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Siller, M., Morgan, L., Fuhrmeister, S., Wedderburn, Q., Schirmer, B., Chatson, E., & Gillespie, S. (2024). Feasibility and acceptability of a low-resource-intensive, transdiagnostic intervention for children with social-communication challenges in early childhood education settings. Autism,28(3), 587-599.

Abstract

Preschool classrooms provide a unique context for supporting the development of children with social-communication challenges. This study is an uncontrolled clinical trial of an adapted professional development intervention for preschool teachers (Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood). Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood is a low-resource-intensive, transdiagnostic intervention to address the learning needs of children with social-communication challenges and consists of four asynchronous online modules and three synchronous coaching sessions. The current research evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of intervention and research procedures, implemented in authentic early childhood education settings. Participants included one teacher and one target child with social-communication challenges from 25 preschool classrooms, sampled to maximize variability. Overall, the current research revealed high levels of feasibility, with 9 out of 10 benchmarks met: (a) procedures for participant recruitment reliably identified a neurodiverse sample of children with teacher-reported social-communication challenges; (b) teachers showed high levels of program engagement and Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood completion (76%); and (c) results revealed a robust pattern of gains in Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood classrooms and associations among key outcome measures (including active engagement, student teacher relationship, social-communication competencies). Implications for the design of a subsequent, larger effectiveness-implementation hybrid trial (Type 1) are discussed.

学前教室为支持有社交挑战的儿童的发展提供了一个独特的环境。本研究是一项非对照临床试验，聚焦于学前教师的适应性专业发展干预（社会情绪参与知识和童年早期技能）。社会情绪参与知识和童年早期技能是一种低资源密集型、经诊断的干预措施，用以应对有社交挑战的儿童的学习需求，包括四个异步在线模块和三个同步辅导课程。本研究评估了在真实的早期教育环境中，干预和研究程序的可行性和可接受性。参与者包括来自25对学前班的教师-社交挑战儿童组，采样以最大限度地提高多样性。总体上，本研究结果显示出较高的可行性，10个基准中有9个达到标准：(a)招募参与者的程序通过教师报告社交调挑战，可靠地确定了一个神经多样化儿童样本；(b)教师表现出高水平的参与与实施（76%）；(c)结果显示了，社会情绪参与知识和童年早期技能教室和协会在关键指标结果上（（包括积极参与、学生教师关系、社会沟通能力）），均显示出强劲的增长。本研究还讨论了后续的一个更大范围有效实施的混合试验（类型1）设计。

作者：Larissa L. Faustmann，Mareike Altgassen

摘要 The ability to create mental representations of scenes is essential for remembering, predicting, and imagining. In individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) this ability may be impaired. Considering that autistic characteristics such as weak central coherence or reduced communication abilities may disadvantage autistic

participants in traditional imagery tasks, this study attempted to use a novel task design to measure the ability of scene imagery. Thirty high-functioning adults with ASD and 27 non-autistic matched control adults were asked to describe imagined fictitious scenes using two types of scene imagery tasks. In a free imagery task, participants were asked to imagine a scene based on a given keyword. In a guided imagery task, participants had to imagine a scene based on a detailed description of the scene. Additionally, narrative abilities were assessed using the Narrative Scoring Scheme. Statistical analyses revealed no group effects in the free and guided imagery of fictional scenes. Participants with ASD performed worse than control participants in the narrative task. Narrative abilities correlated positively with performance in both imagery tasks in the ASD group only. Hence, individuals with ASD seem to show as good imagery abilities as non-autistic individuals. The results are discussed in the light of the differences between imagery and imagination and possible gender differences.

Lay Summary

The ability to imagine is an essential basis for a wide range of cognitive functions such as thinking about the future, remembering past information, or fantasizing about (im)possible events. Previous studies suggest impairments in imagery abilities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. However, we hypothesize that the traditional task designs used in past studies may have disadvantaged individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) given the tasks’ high demands on fantasy, verbal ability, and central coherence which are often compromised in ASD.Using a novel approach—taking the characteristic neural processing style in ASD into account—, we aim to re-examine imagery in this population.

