Children Under Four and Children With Autism Don't Yawn Contagiously

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — If someone near you yawns, do you yawn, too? About half of adults yawn after someone else does in a phenomenon called contagious yawning. Now a new study has found that most children aren't susceptible to contagious yawning until they're about 4 years old -- and that children with autism are less likely to yawn contagiously than others.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, appears in the September/October 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

To determine the extent to which children at various stages of social development are likely to yawn contagiously, the researchers studied 120 typically developing 1- to 6-year-olds. Although babies begin to yawn spontaneously even before they leave the womb, most of the children in this study didn't show signs of contagious yawning until they were 4.

The team also studied about 30 6- to 15-year-olds with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), comparing them to two other groups of typically developing children with the same mental and chronological ages. The children with ASD were less likely to yawn contagiously than their typically developing peers, the researchers found. And children with diagnoses that imply more severe autistic symptoms were much less likely to yawn contagiously than those with milder diagnoses.

"Given that contagious yawning may be a sign of empathy, this study suggests that empathy -- and the mimicry that may underlie it -- develops slowly over the first few years of life, and that children with ASD may miss subtle cues that tie them emotionally to others," according to the researchers. This study may provide guidance for approaches to working with children with ASD so that they focus more on such cues

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Society for Research in Child Development, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS

Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915080427.htm

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Handwriting Is Real Problem For Children With Autism

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) — Handwriting skills are crucial for success in school, communication, and building children's self-esteem. The first study to examine handwriting quality in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has uncovered a relationship between fine motor control and poor quality of handwriting in children with ASD, according to research published in the November 10, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, compared handwriting samples, motor skills, and visuospatial abilities of children with ASD to typically developing children. The researchers found that overall, the handwriting of children with ASD was worse than typically developing children. Specifically, children with ASD had trouble with forming letters, however in other categories, such as size, alignment, and spacing, their handwriting was comparable to typically developing children. These findings build on previous studies examining motor skills and ASD conducted in 2009 by Kennedy Krieger researchers.

Parents of children with ASD are often the first ones to observe their child's poor handwriting quality. This study identifies fine motor control as a root source of the problem and demonstrates that children with ASD may not experience difficulties across all domains, just forming letters. By identifying handwriting as a legitimate impairment, parents, teachers and therapists will now be able to pursue techniques that will improve children's handwriting.

"The ability to keep up in classes and convey ideas through handwriting is fundamental to life," said Christina Fuentes, lead study author and researcher at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "Knowing the causes of impairment allows us to strategically identify techniques that will help children with ASD improve their handwriting. Our study suggests that teaching children how to form letters, in combination with general training of fine motor control through techniques that include stabilizing the arm and the use of proper writing utensils, may be the best direction for improving handwriting performance."

About the study

Researchers administered a total of three tests to 14 children with ASD and 14 typically developing children. The handwriting samples were scored on legibility, form, alignment, size and spacing. The children's motor skills were then assessed using the Revised Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Sign (PANESS). The PANESS consisted of multiple categories such as gait tasks (heel walking), balance tasks (hopping on one foot) and timed movements (repetitive and patterned movements). Lastly, the children's visuospatial skills were assessed using the Block Design test in which they were timed to reconstruct large designs by properly assembling a set of blocks.

With no significant difference between the typically developing children and children with ASD groups in age, perceptual reasoning IQ, and the Block Design scores, a significant difference was found for performance on the PANESS, with the typically developing children performing better. Researchers found children with ASD's total handwriting scores were lower than typically developing children due to the quality of their letter formation. Researchers also found that motor ability, specifically for timed movements, was a strong predictor of handwriting performance in children with ASD as opposed to age, intelligence, and visuospatial abilities.

"Identifying this fine motor deficiency in handwriting provides important insight about ASD," said Dr. Amy Bastian, corresponding study author and Director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "It provides another example of motor skill problems that may give us cues for other deficits with socialization and communication. Furthermore, occupational therapists and teachers can now take the information from this study and apply it to the students they see on a daily basis."

This study was sponsored by Autism Speaks and the National Institutes of Health.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Kennedy Krieger Institute, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109174256.htm

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Cognitive Skills in Children With Autism Vary and Improve, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to have a specific profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses -- difficulties appreciating others' thoughts and feelings, problems regulating and controlling their behavior, and an enhanced ability to perceive details -- but few studies have tracked children's cognitive skills over time. Now new longitudinal research provides clues that can inform our understanding of ASD.

