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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
2008- 2009
Principal Investigator: Gottfried Schlaug , MD , Ph.D.
Using Melodic Intonation to Facilitate Improvement in Language and Communication Skills in Autistic Children
One characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), perhaps the most heartbreaking, is the deficiency in communication skills. Unfortunately, interventions aimed at improving verbal output and/or communication skills are relatively few and have had limited success. However, since autistic children who often respond to music better than spoken language enjoy engaging in music-making, treatment methods that use music-based activities may provide an effective alternative or complement to traditional interventions for facilitating speech. The observation that many autistic children can sing, even when unable to speak, is strikingly similar to the disassociation seen in patients with Broca's aphasia who can sing the lyrics of a song better than they can speak the same words. Using a rehabilitative technique, Melodic Intonation Therapy, (MIT), that emphasizes the prosodic quality of speech through slow, pitched vocalizations (singing), has lead to significant improvement in speech production in such non-fluent aphasic patients. Since singing requires neural coupling of sounds with motor actions (e.g., production of sound (singing/speaking) depends upon the motor action of articulation), it is possible that MIT is capable of specifically engaging a 'hearing/doing' network, and thus, may offer an alternative therapeutic option for improving language and communication skills in ASD children. One case-report of the effects of MIT on an autistic 3-year old who had made no improvement after 1 year of verbal and sign language treatment, showed that after undergoing an adapted MIT program, he was capable of speaking in 2-word sentences. This project will use this music-based speech intervention (MIT) to build upon the musical strengths observed in autistic individuals and facilitate communication skills in children with ASD.
Gottfried Schlaug
Centro Studi Sulla Comunicazione Facilitata, Italy
2008-2009
Principal Investigator: Alda Scopesi, Mirella Zanobini
Linguistic Interactions of Autistic Boys in Different Facilitated Contexts
An important area of autism research concerns the evaluation of communicative abilities and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at promoting these competences. Different methods have been developed to improve verbal language or provide alternative or augmentative instruments of communication. Facilitated Communication (FC) is a technique for providing support to subjects with poor or inexistent verbal abilities as they convey typed messages. After a long and lively debate on the validity of FC, in recent years specific guidelines have been created to allow a progressive increase in the facilitated subjects' initiatives and spontaneous pointing, with the aim of total independency. This research project is inserted into the debate relative to linguistic abilities of autistic people, with particular reference to analysis of stylistic, semantic and lexical peculiarities of written texts produced with the support of FC. A psycholinguistic analysis can contribute indirectly to the debate on the authorship and effectiveness of the facilitated production. Furthermore, it could represent an opportunity to understand autistic people's subjectivity.
This study analyses the linguistic interactions of autistic boys - who need a minimal level of physical support - in different facilitated contexts, with the aim of exploring:
- the presence of original expressions and typical linguistic characteristics, potentially indicative of the relative linguistic independence and authorship of the facilitated writings;
- the presence of semantic and stylistic peculiarities, with particular reference to the psychological lexicon of people with autism;
- the nature and development of the dialogue between the facilitated and facilitator and the influence of the facilitator's characteristics on the facilitated language in general and in particular on the use of the psychological lexicon.
Chapman
University, Orange , CA
2000-2002
Principal Investigator: Donald Cardinal, Ph.D.
A
Two Year Study of Communication Options for People with
Autism and Their Effects on Quality of Life
This
investigator is conducting a national survey of individuals
who know well a person who uses an alternative or augmentative
communication (AAC) system. Its intent is to determine
if users of AAC have had significant increases in quality
of life since they began using these communication systems.
Responses of those who identify Facilitated Communication
(FC) as their primary communication method will be compared
to individuals using other AAC methods. A publication
will be created that will describe the impact that FC has
had in the lives of individual FC users.
Donald Cardinal
Chapman University, Orange , CA
2001-2003
Principal Investigators: Donald Cardinal, Ph.D., Sally Young,
Ph.D., Alan Fogel, Ph.D.
Engendering Change in the Movement and Communication Difficulties
Experienced By Adults with Autism: A Dynamic Systems Approach
Using Feldenkrais Movement Therapy
This
study will evaluate the efficacy of Feldenkrais movement
therapy as a tool to improve motor planning and function
in people with the label of low-functioning autism.
By showing the potential for change in long-standing movement
patterns, this study will provide a deeper understanding
of movement and communication difficulties experienced by
this group and of contextual elements that can support and
engender the change process. All of these new understandings
will be used to formulate more precise, experimental protocols
in the future.
Donald Cardinal
Alan Fogel
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
2008 -2009
Principal Investigator: Barry Gordon, MD, Ph.D. and Kerry Ledoux, Ph.D.
