حمیدرضا پوراعتماد

Goal-setting is a process to set desired future end-states that the person wants to attain. In this study, we developed and validated a student goal-setting questionnaire. Given the goal-setting theory and goal imagery, 29 items within 5 factors were designed for the assessment of educational goal-setting. 10 experts in psychology and 1332 (middle school) students participated in a cross-sectional design. All of the items were approved by the impact score of face validity, but content validity verified only 22 items. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the five-factor model of the questionnaire and explanatory factor analysis extracted the five factors from the 22 items. As for criterion validity, the questionnaire could predict 20% and 28% of the variance of grade goal and average final grade, respectively. Concerning the concurrent validity of the questionnaire, achievement goals could predict 21% of the variance of the goal-setting questionnaire. Moreover, Cronbach’s α showed that the questionnaire has acceptable internal consistency (over .70). The Academic Goal-Setting Questionnaire which was designed in this study for middle-school students had acceptable validity and reliability and could predict academic performance more than the other well-known questionnaires such as the Achievement Goals Questionnaire.

Examining the ability of threat perception in children with autism requires simple and visual tools. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and determine the psychometric properties of the threat perception tool in preschool children with autism.

In the present descriptive study, the sample group consisted of 82 children aged 3 to 5 years old with autism in Tehran in 2020. To design this tool, the stimuli identified and used in literature as threatening and dangerous stimuli were extracted and a visual tool was designed based on them. Content validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were used to assess the validity of the tool. Reliability was examined by test-retest and inter-rater reliability.

The results showed that according to experts, the tool had a good content validity. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the child’s score in the designed tool and the score given by the mother and the teacher to the child’s ability to perceive danger and threat, and the child's score in the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale were 0.63, 0.81, and 0.41, respectively, that indicated a good convergent validity. Also, the significant difference between normal and autistic children was a confirmation of the tool’s differential validity (p=0.003). The intra-class correlation coefficients of retest and inter-rater reliability were obtained 0.81 and 0.71, respectively.

The findings of the study showed that perception threat tool is a valid and reliable measure for assessing threat perception ability of preschoolers with autism and can be used as a useful tool in psychological research and clinical context.

The family is the only natural, irreplaceable, and eternal institution of human beings, established by a sacred marriage covenant between a man and a woman. Children are a gift and trust for the family. Every family may face many challenges in their lifetime. One of these challenges is the birth of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For parents, the challenges of caring for a child with ASD may affect their relationship with their spouse and reduce marital satisfaction. According to research findings, marital satisfaction can be a protective factor for families and help them to cope with the challenges of raising a child with ASD. In addition, marital satisfaction has been shown to affect children's health. This study investigated the factors influencing marital satisfaction in parents with ASD children.

The present study was a systematic review, and its approach was based on collecting, classifying, and summarizing the findings of scientific–research articles related to marital satisfaction in families with ASD children, which were taken from internal and external databases during 1980–2021. For this purpose, the "satisfaction," "marriage," and "child with autism spectrum disorder" keywords were considered. Internal databases included SIDs, and external databases included CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Medline, Embase, Informit, ProQuest, Sage Journals, AMED, PubMed, OT Seeker, and Google Scholar. The search was conducted in English with the above keywords. Eighty–seven articles were selected in the initial search, but 54 were deleted due to their inconsistency with the ASD subject. Subsequently, 3 articles were deleted due to duplication in several databases, and 7 articles due to review. Finally, 22 articles were selected. The inclusion criteria included studies with the keywords searched directly for marital satisfaction in parents of children with ASD and original articles published in English in prestigious journals from 1980 to 1921. The exclusion criteria were articles that could not be accessed in full, as well as articles that were reviewed.

In the present study, according to a review of 22 studies conducted in the field of children with ASD and their families during 32 years of research and study in this field, it was concluded that a total of 8 groups of components affecting marital satisfaction in the parents of ASD children. We collected and analyzed these components and examined them in 8 groups: 1) child characteristics such as age, gender, and cognitive function, 2) severity of autism spectrum symptoms, 3) challenging behaviors, 4) sociodemographic and family characteristics, 5) parent characteristics such as age and gender, 6) parental stress and psychological well–being, 7) parental personality, resources cognitive and coping strategies, and 8) strategies to maintain marital satisfaction.

