AUTISM AND THE MOTOR THEORY OF LANGUAGE (original) (raw)
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Complex Imitation of Gestures in School-Aged Children with Learning Difficulties
Kinesiology, 2010
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) has often been overlooked both in school practice and in everyday work with children. DCD is one or all of the heterogeneous range of development disorders affecting the initiation, organization, and performance of action. The aim of this article, therefore, was to draw attention to this problem and prove how teachers of different subjects can easily recognize pupils with DCD. Prompt recognition enables fast intervention, resulting in progress in the movement abilities of pupils with DCD. Our research has shown that we can discriminate between pupils with learning difficulties and those without them on the basis of 20 tasks of the Bergès-Lézine's Test of Imitation of Gestures. In particular, we wish to emphasize three tasks (12, 17, and 20) in which pupils had to cross the vertical midline of the body. Individuals with DCD face problems in spatial orientation and in complex imitation of gestures. Pupils can be classified into two groups (with and without motor coordination and learning difficulties) based on differences found in tasks requiring them to cross the vertical midline of the body and rotate their hands. Learning difficulties can be predicted by pupils' performance doing such specific tasks. School teachers, especially physical education teachers, can recognize pupils with motor coordination difficulties in informal tasks, and organize appropriate psychomotor activities for them.
Disentangling imitation and dyspraxia in individuals with autism
2010
Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by a 'triad of impairments' in the areas of social interaction; language and communication; and restrictive, repetitive, and stereotypical patterns of behavior (American Psychiatric Society, DSM-IV, 1994). The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autism (1994) was the end result of an international collaboration of both research and clinical institutions across twenty-one different sites, and included the evaluation of almost 1,000 cases of autism (Volkmar, Klin, & Cohen, 1997). In this new classification, autistic disorder was included under the general category of PDD or Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Five categories are currently listed under the PDD umbrella: Autistic Disorder (AD); Asperger Syndrome (AS); Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS); Rett Syndrome; and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. For accurate diagnosis of autism (DSM-IV 299.0), a total of at least six items from the three major groups are required; two of the criteria for social interaction (group 1), one from impaired communication (group 2) and one from restricted interests or repetitive behaviours (group 3). Also, "a delay or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years: (1) social interaction, (2) language as used in social communication, or (3) symbolic or imaginative play" (DSM-IV cited in Volkmar et al., 1997, p. 28) must be documented. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) 10 th Edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) is the second major classification system of diagnosis. The ICD-10 and the DSM-IV diagnostic classification systems are closely related according to 'legal convention' (Volkmar et al., 1997). However, there are differences Society reports that autism is "touching the lives of 500,000 families throughout the UK" (National Autistic Society, 2004). According to recent estimates, one in 100 children is reportedly affected by the disability in the UK alone (Baird, Simonoff, Pickles, Chandler, Loucas, Meldrum, & Charman, 2006). In 2000, the average ASD prevalence rate was 6.7 per 1,000 children (at 6 different sites) and in 2002, 6.6 per 1,000 children (at 14 different sites). In 2004, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) found that the prevalence rates were between 2 and 6 per 1,000 children. Therefore, using the higher rate, it was reported that up to 1 in 166 children are on the autism spectrum. In 2007, the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (part of the CDC) reported that the figure had risen to 1 in 150 children (ADDM, 2007). More than 1.5 million Americans are considered to be on the autism spectrum (Center for Disease Control Prevention, 2007). 2.1.4 Gestural Impairments within DSM-IV Diagnosis Autism is a developmental disability that affects not only the individual, but the entire family, and its impact on the family unit cannot be underestimated (National Research Council, 2001). One of the greatest sources of communication difficulty families and caregivers face when dealing with preverbal autistic children is that they do not compensate for their language deficit through the use of functional gestures, failing to spontaneously use conventional gestures to make their needs known (Wetherby, Prizant, & Hutchinson, 1998; Woods & Wetherby, 2003). Since the time of Kanner, gestural impairments in autism have been reported. Kanner (1943) published this description of a child from his original research, "Her expression was blank, though not unintelligent, and there was no communicative gestures" (p. 240). Curcio (1978) reported that children with autism did not use any pointing or showing gestures and stated that this performance was striking