Subclinical Communications and Vocalizations in Autism: Investigation by Video/Audio Surveillance, Eye Movements, and Evoked Potentials
Many individuals affected by autism never seem to be able to speak or to understand speech. Yet their families and therapists often suspect that such individuals "know" more than they can express, despite the skepticism of those who do not know the individual as well. This may be because such individuals actually do have internal thoughts, even internal "speech" of some kind, but they appear to be oblivious and mute because their communicative efforts are so fleeting or atypical that they are not recognized, except by people familiar with their behavior. In this study, the investigator will apply four accepted and rigorous objective methods to try to determine if such individuals can "know" more than they seem to know, and can "express" more than they can express through traditional routes. The four methods are: 1) intensive audio-video surveillance; (2) eye movement recording; (3) pupillary diameter monitoring; and (4) electrical activity recorded through the scalp, analyzed looking for a particular wave (the N400 wave). Phase 1 of this research will attempt to establish the validity of the different measures by examining what they show in individuals with autism who can speak and communicate. Phase 2 will try to determine if a different set of participants, individuals with autism who have little or no speech, show some types of comprehension or expression on any or all of these measures in the course of trying to learn picture-word associations. If this research is successful to any degree, it would help motivate more concerted efforts to try to detect such abilities in individuals with autism who have little or no speech. Perhaps more importantly, this research would help to justify more aggressive efforts to explore alternative ways for such individuals to comprehend and to express themselves.
Barry Gordon
Lesley
College Graduate School, Division of Educational Studies
& Public Policy, Cambridge, MA
1992
Principal Investigators: Anne Larkin, Ph.D. and Susan Gurry,
Ed.D.
Facilitated
Communication with Young Adults: Issues and Transitions
This
study will examine the implications of Facilitated Communication
with young adult men with autism living in community residential
facilities. The study examines the following three questions:
Can Facilitated Communication enable people with autism
to demonstrate that they have high levels of understanding?;
Does Facilitated Communication succeed with some people
with autism and not others?; Can there by any breakthrough
in expressive communication as a result of this training
procedure? Following initial training in Facilitated Communication,
the project directors will follow the communication attempts
between three young men ages 25-29 and their group home
staff for a six-month period. Notes from monthly meetings,
videotaped recordings, transcripts of the actual communication
sessions and exit interviews with staff and administration
will be recorded and analyzed.
School
of Education - Lesley University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
2008-2009
Principal Investigator: Rosalind Picard, Sc.D. and Rana el Kaliouby, Ph.D.
Computerized Interventions to Promote Verbal Expression in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
This project is a collaborative effort between Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Media Laboratory (ML)-an interdisciplinary research lab at the forefront of creating new technologies for improving the human experience, and the Groden Center, Inc.-a non-profit school in Providence, RI that provides community-based, evaluative, therapeutic, and educational programs for children and adults with ASD-to develop computerized intervention technologies that assist individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in understanding and producing verbal expressions that carry much of the communicative and emotional information in language. The intervention consists of two innovative technology components: (1) a wearable speech recorder that integrates with a wearable camera to record faces and speech in dyadic interactions, and (2) an interactive, computerized game that facilitates the visualization, and manipulation of speech characteristics, as well as conversational dynamics. The interactive game extracts and maps speech characteristics to alternative sensory channels such as visual or auditory feedback, catering to the visual and auditory strengths of persons with ASD. This yearlong research plan consists of the following three aims: (1) Collect a speech corpus documenting dyadic conversations between 10 individuals with ASD at the Groden Center and their staff members; (2) Apply and extend speech-feature extraction and classification toolkits to the speech corpus of individuals with ASD; (3) Conduct participatory and experimental evaluation sessions with 10 students at the Groden Center, their teachers, parents, and speech-language therapists to iteratively test and refine the wearable and interactive, computerized toolkit. This project aims to improve social communication capacities of persons with ASD, as well as enable speech-language therapists, teachers, and parents to assess and teach verbal expression in a novel and fun way that is individually-tailored for each person's interest, sensory, and perceptual capabilities.
Rosalind Picard
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
2005-2007
Principal Investigator: Emilio Bizzi, M.D.
Improving the Communication Capabilities of People with Autism Who Use Assisted Typing Through the Use of Mechanical Devices
The goal of this project is to develop a system to improve the communication capabilities and eye-hand coordination of patients with autism. In general terms, the use of the system will be as follows: a set of letters (targets) will be presented sequentially or simultaneously on a screen. An eye-tracking system will record the position of the subject’s eyes as they converge on the target’s spatial location. With the help of an assistive (phantom) device the subject’s finger will be guided to the spatial position of the target. Depending upon the age and spelling ability of the subject, pictures may substitute letters presented on the screen. The system will be comprised of three parts: a) an eye-tracking system, b) a phantom device to which the subject’s finger will be attached and which will help guide them to touch the target, and c) a software interface that will couple the two systems. This system aims to improve subjects’ communication capabilities as well as subjects’ eye-hand coordination.
