Sensory Experiences in Children with Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：69%的自闭症儿童报告了不寻常的感官体验，这些特征被认为对发育、适应行为和家庭功能有负面影响。本项目的目的是解释感官特征的发育过程、功能影响和发病机制，为早期发现和干预提供依据。该项目将研究三种常见的感觉反应模式：低反应、高反应和感觉寻找。目的是：1)确定自闭症和DD儿童感官特征的纵向变化；2)测量感官特征如何影响儿童的适应行为（日常生活、功能性沟通/社交技能和家庭/社区活动的参与水平）、适应不良行为（刻板印象特征、社会情绪问题）和家庭功能（父母压力）；3)分离与可观察到的感觉问题相关的特定神经认知和环境风险因素。四项相互关联的研究（共210项）将解决这些目标。研究1（前瞻性纵向设计）使用现有队列来检查从学龄前（2-6岁）到学龄（6-12岁）期间感官特征的稳定性，以及这些特征对儿童/家庭结局的功能影响。研究2采用回顾性视频分析来识别婴儿期（9-18个月）自闭症儿童感官特征的前兆，将其与对照组区分开来，并预测学龄前/学龄儿童的发展结果。研究3结合了实验室测量、父母和会说话的孩子的个人描述以及家庭行为观察，以确定引发不寻常感官特征的环境背景及其对日常生活中家庭功能的影响。研究4使用电生理学（ERP）来测试神经认知机制（感觉检测、歧视、不自主定向），这些机制被预测为特定感觉表型的基础。因此，在一个儿童亚组中，将获得来自4个发展时间点（婴儿期早期、婴儿期后期、学龄前和学龄期）的收敛数据，使用混合方法研究自闭症感觉特征的变化轨迹。我们的研究结果可能对理解大脑行为的联系、异常感觉特征的早期风险标记及其发展过程以及可能改善儿童和家庭功能的新干预策略具有启示意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Unusual sensory experiences are reported in 69% of children with autism and these features are thought to have negative consequences on development, adaptive behavior, and family functioning. The purpose of this project is to explain the developmental course, functional impact, and pathogenesis of sensory features with implications for early detection and intervention. The project will study three commonly observed sensory response patterns: hyporesponsive, hyperresponsive, and sensory seeking. The aims are to: 1) determine longitudinal changes in sensory features in children with autism and DD; 2) measure how sensory features impact children's adaptive behaviors (daily living, functional communication/social skills, and level of participation in home/community activities), maladaptive behaviors (stereotyped features, social-emotional problems), and family functioning (parental strain); and 3) isolate specific neurocognitive and contextual risk factors that are associated with the observable sensory problems. Four interrelated studies (total n=210) will address these aims. Study 1 (prospective longitudinal design) uses an existing cohort to examine stability of sensory features from the preschool (2-6 yrs) to the school-age (6-12 yrs.) period, and the functional impact of these features on child/ family outcomes. Study 2 employs retrospective video analysis to identify precursors of sensory features in children with autism during infancy (9-18 months), differentiate these from controls, and predict to preschool/school-age developmental outcomes. Study 3 uses a combination of lab measures, personal accounts of parents and verbal children, and in-home behavioral observations to determine the environmental contexts that elicit unusual sensory features and their impact on family functioning in daily life. Study 4 uses electrophysiology (ERP) to test neurocognitive mechanisms (sensory detection, discrimination, involuntary orienting) that are predicted to underlie specific sensory phenotypes. Thus, in a subgroup of children, convergent data from 4 developmental time points (early infancy, later infancy, preschool and school years) will be secured to study change trajectories in sensory features in autism using mixed methods. Our findings may have implications for understanding brain-behavior linkages, early risk markers of unusual sensory features and their developmental course, and novel intervention strategies that may improve child and family functioning.