Based on the general findings of this systematic review, couples with children with ASD are less likely to have marital satisfaction compared to couples with children without disabilities; Therefore, couples with children with ASD need social support to maintain the satisfaction of their marriage.

Cooperation is the cornerstone of social life. Lack of cooperation would lead to a wide range of social, moral, cultural and economic disasters. Altruistic punishment is found to be the major strategy to maintain and to encourage people to adhere to cooperation. The aim of the present study was to separate altruistic punishment from other seemingly similar forms of behavior. For the purpose of study, 60 male students of Shahid Beheshti University participated, were recruited. Their performance at both Dictator Game (DG) and Ultimatum Game (UG) where assessed in a computerized setting. Generally, %75 of participants rejected unfair offers in UG; whilst the same number of participants behaved unfairly in DG. Only, %25 of participants rejected unfair offers in the UG and acted fairly in the DG, which is considered an altruistic punishment. About %50 of participants rejected unfair offers in the UG, but they acted unfairly in the DG. This pattern of behavior is defined as spiteful punishment, which is a form of antisocial punishment. Eventually, %25 of participants accepted the unfair offers in the UG and behaved unfairly in the DG. This behavior pattern shows individual profit seeking at the cost of accepting injustice. A pattern that has not been reported in other studies so far. Although rejecting any unfair offer in the UG cannot be interpreted as altruistic punishment. However, the low rate of this behavior pattern in contrast to the high rate of spiteful punishment predicts a growing lack of social cooperation because the minority of people who behave cooperatively, gradually learn that cooperation is not beneficial. Instead, those who behave selfishly, monopolistically and profit-seeking, get a lot of advantages. In this way, individual profit-seeking surpasses cooperation and becomes the dominant paradigm. This situation is the bane of social life.

High levels of cooperation are formed in societies where people who violate certain norms are punished by the punitive behavior of others. The aim of the present study was to discriminate the types of reactions of individuals to unfair offers and to study their electrophysiological components.

40 male students of Shahid Beheshti University participated in this study through available sampling and their reaction in the modified form of dictator and ultimatum games was measured and evaluated.

Behavioral findings showed most participants did not accept unfair offers and behaved equally unfairly in DG. The results of the hierarchical clustering analysis showed that groups are divided into four groups based on fair-unfair continuity in both games. The behavior of the first group was in the form of pure altruistic punishment and the other groups included a kind of selfishness and behavioral inconsistency. Electrophysiological data showed that in the first group, the FRN and P300 amplitude were lower than in the other groups.

This study deepens our understanding of the foundation of justice as a moral construct by respondents and allows us to assess the processes that exist specifically to evaluate fair and unfair proposals. as far as we know, this study is the first to show the difference between neural data based on event related potential, arising from altruistic punishment, and other forms of punishment, and provide important practical implications for the evolution of collaboration.

 Sustained attention and working memory are the intertwined executive functions of the brain. Studies have shown that working memory training induce no far transfer effect to executive functions. Considering the importance of sustained attention in academic and occupational performance, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of computerized working memory (WM) training on sustained attention and WM of male students.

 Participants were 32 male middle-school students in the eighth grade, who were selected by a cluster random sampling method and assigned randomly to two groups of the training (n=16) and control (n=16). The computerized dual n-back task was used for WM training for 4 weeks at 12 sessions, each for 40 minutes. The computerized continuous performance test and the digit span test (forward and backward) were used for evaluating sustained attention and WM, respectively. The pre-test evaluation was performed one week before and the post-test evaluation was executed one week after the training course. 

 After the WM training, the sustained attention (P=0.043) and the backward digit span test score (P=0.033) in the training group were improved significantly compared to the control group, but no significant change was reported in the forward digit span test score (P=0.236).