Bizzi Laboratory
Nottingham Trent University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
2005-2007
Principal Investigator: Andy Grayson, Ph.D.
Eye-Tracking and Facilitated
Communication
Facilitated communication (FC) is a strategy which aims to
enhance communication skills by helping people learn to point
or type. It is controversial when used by people with autism
because it involves physical contact between the FC user and
facilitator, making it difficult to determine who is responsible
for the typing. Some peer-reviewed studies have concluded
that the emergent language is being authored by the facilitator,
while other peer reviewed studies have concluded that the
emergent language is authored by the FC user. Some, but not
all speech and language professionals maintain that FC is
a useful strategy. This research will use fine-grained video
analysis to measure typing-related behaviors in FC users and
facilitators. By comparing the same FC users working with
different facilitators, and facilitators working with different
FC users, inferences about authorship can be drawn based on
behavioral inconsistencies. If an FC user is typing, one would
expect to see consistency in the way they type letters and
words, irrespective of who is giving physical support. This
project also explores the usefulness of eye-tracking technology
as a means for enhancing understanding of FC. FC users will
wear eye-tracking equipment while typing, which shows where
they are looking at any given point in time.
Andy Grayson
The Open University, United Kingdom
2001
Principal Investigator: Andrew Grayson, Ph.D.
Facilitated
Communication: A Systematic Observational Research Project
Involving Fine-Grained Video Analysis and Eye Tracking (funded
through NAAR)
Facilitated
communication (FC) is a strategy which aims to enhance communication
skills by helping people learn to point or type. It is controversial
when used by people with autism because it involves physical
contact between the FC user and facilitator, making it difficult
to determine who is responsible for the typing. Some peer-reviewed
studies have concluded that the emergent language is being
authored by the facilitator, while some speech and language
professionals maintain that FC is a useful strategy.
This
research will use fine-grained video analysis to measure
typing-related behaviors in FC users and facilitators. By
comparing the same FC users working with different facilitators,
and facilitators working with different FC users, inferences
about authorship can be drawn based on behavioral inconsistencies.
If an FC user is typing, one would expect to see consistency
in the way they type letters and words, irrespective of
who is giving physical support. This project also explores
the usefulness of eye-tracking technology as a means for
enhancing understanding of FC. FC users will wear eye-tracking
equipment while typing, which shows where they are looking
at any given point in time.
Andy Grayson
Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
2008 -2009
Principal Investigator: Jan van Santen, Ph.D. and Lois Black, Ph.D.
In Your Own Voice: Personal Augmentative and Alternative Communication Voices for Minimally Verbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Many children with autism who have limited verbal abilities use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to help them communicate with others. Often, these devices produce speech output. Necessarily, the voice of such a system does not resemble in any way the voice of the child who uses the system. This project is for children who have at least some speech capability, such as saying a few isolated words. The investigator will develop technology that performs a voice transplant of the child's natural voice onto the AAC device, so that the device's voice will sound like the child. The investigator hypothesizes that an AAC device with a personalized voice that mimics the child's voice will psychologically reinforce powerful motivational factors and a sense of owness for communication so that the frequency and richness of AAC use, and its acceptance by family members and friends, will be enhanced. In addition, as a tool for improving a child's speech capabilities, a system that speaks with a voice similar to the child's own voice is likely to be more effective than a system that speaks with a default synthetic voice because the computer provides a model that is closer to the child's speech and hence is easier to emulate by the child. To create the system, the investigator will build on the most recent voice transformation, speech synthesis, and other speech technologies that have been developed in his lab.
Jan van Santen
The Regents of the University of California, Irvine, CA
2008-2009
Principal Investigator: Michael Leon, Ph.D. and Ira Lott, M.D.
