Reading comprehension improvement in autism.

Introduction: A subset of autistic children excel at word decoding but have difficulty with reading comprehension (i.e., the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile). Prior research suggests the Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) for language comprehension and thinking intervention helps improve reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of vocabulary, memory, and social functioning in reading comprehension; however, predictors and moderators of reading comprehension within this specific profile of autistic readers have not been thoroughly explored. Methods: In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the V/V intervention by comparing reading comprehension scores between groups and across time. Participants included a sample of autistic children (AUT-EXP; n=22) and a waitlist control group of autistic children (AUT-WLC; n=17) with reading comprehension difficulties, as well as a sample of non-autistic children (Non-AUT; n=26) (all age 8-13 years). AUT-EXP and AUT-WLC groups completed a battery of cognitive assessments during pre and post tests. We also analyzed whether cognitive assessment scores predicted reading comprehension, and examined the moderating effects of group (AUT-EXP vs. AUT-WLC) on these relationships. Results: The AUT-EXP group significantly improved in their pre to post reading comprehension scores (t(21)=4.19, p<.001, d=.89), whereas the AUT-WLC group did not. Verbal memory significantly predicted reading comprehension, though group did not moderate relationships between cognitive test performance and reading comprehension. Discussion: Results suggest that the V/V intervention may help improve reading comprehension for autistic children with the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile. Additionally, strategies for improving verbal memory may indirectly enhance reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile.

Psychopathic traits and social brain responses during moral evaluation in adolescence.

Brain functioning underlying moral decision-making in adolescents with psychopathic traits is relatively less understood. This fMRI study examined the neural correlates of moral decision-making in relation to psychopathic traits, as measured by the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), in a sample of 16 community-recruited youth (mean age=13.94) with reported behavior problems. Participants viewed images that depicted a moral violation, a conflict with no moral violation, and a neutral scenario. We analyzed activation, seed-to-voxel, and seed-to-seed functional connectivity using a social brain mask during moral reasoning and decision-making. Results indicated: a) greater activity in social brain regions while assessing acts of moral, compared to nonmoral, violations; b) positive correlations between activation of several social brain regions and YPI subscale scores; c) a positive association between YPI and functional connectivity between the social brain network and the bilateral middle cingulate cortices; d) significant effects of YPI on connectivity between social brain regions and the rest of the brain; and e) decreased connectivity between several ROIs during moral reasoning: the left temporoparietal junction (lTPJ) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), the precuneus (PREC) and left amygdala (lAMYG), and the PREC and rAMYG. Clinical and developmental implications of these findings are discussed.

Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations during resting state fMRI in autistic children.

Resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) provides an excellent platform for examining the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF), which are key indices of brain functioning. However, ALFF and fALFF have been used only sporadically to study autism. rs-fMRI data from 69 children (40 autistic, mean age = 8.47 ± 2.20 years; age range: 5.2 to 13.2; and 29 non-autistic, mean age = 9.02 ± 1.97 years; age range 5.9 to 12.9) were obtained from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE II). ALFF and fALFF were measured using CONN connectivity toolbox and SPM12, at whole-brain & network-levels. A two-sampled t-test and a 2 Group (autistic, non-autistic) × 7 Networks ANOVA were conducted to test group differences in ALFF and fALFF. The whole-brain analysis identified significantly reduced ALFF values for autistic participants in left parietal opercular cortex, precuneus, and right insula. At the network level, there was a significant effect of diagnostic group and brain network on ALFF values, and only significant effect of network, not group, on fALFF values. Regression analyses indicated a significant effect of age on ALFF values of certain networks in autistic participants. Such intrinsically different network-level responses in autistic participants may have implications for task-level recruitment and synchronization of brain areas, which may in turn impact optimal cognitive functioning. Moreover, differences in low frequency fluctuations of key networks, such as the DMN and SN, may underlie alterations in brain responses in autism that are frequently reported in the literature.

Corpus callosum size and homotopic connectivity in Autism spectrum disorder.

By examining how morphology of the corpus callosum (CC) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may affect functional communication across hemispheres, we hope to provide new insights into the structure-function relationship in the brain. We used a sample of 94 participants from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database (55 typically-developing (TD) and 39 with ASD). The CC was segmented into five sub-regions (anterior, mid-anterior, central, mid-posterior, posterior) using FreeSurfer software, which were further examined for group differences. The total volume and specific sub-region volumes of the CC, and interhemispheric (homotopic) functional connectivity were calculated, along with the relationship between volume and connectivity. These measures were correlated with social ability assessed by the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). The central sub-region of CC was significantly smaller in ASD, although there was no group difference in total CC volume. ASD participants also showed stronger homotopic connectivity in the superior frontal gyrus. SRS scores were negatively correlated with the CC central sub-region volumes in ASD. The findings of this study add to the body of research showing morphological differences in the CC in ASD as well as connectivity differences. The absence of a significant relationship between structure and homotopic functional connectivity aligns with previous findings.