 Improved sustained attention following WM training indicates the far transfer of the training effect to the sustained attention, and confirms the involvement of sustained attention in the central executive part of WM. On the other hand, no change in short-term verbal memory after training indicates that the mechanism of WM training effect is through strengthening the central executive, not through improving the phonological loop of WM.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction and social communication and a range of restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped behavior patterns, interests, and activities (1). The onset of ASD symptoms usually occurs in symptoms of autism in infancy and toddlers before the age of 2 years. Although new theories have been developed to explain different features of ASD core impairments in recent years,  no neuro-psychological theory has been proposed to explain all ASD aspects satisfactorily. EFs, theory of mind (ToM), and weak central coherence cognitive theories have dominated neuropsychological research into ASD (10, 11). It is assumed that the theory of mind and weak central coherence could explain many of the deficits in social interaction and social communication associated with ASD (12). However, the EFs theory may provide the best explanation for the non-social aspects of ASD, such as repetitive behaviors and restricted interests (13). EFs are a set of cognitive skills defined as an “umbrella” term that includes goal-directed and self-regulatory cognitive abilities such as inhibition, shifting, working memory, flexibility, and planning (20). Additionally, EF is the only theory that acknowledges both the motor and cognitive characteristics of ASD (e.g., perseveration, insistence on sameness, repetitive hand flapping, and rocking) (10). Deficits in behavioral flexibility have been repeatedly documented in ASD. Behavioral inflexibility in ASD is characterized by circumscribed interests, restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs), pervasive impairments in social interactions and communication. Behavioral inflexibility refers to rigid behavioral patterns that contrast with the need to adapt to the changing needs of the environment. Behavioral Inflexibility is a potential dimensional ability that can explain the RRBs domains. RRBs are a hallmark of ASD (1). The RRBS manifests across echolalia, stereotyped behaviors, self-injurious behaviors, ritualistic behaviors, sameness behaviors, restricted behaviors, compulsive behaviors, and hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory stimuli.
Despite the findings of previous studies showing a deficit in the behavioral flexibility of people with ASD, determining the degree of predictability of each of the executive functions in the behavioral flexibility of children with ASD has not yet been studied. By identifying the cognitive underpinnings of behavioral inflexibility at an early age in people with autism spectrum disorder, early and specific interventions can be designed to improve the underlying cognitive function and thus increase behavioral flexibility. Indeed, clarifying the cognitive basis of behavioral flexibility in people with autism spectrum disorder can provide clues to its pathophysiology, improve clinical evaluation, and guide the development of new interventions to address behavioral flexibility as one of the hallmarks of autism spectrum disorder. The present study seeks to answer the question of what is the relationship between the components of executive functions and behavioral flexibility and can executive functions predict behavioral flexibility as one of the hallmarks of autism.

Participants included forty-five toddlers (34 males, 11 females; mean age=26.33 months; range 16–36 months) who were referred to the autism center. Each subject was diagnosed using comprehensive evaluation that included standardized testing, behavioral observation, and extensive parent reports gathered through interviews and questionnaires. Diagnoses were based on DSM 5 guidelines (1). All subjects were evaluated by an ASD specialist with a PhD in clinical psychology and at least one assistant (with at least a master's degree in clinical psychology). The diagnosis was made based on informed clinical judgment following interaction with the child, formal testing, and review parent reports and records review. Cross-sectional data were collected from mothers of toddlers. The behavior rating inventory of executive functioning-preschool version (BRIEF-P) and the behavior flexibility rating scale-revised (BFRS-R) was administered to mothers. To participate in the current study, parents completed an informed consent form for the child’s participation, executive functions and repetitive behavior measures (described below), and a demographic information checklist. Inclusion criteria included no known comorbid psychological and medical disorders or hearing and visual deficits.

The results of the Pearson correlation test revealed that the degree of behavioral flexibility in young children was correlated with inhibition, shifting, emotional control, planning/organization, inhibitory self-control, cognitive flexibility, metacognition, and the overall score of executive functions. Only working memory had no significant relationship with children's behavioral flexibility among executive functions. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the predictive role of executive functions of defects in the behavioral flexibility of young children. Executive functions predict 18%, 15%, and 21% of the variance of children's behavioral flexibility towards objects, environment, and total behavioral flexibility score, respectively.