Olfactory and Other Novel Treatments for Autism
Autism is a severe developmental disorder, involving profound deficits in communication, social interactions and repetitive/compulsive behaviors. While there is increasing adoption of early interventions for the treatment of autism, these therapies require an extraordinary commitment of time and money, with only varying degrees of success. This project takes advantage of recent findings in the animal literature demonstrating that early sensory and motor stimulation allows brains to become much more resistant to neurological challenges, thereby preserving neurobehavioral function in the face of genetic, toxic and physical insults to the brain. In preliminary work, the investigator considered the possibility that humans challenged by autism would have similar gains in functionality with a specific type of increased sensory stimulation. There is now data showing that thirty-one of thirty-one autistic individuals given this form of sensory stimulation experienced measurable and significant improvements over a wide range of their symptoms, including the critical issue of communication. Through this grant, the investigator will test this treatment systematically with a randomized controlled trial. The sole aim of this project is to assess the efficacy of this treatment using a randomized controlled trial for 8-10 year-old autistic individuals, with a follow-up period to assess the ongoing efficacy of the treatment. If the therapy proves to be effective, it should be possible to treat autistic children reliably and effectively at a minimal expense.
Michael Leon
TASH,
Baltimore, MD
2005
Fostering
Support of a Full Range of Communication Methods and Empowering
Users of Facilitated Communication and other Augmentative
and Alternative Communication Methods
TASH
is an international association of people with disabilities,
their family members, and professionals advocating for inclusion
of all people in all aspects of society. The aim of this
project is to identify and overcome barriers that stand
in the way of people with communication differences and
difficulties self-directing their lives and becoming full
participants in their communities and the disabilities rights
movement. Project teams, including people with autism who
have communicated using Facilitated Communication (FC) and
TASH staff, will accomplish this goal by: 1) broadening
the voice of Alternative and Augmentative Communication
(AAC) users by building better connections with self-advocacy,
advocacy and the disability community regarding communication
rights; 2) building a comprehensive website which will provide
resources on FC, including research articles, training information,
and information on legislative action; 3) increasing the
number of organizations that understand the importance of
communication and accept as a valid, evidence-based practice
the full range of AAC methods; 4) bringing AAC users and
advocates to Washington, DC to participate in an organized
public policy day; and 5) making Hill visits to educate
elected officials about the issues regarding the need for
research about and access to funding and services for AAC.
TASH
University
of Connecticut, Storrs , CT
2002
Principal
Investigator: Letitia Naigles, Ph.D.
The
Development of Language Comprehension in Children with Autism:
A Longitudinal Study Using the Intermodal Preferential Looking
Program (funded through NAAR)
Dr.
Naigles is investigating early language acquisition in children
with autism. Is the process of language acquisition in children
with autism similar to that of typically developing children?
What do language comprehension measures reveal about the
process and products of language acquisition in children
with autism? Dr. Naigles plans to access language of children
with autism using comprehension measures that may reveal
both hidden strengths and weaknesses in their language acquisition.
Using a method called "Intermodal Preferential Looking",
a child observes two simultaneously presented video events
while listening to linguistic stimulus that describes only
one of the events. If the child watches the matching event
more than the nonmatching event, the child is inferred to
have comprehended the linguistic stimulus. This method has
been used on typically developing toddlers, and the researchers
have already successfully applied it to three children with
autism. This research has the potential to provide information
concerning treatment strategies and insights into deficits
and strengths in language comprehension of children with
autism.
University of Illinois, The Psychiatric
Institute, Chicago , IL
2002-2004
Principal Investigator: Stephen Porges, Ph.D.
Stimulating
Social Communication in Adolescents and Adults with Autism
Spectrum Disorders: A Neurological Approach
The
goal of this project is to demonstrate the efficiency and
efficacy of the Listening Project, a biologically-based
behavioral intervention derived from the Polyvagal Theory,
on adolescent and adult individuals with Autism Spectrum
Disorder. The Polyvagal Theory provides a neurobiological
explanation for specific neural mechanisms associated with
the spontaneous social behavior expressed by humans.
This project is based on the premise that social behavior
is a naturally occurring emergent property of the human
nervous system. According to this model, positive
social behavior is dependent on the nervous system being
in a specific state. Intervention strategies that foster
this state will have a positive impact on the social interaction
skills of people with autism. The research program
focuses on the development, evaluation, and application
of this class of interventions in a cohort of adults with
autism.
The
Psychiatric Institute
Stephen
Porges
University of Illinois, The Psychiatric Institute, Chicago
, IL
2005-2007
Principal
Investigator: Stephen Porges, Ph.D.
Stimulating
Social Engagement Behaviors in Individuals with Autism
The
Social Engagement System, based on the Polyvagal Theory,
provides a neurobiological model of how difficulties in
spontaneous social behavior are related to facial expressivity
and regulation of bodily state. Relevant to autism
are specific deficits in the Social Engagement System that
are expressed in behaviors dependent on muscles of the face
and head and regulation of bodily state. This grant explores
the hypothesis that spontaneous social behavior, social
awareness, affect expressivity, prosody, language development
and a behavioral "reliance" on restricted repetitive and
stereotyped patterns of behavior are, in part, derivative
and predictable consequences of problems in the neural regulation
of the Social Engagement System. The aims of the research
are: 1) to describe the autistic nervous system through
the development of new theory-driven measures that may have
immediate application in the assessment of impairment and
evaluation of intervention outcomes; and 2) to expand current
successful intervention technologies to an adult population
and to determine the features of individuals who will benefit
from this intervention.
