Unusual Sensory Experiences in Young Children w/Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：记录了自闭症儿童对感官刺激的各种不寻常反应（低反应和高反应），并且在社交场合中似乎会加剧。这些现象的发展本质及其与自闭症核心特征的关系还没有得到很好的理解。我们的模型解释自闭症不寻常的感官体验涉及信息处理（感官定向）的基本缺陷，由社会背景和发展调节。该项目的具体目标是：（1）测量自闭症幼儿、其他发育障碍儿童（DD）和典型发育儿童对感觉体验的反应中与发育相关的变化;（2）识别自闭症特有的感觉处理模式;（3）确定感觉处理模式与自闭症表型表达的协变程度。将采用横断面方法研究180名儿童（60名自闭症儿童，60名DD儿童和60名典型发育儿童）的不寻常感觉体验。自闭症和DD组的年龄范围为2-7岁。所有三组都将根据非语言心理年龄和性别进行匹配。将使用一系列测量（诊断、发育、感觉和表型特征）对儿童进行评估。一个横断面的方法将测试的程度，感觉症状的频率变化作为成熟的变量和组成员的函数。将分析反映四种感觉处理模式（对社会/非社会刺激的低/高反应性）的综合评分，以专门区分自闭症和其他群体。最后，这些感觉模式将与社会相关性，沟通和限制/重复行为的测量相关。我们的概念模型预测，a）随着年龄、认知能力和语言能力的增加，所有三个群体对感官刺激的不寻常反应都会减少，B）自闭症群体的症状频率最高，c）低反应模式（定向缺陷）将是自闭症特有的，社会与非社会刺激放大，以及d）感觉处理的四种模式将与自闭症的表型特征中的社会关系亚型和严重程度差异相关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A variety of unusual responses (hypo- and hyper-responses) to sensory stimuli are documented in children with autism and appear to be exacerbated in social situations. The developmental nature of these phenomena and their relationship to the core features of autism are not well understood. Our model explaining unusual sensory experiences in autism involves a basic deficit in information processing (sensory orienting), moderated by social context and development. The specific aims of this project are to: (1) measure developmentally-related changes in responses to sensory experiences in young children with autism, children with other developmental disabilities (DD), and typically-developing children; (2) identify sensory processing patterns that are unique to autism; and (3) determine the extent to which sensory processing patterns covary with phenotypic expressions of autism. A cross-sectional methodology will be used to study unusual sensory experiences in 180 children (60 with autism, 60 with DD, and 60 with typical development). The autism and DD groups will range from 2-7 years of age. All three groups will be matched according to nonverbal mental age and gender. Children will be assessed using a battery of measures (diagnostic, developmental, sensory, and phenotypic features). A cross-sectional methodology will test the degree to which frequencies of sensory symptoms vary as a function of maturational variables and group membership. Composite scores reflecting four sensory processing patterns (hypo/hyper-responsiveness to social/nonsocial stimuli) will be analyzed to specifically discriminate autism from other groups. Finally, these sensory patterns will be correlated with measures of social-relatedness, communication, and restricted/repetitive behaviors. Our conceptual model predicts that a) all three groups will demonstrate a decrease in unusual responses to sensory stimuli as age, cognitive abilities, and language increase, b) the autism group will have the highest frequency of symptoms, c) a hypo-responsive pattern (orienting deficit) will be specific to autism, magnified for social versus nonsocial stimuli, and d) the four patterns of sensory processing will differentially correlate with social-relatedness subtypes and levels of severity in the phenotypic characteristics of autism.