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1998
children with nonverbal learning disabilities (Rourke, 1989). Children in all these groups may differ in the range of associated symptoms shown (motor or perceptual problems, attentional deficits, anxiety, or specific learning problems), but seem to have in common that they all experience autistic-like problems in social interaction, verbal, or nonverbal communication. Recently, several authors have assumed, that the social-interactive and communication problems of children with "autistic spectrum disorders" (including
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2008
Nineteen people with Asperger syndrome (AS)/High-Functioning Autism (HFA) (ages 7-15) were tested on imitation of two types of meaningless gesture: hand postures and finger positions. The individuals with AS/HFA achieved lower scores in the imitation of both hand and finger positions relative to a matched neurotypical group. The between-group difference was primarily accounted for by performance on a test of visual motor integration, together with a hand imitation deficit which was specifically due to errors in body part orientation. Our findings implicate both visuomotor processes and self-other mapping in ASD imitation deficits. Following Goldenberg (1999), we propose that difficulties with body part orientation may underlie problems in meaningless gesture imitation.
Preserved imitation of known gestures in children with high-functioning autism
It has been suggested that children with autism are particularly deficient at imitating novel gestures or gestures without goals. In the present study, we asked high-functioning autistic children and age-matched typically developing children to imitate several types of gestures that could be either already known or novel to them. Known gestures either conveyed a communicative meaning (i.e., intransitive) or involved the use of objects (i.e., transitive). We observed a significant interaction between gesture type and group of participants, with children with autism performing known gestures better than novel gestures. However, imitation of intransitive and transitive gestures did not differ across groups. These findings are discussed in light of a dual-route model for action imitation.
Clinical Study Preserved Imitation of Known Gestures in Children with High-Functioning Autism
2015
1 Area of Neuroscience, SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy 2 Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, Alameda da Cidade Universitária, 1649-013 Lisboa, Portugal 3Medical Image and Signal Processing Group, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University—iMinds, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium 4Department of Experimental and Clinical Medical Science (DISM), University of Udine, P.le Kolbe 3, 33100 Udine, Italy 5 IRCCS “E. Medea” Scientific Institute, UDGEE, P.le S. Maria della Misericordia, 15 Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Imitation and communication skills development in children with pervasive developmental disorders
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2009
This study evaluates the correlation between failure to develop spontaneous imitation and language skills in pervasive developmental disorders. Sixty-four children between the age of 3 and 8 years were assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), as well as direct observation of imitation. The sample was subdivided into a verbal and a nonverbal group. Analysis of mean scores on the CARS "imitation" items and of ADI-R "spontaneous imitation" and "pointing to express interest" revealed a statistically significant difference between verbal and nonverbal groups, with more severe impairment/higher scores in the nonverbal than the verbal group. These results suggest that nonverbal children have specifically impaired imitation and pointing skills.
What do children with autism attend to during imitation tasks?
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2008
Individuals with autism show a complex profile of differences in imitative ability, including a general deficit in precision of imitating another's actions and special difficulty in imitating nonmeaningful gestures relative to meaningful actions on objects. Given that they also show atypical patterns of visual attention when observing social stimuli, we investigated whether possible differences in visual attention when observing an action to be imitated may contribute to imitative difficulties in autism in both nonmeaningful gestures and meaningful actions on objects. Results indicated that (a) a group of 18 high-functioning 8-to 15-year-olds with autistic disorder, in comparison with a matched group of 13 typically developing children, showed similar patterns of visual attention to the demonstrator's action but decreased attention to his face when observing a model to be imitated; (b) nonmeaningful gestures and meaningful actions on objects triggered distinct visual attention patterns that did not differ between groups; (c) the autism group demonstrated reduced imitative precision for both types of imitation; and (d) duration of visual attention to the demonstrator's action was related to imitation precision for nonmeaningful gestures in the autism group.