This study's findings showed that all executive functions studied, except working memory, have a significant relationship with behavioral flexibility in young children. The regression analysis results also showed that executive functions had the ability to significantly predict part of the variance of flexibility in children with symptoms of autism spectrum disorder to the environment and objects. At the same time, this predictive was not significant in behavioral flexibility towards individuals. According to this study’s findings, it can be concluded that the ability to shift attention between different situations and tasks and inhibit thoughts and movements are essential cognitive predictions in the amount of behavioral flexibility in young children. Also, executive function theory has the ability to predict the behavioral flexibility related to non-social stimuli. Other cognitive theories such as ToM and weak central coherence should be considered to explain social and behavioral flexibility.

Ethical Considerations

Compliance with ethical guidelines
The present study observed ethical principles, including obtaining written consent in order to participate in the research, respecting the principle of confidentiality of the participants in such a way that the names of the participants were removed for confidentiality; adequate information on how the research was conducted was provided to all participating parents and they were free to leave the research process.

Authors’ contributionsBoth authors of the present study collaborated in the design and conceptualization of the study and its final approval. The article's first author was responsible for preparing and revising the manuscript.

No financial support has been received from any organization for this research.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the families who helped us in this research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Anxiety symptoms have been reported in children with autism. However, most studies have focused on school-aged children and early anxiety symptoms in preschoolers with autism and their comparison in groups of children with different symptom severity and normal children have been less addressed. So, this study sought to compare total anxiety and anxiety symptoms in children with mild, moderate and severe autism symptom severity and typically developing children.

The research design is descriptive ex post facto and takes up the form of a cross-sectional study. In this study, four sample groups including 25 children with mild autism symptoms, 25 children with moderate autism symptoms, 21 children with severe autism symptoms and 25 typically developing children participated in the study. Data were collected using the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (GARS-2) and Preschool Children Anxiety Scale.

The results of univariate and multivariate analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between four groups in total anxiety and symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety and separation anxiety (P<0.001). The group of children with moderate and severe autism were not significantly different in total anxiety and anxiety symptoms (P=0.99). There was no significant difference between four groups in specific phobias (P<0.05). Also, the results of Scheffe post hoc test showed that the group of children with mild autism experienced higher levels of  total anxiety, social anxiety and generalized anxiety than the group of children with severe and moderate autism and children with typically developing children (P<0.001). Separation anxiety was higher in children with mild autism and children with typically developing children than the other two groups (P<0.001).

Our findings indicates that as the severity of autism symptoms increases, their cognitive abilities decrease in these children and their anxiety levels decreases.  Accordingly, it seems that the experience of anxiety requires some cognitive skills and levels of cognitive development that are deficient in children with moderate and severe autism.

Impaired Social interaction and communication, as well as the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests are known as the main symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Infants communicate with the environment and others through the eyes. The first information containing social content is transmitted to the infant through the babychr eye contact with the eyes and face of the mother and other people. Studies have shown that this phenomenon is the background for the formation, development and evolution of neural networks and circuits related to social relationships during development of the human. Some studies have shown that there are significant differences between the eye movement patterns (saccade and fixation pattern) between people with autism and people with typical neural growth pattern. Studies of visual attention in people with autism spectrum disorder often lead to contradictory results. Some studies have found several differences in the visual attention patterns of people with autism compared to neurotypical individuals, and some studies have not found any differences between two groups. These contradictory results are due to the use of assumptions, consideration of limited properties, and limitation of the type of stimuli. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the visual attention patterns of people with autism through a comprehensive study by using eye tracking data analysis, as well as image processing tools and models.

In this study the eye tracking data of 28 subjects, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years) were initially processed. Then, 300 images of this study were analyzed, visually segmented, labeled and categorized Based on low level features (color, intensity and directions), higher level features (such as object size), and communication and social features, by using models such as Itti Koch Model and image processing tools such as LabelMe. Visual attention patterns among people with Autism were assessed by using statistical tests.
 

It was found that people with autism pay less attention to parts of the images that include semantic and communicative features. On the contrary, they spend more time on the parts that contain tools and equipment. They are also slower to pay attention to parts of the image that contain social features, and instead spend more time paying attention to the background parts of the image, which include repetitive patterns. In addition, they spend more time in each fixation in parts that lack semantic or social features.

