdown, the impact of the lockdown also emerged as a topic during the interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results Five themes were identified: challenges associated with co-occurring Autism and EDs, a lack of existing support for carers from healthcare services, the personal impact of caring for someone with both ASC and EDs, ideas for how carers can be best supported, and the impact of the coronavirus on carers. Conclusions Carers of loved ones with both ASC and EDs described the experience as having a significant personal impact on their lives, but also experienced a lack of support from healthcare services. There was a perception that caring for someone with both an ASC and EDs presents additional challenges compared to caring for someone with an ED only, and that this population therefore requires specialised support. Recommendations for possible support options, and for further research, are outlined.

The Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges for carers who are supporting people with comorbid eating disorders and autism. This project explored carers’ perceptions of an online peer-led carers’ group which aimed to provide support during the UK lockdowns in 2020.

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This study uses Ultrasound Tongue Imaging and acoustic data to investigate the articulatory strategies used by L1 English L2 French learners to produce round vowels. It has been suggested that learners have more difficulty in producing L2 phones that are "similar" to L1 phones than L2 phones that are completely "new" because learners use L1 categories to produce L2 phones (Flege, 1982; Kamiyama and Vaissiere, 2009). However, this claim is based solely on acoustic data. To this end, the present study records learners' articulatory strategies using Ultrasound during production of French round vowels /y, u, ø, o/ compared to English /u, o/. 1 L1 French speaker and 6 L2 French learners were recorded producing wordlists in French and English, using ultrasound, video recordings of lip protrusion, and audio recordings. Results show that learners do not, in fact, use L1 articulatory strategies to produce L2 phones. Additionally, articulatory data show that learners still have difficulty producing target-like tongue positions for new phones, despite having target-like acoustic productions, which may suggest that non-native vowels have an acoustic rather than an articulatory target.

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Static movement aftereffects (MAEs) were measured after adaptation to vertical square-wave luminance gratings drifting horizontally within a central window in a surrounding stationary vertical grating. The relationship between the stationary test grating and the surround was manipulated by varying the alignment of the stationary stripes in the window and those in the surround, and the type of outline separating the window and the surround [no outline, black outline (invisible on black stripes), and red outline (visible throughout its length)]. Offsetting the stripes in the window significantly increased both the duration and ratings of the strength of MAEs. Manipulating the outline had no significant effect on either measure of MAE strength. In a second experiment, in which the stationary test fields alone were presented, participants judged how segregated the test field appeared from its surround. In contrast to the MAE measures, outline as well as offset contributed to judged segregation. In a third experiment, in which test-stripe offset was systematically manipulated, segregation ratings rose with offset. However, MAE strength was greater at medium than at either small or large (180 degrees phase shift) offsets. The effects of these manipulations on the MAE are interpreted in terms of a spatial mechanism which integrates motion signals along collinear contours of the test field and surround, and so causes a reduction of motion contrast at the edges of the test field.

A listener’s ability to discriminate non-native sound contrasts has been shown to be largely influenced by the listener's native phonological system (Best et al., 2003; Tyler et al., 2014; Tskuda, 2012). Looking specifically at suprasegmental contrasts, experimental results suggest that the degree to which pitch is used to distinguish lexical items in a speaker’s L1 influences how well they are able to detect non-native tone contrasts (Schaefer & Darcy, 2014). However, these results are based only on Thai tones. The present study shows that native speakers of English (a stress language), and Mandarin (a tone language) do not perform significantly differently in their ability to perceive Vietnamese tone contrasts. Results from an ABX categorization task show that native speakers of English are not more likely to make errors in categorizing Vietnamese tones than native speakers of Mandarin, and both groups have difficulty perceiving the difference between the low falling tone and the low falling-rising tone. These results suggest that the acoustic properties of a tone, such as the register and the contour, contributes more to how well non-native speakers can discriminate a contrast than does the L1 of the listener.