"Parents and clinicians already know that the behavioral signs of ASD wax and wane throughout development," notes Elizabeth Pellicano, senior lecturer of autism education at the Institute of Education in London, who carried out the study. "What we know a lot less about is how the cognitive skills of children with ASD change over time. In this study, we found that these skills vary from child to child, and also that some of them can improve over time."

The research, which was conducted in Western Australia, appears in the September/October 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

The cognitive strengths and weaknesses typically exhibited by people with ASD include difficulties predicting others' behavior based on their thoughts and feelings (so-called theory of mind) and problems regulating and controlling their behavior (termed executive function), combined with an aptitude for detecting parts of objects or small details (also called weak central coherence).

The study assessed 37 children with ASD and 31 typically developing children when they were 5 to 6 years old and again three years later. The researcher explored children's theory of mind by asking children to watch a series of social interactions on video and predict a character's behavior based on his or her mental state. She tested children's executive function by having them take part in problem-solving tasks that required them to plan ahead and show flexibility. And she assessed children's central coherence by asking them to construct patterns from wooden blocks and search for shapes hidden in pictures.

On the whole, Pellicano found, children with ASD exhibited the same profile that's typically associated with ASD, both at the start of the study and three years later. But a closer look at individual children's patterns of performance revealed that not all children with ASD displayed the same profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Instead, the profiles of cognitive skills varied from one child to the next: For example, while one child with ASD showed difficulties in theory of mind alone, another child showed problems in theory of mind plus executive function.

Furthermore, although previous research has reported little change over time in theory of mind and executive function skills of children with ASD, this study found that most of the children's skills in these areas improved considerably over time: Most of the children had better appreciation of others' thoughts and feelings, and they were better able to plan, regulate, and control their thoughts and actions over the study's three years.

"These findings are encouraging," notes Pellicano. "They stress the importance of understanding the breadth of cognitive skills -- a set of weaknesses and strengths -- in children with ASD, and how these skills progress over time. A key question for the future is whether there are approaches that can facilitate progress in some of these areas."

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Society for Research in Child Development, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS

Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915080429.htm

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Children's Brain Development Is Linked to Physical Fitness, Research Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers.

The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research.

"This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids who are fit and kids who aren't fit," said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Art Kramer, who led the study with doctoral student Laura Chaddock and kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman. "Beyond that, it relates those measures of brain structure to cognition."

The study focused on the hippocampus, a structure tucked deep in the brain, because it is known to be important in learning and memory. Previous studies in older adults and in animals have shown that exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus. A bigger hippocampus is associated with better performance on spatial reasoning and other cognitive tasks.
"In animal studies, exercise has been shown to specifically affect the hippocampus, significantly increasing the growth of new neurons and cell survival, enhancing memory and learning, and increasing molecules that are involved in the plasticity of the brain," Chaddock said.

Rather than relying on second-hand reports of children's physical activity level, the researchers measured how efficiently the subjects used oxygen while running on a treadmill.

"This is the gold standard measure of fitness," Chaddock said.

The physically fit children were "much more efficient than the less-fit children at utilizing oxygen," Kramer said.

When they analyzed the MRI data, the researchers found that the physically fit children tended to have bigger hippocampal volume -- about 12 percent bigger relative to total brain size -- than their out-of-shape peers.
The children who were in better physical condition also did better on tests of relational memory -- the ability to remember and integrate various types of information -- than their less-fit peers.
"Higher fit children had higher performance on the relational memory task, higher fit children had larger hippocampal volumes, and in general, children with larger hippocampal volumes had better relational memory," Chaddock said.
Further analyses indicated that a bigger hippocampus boosted performance on the relational memory task.
"If you remove hippocampal volume from the equation," Chaddock said, "the relationship between fitness and memory decreases."
The new findings suggest that interventions to increase childhood physical activity could have an important effect on brain development, Kramer said.
"We knew that experience and environmental factors and socioeconomic status all impact brain development," he said.
"If you get some lousy genes from your parents, you can't really fix that, and it's not easy to do something about your economic status. But here's something that we can do something about," Kramer said.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915171536.htm

