Attention and sensory integration for postural control in young adults with autism spectrum disorders

Cham, Rakié; Iverson, Jana M.; Bailes, Anna H.; Jennings, J. Richard; Eack, Shaun M.; Redfern, Mark S.

doi:10.1007/s00221-021-06058-z

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Difficulties in multisensory integration have been documented in autistic individuals (Donohue et al, 2012). Like some forms of repetitive behavior, head movements might also serve a regulatory function, especially if children found the stimuli arousing, similar to findings in studies of postural control (Cham et al, 2021). Future research is needed to further explore the developmental course of differences in head movement dynamics in autism and elucidate their nature and neurobiological basis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Another possibility is that the head movements reflect differences in postural control. Previous studies of postural sway in autistic individuals have found that postural control difficulties increase when sensory demands are increased, such as when viewing stimuli requiring multisensory integration (Cham et al., 2021; Minshew et al., 2004). Examining the videos of toddlers with high levels of head movements in the present study revealed that the movement involves not just the head but also the upper body including trunk and shoulders, which were not captured by our computer vision algorithm, as we focused solely on the face in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Complexity analysis of head movements in autistic toddlers

Babu

Martino

Chang

et al. 2022

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Background: Early differences in sensorimotor functioning have been documented in young autistic children and infants who are later diagnosed with autism. Previous research has demonstrated that autistic toddlers exhibit more frequent head movement when viewing dynamic audiovisual stimuli, compared to neurotypical toddlers. To further explore this behavioral characteristic, in this study, computer vision (CV) analysis was used to measure several aspects of head movement dynamics of autistic and neurotypical toddlers while they watched a set of brief movies with social and nonsocial content presented on a tablet. Methods: Data were collected from 457 toddlers, 17-36 months old, during their well-child visit to four pediatric primary care clinics. Forty-one toddlers were subsequently diagnosed with autism. An application (app) displayed several brief movies on a tablet, and the toddlers watched these movies while sitting on their caregiver's lap. The front-facing camera in the tablet recorded the toddlers' behavioral responses. CV was used to measure the participants' head movement rate, movement acceleration, and complexity using multiscale entropy. Results: Autistic toddlers exhibited significantly higher rate, acceleration, and complexity in their head movements while watching the movies compared to neurotypical toddlers, regardless of the type of movie content (social vs. nonsocial). The combined features of head movement acceleration and complexity reliably distinguished the autistic and neurotypical toddlers. Conclusions: Autistic toddlers exhibit differences in their head movement dynamics when viewing audiovisual stimuli. Higher complexity of their head movements suggests that their movements were less predictable and less stable compared to neurotypical toddlers. CV offers a scalable means of detecting subtle differences in head movement dynamics, which may be helpful in identifying early behaviors associated with autism and providing insight into the nature of sensorimotor differences associated with autism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity analysis of head movements in autistic toddlers

Babu

Martino

Chang

et al. 2022

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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“…Therefore, it was confirmed that the adaptation behavior in school life was improved. These results can be inferred that various sensory stimuli through fine and gross motor activities influenced visual processing and attention [ 22 ]. In addition, it is thought that the meal utensil training and school facility use program influenced the improvement of subject A’s adaptive behavior during meal and break time activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of school-based occupational therapy program for children with disabilities in elementary school in Korea: a case study

Jeong

2024

BMC Psychol

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Background The purpose of this case study was to explore the effects of a school-based occupational therapy on children’s attention, school adaptation, sensory processing, and motor function for children in special classes in elementary school in Korea. Case presentation The subjects of this study were a 7-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder and a 9-year-old girl with intellectual disability. The school-based occupational therapy program consisted of 10 sessions and was conducted once a week for an hour and a half. The program consisted of classroom activities, use of school facilities, emotional management, and activities based on sensory integration, and was conducted as individual and group programs according to sessions. As a result of the study, all improved when the pre- and post-scores of the two children’s attention assessment, school adjustment scale, sensory processing evaluation tool for the children in school and BOT-2-SF were compared. Conclusions Although the results from two cases cannot be generalized, the findings suggest the school-based occupational therapy program may help a positive effect on the school life of children with disabilities. Further investigation is necessary.

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“…These elements provided opportunities for engaging in active, guided sensory-motor play. In addition, we conducted sensory interventions in a dedicated sensory room, which featured interactive soundboards, interactive light fiber optics, a bubble tube projector, and other devices aimed at providing multisensory stimulation and training [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Life Skills Training and Executive Function Strategies in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in Qatar: A Pilot Study of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Yousef,

Bhaskar Raj,

Nadiah

et al. 2024

Cureus

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Background and aim Executive function (EF) impairment is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF strategies are considered effective in improving the therapeutic outcomes of children with ASD. This study primarily aimed to explore whether integrating EF strategies combined with regular occupational therapy intervention is more effective in improving daily life skills (DLS) and sensory integration/processing (SI/SP) skills than regular occupational therapy alone in children with ASD and secondarily aims to assess treatment outcomes on improving visual motor integration (VMI) skills. Methods A total of 17 participants (13 males, mean age 4.29 years, standard deviation 0.66) completed the study. Following the baseline assessments, the participants were randomly assigned to the treatment group (45-minute once-weekly individual occupational therapy plus EF strategies) or control group (45-minute once-weekly individual therapy sessions alone). All participants received one intervention per week for 14 weeks. All children were systematically evaluated using a pediatric functional independent measure (WeeFIM) and the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) to assess DLS, the Short Sensory Profile 2 (SSP2) to assess SP/SI, and the Beery VMI test (Beery VMI) to assess VMI. Assessments were conducted at baseline, seven weeks, and 14 weeks of treatment. Results The analysis of the results between the treatment and control groups revealed that the treatment group had greater gains and significant differences in the mean values of both the WeeFIM and SSP2. In addition, notable distinctions were observed in the VB-MAPP transition subscale; although these differences did not reach statistical significance, they were clinically significant. Minimal differences were noted in the VMI between the two groups. Nevertheless, both groups showed statistically significant improvements across all outcome measures. Conclusions Our study provides preliminary evidence of the efficacy of EF strategies combined with regular occupational therapy for DLS, SP/SI, and VMI in children with ASD. The differences between the groups support further evaluation of the effectiveness of EF strategies for the next stage of a larger randomized clinical trial.

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Attention and sensory integration for postural control in young adults with autism spectrum disorders

Cited by 6 publications

References 45 publications

Complexity analysis of head movements in autistic toddlers

Complexity analysis of head movements in autistic toddlers

Effects of school-based occupational therapy program for children with disabilities in elementary school in Korea: a case study

Integrated Life Skills Training and Executive Function Strategies in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in Qatar: A Pilot Study of a Randomized Controlled Trial

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