Posts tagged social skills
Articles and news from the latest research reports.
No oxytocin benefit for autism
The so-called trust hormone, oxytocin, may not improve the symptoms of children with autism, a large study led by UNSW researchers has found.
Professor Mark Dadds, of the UNSW School of Psychology, says previous research suggested that oxytocin – a hormone with powerful effects on brain activity linked to the formation of social bonds – could have benefits for children with the disorder.
“Many parents of children with autism are already obtaining and using oxytocin nasal spray with their child, and clinical trials of the spray’s effects are underway all over the world. Oxytocin has been touted as a possible new treatment, but its effects may be limited,” Professor Dadds says.
Autism is a complex condition of unknown cause in which children exhibit reduced interest in other people, impaired social communication skills and repetitive behaviours.
To determine its suitability as a general treatment Professor Dadds’ team conducted a randomised controlled clinical trial of 38 boys aged between seven and 16 years of age with autism. Half were given a nasal spray of oxytocin on four consecutive days.
The study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
“We found that, compared to a placebo, oxytocin did not significantly improve emotion recognition, social interaction skills, repetitive behaviours, or general behavioural adjustment,” says Professor Dadds.
“This is in contrast to a handful of previous smaller studies which have shown some positive effects on repetitive behaviours, social memory and emotion processing.
“These studies, however, were limited by having small numbers of participants and/or by looking at the effects of single doses of oxytocin on specific behaviours or cognitive effects while the participants had the oxytocin in their system.
“The results of our much larger study suggest caution should be exercised in recommending nasal oxytocin as a general treatment for young people with autism.”
The boys in the new study were assessed twice before treatment, three times during the treatment week, immediately afterwards and three months later, with a parent present. Factors such as eye contact with the parent, responsiveness, warmth, speech, positive body language, repetitive behaviours, and recognition of facial emotions were observed.
Research in people who are healthy shows oxytocin can increase levels of trust and eye-gazing and improve their identification of emotions in others.
One likely possibility is that many children with autism have impaired oxytocin receptor systems that do not respond properly, Professor Dadds says. But there may be a subgroup of children for whom oxytocin could be beneficial, and research is needed to determine who responds to it and how best to deliver it.
(Source: newsroom.unsw.edu.au)
Children with delayed motor skills struggle more socially
Studies have shown that children with autism often struggle socially and now new research suggests that a corresponding lack of motor skills – including catching and throwing – may further contribute to that social awkwardness.
The findings, published in the July issue of Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, add to the growing body of research highlighting the link between autism and motor skill deficits.
Lead author Megan MacDonald is an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University. She is an expert on the movement skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.
In the study, researchers looked a group of young people ages 6 to 15 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. All 35 of the students were considered high-functioning and attended typical classrooms. The researchers looked at two types of motor skills – “object-control” motor skills, which involve more precise action such as catching or throwing – and “locomotion” skills, such as running or walking. Students who struggled with object-control motor skills were more likely to have more severe social and communication skills than those who tested higher on the motor skills test.
“So much of the focus on autism has been on developing social skills, and that is very crucial,” MacDonald said. “Yet we also know there is a link between motor skills and autism, and how deficits in these physical skills play into this larger picture is not clearly understood.”
Developing motor skills can be crucial for children because students often “mask” their inability to participate in basic physical activities. A student with autism may not be participating on the playground because of a lack of social skills, but the child may also be unsure of his or her physical ability to play in these activities.
“Something which seems as simple as learning to ride a bike can be crucial for a child with autism,” MacDonald said. “Being able to ride a bike means more independence and autonomy. They can ride to the corner store or ride to a friend’s house. Those kind of small victories are huge.”
She said the ability to run, jump, throw and catch isn’t just for athletic kids – physical activity is linked not only to health, but to social skills and mental well-being.
“I often show people photos of what I like to do in my spare time – canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, and then point out that these require relatively proficient motor skills,” she said. “But that is not why I do those things. I’m doing it because I’m with my friends and having fun.”
MacDonald said the positive news for parents and educators is that motor skills can be taught.
“We have programs and interventions that we know work, and have measurable impact on motor skill development,” MacDonald said. “We need to make sure we identify the issue and get a child help as early as possible.”
(Source: oregonstate.edu)
Kelly the Robot Helps Kids Tackle Autism
Using a kid-friendly robot during behavioral therapy sessions may help some children with autism gain better social skills, a preliminary study suggests.
The study, of 19 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), found that kids tended to do better when their visit with a therapist included a robot “co-therapist.” On average, they made bigger gains in social skills such as asking “appropriate” questions, answering questions and making conversational comments.
So-called humanoid robots are already being marketed for this purpose, but there has been little research to back it up.
"Going into this study, we were skeptical," said lead researcher Joshua Diehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, who said he has no financial interest in the technology.
"We found that, to our surprise, the kids did better when the robot was added," he said.
There are still plenty of caveats, however, said Diehl, who is presenting his team’s findings Saturday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in San Sebastian, Spain.
For one, the study was small. And it’s not clear that the results seen in a controlled research setting would be the same in the real world of therapists’ offices, according to Diehl.
"I’d say this is not yet ready for prime time," he said.
ASDs are a group of developmental disorders that affect a person’s ability to communicate and interact socially. The severity of those effects range widely: Some people have mild problems socializing, but have normal to above-normal intelligence; some people have profound difficulties relating to others, and may have intellectual impairment as well.
Experts have become interested in using technology — from robots to iPads — along with standard ASD therapies because it may help bridge some of the communication issues kids have.
Human communication is complex and unpredictable, with body language, facial expressions and other subtle cues coming into the mix, explained Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks.
