Scaffolded reaching experiences encourage grasping activity in infants at high risk for autism

Libertus, Klaus; Landa, Rebecca

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01071

Cited by 38 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(90 reference statements)

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“…Of particular interest to our current findings, reduced grasping activity has been observed in 6‐month‐old infants at high risk for ASD (Libertus, Sheperd, Ross & Landa, ) and delays in motor skill development seem to increase with age in this population (Landa & Garrett‐Mayer, ; Lloyd, MacDonald & Lord, ). The long‐term benefits of motor training reported here suggest that infants at high risk for developing ASD and other disorders may benefit from motor training (Libertus & Landa, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motor training at 3 months affects object exploration 12 months later

Libertus

Joh

Needham

2015

Developmental Science

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103

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The development of new motor skills alters how infants interact with objects and people. Consequently, it has been suggested that motor skills may initiate a cascade of events influencing subsequent development. However, only correlational evidence for this assumption has been obtained thus far. The current study addressed this question experimentally by systematically varying reaching experiences in 40 three-month-old infants who were not reaching on their own yet and examining their object engagement in a longitudinal follow-up assessment 12 months later. Results revealed increased object exploration and attention focusing skills in 15-month-old infants who experienced active reaching at three months of age compared to untrained infants or infants who only passively experienced reaching. Further, grasping activity after – but not before – reaching training predicted infants’ object exploration 12 months later. These findings provide evidence for the long-term effects of reaching experiences and illustrate the cascading effects initiated by early motor skills.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motor training at 3 months affects object exploration 12 months later

Libertus

Joh

Needham

2015

Developmental Science

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103

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“…Together, previous studies show that two weeks of parent-guided active mittens training positively influences infants' reaching and grasping behaviors (Libertus & Needham, 2010; Libertus & Landa, 2014), their object exploration (Needham et al, 2002), and even their social orienting behaviors (Libertus & Needham, 2011). Further research has determined that the different components of the sticky mittens experience—being encouraged to reach for the toy, planning to bring their hand toward the toy, obtaining the toy, and controlling the toy once obtained are all important components of the active mittens experience (Libertus & Needham, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…These findings also address questions regarding the characteristics of sticky mittens experience that lead to increases in object exploration. In contrast to Needham et al (2002), Libertus & Needham (2010, 2011, 2014), and Libertus & Landa (2014), the current study involved only one short (10 minute) experimenter-guided training session. Thus, we had complete experimental control over the infants' experiences with the sticky mittens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, recent findings suggest that 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with ASD show poor grasping-related fine motor skills (Libertus, Sheperd, Ross, & Landa, 2014) – the same behaviors that increase following active sticky mittens training. Indeed, active mittens training has been found to encourage grasping behaviors in infants at high familial risk for ASD (Libertus & Landa, 2014). Although improvements in infants' object exploration and focused attention on objects has been demonstrated in typically-developing infants (Libertus et al, 2016; Wiesen et al, 2016), long-term effects of sticky mittens training for at-risk infants remains unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characteristics of brief sticky mittens training that lead to increases in object exploration

Needham

Wiesen

Hejazi

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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The onset of independent prehension marks the beginning of infants' direct interaction with the physical world. The success infants have contacting objects with their hands and arms can have both visual and auditory consequences: objects may move and collide with other objects or fall onto table surfaces. Seeing and hearing these events could have important consequences for infants' learning about objects and their subsequent behavior towards objects. The current research assesses the effects of brief object manipulation experiences and how a specific characteristic of training, auditory feedback produced by hard plastic toys colliding with a tabletop surface, affects pre-reaching infants' subsequent object exploration. In Experiment 1, infants participated in either active “sticky” mittens training or passive “non-sticky” mittens training with a set of toys; before and after this experience, infants explored a teether. Results showed that infants participating in active training increased looking toward and sustained touching of the teether from pre- to post-training, whereas infants receiving passive training decreased their looking toward and touching of the teether following training. To investigate whether infants' exploration behaviors were related to the amount of auditory feedback produced by the objects during training, in Experiment 2 data were collected from infants who received active sticky mittens training that had either more or less auditory feedback potential. Results showed more robust increases in infants' exploratory activity from pre- to post-training in the more-auditory feedback condition compared to infants' exploratory activity in the less-auditory feedback condition. These findings support the idea that active control of objects, including experiencing contingent feedback through multiple sensory modalities, promotes the development of object exploration during early infancy

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“…For instance, with repeated exposure to object retrieval tasks from 6.5 months of age, TD infants were able to successfully retrieve objects from boxes 1.5–2.5 months prior to control infants (Bojczyk & Corbetta, ). Similarly, two weeks of scaffolded reaching experiences using “sticky mittens” in 3‐month‐old AR infants led to advancements in their grasping skills (Libertus & Landa, ). Repeated active experiences with means‐end tasks may also facilitate infants’ understanding of the goal‐directed nature of means‐end and more generally tool use tasks performed by self and others (Gerson, Bekkering, & Hunnius, ; Rat‐Fischer, O'Regan, & Fagard, ; Sommerville & Woodward, ; Sommerville, Hildebrand, & Crane, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in means‐end exploration between infants at risk for autism and typically developing infants in the first 15 months of life

Srinivasan

Bhat

2018

Developmental Psychobiology

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Our study compared means‐end exploration in infants at risk (AR) for autism and typically developing (TD) infants using a nested box paradigm. Sixteen AR and 16 TD infants were observed at 9, 12, and 15 months with follow‐up at 18 and 24 months. We collected video data on three tasks involving retrieval of a small toy by opening (a) an opaque box, (b) a transparent box, and (c) two nested boxes. Dependent variables included hand bias, time to completion, bilateral hand use, problem‐solving strategies used, and tester assistance required. There were no group differences in terms of hand biases. Compared to TD infants, AR infants had lower bilateral hand use, poor problem solving skills, and required greater assistance. Both groups demonstrated age‐related improvements in motor and cognitive skills. Means‐end exploration provides a window into the bilateral coordination and motor planning/problem‐solving abilities of young infants at risk for autism. Lastly, object retrieval tasks could serve as important learning contexts for at‐risk infants.

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Scaffolded reaching experiences encourage grasping activity in infants at high risk for autism

Cited by 38 publications

References 50 publications

Motor training at 3 months affects object exploration 12 months later

Motor training at 3 months affects object exploration 12 months later

Characteristics of brief sticky mittens training that lead to increases in object exploration

Differences in means‐end exploration between infants at risk for autism and typically developing infants in the first 15 months of life

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