scholarly journals Efficient Collection and Representation of Preverbal Data in Typical and Atypical Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian B. Pokorny ◽  
Katrin D. Bartl-Pokorny ◽  
Dajie Zhang ◽  
Peter B. Marschik ◽  
Dagmar Schuller ◽  
...  

Abstract Human preverbal development refers to the period of steadily increasing vocal capacities until the emergence of a child’s first meaningful words. Over the last decades, research has intensively focused on preverbal behavior in typical development. Preverbal vocal patterns have been phonetically classified and acoustically characterized. More recently, specific preverbal phenomena were discussed to play a role as early indicators of atypical development. Recent advancements in audio signal processing and machine learning have allowed for novel approaches in preverbal behavior analysis including automatic vocalization-based differentiation of typically and atypically developing individuals. In this paper, we give a methodological overview of current strategies for collecting and acoustically representing preverbal data for intelligent audio analysis paradigms. Efficiency in the context of data collection and data representation is discussed. Following current research trends, we set a special focus on challenges that arise when dealing with preverbal data of individuals with late detected developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder or Rett syndrome.

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa E. Mash ◽  
Kimberly B. Schauder ◽  
Channing Cochran ◽  
Sohee Park ◽  
Carissa J. Cascio

Interoceptive awareness is linked to emotional and social cognition, which are impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is unknown how this ability is associated with age in either typical or atypical development. We used a standard test of interoceptive accuracy (IA) to investigate these questions in children and adults with and without ASD. Perceived number of heartbeats over 4 time intervals was compared with actual heart rate to determine IA. Effects of group, age, IQ, heart rate, and mental counting ability on accuracy were assessed using multiple regression. Post hoc correlations were performed to clarify significant interactions. Age was unrelated to IA in both groups when IQ ≥115. When IQ <115, this relationship was positive in typical development and negative in ASD. These results suggest that cognitive ability moderates the effect of age on IA differently in autism and typical development.


Author(s):  
Aleksey Grigorev ◽  
◽  
Viktor Gorodnyi

"Nowadays in Russia, there are insufficient systematized data on the degree of preparedness of medical students and graduates to interact with children with atypical development (AD). We have developed a methodological approach to assess the interaction of medical students with AD children. The work uses a perceptual experiment during which students are presented with test sequences containing speech signals of children with typical development (TD) and AD (Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders). During the perceptual experiment, the listeners’ behavior was being video-recorded in parallel to verify their answers using the FaceReader software determining the true emotional state by their facial expression. The students’ psycho-emotional status was evaluated using a battery of psychological tests before and after the perceptual experiment. Additionally, the subjects’ psychophysiological and physiological parameters were determined. At the first stage of the work, the speech of 16 TD and AD children (11 boys and 5 girls) was used, the listeners were 25 1st-year pediatric students and 5 experts in the field of child speech. The statistical analysis revealed correlations between the listeners’ psychophysiological characteristics (Russian-native speakers): the profile of functional lateral asymmetry, formation indicators of the phonemic hearing, the coefficient of lateral preference by speech and the success in recognizing the children’s gender, age, psychoneurological state (TD – developmental disorders), and the severity of disorders in AD children. The acoustic parameters of words classified by experts as “legible” and “illegible” were determined. The work is financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 19–78–00057)."


Author(s):  
Rhea Paul ◽  
Elizabeth Schoen Simmons ◽  
James Mahshie

Atypicalities of communication development are among the most common developmental disabilities. As an aspect of communication, prosody is frequently affected in children with atypical development, sometimes as one concomitant of a primary disorder and, in rarer cases, as a prominent feature of the communication profile. This chapter reviews four developmental disorders in which prosody is frequently impaired: autism spectrum disorder, developmental language disorder, cerebral palsy, and hearing loss. Brief descriptions of the impact of each of these disorders on communicative function will be presented. Effects on prosody, including prevalence of prosodic dysfunction within each disorder and the perceptual and acoustic characteristics of the associated prosodic deficits, will be explored. Strategies for assessing and treating prosodic deficits in current clinical use will be outlined. Discussion will focus on potential a etiologies for the observed prosodic deficits, using data from behavioural, genetic, neuroimaging, and electrophysiologic studies, as well as the interpretation of findings on prosodic atypicalities in light of current linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic understanding of language function. Recommendations for further research on the characteristics, assessment, and treatment of prosodic disorders in developmental disabilities will be provided.


Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132110001
Author(s):  
Kirsty L Coulter ◽  
Marianne L Barton ◽  
Diana L Robins ◽  
Wendy L Stone ◽  
Deborah A Fein

Although the early behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder have been well characterized, many behaviors are also commonly observed in young children with other developmental delays and even in those with typical development. Therefore, consideration must be given to whether a child demonstrates sufficient autism spectrum disorder symptoms to warrant this diagnosis. Using the Toddler Autism Symptom Inventory, we examined caregiver endorsement of specific behaviors in three groups of toddlers referred for autism spectrum disorder risk: those who received a best-estimate diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, those with another developmental disorder, and those who showed slight or no developmental delays and did not meet criteria for any disorder. The results revealed significant differences in symptoms among the three diagnostic groups, as well as low frequency of some DSM-5, ASD criteria, especially insistence on sameness, for those with ASD. These findings have important implications for applying the DSM-5, diagnostic criteria to toddlers. Lay abstract Children with autism show more social-communication symptoms and repetitive behaviors than children with typical development or those diagnosed with other developmental disorders; however, non-autistic children often show some behaviors that are associated with autism. We compared the behavioral reports from caregivers of children in these three groups to identify the behaviors that were specific to autism. Children with autism were found to show more of these behaviors, and behaviors that are particularly indicative of autism were identified. These behaviors included social symptoms (approaching others to interact, showing things, looking back while showing, responding to an approaching child, spontaneous imitation) and repetitive behavior symptoms (specific, inflexible play, unusual body movements, strong specific interest, carrying around an unusual object, sensory seeking, and sensory hyper-reactivity). These findings may aid professionals in determining the most appropriate diagnosis for a child between the ages of 12 and 36 months.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Lyakso ◽  
Olga Frolova ◽  
Aleksey Grigorev ◽  
Viktor Gorodnyi ◽  
Aleksandr Nikolaev

