Physiology of Attention and Regulation in Children with ASD and LD

描述（由申请人提供）：了解自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童社交和沟通能力异质性的潜在因素是设计个性化干预措施和预测发展轨迹的关键一步。由于注意力有助于社会和沟通发展的典型变化，并且注意力在ASD个体中通常是非典型的，因此注意力可能有助于ASD幼儿中发现的社会和沟通技能的变化，并且可能预测幼儿期的社会沟通成长。事实上，美国国立卫生研究院已经呼吁对注意力在自闭症社会和沟通发展中的作用进行纵向调查。然而，虽然联合注意是众所周知的ASD的社会沟通发展的关键，很少有人知道的作用，其他领域的注意力在塑造这些轨迹。该提案旨在研究在一系列注意领域的表现是否有助于ASD幼儿，神经发育（NT）儿童和ASD儿童的年幼兄弟姐妹的社交和沟通技能的变化。 该研究调查了9至48个月大的婴儿的注意力与社交和沟通技能之间的关系。本项目包括三项研究：（1）2 ~ 4岁ASD和NT儿童的注意力和心血管反应性。本项目将通过六个月和一年的跟踪评估，研究幼儿期社会沟通技能的注意力和调节之间的关系，以及社会沟通成长的预测。(2)ASD儿童的社会交往和语言结果在自闭症儿童的弟弟妹妹中，该项目将研究婴儿期的注意力和调节力与幼儿期的社交和语言技能之间的关系。最初在6个月、12个月和18个月时进行检测的婴儿兄弟姐妹将在36个月时进行随访。该项目将侧重于早期注意力技能及其与后期注意力，调节，社交和语言能力的关系。(3)从婴儿到儿童的注意力和心血管反应性。未来对高风险人群的评估要求对关键领域的评估旨在评估症状前阶段、症状出现期间以及可以形成稳定诊断时的个人。该项目将研究用于表征注意阶段的测量的稳定性和可靠性，以及它们对特征注意、空间注意和联合注意的贡献，在9至48个月龄的神经典型婴儿和24至48个月龄的ASD儿童的样本中，在社会和非社会领域。 总之，我们建议，注意力和心血管反应的措施可能是预测社会沟通的增长轨迹和个性化干预的目标指标。 公共卫生相关性：目前的估计表明，每150名儿童中就有一名被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍（ASD），但在整个谱系中，社交和沟通能力也存在显着的异质性。了解有助于ASD儿童早期发展中社会和沟通技能的出现和发展的因素对于理解这种异质性以及个性化干预的设计和针对性至关重要。该项目研究了注意力和调节对生命最初五年中社会和沟通技能个体差异的贡献，目的是确定发展过程的预测因素和潜在的干预目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Understanding the factors underlying the heterogeneity of social and communicative abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a critical step toward designing individualized interventions and predicting developmental trajectories. As attention contributes to typical variation in social and communicative development, and attention is often atypical in individuals with ASD, it is possible that attention contributes to the variance in social and communication skills found in young children with ASD, and may predict social- communication growth in early childhood. Indeed, NIH has called for longitudinal investigations of the role of attention in shaping social and communication development in autism. However, whilst joint attention is known to be critical in socio-communicative development in ASD, little is known about the role of other domains of attention in shaping these trajectories. This proposal examines whether performance in a range of attention domains contribute to variability in social and communication skill in young children with ASD, children with neurotypical development (NT), and younger siblings of children with ASD. The study examines the relations between attention and social and communication skill between 9- and 48- months of age. This project involves three studies: (1) Attention and Cardiovascular Reactivity in Children aged 2 to 4 years with ASD and NT. This project will examine the relation between attention and regulation in social- communication skills in early childhood and prediction of social-communication growth through six-month and one-year follow-up assessments. (2) Social-communication and Language Outcomes in Younger Siblings of Children with ASD. In younger siblings of children with autism, the project will examine the relations between attention and regulation in infancy and social-communication and language skills in early childhood. Infant siblings who were initially tested at 6-, 12- and 18-months will be followed up at 36 months. This project will focus on early attention skills and their relation to later attention, regulation, social-communication, and language ability. (3) Attention and Cardiovascular Reactivity from Infancy to Childhood. Future assessments of high-risk populations requires that assessments of critical domains be designed to assess individuals during pre-symptomatic phases, during the emergence of symptoms as well as when stable diagnoses can be formed. This project will examine the stability and reliability of the measures used to characterize the phases of attention, and their contribution to feature attention, spatial attention and joint attention, in both social and non- social domains in a sample of neurotypical infants between 9 and 48 months of age and children with ASD between 24 and 48 months of age. In summary, we propose that measures of attention and cardiovascular reactivity may be predictors of social-communication growth trajectories and indicators of targets for individualized intervention. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Current estimates suggest that one in 150 children have a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but there is also striking heterogeneity in social and communication abilities across the spectrum. Understanding the factors that contribute to the emergence and growth of social and communication skills in the early development of children with ASD is critical to understanding this heterogeneity, and in the design and targeting of individualized intervention. This project examines the contribution of attention and regulation to individual differences in social and communication skill in the first five years of life, with the goal of identifying predictors of developmental course and potential targets for intervention.