Title: A Six‐Minute Measure of Vocalizations in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract
To improve early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we need objective, reliable, and accessible measures. To that end, a previous study demonstrated that a tablet‐based application (app) that assessed several autism risk behaviors distinguished between toddlers with ASD and non‐ASD toddlers. Using vocal data collected during this study, we investigated whether vocalizations uttered during administration of this app can distinguish among toddlers aged 16–31 months with typical development (TD), language or developmental delay (DLD), and ASD. Participant's visual and vocal responses were recorded using the camera and microphone in a tablet while toddlers watched movies designed to elicit behaviors associated with risk for ASD. Vocalizations were then coded offline. Results showed that (a) children with ASD and DLD were less likely to produce words during app administration than TD participants; (b) the ratio of syllabic vocalizations to all vocalizations was higher among TD than ASD or DLD participants; and (c) the rates of nonsyllabic vocalizations were higher in the ASD group than in either the TD or DLD groups. Those producing more nonsyllabic vocalizations were 24 times more likely to be diagnosed with ASD. These results lend support to previous findings that early vocalizations might be useful in identifying risk for ASD in toddlers and demonstrate the feasibility of using a scalable tablet‐based app for assessing vocalizations in the context of a routine pediatric visit.
Carpenter, Kimberly L. H.; Hahemi, Jordan; Campbell, Kathleen; Lippmann, Steven J.; Baker, Jeffrey P.; Egger, Helen L.; Espinosa, Steven; Vermeer, Saritha; Sapiro, Guillermo; Dawson, Geraldine(
, Autism Research)
Commonly used screening tools for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally rely on subjective caregiver questionnaires. While behavioral observation is more objective, it is also expensive, time‐consuming, and requires significant expertise to perform. As such, there remains a critical need to develop feasible, scalable, and reliable tools that can characterize ASD risk behaviors. This study assessed the utility of a tablet‐based behavioral assessment for eliciting and detecting one type of risk behavior, namely, patterns of facial expression, in 104 toddlers (ASDN= 22) and evaluated whether such patterns differentiated toddlers with and without ASD. The assessment consisted of the child sitting on his/her caregiver's lap and watching brief movies shown on a smart tablet while the embedded camera recorded the child's facial expressions. Computer vision analysis (CVA) automatically detected and tracked facial landmarks, which were used to estimate head position and facial expressions (Positive, Neutral, All Other). Using CVA, specific points throughout the movies were identified that reliably differentiate between children with and without ASD based on their patterns of facial movement and expressions (area under the curves for individual movies ranging from 0.62 to 0.73). During these instances, children with ASD more frequently displayed Neutral expressions compared to children without ASD, who had more All Other expressions. The frequency of All Other expressions was driven by non‐ASD children more often displaying raised eyebrows and an open mouth, characteristic of engagement/interest. Preliminary results suggest computational coding of facial movements and expressions via a tablet‐based assessment can detect differences in affective expression, one of the early, core features of ASD.
Lay Summary
This study tested the use of a tablet in the behavioral assessment of young children with autism. Children watched a series of developmentally appropriate movies and their facial expressions were recorded using the camera embedded in the tablet. Results suggest that computational assessments of facial expressions may be useful in early detection of symptoms of autism.
Fasano, Regina M.; Mitsven, Samantha G.; Custode, Stephanie A.; Sarker, Debasish; Bulotsky‐Shearer, Rebecca J.; Messinger, Daniel S.; Perry, Lynn K.(
, Autism Research)
Abstract
Classroom engagement plays a crucial role in preschoolers' development, yet the correlates of engagement, especially among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delays (DD), remains unknown. This study examines levels of engagement with classroom social partners and tasks among children in three groups ASD, DD, and typical development (TD). Here, we asked whether children's vocal interactions (vocalizations to and from peers and teachers) were associated with their classroom engagement with social partners (peers and teachers) and with tasks, and whether the association between classroom engagement and vocal interactions differed between children in the ASD group and their peers in the DD and TD groups. Automated measures of vocalizations and location quantified children's vocal interactions with peers and teachers over the course of the school year. Automated location and vocalization data were used to capture both (1) children's vocal output to specific peers and teachers, and (2) the vocal input they received from those peers and teachers. Participants were 72 3–5‐year‐olds (Mage = 48.6 months, SD = 7.0, 43% girls) and their teachers. Children in the ASD group displayed lower engagement with peers, teachers, and tasks than children in the TD group; they also showed lower engagement with peers than children in the DD group. Overall, children's own vocalizations were positively associated with engagement with social partners. Thus, although children in the ASD group tend to have lower engagement scores than children in the TD group, active participation in vocal interactions appears to support their classroom engagement with teachers and peers.