The goal of this research is to study the speech strategies of adults’ interactions with 4–7-year-old children. The participants are “mother–child” dyads with typically developing (TD, n = 40) children, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs, n = 20), Down syndrome (DS, n = 10), and “experimenter–orphan” pairs (n = 20). Spectrographic, linguistic, phonetic, and perceptual analyses (n = 465 listeners) of children’s speech and mothers’ speech (MS) are executed. The analysis of audio records by listeners (n = 10) and the elements of nonverbal behavior on the basis of video records by experts (n = 5) are made. Differences in the speech behavior strategies of mothers during interactions with TD children, children with ASD, and children with DS are revealed. The different strategies of “mother–child” interactions depending on the severity of the child’s developmental disorders and the child’s age are described. The same features of MS addressed to TD children with low levels of speech formation are used in MS directed to children with atypical development. The acoustic features of MS correlated with a high level of TD child speech development do not lead to a similar correlation in dyads with ASD and DS children. The perceptual and phonetic features of the speech of children of all groups are described.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRIS CHIN ◽  
MATTHEW S. GOODWIN ◽  
SOROUSH VOSOUGHI ◽  
DEB ROY ◽  
LETITIA R. NAIGLES

AbstractStudies investigating the development of tense/aspect in children with developmental disorders have focused on production frequency and/or relied on short spontaneous speech samples. How children with developmental disorders use future forms/constructions is also unknown. The current study expands this literature by examining frequency, consistency, and productivity of past, present, and future usage, using the Speechome Recorder, which enables collection of dense, longitudinal audio-video recordings of children's speech. Samples were collected longitudinally in a child who was previously diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, but at the time of the study exhibited only language delay [Audrey], and a typically developing child [Cleo]. While Audrey was comparable to Cleo in frequency and productivity of tense/aspect use, she was atypical in her consistency and production of an unattested future form. Examining additional measures of densely collected speech samples may reveal subtle atypicalities that are missed when relying on only few typical measures of acquisition.


Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132098772
Author(s):  
Patricia Esteban-Figuerola ◽  
Paula Morales-Hidalgo ◽  
Victoria Arija-Val ◽  
Josefa Canals-Sans

Overweight and obesity have been reported to be more prevalent in populations with autism spectrum disorder than in children with typical development. The aim of this study was to compare the anthropometric status of children with autism spectrum disorder (diagnosed and subclinical) and children with typical development and analyse which variables can affect the anthropometric and health status of children with autism spectrum disorder. We present a two-phase epidemiological study in a school population of two age groups which assesses autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, anthropometric data and bioelectrical impedance analysis. From an initial sample of 3,713 children, 79 with autism spectrum disorder, 42 with subclinical autism spectrum disorder and 350 with typical development participated in the study. Pre-schoolers with autism spectrum disorder were taller than pre-schoolers with typical development. School-age children with autism spectrum disorder showed a significantly higher body mass index and rate of overweight/obesity than children with typical development (63.4% vs 46.3%). No significant differences were found for bioelectrical impedance analysis, but school-age children with autism spectrum disorder showed a significantly higher waist circumference, waist/height ratio and cardiovascular risk than children with typical development. The quality of the diet was lower in children with autism spectrum disorder than in children with typical development. Multiple regression analyses showed that having autism spectrum disorder and internalizing psychological problems were associated with waist/height ratio and high cardiovascular risk in school-age children. Lay abstract This study makes a comparison between the growth status of pre-school and school-age children with autism spectrum disorder and typical development children. Pre-schoolers with autism spectrum disorder were taller than children with typical development. School-age children with autism spectrum disorder were more overweight/obese, had more body fat and a greater waist circumference and waist/height ratio than children with typical development. The presence of autism spectrum disorder and internalizing problems was associated with cardiovascular risk in school-age children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 861
Author(s):  
Mijna Hadders-Algra

This review discusses early diagnostics and early intervention in developmental disorders in the light of brain development. The best instruments for early detection of cerebral palsy (CP) with or without intellectual disability are neonatal magnetic resonance imaging, general movements assessment at 2–4 months and from 2–4 months onwards, the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination and Standardized Infant NeuroDevelopmental Assessment. Early detection of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is difficult; its first signs emerge at the end of the first year. Prediction with the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers and Infant Toddler Checklist is possible to some extent and improves during the second year, especially in children at familial risk of ASD. Thus, prediction improves substantially when transient brain structures have been replaced by permanent circuitries. At around 3 months the cortical subplate has dissolved in primary motor and sensory cortices; around 12 months the cortical subplate in prefrontal and parieto-temporal cortices and cerebellar external granular layer have disappeared. This review stresses that families are pivotal in early intervention. It summarizes evidence on the effectiveness of early intervention in medically fragile neonates, infants at low to moderate risk, infants with or at high risk of CP and with or at high risk of ASD.


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