Browsing by Subject "autism spectrum disorder"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Beyond the cliff: Parent perspectives on achieving positive employment outcomes for their autistic young adult.
    (2023-06) Silveira, Cassandra
    The unemployment rate for autistic young adults after high school graduation is higher than for all other populations with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires transition planning as part of an individualized education plan (IEP) starting no later than age 16. There is evidence, however, that autistic individuals experience difficulty with the transition to adulthood and have numerous needs unmet by current educational and social service providers (Hagner et al., 2014). Research has suggested that the role of parents is of vital importance in creating pathways for their autistic child to successfully achieve adult outcomes, including competitive integrated employment (CIE). CIE is one of the desired outcomes of IEP/transition planning. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore how parents of autistic children helped them navigate post-school transition and obtain CIE. Two theories are thought to play a role in this process. Wigfield and Eccles’ (2000) expectancy value theory was extended to parent expectations as contributors to CIE for their autistic children. In parallel, Barbara Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory (2001) offers a conceptual framework to understand how positive parent expectations play a role in their child’s achievement of goals and produces an iterative cycle of higher expectations and achievements. The study identified four closely related themes - the role, expectations, and advocacy of parents, inadequacy of comprehensive transition planning, access to knowledge and limited resources, and dogged determination - that described how parents in this study were able to help their children navigate a path to CIE. Findings have implications for different stakeholders, including other parents who are just beginning the transition process with their autistic child, school staff that support them, as well as social service providers. I also describe considerations for future research and a specific role for human resource development researchers and practitioners.
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    Comparing Comprehension of Indirect Answers by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Children with Typical Development
    (2020-07) Huang, Chunyang
    Purpose Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show difficulties understanding non-literal language, such as metaphors and irony, because of their impaired theory of mind ability. The current study investigated comprehension of indirect answers as an understudied form of non-literal language by this population. There were three primary aims. The first aim compared performance on comprehension of indirect answers by children with ASD to their peers with typical development (TD). The second aim examined theory of mind and other potential contributors to comprehension of indirect answers. The third aim explored erroneous interpretations of speaker intentions by the two groups. Method Nineteen 5- to 8-year-old children with ASD and forty-eight 5- to 10-year-old children with TD participated in the study. Participants with ASD completed various standardized, norm-referenced assessments of their non-verbal IQ, receptive and expressive language ability, severity of autism symptomology, theory of mind, world knowledge, and pragmatic skills. Participants with TD completed an abbreviated protocol with one assessment of non-verbal IQ and one of expressive language ability. All participants completed an experimental task designed to measure comprehension and explanation of indirect answers. Participant responses were scored and coded using a newly established coding scheme for comparisons. Results Children with ASD performed at a level similar to their peers with TD matched on age and expressive language ability. Hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that receptive and expressive language ability and world knowledge were significant contributors to comprehension of indirect answers, whereas non-verbal IQ, severity of autism symptomology, theory of mind, and pragmatic skills might not be as important in accounting for task performance. Examination of inadequate explanations of indirect answers revealed that children with ASD had significantly more responses that were characterized as Irrelevant to Context than their peers with TD. Conclusion The novel finding that the two groups performed at a similar level suggests that comprehension of indirect answers is not a consistent weakness in language for children with ASD. Instead, it may be a strength for a subgroup with a particular cognitive and language profile. Clinically, it may be useful for speech-language pathologists to target receptive and expressive language skills as well as world knowledge to facilitate comprehension of indirect answers. Explanations that are irrelevant to context should be investigated further as a potential error type unique to this population’s metapragmatic weaknesses in interpreting speaker intentions.
