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Autism & Nonverbal

A curated collection of research papers focusing on autism & nonverbal. Explore the methodology, key findings, and ongoing debates in this field.

Total Papers 6
Year Range 2010 – 2020
Top Contributors
Donnellan, Anne MJaswal, Vikram KHill, David A

Recent Publications

Eye-Tracking Reveals Agency in Assisted Autistic Communication

Jaswal, Vikram K; Wayne, Allison; Golino, Hudson β€’ 2020 β€’ Scientific Reports

Nine nonspeaking autistic young adults who communicate by pointing to letters on a hand-held letterboard wore head-mounted eye trackers while answering 24 comprehension, spelling, and open-ended questions about a lesson read aloud by a familiar assistant. Frame-by-frame video coding (30 fps, inter-rater ΞΊ = 0.88–0.94) showed letter accuracy of 94%, word accuracy of 83%, and a median inter-point interval of 952 ms (~1 letter/second from 26 alternatives). Anticipatory gaze fixations preceded pointing on 71% of letter selections by a median of 476 ms. IPI was significantly longer at word boundaries (b = 0.75, p < .0001) and shorter for high bigram-frequency pairs (Ξ² = βˆ’0.18, p < .0001), paralleling timing signatures of fluent spelling in non-autistic typists. These patterns render a cueing account unlikely and provide objective evidence that the participants, not the assistant, authored their communications.

#autism #eye_tracking #letterboard_communication #augmentative_alternative_communication #motor_planning

Being versus Appearing Socially Uninterested: Challenging Assumptions about Social Motivation in Autism

Jaswal, Vikram K; Akhtar, Nameera β€’ 2019 β€’ Behavioral and Brain Sciences

BBS target article (74 pp. with 32 commentaries and authors' response) challenging social motivation accounts of autism. Reviews four behaviors: (1) eye contact avoidance reflects sensory discomfort and adaptive processing, not disinterest; (2) reduced pointing stems from motor planning difficulties, not absent communicative intent; (3) motor stereotypies serve regulatory functions uncorrelated with social impairment; (4) echolalia functions communicatively and for self-regulation. Draws on cross-cultural research, motor/sensory literature, and autistic testimony to argue that misinterpreting these behaviors as diminished social motivation creates self-fulfilling prophecies. Proposes neurodiversity-affirming framework recognizing unconventional expressions of social interest.

#social_motivation #eye_contact #echolalia #motor_stereotypies #pointing

Rethinking Autism: Implications of Sensory and Movement Differences for Understanding and Support

Donnellan, Anne M; Hill, David A; Leary, Martha R β€’ 2013 β€’ Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Challenges the traditional definition of autism as a triad of deficits in social interaction, communication, and imaginative play, arguing that neurological differences in sensory and movement systems account for many behaviours previously interpreted as volitional social withdrawal. Drawing on Thelen's dynamic systems theory, neuroscience literature, and self-advocate testimonials, the paper proposes that difficulties initiating, stopping, or switching sensation and movement underlie the social presentation of autism. Motor skill at age 2 is the strongest predictor of losing the autism diagnosis by age 4. Recommends accommodation of sensory-movement differences rather than behavioural control.

#autism #sensory_movement #neurological_basis #dynamic_systems #nonverbal_communication

The social motivation theory of autism

Chevallier, Coralie; Kohls, Gregor; Troiani, Vanessa; Brodkin, Edward S; Schultz, Robert T β€’ 2012 β€’ Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Argues that diminished social motivation β€” decomposed into social orienting, social reward (wanting/liking), and social maintaining β€” constitutes a primary deficit in Autism Spectrum Disorders, with downstream consequences for social cognition. Reviews behavioral evidence (reduced eye contact, social anhedonia, absent reputation management), neurobiological substrates (orbitofrontal-striatal-amygdala circuit abnormalities, disrupted oxytocin signaling), and an evolutionary framework explaining why affiliative motivation is selectively impaired while attachment and sexual drives are preserved. Concludes that boosting social attention enhances social cognitive performance, suggesting underlying competence is more intact than spontaneous behavior indicates.

#social_motivation #theory_of_mind #social_orienting #social_reward #oxytocin

An Exploration of Sensory and Movement Differences from the Perspective of Individuals with Autism

Robledo, Jodi; Donnellan, Anne M; Strandt-Conroy, Karen β€’ 2012 β€’ Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Qualitative investigation of sensory and movement differences from the perspective of five adults with autism. Through 40+ hours of interviews, questionnaires, and observations, participants described disruptions in perception (auditory pain, visual sensitivities), action (difficulty controlling/combining movements), posture (proprioceptive challenges), emotion (difficulty expressing/modulating feelings), communication (speech execution problems, nonverbal challenges), and cognition (intrusive thoughts, cognitive overload). Participants described behaviors typically interpreted as social deficits β€” such as avoiding eye contact or unusual postures β€” as sensory-motor accommodations. All five rejected the assumption that autistic individuals lack theory of mind, reporting nuanced emotional understanding despite expressive difficulties. The data support a view of autism as a disorder affecting motor planning, sensory-motor integration, and their dynamic interaction, rather than primarily a social-cognitive deficit.

#sensory_movement_differences #first_person_accounts #qualitative_research #motor_planning #autism_phenomenology

Motor Coordination in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Synthesis and Meta-Analysis

Fournier, Kimberly A; Hass, Chris J; Naik, Sagar K; Lodha, Neha; Cauraugh, James H β€’ 2010 β€’ Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

A random-effects meta-analysis of 41 studies (51 between-group comparisons, 1980-2009) examined whether motor coordination deficits distinguish individuals with ASD from typically developing controls. Searches of PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and Cochrane identified studies measuring motor coordination, arm movements, gait, or postural stability. The overall standardized mean difference was large (SMD = 1.20, p < 0.0001, 95% CI [0.973, 1.42]), with I-squared = 78%. Moderator analyses showed deficits across all ASD subtypes, both upper and lower extremities, and all age groups. Fail-safe N of 6,114 and symmetrical funnel plots indicated minimal publication bias. Motor coordination deficits are pervasive enough to qualify as a cardinal feature of ASD.

#motor_coordination #postural_stability #gait_analysis #autism_spectrum_disorders #moderator_analysis
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