The
Psychiatric Institute
Stephen
Porges
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
2008 -2009
Principal Investigator: Maria Palmieri, MD and Maurizio Elia, MD
Mirror Neuron System and Written Communication through Facilitated Communication in People with Autism: A Cortical Profile of Excitability and Inhibition by Means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
There are several studies that link Mirror Neurons (MN) to language and other studies describe a possible malfunction of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) in people with autism. However, some people with autism use pointing and typing (FC) as an alternative to verbal language. This project is driven by the hypothesis that FC might activate the MNS, helping the person with autism to communicate. The aim is to investigate this hypothesis by means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive technique widely used to test neuromotor activation. TMS is able to explore some brain circuits in humans, and TMS experiments in non-autistic people have demonstrated an activation of some brain areas while reading and speaking. This project will investigate whether the same is true for children with autism and no verbal language who have learned to read and write. If this is true, it would demonstrate that pointing with the objective of typing is an intentional movement. The study assumes that reading and writing, learned by FC, have created a common code between the two people who communicate which allows them to understand each other. Twenty non-speaking people with autism and twenty non-autistic people will participate in this year-long study. Selected subjects will undergo a clinical and neuropsychological assessment. After identifying participants, the investigator will test her hypothesis using TMS recording to prove that the typing on a keyboard of autistic FC users is intentional (i.e. independent from facilitator). If able to demonstrate this, the investigator will show that either MNS works in people with autism or that it has been activated as a result of training by means of FC and AAC strategies.
University of Rome Tor Vergata
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2008 -2009
Principal Investigator: Maja Mataric, Ph.D.
Socially Assistive Robotics for Socialization and Communication Training in Children with Autism
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to respond socially to simple robots. While interest in and engagement with machines has been reliably observed, it remains to be validated whether such interactions can lead toward improvements in the child's communication and social skill training. The goal of this study is to test and validate the possibility of transference of communication and social skills between robots and children with autism toward family, peers, and others.
This study brings together experts in ASD, social behavior, and intelligent socially assistive robotics. Their combined expertise and resources will be brought to bear, in a principled hypothesis-testing approach, not to develop new technology, but to study ways in which existing technology can be applied for effective therapeutic use. Through the involvement of the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles , children across the ASD spectrum will participate in the study.
The child-robot interactions begin as simple scenarios, and gradually increase in complexity in a child-specific, individualized manner. They will involve social and communication skills such as pointing, the use of personal pronouns, and joint attention, imitation, turn-taking, and vocal communication. The study will involve family members and peers, testing how child-robot communication and social interaction can be transferred to child-robot-peer and, eventually, toward child-peer communication and interaction. Different robot forms will be tested, from simple car-like platforms to more complex but affordable human-like machines. The results of child-robot interactions will be compared to interactions with computers, caretakers, and peers, to identify the potential role and effectiveness of robots as therapeutic tools for children with autism.
Maja Mataric
Yale
University Child Study Center, New Haven , CT
2000-2001
Principal
Investigators: Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. and Katarzyna Chawarska,
Ph.D.
Precursors
of Joint Attention Skills in Autism and Related Conditions
(funded through NAAR)
Joint
attention is considered a basic social skill upon which
rest the development of reciprocal communication and thinking
about others. Deficits in joint attention are virtually
universal in children with autism. Mechanisms underlying
joint attention deficits are poorly understood. This study
will identify and measure precursors of joint attention
skills. The researchers will focus on spontaneous gaze monitoring,
or the capacity for knowing gaze of others to objects and
events. The precursors of this capacity will be studied,
including the capacity for engaging in eye-to-eye attention
with others by maintaining eye contact and the capacity
for using gaze of others to regulate one's own behavior.
The researchers aim to identify any differences in profiles
of infants with autism from profiles of non-autistic developmentally
delayed and typically developing children. This will allow
the researchers to specify which abilities are present and
which are not, in an effort to breakdown gaze monitoring
into its component parts. This research could elucidate
the origins of gaze abnormalities in autism, advance our
understanding of neural substrates involved in the social
disability seen in autism, and contribute to the design
of diagnostic instruments aimed at detecting autism prior
to 18 months of age.
Yale
Child Study Center
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