Psychological health of mothers and siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders during COVID-19 pandemic: new evidence in Italian families.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Psychological challenges are well recognized in families with a child with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Instead, less is known about the effects of traumatic scenarios, such as COVID-19, on the psychological health of these families. The main aim of this research was to study the psychological health of both mothers and typically developing (TD) siblings of children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we investigated the relationship between the mothers' psychological resources and their children psychological well-being. METHODS: The sample included 52 mothers and their children: 15 with one child with ASD and at least one TD child (aged 4-14) (ASD-siblings group) and 37 with one or more TD child (aged 4-14) (TD control group). The data were collected through an online platform; four standardized questionnaires (GAD-7, BDI-II, CD-RISC 25 and CBCL) were administered. RESULTS: The analyses revealed more internalizing and total behavioral symptoms in the siblings of children with ASD, compared to TD control group. Regarding the mothers, we did not find differences in depression and anxious symptoms between the two groups. However, the results reported a lower level of resilience in the mothers of children with ASD relative to mothers of TD children. Finally, the psychological well-being of the TD children was associated with the level of mothers' anxiety only in the ASD-siblings group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our data show that the COVID-19 outbreak may had been particularly challenging for families of children with ASD, and highlight the importance of intensifying psychological support to families.

Low-Resolution Place and Response Learning Capacities in Down Syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS), the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, results from the partial or complete triplication of chromosome 21. Individuals with DS are impaired at using a high-resolution, allocentric spatial representation to learn and remember discrete locations in a controlled environment. Here, we assessed the capacity of individuals with DS to perform low-resolution spatial learning, depending on two competing memory systems: (1) the place learning system, which depends on the hippocampus and creates flexible relational representations of the environment; and (2) the response learning system, which depends on the striatum and creates fixed stimulus-response representations of behavioral actions. Individuals with DS exhibited a preservation of the low-resolution spatial learning capacities subserved by these two systems. In place learning, although the average performance of individuals with DS was lower than that of typically developing (TD) mental age (MA)-matched children and TD young adults, the number of individuals with DS performing above chance level did not differ from TD children. In response learning, the average performance of individuals with DS was lower than that of TD adults, but it did not differ from that of TD children. Moreover, the number of individuals with DS performing above chance level did not differ from TD adults, and was higher than that of TD children. In sum, whereas low-resolution place learning appears relatively preserved in individuals with DS, response learning appears facilitated. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the neural pathways supporting low-resolution place learning and response learning are relatively preserved in DS.