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

Self-regulation in young adults with high- functioning autism Renee Dijkhuis July 9 th , 2017 Discover the world at Leiden University

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. 35 ** ** ** 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Social Empowerment/ Belonging/ Satisfaction Independence Community Integration ASD 21,68 25,65 21,47 controls 26,71 28,5 25,93 Discover the world at Leiden University

Publications Stumass project 2. Social attention and affective arousal in autism. Dijkhuis et al., submitted. Discover the world at Leiden University

Publications Stumass project 3. Autonomic self-regulation during a public speaking task in young adults with HFASD. Discover the world at Leiden University

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) Discover the world at Leiden University

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** Discover the world at Leiden University

The public speaking task • Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance level (SCL) • Fixation duration at area’s of interest (AOIs) Discover the world at Leiden University

The public speaking task Discover the world at Leiden University

Autonomic arousal during the social stress task (SCL) 9 8 * 7 6 SCL [uS] * 5 4 3 2 1 0 Baseline Preparation Speech HFASD (n = 42) 5,13 6,68 6,5 TD (n = 30) 6,33 8 7,55 * p < .05 Discover the world at Leiden University

Autonomic arousal during the social stress task (HRV) 60 50 * * 40 rMSSD (ms) 30 20 10 0 Baseline Preparation Speech HFASD (n = 43) 37,47 49,41 47,5 TD (n = 23) 42,66 43,81 39,84 * p < .05 Discover the world at Leiden University

Gaze behavior over time (speech) 35 30 Relative fixation duration eyes (sec ) * 25 * 20 15 10 5 0 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 * p < .05 Discover the world at Leiden University

Conclusion/discussion Young adults with high-functioning ASD (HFASD) show deviant autonomic self- regulation during a social evaluation task Discover the world at Leiden University

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 Discover the world at Leiden University