A robot or a computer game, on the other hand, can be programmed to be simple and predictable, and that may help kids with ASDs better process the information they are being given, Dawson said.
"Broadly speaking," she said, "we are very excited about the potential role for technology in diagnosing and treating ASDs." But she also agreed with Diehl that the findings are "very preliminary," and that researchers have a lot more to learn about how technology — robots or otherwise — fits into ASD therapies.
For the study, Diehl’s team used a humanoid robot manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics, which markets the NAO robot for use in education, including special education for kids with ASDs. The robot, which stands at about 2 feet tall, looks like a toy but it’s priced more like a small car, Diehl noted.
The NAO H25 “Academic Edition” rings up at about $16,000. (Diehl said the study was funded by government and private grants, not the manufacturer.)
The researchers had 19 kids aged 6 to 13 complete 12 behavioral therapy sessions, where a therapist worked with the child on social skills. Half of the sessions involved the robot, named Kelly, which was wheeled out so the child could practice conversing with her, while the therapist stood by.
"So the child might say, ‘Hi Kelly, how are you?’" Diehl explained. "Then Kelly would say, ‘Fine. What did you do today?’" During the non-Kelly sessions, another person entered the room and carried on the same conversation with the child that the robot would have.
On average, Diehl’s team found, kids made bigger gains from the sessions that included Kelly — based on both their interactions with their therapists, and their parents’ reports.
"There was one child who, when his dad came home from work, asked him how his day was," Diehl said. "He’d never done that before."
Still, he stressed that while the robot sessions seemed more successful on average, the children varied widely in their responses to Kelly. Going forward, Diehl said, it will be important to figure out whether there are certain kids with ASDs more likely to benefit from a robot co-therapist.
Dawson agreed that there is no one-size-fits-all ASD therapy. “Any therapy for a person with an ASD has to be individualized,” she said. The idea with any technology, she added, is to give therapists and doctors extra “tools” to work with.
A separate study presented at the same meeting looked at another type of tool. Researchers had 60 “minimally verbal” children with ASDs attend two “play-based” sessions per week, aimed at boosting their ability to speak and gesture. Half of the kids were also given a “speech-generating device,” like an iPad.
Three and six months later, children who worked with the devices were able to say more words and were quicker to take up conversational skills.
Dawson said the robot and iPad studies are just part of the growing body of research into how technology can not only aid in ASD therapies, but also help doctors diagnose the disorders or help parents manage at home.
But both Diehl and Dawson stressed that no robot or iPad is intended to stand in for human connection. The idea, after all, is to enhance kids’ ability to communicate and have relationships, Dawson noted. “Technology will never take the place of people,” she said.
The data and conclusions of research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
(Source: webmd.com)
Children of Blind Mothers Learn New Modes of Communication
A loving gaze helps firm up the bond between parent and child, building social skills that last a lifetime. But what happens when mom is blind? A new study shows that the children of sightless mothers develop healthy communication skills and can even outstrip the children of parents with normal vision.
Eye contact is one of the most important aspects of communication, according to Atsushi Senju, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London. Autistic people don’t naturally make eye contact, however, and they can become anxious when urged to do so. Children for whom face-to-face contact is drastically reduced—babies severely neglected in orphanages or children who are born blind—are more likely to have traits of autism, such as the inability to form attachments, hyperactivity, and cognitive impairment.
To determine whether eye contact is essential for developing normal communication skills, Senju and colleagues chose a less extreme example: babies whose primary caregivers (their mothers) were blind. These children had other forms of loving interaction, such as touching and talking. But the mothers were unable to follow the babies’ gaze or teach the babies to follow theirs, which normally helps children learn the importance of the eyes in communication.
Apparently, the children don’t need the help. Senju and colleagues studied five babies born to blind mothers, checking the children’s proficiency at 6 to 10 months, 12 to 15 months, and 24 to 47 months on several measures of age-appropriate communications skills. At the first two visits, babies watched videos in which a woman shifted her gaze or moved different parts of her face while corresponding changes in the baby’s face were recorded. Babies also followed the gaze of a woman sitting at a table and looking at various objects.
The babies also played with unfamiliar adults in a test that checked for autistic traits, such as the inability to maintain eye contact, not smiling in response to the adult’s smile, and being unable to switch attention from one toy to a new one. At each age, the researchers assessed the children’s visual, motor, and language skills.
When the results were compared to scores of children of “sighted” parents, the five children of blind mothers did just as well on the tests, the researchers report today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Learning to communicate with their blind mothers also seemed to give the babies some advantages. For example, even at the youngest age tested, the babies directed fewer gazes toward their mothers than to adults with normal vision, suggesting that they were already learning that strangers would communicate differently than would their mothers. When they were between 12 and 15 months old, the babies of blind mothers were also more verbal than were other children of the same age. And the youngest babies of blind mothers outscored their peers in developmental tests—especially visual tasks such as remembering the location of a hidden toy or switching their attention from one toy to a new one presented by the experimenter.
Senju likens their skills to those of children who grow up bilingual; the need to shift between modes of communication may boost the development of their social skills, he says. “Our results suggest that the babies aren’t passively copying the expressions of adults, but that they are actively learning and changing the way to best communicate with others.”
"The use of sighted babies of blind mothers is a clever and important idea," says developmental scientist Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences in Seattle. "The mother’s blindness may teach a child at an early age that certain people turn to look at things and others don’t. Apparently these little babies can learn that not everyone reacts the same way."
Meltzoff adds that there are many ways to pay attention to a child. “Doubtless, the blind mothers use touch, sounds, tugs on the arm, and tender pats on the back. Our babies want communication, love, and attention. The fact that these can come through any route is a remarkable demonstration of the adaptability of the human child.”