Self-regulation in young adults with high- functioning autism - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Self-regulation in young adults with high- functioning autism

Renee Dijkhuis July 9th, 2017

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The Stumass project

Discover the world at Leiden University

The Stumass project

Discover the world at Leiden University

Publications Stumass project

• 1. Self-regulation and quality of life in high-functioning young adults

with autism (Dijkhuis et al., 2016). published in: Autism.

Satisfaction Empowerment/ Independence Social Belonging/ Community Integration ASD 21,68 25,65 21,47 controls 26,71 28,5 25,93

5 10 15 20 25 30 35

** ** **

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Publications Stumass project

• 2. Social attention and affective arousal in autism. Dijkhuis et al.,

submitted.

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Publications Stumass project

3. Autonomic self-regulation during a public speaking task in young adults with HFASD.

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Why look at autonomic self- regulation in autism?

• Growing support difficulties with social skills and

behavioral inflexibility in autism à altered physiological reactivity (Klusek et al., 2014; Neuhaus et al., 2014; Patriquin et al.,

2013; Smeekens et al., 2015; Vaughan Van Hecke et al., 2009; Watson et al., 2010)

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Sample characteristics

HFASD (n = 50) TD (n = 30) t/ χ² /F p Male sex (%) 70.4 70.6 χ² = .07 (1) .51 Age in years, M (SD) 22.47 (2.47) 20.60 (1.52) t = 4.18 (77,9) <.001** WAIS-III Total IQ , M (SD) 117.23 (10.09) 107.54 (11.34) t = 3.97 (78) <.001**

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The public speaking task

• Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) and skin

conductance level (SCL)

• Fixation duration at area’s of interest (AOIs)

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The public speaking task

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Autonomic arousal during the social stress task (SCL)

Baseline Preparation Speech HFASD (n = 42) 5,13 6,68 6,5 TD (n = 30) 6,33 8 7,55

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

SCL [uS]

* *

*p < .05

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Autonomic arousal during the social stress task (HRV)

Baseline Preparation Speech HFASD (n = 43) 37,47 49,41 47,5 TD (n = 23) 42,66 43,81 39,84

10 20 30 40 50 60

rMSSD (ms)

* *

*p < .05

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Gaze behavior over time (speech)

1 2 3 4 5 6 HFASD (n = 44) 26,39 27,88 20,15 22,40 27,35 21,17 TD (n = 23) 32,14 33,04 28,76 21,69 22,43 28,18

5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Relative fixation duration eyes (sec)

* *

*p < .05

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Conclusion/discussion

Young adults with high-functioning ASD (HFASD) show deviant autonomic self- regulation during a social evaluation task

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Thank you!

Renee Dijkhuis (r.r.dijkhuis@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Hanna Swaab Wouter Staal & Tim Ziermans

Sophie van Rijn & Emine Gurbuz Department of clinical child and adolescent studies, Leiden University