These results and other results of this study show that the main signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, impaired Social interaction and communication, as well as the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests, can be observed in the visual attention patterns of people with autism. These patterns can pave the way for further research and studies in cognitive neuroscience. By recognizing the parts or circuits in the brain that lead to such patterns, we can get a better view of how these parts or circuits of the brain work in the brain of people with autism. These patterns can also be used to design a low cost and fast autism screening tool based on eye-tracking technology.

In this research, the effectiveness of goal-setting strategies training designed based on goal-setting theory in the grade goals and academic achievement of middle school students has been investigated. To achieve this aim, 79 seventh-grade male students were selected by random cluster sampling and assigned to experimental and control groups. The Goal-setting strategies training package was developed on the basis of goal-setting theory by researchers and presented during 7 sessions to students and the tasks were done by them. Final grades of the first and second semesters were used for evaluating academic achievement and the grade goals set by students for the first and second semesters were used for assessing grade goal setting. The findings showed that the academic achievement of the experimental group increased in comparison with the control group. Whereas the grade goals of the students of the experimental group did not change, their grade goal errors decreased significantly which indicate the improvement and increased accuracy of educational goal-setting of students. Goal-setting strategies training can enhance academic performance and the quality of goal-setting.

As children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to experience anxiety than their peers, investigation of risk factors for anxiety in them is important for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment. Thus, this study aims to explore the risk factors of anxiety in children and adolescent with ASD.Source of Data: To obtain the selected articles to enter the analysis, systematic search strategies were used. The five databases including Scopus, Sciencedirect, PubMed, OVID-PsycINFO, and Springer were searched using a combination of selected keywords.

This study was a systematic review and 5 electronic databases from 2000 to 2019 were searched using a comprehensive search strategy. As a result of this search, 377 articles were retrieved. According to PRISMA and based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 18 research papers were selected for the study.

Although the findings were somehow contradictory, according to the results of the majority of studies, it can be concluded that anxiety in girls and in older children and adolescents with ASD is higher than boys and younger children and adolescents with ASD. Moreover, it was found that children with higher cognitive functions, lower autism severity, and more social problems had more anxiety symptoms.

The current findings suggest that gender, age, cognitive functioning, ASD severity, and social problems should be considered as potential risk factors for anxiety when assessing a child with ASD. Therefore, early prevention and intervention of anxiety in children with ASD who are most at risk is necessary.

Young children's access to digital devices has increased significantly in recent years. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use these devices extremely because of restricted and repetitive interests. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the use of digital devices with feeding and sleep problems in young children with ASD symptoms.

The present research was a cross-sectional study. 45 young children with ASD symptoms between 16 and 36 months were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using a lifestyle checklist, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-2), and the Feeding Problem Inventory (FPI). Pearson correlation coefficient and enter regression were used to analyze the data.

Pearson correlation coefficient and simultaneous regression analysis showed that children's use of digital devices had a significant relationship with sleeping late (p <05, r = 0.30), limited food interests (p <05, r = 0 / 31), the mother's dissatisfaction with the child's feeding (p <05, r = 0.32) and the total score of feeding problems (p <05, r = 0.31) in young children and explain 0.09, 0.11, 0.10 and 0.13% of the changes related to the above variables, respectively.

More use of digital devices by children with ASD symptoms is associated with the problems in late sleep and limited food interest diversity, maternal dissatisfaction with the child's feeding behavior and feeding problems in general. It seems necessary to provide interventions to manage the use of digital devices in children with autism spectrum disorders symptoms.

The aim of this study was to identify and introduce the psychological needs and characteristics of autistic and normally developing children to be applied in the architectural design of a functional integrated kindergarten.

The method of this qualitative research was documentary-library content analysis. For this purpose, the developmental psychology theories and the main sources in clinical psychology were used. There were also two series of searches:1) Library search among the books, articles, journals and dissertations that have been done so far about designing space for autistic and normally developing children.2) Regular search of Persian and English databases.

