Increased Prevalence of Unusual Sensory Behaviors in Infants at Risk for, and Teens with, Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021

Autism Research

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Children with ASD receive a multitude of educational, medical, and therapeutic services. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these services came to a complete halt following strict lockdowns. Many services have resumed in a hybrid format using face to face and virtual modes of delivery. This study describes findings from the COVID-19 impact survey administered at the onset of the pandemic in a subgroup of families from the SPARK cohort (N = 6393), one of the largest ASD cohorts in the US. The differential early impact of COVID-19 on various subgroups of children with ASD and their families was examined. Caregivers of children and adolescents with ASD between 19 months and 18 years completed an online survey inquiring about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on access to services, parent concerns about the same, impact on child's ASD-related behaviors, child, and parent mental health, and the benefits/potential benefits of online/ future online services. Analysis revealed that certain demographic (age, income/ SES) and child-related factors (repetitive behaviors, language, functional, cognitive, and motor impairments, and child's understanding), as well as parent's past mental health were associated with/predicted greater service disruptions, greater ASD-related behaviors, and greater negative impact on parent mental health. In conclusion, younger children, children from low-income families, and children with greater impairment severity (more severe repetitive behaviors, language, cognitive, function, language, and motor impairments) were more negatively impacted by the pandemic through service disruptions, increased ASD-related behaviors, parent health/family impact, and found online interactions to be less beneficial. Lay SummaryThe SPARK study impact survey shows that at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents reported significant service disruptions, negative impact on their child's ASD-related behaviors as well as their own mental health; which was greater in families with younger children, children with greater ASD severity, and children from low-income families. Majority of families did not report significant benefits of online services whereas some families did. Low-income families were hopeful about receiving benefits through future online services. Overall, these findings have important implications for future clinical care delivery and healthcare policies to ensure that healthcare services are not interrupted during a potential resurgence of COVID-19 or other pandemics. A combination of inperson and online healthcare and family support services must be implemented to prevent negative health impacts in the future.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the SPARK study COVID‐19 parent survey: Early impact of the pandemic on access to services, child/parent mental health, and benefits of online services

2021

Autism Research

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“…Besides the diagnostic symptoms, children with ASD also exhibit a variety of other impairments within the sensorimotor domain that may lead to significant challenges in their activities of daily living ( 18 – 26 ). Although the exact prevalence estimates of motor impairments in ASD vary widely across studies from around 35% to over 85%, there is a growing consensus that children diagnosed with ASD exhibit motor impairments in gross and fine motor skills (e.g., bilateral coordination, gait and postural stability, handwriting, manual dexterity skills, and visuomotor control), as well as socially-embedded motor skills, including imitation, praxis (performance of skilled functional movement sequences/gestures), and interpersonal synchrony (ability to synchronize movements with those of another person) ( 19 , 22 , 27 – 38 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Creative Movement Therapies on Social Communication, Behavioral-Affective, Sensorimotor, Cognitive, and Functional Participation Skills of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Amonkar

et al. 2021

Front. Psychiatry

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting multiple developmental domains including social communication, behavioral-affective, sensorimotor, and cognitive systems. There is growing evidence for the use of holistic, whole-body, Creative Movement Therapies (CMT) such as music, dance, yoga, theater, and martial arts in addressing the multisystem impairments in ASD. We conducted a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative review of the evidence to date on the effects of CMT on multiple systems in individuals with ASD. The strongest evidence, both in terms of quantity and quality, exists for music and martial arts-based interventions followed by yoga and theater, with very limited research on dance-based approaches. Our review of 72 studies (N = 1,939 participants) across participants with ASD ranging from 3 to 65 years of age suggests that at present there is consistent evidence from high quality studies for small-to-large sized improvements in social communication skills following music and martial arts therapies and medium-to-large improvements in motor and cognitive skills following yoga and martial arts training, with insufficient evidence to date for gains in affective, sensory, and functional participation domains following CMT. Although promising, our review serves as a call for more rigorous high-quality research to assess the multisystem effects of CMT in ASD. Based on the existing literature, we discuss implications of our findings for autism researchers and also provide evidence-based guidelines for clinicians to incorporate CMT approaches in their plan of care for individuals with ASD.

“…Prospective longitudinal studies comparing AR infants to typically developing (TD) infants without a family history of ASD can help in identifying early markers of ASD and other developmental delays and have important implications for the initiation of early intervention services (Fein et al, ). Past work including our own research has identified atypicalities and delays in the perceptuomotor domain including excessive visual exploration, poor grasping, immature postural control, poor use of motor skills during early infant–caregiver interactions, and an overall diminished movement repertoire in AR infants (Bhat, Galloway, & Landa, ; Flanagan, Landa, Bhat, & Bauman, ; Focaroli, Taffoni, Parsons, Keller, & Iverson, ; Kaur, Srinivasan, & Bhat, ; Koterba, Leezenbaum, & Iverson, ; Landa & Garrett‐Mayer, ; LeBarton & Iverson, ; Libertus, Sheperd, Ross, & Landa, ; Nickel, Thatcher, Keller, Wozniak, & Iverson, ; Ozonoff et al, ; Srinivasan & Bhat, ; van Etten et al, ). In the current study, we extend this line of research to another early emerging skill, namely, object retrieval.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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

Developmental Psychobiology

2018

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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.