Unusual Sensory Experiences in Young Children w/Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：自闭症儿童对感官刺激的各种不同寻常的反应（低反应和高反应）是有记录的，并且在社交环境中似乎会加剧。这些现象的发展性质及其与自闭症核心特征的关系尚不清楚。我们的模型解释了自闭症中不寻常的感官体验，涉及信息处理（感官定向）的基本缺陷，受社会环境和发展的调节。该项目的具体目标是：(1)测量自闭症儿童、其他发育障碍儿童和正常发育儿童对感官体验反应的发育相关变化；(2)识别自闭症特有的感觉加工模式；(3)确定感觉加工模式与自闭症表型表达的共变程度。横断面方法将用于研究180名儿童（60名自闭症儿童，60名发育障碍儿童和60名正常发育儿童）的不寻常感官体验。自闭症和DD组的年龄在2-7岁之间。所有三组将根据非语言心理年龄和性别进行匹配。儿童将使用一系列措施（诊断、发育、感觉和表型特征）进行评估。横断面方法将测试感觉症状频率随成熟变量和群体成员关系的变化程度。综合得分反映四种感觉加工模式（对社会/非社会刺激的低/高反应）将被分析，以明确区分自闭症与其他群体。最后，这些感觉模式将与社会关系、沟通和限制/重复行为的测量相关联。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长，所有三组对感官刺激的异常反应都会减少；b)自闭症组出现症状的频率最高；c)低反应模式（定向缺陷）将是自闭症特有的，在社交刺激和非社交刺激中被放大。四种感觉加工模式与自闭症表型特征的社会关联亚型和严重程度存在差异相关。

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.