After analysis of the characteristics of normal children, three psychological factors were identified: biological, psychological and social components. Under these three components, nine sub-components or second-level needs, including the need for security, the need to belong to the environment, and the need for mobility were identified. These sub-components were further combined with the clinical features of autistic children. This was end-up to a list of psychological-architectural components of the two groups divided into five categories: space organization, comfort, space predictability, security, and texture of materials. These five categories were elaborated to set the list of the design’s architectural components.

If the design is based on the needs and characteristics of autistic children, it would often bring about more developmental opportunities for normal children and increase their safety, well-being and comfort. This should encourage parents of normal children to use integrated daycare; yet, some exclusive spaces for the education and rehabilitation of autistic children are required.

Executive dysfunction has shown to be the shared property of many cognitive symptoms seen in autism. The Home Playtime Program (HPP) is a home-based tele-cognitive rehabilitation for targeting executive dysfunction in children with autism. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectively of this intervention.

This study followed a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design without group control. Seventeen parents of children with autism aged 24-55 months (Mean=37, SD=9.1) were selected from Tehran Autism Center using available sampling method. Correspondingly, they received the HPP for 10 weeks. Preschool Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-parent form and A-Not-B test were used to measure executive function in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Also, the Therapy Attitude Inventory (TAI) was completed by parents to assess their satisfaction with therapy. Persian version of Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test was applied to the children at the onset of the study. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analyses.

The findings indicated that the components of executive functions: inhibition, working memory, planning/organizing, inhibition self-control, flexibility and metacognition were significantly improved at post-test (P<0.05). These positive changes, were not only sustained until follow-up, but also, some emotional control and change were even improved during the follow-up stage (P<0.05). The parents were highly satisfied with the intervention.

The current work provides some evidence in favor of the acceptability, feasibility and affectivity of the HPP on the executive functions of children with autism. In addition, it can easily be used under the current Coronavirus outbreak. Our service is ongoing, while the center is closed. Like many home-based interventions, the HPP shown to be ecologically valid and economically affordable. Thus, the HPP could be considered as a valuable inversion for executive dysfunction seen in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Anxiety is highly comorbid in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), contributing to considerable impairments. In this account, the aim of study was to explore the explanations of anxiety in children and adolescents with ASD in relevant literature.

This study is an integrative literature review and 3 electronic databases- Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed – from 2000 to 2019 were searched using a comprehensive search strategy. As a result of this search, 576 articles retrieved.  According to a PRISMA method and use of an inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 research papers were selected to enter the research.

According to the results of studies, 3 explanation have been found: The core symptoms of autism such as lack of social skills and Sensory Over-Responsivity underlie the anxiety in autism, Emotion regulation impairments underlie the anxiety in autism, and intolerance of uncertainty is a central factor in the emergence of anxiety in autism.

Children with autism spectrum disorder have some cognitive deficits and different cognitive architecture. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to these features and defects in explaining anxiety in autism and to present a conceptualization of anxiety in autism based on cognitive features.

 One of the problems of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is behavioral excesses resistance to many educational and rehabilitation programs. Parent-mediated behavioral interventions seem to be effective in overcoming these problems. However, these methods are not well-introduced. The purpose of this study is to systematically review these studies and their primary and secondary outcomes, and finally analyze the components. 

Methods & Materials: 

This study was a systematic review. The search included SID, Magiran, Medline, PubMed, Springer, Science Direct, Online Library, and PsycINFO. We reviewed The articles published between 2000 and 2017 about parent-mediated behavioral interventions on behavioral excesses in autistic children.

Ethical Considerations:

 This study with ethical code IR.SBU.ICBS.97/1013 was approved by the Biological Research Department of Shahid Beheshti University.

 The findings of 9 studies indicated positive effects of parent-mediated behavioral intervention on behavioral excesses, including repetitive behaviors, irritability (including tantrums, aggression, and self-injurious behaviors), echolalia, and destructive behaviors (preliminary results). Also, these interventions improved the adaptive behaviors in autistic children, and parental functions such as self-efficacy, parental style, psychological problems (secondary results). Components of the therapeutic program included the type of consequence-based interventions (such as response interruption and redirection), antecedent-based interventions A (visual cue and daily schedules), antecedent-based interventions B (such as enriching environment with play). Three articles had medium certainty of the evidence, and 6 had high certainty of evidence.

