Exploring predictors of response to a peer-mediated communication intervention for minimally verbal preschoolers with ASD

探索患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的学龄前儿童对同伴介导的沟通干预反应的预测因素

• 批准号: 10304006
• 负责人: Kathy Thiemann-Bourque
• 金额: $ 18.73万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10304006
• 关键词: Academic achievement; Address; Aftercare; Age; Attention; Augmentative and Alternative Communication; Behavior; Behavioral; Child; Child Behavior; Clinical; Cognitive; Communication; Development; Developmental Process; Early Intervention; Effectiveness; Emotional; Face; Foundations; Future; Impairment; Individual; Institutes; Instruction; Intervention; Intervention Studies; Knowledge; Language; Learning; Light; Measurement; Measures; Mediating; Methods; Motivation; Nursery Schools; Outcome; Outcome Measure; Outcome Study; Performance; Play; Population; Positive Reinforcements; Prediction of Response to Therapy; Preschool Child; Reporting; Research; Research Personnel; Scanning; Series; Social Development; Social Environment; Social Interaction; Stimulus; Stratification; Structure; Subgroup; Technology; Testing; Time; Training; Visual attention; autism spectrum disorder; autistic children; base; cognitive skill; cohort; communication behavior; disability; educational atmosphere; evidence base; improved; individuals with autism spectrum disorder; innovation; interest; joint attention; kindergarten; peer; peer influence; predicting response; reinforcer; response; skills; social; social attention; social communication; social engagement; social interventions; social reciprocity; social skills; therapy design; treatment response; virtual vocal tract; visual tracking

PROJECT SUMMARY This R21 proposal will explore and examine individual child social variables that predict response to a peer-mediated intervention for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and limited to no spoken communication. This subgroup of children with ASD present with a myriad of social and communication challenges that restrict participation in educational and social environments, and approximately 30% remain minimally verbal by the time they reach kindergarten. Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) are a widely-used and evidence-based approach to teach social communication to young children with ASD. Recent reports have documented the benefits of incorporating augmentative and alternative communication (e.g., speech-generating devices) into PMIs to increase communication and social interactions with peers in inclusive setttings. Children's social competence with peers is considered a fundamental developmental process that contributes to later language, social-emotional development, and academic achievement. To date, we are not aware of studies identifying specific child variables that predict child response to PMIs. There is evidence of differences in social attention (i.e., visual attention/scanning of social stimuli) for children with ASD compared to typically-developing children. It is probable that among individuals with ASD, variability in performance on measures of social attention (i.e., visual attention to the face) and interest in peers (i.e., showing joint attention and imitation) may be important predictors of response to PMIs. Measuring proximal behaviors such as social attention and peer interest moves beyond prior efforts focusing on more global child variables (e.g., cognitive skills) and should allow for identifying those children who require tailoring of PMIs. The overall objective of this innovative study is to examine potential child variables that predict response to PMI for preschoolers with ASD (n=40) with limited to no spoken communication. Two peers without disabilities will be paired with each child with ASD (n=80 peers). All children will participate in a PMI developed and examined by the PI over a series of empirical studies. The specific aims are to: determine what social variables (i.e., social attention and peer interest) predict response to the PMI at 8 weeks post-treatment and in generalization probes, and to determine if variance in child communication gains, accounted for by the social variables, differs based on the pre-treatment measurement context (i.e., semi-structured peer assessment, naturalistic observations, and eye-tracking paradigms). The team is highly qualified to accomplish these aims as investigators have developed social interventions for children with ASD, created observational methods to assess child-peer communication, and have used eye-tracking technology to measure early attention and communication. Expected outcomes could have important clinical implications for optimizing PMIs (e.g., for children who have poor social attention and peer interest), and identifying stratification variables that could be incorporated into future intervention research for an understudied group of children with ASD.

项目摘要 该R21提案将探索和检查单个儿童社会变量，以预测对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的同伴介导的干预措施的反应 沟通。有无数的社会和沟通的ASD儿童子组 限制参与教育和社会环境的挑战，约有30％的挑战仍然存在 到达幼儿园时，言语最少。对等介导的干预措施（PMI）是广泛使用的 以及基于证据的方法来教与ASD的幼儿进行社会交流。最近的报告 已经记录了将增强性和替代沟通（例如，语音生成设备）纳入PMI的好处，以增加与同行的沟通和社交互动 设置。儿童与同龄人的社会能力被认为是一个基本的发展过程 有助于后来的语言，社会情感发展和学术成就。迄今为止，我们不是 意识到识别预测儿童对PMI反应的特定儿童变量的研究。有证据表明 与ASD儿童相比 通常是开发的孩子。在ASD的个体中，性能的变化很可能 社会关注的衡量标准（即对面部的视觉关注）和对同龄人的兴趣（即显示关节 注意力和模仿）可能是对PMI的反应的重要预测指标。测量近端行为 随着社会关注和同伴的兴趣超越先前的努力，重点是全球儿童变量（例如， 认知技能），并应允许识别那些需要量身定制PMI的孩子。总体 这项创新研究的目的是检查潜在的儿童变量，以预测对PMI的反应 具有ASD（n = 40）的学龄前儿童，不得不讲话。两个没有残疾的同伴将是 与每个孩子与ASD配对（n = 80个对等）。所有孩子将参加开发和检查的PMI 由PI进行了一系列实证研究。具体目的是：确定哪些社会变量（即 社会关注和同伴的兴趣）预测治疗后8周对PMI的反应 探针，并确定儿童沟通的差异是否由社会变量所解释的， 基于预处理测量环境（即半结构化的同伴评估，自然主义）有所不同 观察和引人注目的范例）。该团队有资格实现这些目标 调查人员已经为患有ASD的儿童制定了社会干预措施，创建了观察方法 评估儿童沟通，并使用眼球追踪技术来衡量早期注意力和 沟通。预期的结果可能具有优化PMI的重要临床意义（例如，对于 社会关注和同伴兴趣不佳的孩子，并确定可能是的分层变量 为未来的ASD儿童纳入未来的干预研究中。