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    Family Experiences: The Impact of Family Structure and Autism Spectrum Disorder on Social Outcomes
    (2016-12) Hamre, Kristin
    In the nearly two decades since tracking began, prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children has continued to rise. In order to best serve families, is important to understand the unique experiences of families who have a child with ASD. Drawing on family stress adaptation theory, and primarily on the Double ABCX Model of Adjustment, factors which contribute to a family's positive adaptation are identified and analyzed. This study investigates the relationships among families with children with ASD and a number of indicators of socioeconomic status, including public benefit usage, parental education, and income. The study also characterizes the family unit, seeking to understand the distribution of family structures in which children with ASD reside. The study sample included 22,697 families with children ages 3 to 17 surveyed in the 2014 and 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). A number of logistic regression models were run to test associations. The findings indicate that families with ASD are having different experiences than families who have children with no diagnosis of ASD on a number of outcomes. Findings include a two year pooled prevalence estimate of children with ASD of 2.25%. Additionally, population estimates of family structures for children with ASD were calculated. The effects of autism on family structure revealed children with ASD had lower odds of living in a two parent household and higher odds of living with a single mother compared to children without ASD. The effects of ASD and family structure on a number of outcomes were analyzed. Compared to two parent households with a child without an ASD diagnosis, single and two parent households with a child with ASD had higher odds of government benefit usage, higher odds of household income under $50,000, and no difference in highest parental educational attainment. These results have implications in policy and practice for families with children with autism spectrum disorder.
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    Leveraging Computer Vision and Humanoid Robots to Detect Autism in Toddlers
    (2018-12) Manner, Marie
    Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder often characterized by limited social skills, repetitive behaviors, obsessions, and/or routines. Early intervention significantly improves long-term outcomes for toddlers identified in the second year of life and is the best approach for affecting lasting positive change for children with an ASD. Research shows that children with autism especially enjoy technology, including autonomous (or seemingly autonomous) robots. Tying these together, we hypothesize that observing play interactions between very young children (2 - 4 years old) and a humanoid robot can help us identify children with autism; this first requires us to generate a very large, thoroughly characterized dataset of typically developing children. We begin with an eye tracking experiment comparing four different robots and a young human peer; this shows us which type of robot may be of most interest to children in an in-person, real-life play scenario, and if that robot is as interesting as a peer. Using the robot found to be most interesting in the eye tracking experiment, we next detail a human-robot interaction experiment that engages 2 - 4 year old children in a series of social games with a small humanoid robot; we then analyze the social distances, or proxemics, of the child throughout the interaction. To generate the proxemics data, we use a highly automated person detector which utilizes two state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks; with the proxemics and other development assessment data, we compare and group participants and discuss the implications of those results. A subset of robot interaction participants also finished the eye tracking task, so we discuss the relationship between the human-robot interactions and eye tracking results. Lastly, to validate the generalizability of our automated tracker, we test the system on two other child development experiments, a multiple-participant in-group bias play scenario for 5 and 8 year old children, and an unsolvable box task for toddlers.
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    “What Should We Do Now?”: Family Service Use and Decision-Making in Autism
    (2022-09) Brandjord, Stacey
    Autism is a developmental disability affecting multiple areas of functioning and carries significant caregiver, family, and financial loads. These two studies aim to examine family-identified intervention decision-making factors as well as service use and unmet needs of autistic individuals who are minimally verbal. The first study is a systematic review the research of parent and caregiver identified decision-making factors used when determining interventions for their autistic child. The second study uses a sequential explanatory mixed method design, leveraging quantitative data from a survey of minimally verbal (MV) autism families to inform the qualitative interview data collection. This mixed method study investigates the decision-making process of families of individuals who are minimally verbal when choosing services, potential areas of unmet need, and barriers and/or facilitators to access those services. Results from Study 1 identified 32 studies that were reviewed, with five main decision-making factors across studies. These included child-relate factors, parent perceptions, supporting evidence, logistic factors, and sources of information. Results from Study 2 suggested that MV autism families are accessing a variety of services across different sectors. While they are accessing these services, there are also areas of high unmet need with this population. Qualitative results also identified five main themes of decision-making factors: child-related factors, parent-perceptions, information gathering, service-related factors, and logistic factors.