 The results of this study indicated the positive effect of parent-mediated behavioral intervention on behavioral excesses in children with ASD. Future studies should emphasize the comprehensiveness of all the effective components in the parent-mediated behavioral intervention and the feasibility of the intervention in various contexts. It is suggested that parent-mediated interventions be implemented on behavioral excesses in children with ASD in Iran.

Parent Management Training (PMT) is a general class of interventions which targets problem behaviors in children, and plays an important role in reduction or prevention of these kinds of behaviors in them.

The purpose of this article is to review the PMT programs for problem behaviors in preschool children and gathering the characteristics of programs.

In this article, in order to find related papers, a systematic search strategy has been used. Different date-bases have been utilized: PsycNet, Sciencedirect, Medline, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science for foreign papers and ISC, SID and Irandoc for Iranian ones.

After removing the repetitive articles, the title of the PMT programs were discovered, amongst available articles, consist of 54 foreign and three Iranian programs. For each of these programs, a lot of data was collected, such as program title, researcher’s name(s), target groups, publishing year of the program.

There are numerous PMT programs that are designed to reduce the problem behaviors of preschool children, but these programs are often designed for children who do not suffer from any disorders or other inappropriate situations, except behavioral problems. In order to use PMT programs for special groups of children, characteristics of each group must be considered important in establishment of these programs.

Using social robots in autism diagnosis and treatment has been increasing in recent years. In this study, our objective (as one of the pioneers in Iran) is to explore the clinical application of humanoid robots as medical assistants in the treatment/education of children with autism in order to improve their social/cognitive skills. To reach this goal, we have designed and implemented a set of therapeutic games with the following topics: a)Investigation of social robots’ acceptability and effect on improving the fine/gross movement imitation of Iranian children with autism, b)Exploring the effect of a robot-assisted music-education program on children with ASD’s socio-cognitive skills improvement (as an individual clinical intervention program), and c)The impact of humanoid robots on improving the social and cognitive skills of high-functioning autistic children (as a group clinical intervention program). The results indicated that our robots were accepted by 70 percent of the participants as a communication tool from the first interaction. We also observed improvement in joint attention and fine movement imitation skills of both the high-functioning and low-functioning subjects. It was concluded that the high-functioning children’s social skills improved due to the robot-assisted group therapy sessions, while the stereotyped behaviors of the low-functioning subjects decreased during the course of this program. Moreover, the proposed FCM algorithm for the automatic assessment of facial expression imitation tasks shows a sufficient agreement on the automatic and manual scores for the participants. The observations indicate the potential use of robotic-platforms in behavioral analysis of children during the intervention sessions.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD as a neurodevelopmental disorder includes three subtypes predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I), predominantly impulsive/hyperactive (ADHD-H), and predominantly combined (ADHD-C) that has formed a heterogeneity disorder due to differences in pathology and syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the EEG characteristics of ADHD subtypes.  

Subjects included 61 boys (7-12 years old, normal intelligence) with ADHD (ADHD-I, N= 25; ADHD-H, N=14 and ADHD-C, N=22) and 43 typically developing children (TDC). The groups were matched for IQ- and age. Children were investigated regarding Child Behavior Checklist and brain electrical activity during eyes closed resting state (i.e. EEG power in delta (1-4 Hz), Theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz) and Beta (12-30Hz) frequency bands. Statistical analysis included a 2x2 factorial design by additive model.  

Theta / beta ratio was higher in all ADHD subtypes, especially the ADHD-I subtypes, compared to normal children. In addition, in the ADHD-I subtypes, theta activity was higher and beta activity was lower. No significant difference was found between the groups in delta and alpha activity.

According to this results, EEG markers can better distinguish the ADHD-I subtype, which can be explained within the framework of the maturational lag model of the central nervous system.

