Visual and auditory attention in individuals with DYRK1A and SCN2A disruptive variants.

This preliminary study sought to assess biomarkers of attention using electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking in two ultra-rare monogenic populations associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Relative to idiopathic ASD (n = 12) and neurotypical comparison (n = 49) groups, divergent attention profiles were observed for the monogenic groups, such that individuals with DYRK1A (n = 9) exhibited diminished auditory attention condition differences during an oddball EEG paradigm whereas individuals with SCN2A (n = 5) exhibited diminished visual attention condition differences noted by eye gaze tracking when viewing social interactions. Findings provide initial support for alignment of auditory and visual attention markers in idiopathic ASD and neurotypical development but not monogenic groups.

Brief Report: Perceptions of Family-Centered Care Across Service Delivery Systems and Types of Caregiver Concerns About Their Toddlers' Development.

Family-centered care represents a collaborative partnership between caregivers and service providers, and is associated with positive caregiver and child outcomes. This approach may be especially important for caregivers with early concerns about autism, as service providers are often the gateway to appropriately-specialized intervention. Perceptions of family-centered care received from primary care providers (PCPs) and Part C Early Intervention (EI) providers were rated by two groups of caregivers: those concerned about autism (n = 37) and those concerned about another developmental problem (n = 22), using the Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC-20).

Modeling temporal dynamics of face processing in youth and adults.

A hierarchical model of temporal dynamics was examined in adults ( = 34) and youth ( = 46) across the stages of face processing during the perception of static and dynamic faces. Three ERP components (P100, N170, N250) and spectral power in the mu range were extracted, corresponding to cognitive stages of face processing: low-level vision processing, structural encoding, higher-order processing, and action understanding. Youth and adults exhibited similar yet distinct patterns of hierarchical temporal dynamics such that earlier cognitive stages predicted later stages, directly and indirectly.

Parenting stress in caregivers of young children with ASD concerns prior to a formal diagnosis.

Robust findings demonstrate that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high levels of parenting stress that are associated with negative outcomes for families. Although the majority of research on parenting stress has focused on parents of children with an existing diagnosis, parents of young children with concerns about ASD-related behaviors also face many unique challenges before the time of diagnosis. However, no study to date has examined patterns of parenting stress among parents of children with ASD concerns prior to a formal ASD diagnosis.

Auditory perception is associated with implicit language learning and receptive language ability in autism spectrum disorder.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with language impairment as well as atypical auditory sensory processing. The current study investigated associations among auditory perception, implicit language learning and receptive language ability in youth with ASD.

Methods: We measured auditory event related potentials (ERP) during an artificial language statistical learning task in 76 youth with ASD and 27 neurotypical (NT) controls.

Early enhanced processing and delayed habituation to deviance sounds in autism spectrum disorder.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties processing and encoding sensory information in daily life. Cognitive response to environmental change in control individuals is naturally dynamic, meaning it habituates or reduces over time as one becomes accustomed to the deviance. The origin of atypical response to deviance in ASD may relate to differences in this dynamic habituation.

Longitudinal report of child with de novo 16p11.2 triplication.

16p11.2 deletions and duplications are commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder and linked to mirrored phenotypes of physical characteristics and higher penetrance for deletions. A male with a rare 16p11.

Exploring the heterogeneity of neural social indices for genetically distinct etiologies of autism.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous disorder. Promising initiatives utilizing interdisciplinary characterization of ASD suggest phenotypic subtypes related to specific likely gene-disrupting mutations (LGDMs). However, the role of functionally associated LGDMs in the neural social phenotype is unknown.

Infants Associate Praise and Admonishment with Fair and Unfair Individuals.

Recent evidence suggests that infants possess a rudimentary sensitivity to fairness: infants expect resources to be distributed fairly and equally, and prefer individuals that distribute resources fairly over those that do so unfairly. The goal of the present work was to determine whether infants' evaluations of fair and unfair individuals also includes an understanding that fair individuals are worthy of praise and unfair individuals are worthy of admonishment. After watching individuals distribute goods fairly or unfairly to recipients, 15-month-old (Experiments 1 and 2) and 13-month-old (Experiment 3) infants took part in a test phase in which they saw only the distributors' faces accompanied by praise or admonishment.

Modulation of mu attenuation to social stimuli in children and adults with 16p11.2 deletions and duplications.

Background: Copy number variations (CNV) within the recurrent ~600 kb chromosomal locus of 16p11.2 are associated with a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the social brain phenotype of 16p11.