摘要  创造场景的心理表征的能力对于记忆、预测和想象是必不可少的。在患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)的人中，这种能力可能会受到损害。考虑到自闭症患者的特点，如中枢连贯性较弱或沟通能力降低，在传统表象任务中可能会对自闭症参与者不利，本研究尝试使用一种新颖的任务设计来测量场景表象能力。30名患有自闭症的高功能成年人和27名非自闭症对照成年人被要求使用两种类型的场景想象任务描述想象的虚构场景。在一项自由成像任务中，参与者被要求根据给定的关键字想象一个场景。在引导式成像任务中，参与者必须根据场景的详细描述来想象场景。此外，还使用叙事评分方案评估了叙事能力。统计分析表明，在虚构场景的自由和引导意象中，没有群体效应。患有自闭症的参与者在叙事任务中的表现比对照参与者差。只有自闭症组的叙事能力与两种表象任务的表现呈正相关。因此，自闭症患者的表象能力似乎和非自闭症患者一样好。根据表象和想象之间的差异以及可能的性别差异对结果进行了讨论。

想象能力是一系列认知功能的重要基础，如思考未来、记住过去的信息或幻想可能发生的事件。先前的研究表明，自闭症谱系障碍患者的表象能力存在损害。然而，我们假设，过去研究中使用的传统任务设计可能对自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)患者不利，因为这些任务对幻想、言语能力和中央一致性的要求很高，而ASD往往会损害这些要求。使用一种新的方法–考虑到ASD特有的神经处理方式–我们的目标是重新检查这一人群中的图像。

Hillary Schiltz , Dena Gohari, Jamie Park and Catherine Lord.

Many autistic people and people with non-spectrum neurodevelopmental disabilities (e.g. intellectual disability) report feeling lonely, which can negatively impact their well-being. There is little longitudinal research, however, tracking changes

in how autistic people experience, conceptualize, and cope with loneliness throughout their lives. A longitudinal sample of 114 people, which included autistic participants and participants with neurodevelopmental disabilities, characterized experiences of loneliness, perceptions of other people’s loneliness, and strategies used to cope with loneliness from childhood to adulthood. Level of loneliness and coping strategies were coded from Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Modules 3 and 4 protocol forms. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Loneliness Ratings were correlated across time and increased from adolescence to young adulthood. The most common loneliness coping strategies were Behavioral Distraction (e.g. watching TV) and Instrumental Action (e.g. seeking social contact), which were both used by more people in adulthood than childhood. Those who used Behavioral Distraction and a greater number of coping strategies had higher Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Loneliness–Self Ratings (i.e. were lonelier) during adolescence and adulthood. Findings highlight adulthood as a particularly vulnerable time for loneliness and indicate a need for more support and social opportunities for autistic adults and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities who wish to make more social connections.

Lay abstract

We know that many autistic people feel lonely, but we don’t know whether their loneliness changes over time. Our research study followed autistic people and people with other non-spectrum neurodevelopmental disabilities from childhood through young adulthood and asked them about their loneliness. While many people told us they felt lonely or very lonely, a sizable group also told us that they do not feel lonely. We found that people who reported feeling lonely earlier in life were likely to also report feeling lonely later in life. Overall, autistic people and people with other neurodevelopmental disabilities in our study became lonelier from adolescence to adulthood. People described multiple ways they cope with feeling lonely, such as distracting themselves or reaching out to connect with another person. People who used distraction tended to be lonelier than those who did not. Our findings tell us that there is a need for greater support of social connections for many autistic people as they become adults.

摘要  许多自闭症患者和患有非谱系神经发育障碍(如智力障碍)的人报告说感到孤独，这可能会对他们的幸福感产生负面影响。然而，很少有纵向研究跟踪自闭症患者在一生中如何体验、概念化和应对孤独的变化。一项114人的纵向样本，包括自闭症参与者和有神经发育障碍的参与者，描述了孤独的经历，对其他人孤独的感知，以及从童年到成年应对孤独的策略。孤独感水平和应对策略由自闭症诊断观察量表3和4协议表编码。孤独症诊断观察表孤独感评分随时间变化呈正相关，且从青春期到成年期呈递增趋势。最常见的孤独应对策略是行为分心(例如看电视)和工具性行动(例如寻求社交)，这两种策略在成年后使用的人数都多于儿童时期。在青春期和成年期，使用行为分心和较多应对策略的自闭症诊断观察表孤独自评(即更孤独)较高。研究结果突出表明，成年是孤独的特别脆弱的时期，并表明希望建立更多社会关系的自闭症成年人和患有神经发育障碍的成年人需要更多的支持和社交机会。

我们知道许多自闭症患者感到孤独，但我们不知道他们的孤独是否会随着时间的推移而改变。我们的研究跟踪了自闭症患者和患有其他非谱系神经发育障碍的人，从童年到成年，询问他们的孤独感。虽然许多人告诉我们他们感到孤独或非常孤独，但也有相当一部分人告诉我们他们不感到孤独。我们发现，那些在生活早期感到孤独的人很可能在以后的生活中也会感到孤独。总体而言，在我们的研究中，自闭症患者和其他神经发育障碍患者从青春期到成年期变得更加孤独。人们描述了多种应对孤独感的方法，比如分散自己的注意力，或者伸手与另一个人联系。使用分心技术的人往往比不使用分心技术的人更孤独。我们的发现告诉我们，随着许多自闭症患者成年，他们需要更多的社会关系支持。