Based on information processing models, cognitive biases occurring in different stages of information processing can lead to anxiety disorders in children. Accordingly, the present study aimed to review these cognitive biases effective in developing and maintaining childhood anxiety and have been studied in various research. This narrative review was conducted through search of Persian and English articles in English databases including Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Speinger and Persian Databases including SID, Magiran, Ensani.ir (during 2000-2020)  with related keywords. The result of the search was 78 articles that finally 45 articles were selected to enter the study. The results have identified several types of these cognitive biases including attentional bias, judgment bias, memory bias, and Interpretation bias, reduced Evidence for danger (RED) bias, emotional reasoning, probability bias, and covariation bias. These biases are related to cognitive processes that are distorted and inaccurate and thus trigger maladaptive thoughts and behaviors. Obviously, this biased information processing can easily invoke feelings of fear and anxiety that in turn increase cognitive bias and can reinforce risk and vulnerability for maladaptive schemas. In conclusion, Identifying and understanding these cognitive biases will shed light on the mechanism of the development and maintenance of anxiety in children and can lead to more effective treatments designed to reduce these biases and thereby reduce anxiety in children.

Maternal deprivation as an early life negative experience can lead to enduring disorders such as autism-like behaviors by affecting brain development. Oxytocinergic system alters in the process of maternal deprivation, on the other hand the positive effect of oxytocin on the improvement of social behavior and stereotyped behavior in autism disorder has been shown. In this study, we investigated the effect of oxytocin on maternal deprivation-induced autism-like behaviors in female rats.
 

For this purpose, 32 female rats were divided into four groups. The two groups were separated from the mother 3 hours daily for the first 14 days of life. The other two groups were kept in normal condition. After weaning from each of the two groups (maternal deprivation or control), one group received oxytocin at a dose of 1 mg/kg for five times. At adolescence (PND=42-50), social behavior tests, stereotyped behaviors, and anxiety behaviors were taken. Plasma BDNF levels were also measured.
 

The present study showed that maternal deprivation led to autism-like behaviors and anxiety behavior in adolescent female rats (P<0.05), which were significantly reduced by oxytocin injection (P<0.05). Maternal deprivation also resulted in a significant increase in plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level (P<0.05), but oxytocin treatment did not significantly decrease it.
 

The results of this study showed that oxytocin treatment had an effective role in modulating autistic-like and anxiety behaviors in female rats.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is used for a wide range of psychological problems in children. However, Children should have reached the level of development required to benefit from this treatment. The aim of this study is to examine developmental skills needed to effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy in children.
In this umbrella review, review articles related to subject of study in Scopus, PubMed, springer in the period from 1900 to 2018 were extracted. Among articles extracted, 6 articles were selected for this study.  The results indicated that a variety of emotional, social and cognitive skills including understanding and recognizing of emotions, social perspective taking, metacognition, causal reasoning, logical reasoning, scientific reasoning, verbal abilities and cognitive flexibility, play an important role in effectiveness of CBT. Some children may respond poorly because they do not yet have the cognitive, social, or emotional maturity needed to understand and apply the skills being taught in therapy. In conclusion, treatments for children may need to be tailored to match children’s ability to both comprehend and implement the therapeutic techniques, otherwise, the effectiveness of the treatment is limited.

Parent-mediated interventions are consid-ered as an effective intervention to treat children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most of these interventions focus The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this program on three parents of children with ASD. This study was a single-subject design and was perfo-rmed on three children with ASD aged 2 to 3 years old. Parents of these children re-ceived 10 individual sessions of FPMA-BE. 9 stages of evaluation were performed (3 evaluations in baseline, 5 evaluations during treatment and one evaluation in follow up). The instruments used in this study were the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revise (RBS), Autism Treatment Evalu-ation Checklist and The Aberrant Beh-avior Checklist. To analyze data, visual analysis and effect size were used. The results of the study showed that BE such as stereotyped behaviors (d= 82%), self-injury (d= 100%), compulsive behaviors (d= 85%), rituals (d= 85%), sameness (d= 100%), restricted behaviors (d= 83%), irritability (d= 79%), echolalia (d= 84%) and hyperactivity (d= 26%) decreased. At the same time, SD (such as Speech/comm-unication, Sociability) improved without any intervention on behavioral deficits. Since, the results of this study support the effectiveness of the FPMABE, it is recom-mended to use this program as an early intervention for the treatment of children with ASD even prior to treatment of SD to take advantage of family-based programs.