The common display of atypical behavioral responses to sounds by individuals with autism (ASD) suggests that they process sounds differently. Within ASD, individuals who are minimally or low verbal (ASD‐MLV) are suspected to have greater auditory processing impairments. However, it is unknown whether atypical auditory behaviors are related to receptive language and/or neural processing of sounds in ASD‐MLV. In Experiment 1, we compared the percentage of time 47 ASD‐MLV and 36 verbally fluent (ASD‐V) participants, aged 5–21, displayed atypical auditory or visual sensory behaviors during the administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). In Experiment 2, we tested whether atypical auditory behaviors were more frequent in ASD‐MLV participants with receptive language deficits. In Experiment 3, we tested whether atypical auditory behaviors correlated with neural indices of sensitivity to perceptual sound differences as measured by the amplitude of neural responses to nonspeech intensity deviants. We found that ASD‐MLV participants engaged in atypical auditory behaviors more often than ASD‐V participants; in contrast, the incidence of atypical visual behaviors did not differ between the groups. Lower receptive language skills in the ASD‐MLV group were predicted by greater incidence of atypical auditory behaviors. Exploratory analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between the amount of atypical auditory behaviors and the amplitude of neural response to deviants. Future work is needed to elucidate whether the relationship between atypical auditory behaviors and receptive language impairments in ASD‐MLV individuals results from disruptions in the brain mechanisms involved in auditory processing.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation. However, few studies have identified clear quantitative characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD. This study investigated imitation of speech and song in English‐speaking individuals with and without ASD and its modulation by age. Participants consisted of 25 autistic children and 19 autistic adults, who were compared to 25 children and 19 adults with typical development matched on age, gender, musical training, and cognitive abilities. The task required participants to imitate speech and song stimuli with varying pitch and duration patterns. Acoustic analyses of the imitation performance suggested that individuals with ASD were worse than controls on absolute pitch and duration matching for both speech and song imitation, although they performed as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching. Furthermore, the two groups produced similar numbers of pitch contour, pitch interval‐, and time errors. Across both groups, sung pitch was imitated more accurately than spoken pitch, whereas spoken duration was imitated more accurately than sung duration. Children imitated spoken pitch more accurately than adults when it came to speech stimuli, whereas age showed no significant relationship to song imitation. These results reveal a vocal imitation deficit across speech and music domains in ASD that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching. This finding provides evidence for shared mechanisms between speech and song imitation, which involves independent implementation of relative versus absolute features.
Lay Summary
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation of actions and gestures. Characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD remain unclear. By comparing speech and song imitation, this study shows that individuals with ASD have a vocal imitative deficit that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching, while performing as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching, across speech and music domains.
Finch, Kayla H.; Tager‐Flusberg, Helen; Nelson, Charles A.(
, European Journal of Neuroscience)
Abstract
Atypical neural responses to language have been found in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and in their unaffected siblings. However, given that language difficulties are often seen in these children, it is difficult to interpret whether these neural differences are a result of the diagnosis ofASDor impairments in their language abilities. In this study, we recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs) from four groups of 36‐month‐olds: low‐risk control (LRC), high risk forASDdefined as having an older sibling withASD(HRA) but who do not haveASDor milder autism‐like symptoms (HRA‐Typ),HRAchildren who do not haveASDbut exhibit milder autism‐like symptoms (HRA‐Atyp) andHRAchildren diagnosed withASD(ASD). Children listened to words expected to be acquired early (e.g. ball) and words expected to be acquired late (e.g. calf).ERPs were analysed over time windows sensitive to word processing as well as frontal and temporo‐parietal sites over the left and right hemispheres. When controlling for language abilities, there were group differences within the temporo‐parietal sites. Specifically, theHRA‐Atyp group showed a different timed response to late words compared to theASDandLRCgroups. In addition, we found a relation between neural responses in the left frontal sites andASDseverity. Our results suggest that both language abilities andASDdiagnoses are important to consider when interpreting neural differences in lexical processing.
Tenenbaum, Elena J., Carpenter, Kimberly L. H., Sabatos‐DeVito, Maura, Hashemi, Jordan, Vermeer, Saritha, Sapiro, Guillermo, and Dawson, Geraldine. A Six‐Minute Measure of Vocalizations in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research 13.8 Web. doi:10.1002/aur.2293.
Tenenbaum, Elena J., Carpenter, Kimberly L. H., Sabatos‐DeVito, Maura, Hashemi, Jordan, Vermeer, Saritha, Sapiro, Guillermo, and Dawson, Geraldine.
"A Six‐Minute Measure of Vocalizations in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder". Autism Research 13 (8). Country unknown/Code not available: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons). https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2293.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10457000.
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