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如何教导自閉症學生

穩定而有規律的學習環境 在有規律的學習環境裡，自閉症學生能夠慢慢掌握課堂一般的規律及要求。 轉變前預告 因為自閉症學生不容易適應轉變；在作出轉變前，教師宜在事前告訴學生需要作出甚麼轉變，為什麼要有轉變及如何去處理轉變。 引導學生全面審視問題 因為自閉症學生所了解的世界是由許多獨立的小節組成，他們往往不能掌握事情的因果關係，也不能解釋事件為甚麼會發生。故此，在幫助學生了解課題時，教師盡可能須引導學生全面審視問題。 善用多感官學習活動及學生感興趣的學習活動 由於自閉症學生感興趣的題材可能與一般學生不同，把學習信息融入學生感興趣的學習活動，可以提高他們的學習興趣及學習成效。 例子一： 透過學生感興趣的圖象、音樂或者旋律學習，從而帶出主題 例子二： 善用學生的固執行為，設計與行為有關連的活動，提升學生的學習動機。假如學生對各式的交通工具很喜愛，可以利用這些交通工具作為事例，請學生作出計算 循序漸進的學習目標 教學計劃的設計應該是學生可以掌握的個別活動，讓他們可以從一個小階段循序漸進到下一個階段，逐步完成全項目標 。 提供具體的例子協助講解 他們對掌握抽象的概念比較困難，如果他們不明白，可能會口頭重複一些資料。因此，不要因為學生口頭重複這些資料而假設他們已能掌握概念，應盡可能提供具體的例子去幫助學生理解。 提供完成工作的程序 由於學生未必能掌握工作的重點，因此，教師宜為學生提供完成工作的程序。 給予單一指示 因為學生未必能在同一時間處理多項信息，教師宜每次給予學生一個信息，等他完成後，才給他另一個指示 。 提供提示 為使學生容易掌握學校和課室的規則及程序，教師宜向學生提供圖象、時間、等候、程序及符號的提示 。 提供即時協助 如果學生在學習上遇到問題，應立即為他提供協助，因為他們面對失敗時反應可能很大，及早提供協助，可以防止問題惡化。 運用獎勵 積極使用獎勵，強化良好的行為。 Retrieved from: http://www.hkedcity.net/specialed/autism/learn_stra.phtml

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Living with Siblings Who Have Learning Disabilities

By Sheldon H. Horowitz, Ed.D.
Published: July 1 2008

"Don't forget about me!"

Seeing the Forest Through the Trees
Raising children is a wonderful journey that has rewards and challenges every step along the way. Parenting children with special needs (whether they have health issues, problems with learning and behavior, and even exceptional abilities) is especially labor intensive. The attention and energy expended to meet these special needs and keep a healthy balance between home and school can be all-consuming and at times exhausting. As a consequence of this day-in and day-out juggling act, the feelings and needs of non-disabled siblings might be unintentionally overlooked.

Being on "LD alert" 24/7 can be very tiring, and parental stress and fatigue alone takes a toll on siblings who continually have to figure out how they fit into the flow of family activity and emotions and how their needs for attention, approval and assistance can be met. With parents needing to devote additional time and resources to helping one child, the overall family dynamic is easily thrown off balance.

Siblings Have Feelings Too

What could siblings be thinking and feeling as they watch their brother or sister struggle with learning? If they could find the right words, they might touch upon the very same emotions that were described by a psychologist in the 1940s who proposed a model of understanding human behavior. This 'hierarchy of needs' can readily be used to understand some of the emotions that need to be appreciated, understood and addressed by parents and other adults in order to help siblings cope with feelings of anger, jealousy, worry, guilt, and embarrassment that comprise their personal "baggage" as siblings and family members.

Physiology (having to do with comfort and the physical body)

"How come he gets more hugs than I do? And for things that are expected of everyone, like finishing homework!"

Safety (dealing with the need to be protected from harm)

"Why can't he make his own sandwich? He just needs to be careful with the bread knife.

"What's the big deal about him riding his bike to school?"

Belongingness and love (feeling attachment to others)

"It seems like she's always the first one to get attention."

"I'm always doing things for her; when was the last time she did something for me?"

