Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge, Misconceptions and Gaps About Autism Spectrum Disorder

The inclusive education framework and the increase in autism diagnoses have led to an overwhelming challenge for pre-service teachers who need to be qualified to teach all children. To test the quality of their training, the main purpose of this study was to compare 866 pre-service teachers’ knowledge, misconceptions, and gaps about autism in their first and final year at university, using the Autism Knowledge Questionnaire. The results show that fourth-year students obtained higher levels of knowledge and fewer gaps than the first-year students, although they also had more misconceptions. Special education specialists obtained significantly more knowledge and fewer misconceptions than the…

Comprehension of Generalized Conversational Implicatures by Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study evaluates the comprehension of generalized conversational implicatures (GCI) in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), using a GCI test constructed based on the Levinson model, which distinguishes between three types of implicatures: type Q (or scalar: “what is not referred to does not occur”); type I (“by default, it is not necessary to say what can be assumed”); and type M (“if someone is expressing something in a not very simple or marked way, it is because s/he is describing a situation that is not very typical, frequent, or prototypical”). In addition to the ASD group (n = 22), two comparison groups were utilized: a group matched on chronological age with …

Metaphor comprehension in children with and without autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Metaphor comprehension was studied in three groups of children from 6 to 12 years old: a group with autism spectrum disorder with level 2 severity (ASD, n = 22) and two comparison groups with typical development: one matched with the ASD group on chronological age (TCD group, n = 22) and the other matched on linguistic age (TLD group, n = 22). The TCD group performed better than the TLD group, which performed better than the ASD group, on the comprehension of both conventional and novel metaphors, with better performance found on conventional metaphors than on novel ones. We suggest that both linguistic and extralinguistic competencies (usually limited in level 2 ASD) would be nece…

Comparative study of sensory modulation vulnerabilities in children with and without ASD in family and school contexts

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may present sensory processing alterations that are specific to each environment in which they develop, inevitably impacting their daily fun...

Sensory processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with non-verbal IQ, autism severity and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder symptomatology

Abstract The main objective of this study was to analyze in a sample of children with ASD the relationship between sensory processing, social participation and praxis impairments and some of the child's characteristics, such as non-verbal IQ, severity of ASD symptoms and the number of ADHD symptoms (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity), both in the home and main-classroom environments. Participants were the parents and teachers of 41 children with ASD from 5 to 8 years old ( M  = 6.09). They completed the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) to evaluate sensory processing, social participation and praxis; the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-2) to evaluate autism severity; and a set of i…

Semantic Verbal Fluency in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with Chronological Age and IQ

We administered a semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task to two groups of children (age range from 5 to 8): 47 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD Group) and 53 with typical development (Comparison Group), matched on gender, chronological age, and non-verbal IQ. Four specific indexes were calculated from the SVF task, reflecting the different underlying cognitive strategies used: clustering (component of generativity and lexical-semantic access), and switching (executive component, cognitive flexibility). First, we compared the performance of the two groups on the different SVF task indicators, with the ASD group scoring lower than the Comparison Group, although the difference was grea…

The impact of sensory processing on executive and cognitive functions in children with autism spectrum disorder in the school context

Abstract Background Theoretical approaches propose a hierarchical organization of sensory and higher-order cognitive processes, in which sensory processing influence some cognitive and executive functions. Aims The main objective of this study was to analyze whether sensory processing dysfunctions can predict the cognitive and executive dysfunctions evaluated in a group of children with level 2 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the school context. Methods and procedures Two groups of children participated: an ASD group (n = 40) and a group of children with typical development (the comparison group, n = 40). The children’s sensory processing was evaluated based on their teachers’ perceptions…

Parental stress and resilience in autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome

The aim of this study was to compare parental stress and resilience in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS), and typical development (TD), and analyze the relationship between these two constructs. A total of 97 parents participated (ASD: n = 32, DS: n = 23, and TD: n = 42). The instruments used were the Parental Stress Index and the Resilience Scale. The ASD group obtained higher parental stress related to the child’s characteristics but not related to the parents’ characteristics. The three groups obtained moderate resilience, and high resilience was associated with low parental stress in the ASD and DS groups. The higher parental stress obtained in…

Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Home and Classroom Contexts

Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Home and Classroom Contexts.

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders often show impairments in sensory processing (SP) and higher functions. The main objective of this study was to compare SP, praxis and social participation (SOC) in four groups of children: ASD Group (n = 21), ADHD Group (n = 21), ASD+ADHD Group (n = 21), and Comparison Group (n = 27). Participants were the parents and teachers of these children who were 5-8 years old (M = 6.32). They completed the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) to evaluate the sensory profile, praxis and SOC of the children in both the home and classroom contexts. In the home context, the most affected was the ASD+ADHD group. The ADHD group obtained higher scores than the ASD gr…