Esteem (having your thoughts and actions valued by others)

"If you ask me, I'd tell you that you need to back off a little; you're doing things for him that he should be doing for himself."

"What about my report card? Pretty good, huh?"

Knowledge and understanding (seeking information)

"When will her LD go away?"

"Is she ever going to be able to do her work on her own?"

Aesthetic (deriving pleasure and triggering emotion)

"He's got a great laugh, even though his sense of humor is weird."

"I wish I knew how to really help him when he's feeling down on himself."

Self-actualization (having "peak experiences" that provide self-fulfillment)

"I know we're very different, but we'll always be there to support each other."

"They said he couldn't learn how to play guitar, and I taught him!"

Transcendence (connecting to something beyond yourself to help others)

"Everyone deserves to be appreciated for who they are and not just what they can do."

"I know how important it is to spend time with him and his friends; they really look up to me and know that I will treat them with respect (even though they can be annoying and immature at times)."

Vying for Attention

It's only natural that siblings will compete for their parents' attention, and it's no different in families where there is a child with special needs. Misbehaving or acting out is often the way that children call attention to themselves, but underlying these actions is more often than not a genuine call for help. It is not uncommon for siblings of children with LD to share that they:

Feel jealous of the extra attention being paid to others in the family

Think they alone feel the way they do and see themselves as "outsiders" in their own families

Resent all the attention being paid to others and wonder what they could do to regain some of the spotlight

Feel guilty that their sibling has a "problem" when they don't

Are embarrassed by having to make excuses or explain why their sibling can't do certain things or needs special attention

Are worried about their parents and how hard it is for them to meet everyone's needs in the family

Children with LD need special types of services and supports to succeed in school, at home and in the community. These demands will change over time but may continue throughout their lives. And while the demands upon families may decrease, the feelings that parents and siblings carry with them often remain.

Some Take Away Tips

Avoiding comparisons that point to weaknesses

Make sure to notice (and even celebrate) special abilities or successes

Do not assign family members to particular roles based on their skills and abilities

Especially during stressful times, try to find opportunities to laugh!

Retrieved from: http://www.ncld.org/in-the-home/parenting-issues/siblings/living-with-siblings-who-have-learning-disabilities

Image retrieved from: http://www.webmastergrade.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Baby-With-Siblings.jpg

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当心少儿感觉统合失调症

日前，南京某医院在对南京市2486名6岁至11岁的学龄儿童测试中发现，有34.9%的学龄儿童存在着不同程度的感觉统合失调。专家介绍，感觉统合失调是指外部的感觉刺激信息不能在孩子中枢神经系统进行有效的组合，从而使整个机体不能和谐地运作，久而久之，便会造成各种各样的心理障碍与疾病。

感觉统合失调的表现

据儿童心理卫生研究专家介绍，儿童在学习与生活中患感觉统合失调症，将会在不同程度上削弱人的认知能力与适应能力，从而推迟人的社会化进程。人的感觉统合系统分为视觉统合系统、听觉统合系统、触觉统合系统、平衡统合系统与本体统合系统等。

一般来说，视觉统合失调的学龄儿童，在课内课外时，常会出现读书跳行、翻书页码不对、演算数学题常会抄错等等视觉上的错误，从而造成学习障碍。时间久了，必然会造成孩子学习成绩下降，跟不上学习进度，在心理上产生自己不如他人的自卑感。另外，这类患者在生活上还常常丢三落四。

听觉统合失调的儿童则多数表现为经常忘记老师口头布置的家庭作业或者下节课要带什么学习用具，他们上课时总是东张西望，老师讲的知识一点也听不进去。平时家长喊他，他也不在意。同时，这类儿童记忆力差。孩子不能让“课堂40分钟”产生良好的效益，而且也会影响课外的正常生活。这种现象如不纠正，时间长了，孩子会在心理上怀疑自己的能力，甚至厌学逃学。

触觉统合失调的孩子往往对别人的触摸十分敏感，心理上总有一种担心害怕、易受惊的感觉。在学习与生活中则表现为好动、不安、办事瞻前顾后，甚至怕剃头、怕打针。这样的孩子被家长带到医院请心理医生诊断，总以为孩子得了“多动症”。触觉统合失调的孩子由于心理上总处在一定程度的紊乱状态，时间一长，必然使学习与生活质量不断下降。

　　

平衡统合失调会让孩子在学习与生活中常常观测不准距离，做事时协调能力较差，甚至穿鞋子也会在不知不觉中将鞋左右穿反。由于距离观测不准，会让孩子无法正确掌握方向；会让孩子对事物的兴趣逐渐减少。一个孩子平衡统合失调，往往会在心理上严重影响孩子的学习与认知热情。

　　

本体统合失调的孩子多数表现在上体育课时不会跳绳，跑步时动作不协调不准确；在上音乐课时，常常发音不准，甚至与人交谈、上课发言时口吃等。虽说这些学习课目不是主课，但是，它们却对上好主课起到很重要的辅助与促进作用，长久下去势必影响主课的学习。

感觉统合失调的原因

据一位儿童教育研究专家介绍，产生感觉统合失调的主要原因大致分为：城市儿童生活都市化，现代家庭小型化；家长过分看重“第二课堂”等。正因为有了这些因素，致使学龄儿童的活动空间不断缩小，从而导致孩子在成长过程中应有的各种感觉刺激机会大幅度减少。

有一位孩子的父亲在地质勘探队工作，常年不回家，而母亲又在纺织厂上轮班，孩子家住高楼，一个人跟年逾花甲的奶奶生活。因此他的生活十分机械与单调，平时除了上学，就是回家做作业，或看看电视。这种封闭的生活自然会使孩子接受外界感觉信息刺激的机会减少，产生感觉统合的失调也就在所难免。

还有不少双职工更没有足够的时间与精力照看孩子。我们时常可见父母上班后，孩子一个人独守门户的现象。单就一个“独”字，就给孩子的身心健康成长与感觉统合能力的增强带来许多不利的因素。他们大多数又被父母过分娇惯与宠爱，养成孤傲任性的性格，再加上又没有伙伴群的关注，不习惯群体生活，依赖性强，独立生活能力差，一旦父母婚姻破裂、家庭解体，孩子的心理失衡要比大家庭中的孩子严重得多。心理失衡是能够严重削弱人的感觉统合能力的。据资料显示，在少儿犯罪中，60%是因为父母离异，家庭不幸、心理失衡造成的。

据报载，黑龙江省最近对7至11岁孩子的调查显示，有90%以上的孩子学过钢琴、电子琴以及舞蹈、美术等。同时，调查也显示，60%的儿童不会系鞋带，不会穿衣服，甚至连球也拍不了几下。

现实生活中，不少家长总是将成人社会的竞争意识，过早地转嫁到了孩子身上，从而加重了他们的心理负担，而孩子自己应有的、感兴趣的东西受到了缺乏理智的和无情的压制。在这样环境中学习与生活的孩子感觉统合系统怎么会不失调？

克服感觉统合失调症

专家指出，孩子的心理活动分为3个阶段，即：认知、调节与交往。而这些的基础便是孩子具有良好的感觉统合能力。那么，在现有条件下，如何纠正孩子的感觉统合失调症呢？

一位儿童心理卫生研究专家认为，先行一步的美国、日本等地从70年代就兴起的“游戏治疗法”，不打针不吃药，对纠正与治疗感觉统合失调症颇有效。比如用独木桥帮助孩子找到“平衡统合能力”；用滑板梯帮助孩子找回“触觉统合能力”。这些对于治疗孩子的感觉统合失调极为有益。

此外，家长还要尽量创造条件让孩子走出孤独，让孩子在与人交往与沟通中，刺激、调整与强化自己的各类感觉统合能力。在日常生活中，家长不要用溺爱或者不信任的目光包办孩子的一切，只要可能，孩子的事就让孩子自己去做。因为这样，孩子不仅乐意、有积极性，而且也在其中提高了自己的心理素质。比如，孩子在吃“零食”时，家长就可以通过“零食”向孩子发问，让孩子与外界事物、季节、地理等产生“联想”；同样，在孩子“玩耍”时，家长也可以这么做。因为，“想象”正是孩子的感觉与外部事物进行碰撞的中介物，其中产生的“火花”就是新的信息、新的刺激。长此以往，就可以使儿童的感觉统合能力在原有基础上得到提高。

(杨同新)

转摘自：http://www.sunjua.com/page/main/news/104384.html

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