" in the middle of nowhere " Access to, and quality of, services for autistic adults from parents' perspectives: a qualitative study.

Introduction: Adequate education, employment, and services for autistic individuals contribute significantly to their and their parents' quality of life. Services and support for adults are dramatically more limited than those for children. The main purpose of this study was to explore how parents perceive factors supporting/hindering access to services, and how they assess the quality of services. Methods: Qualitative data provided by 12 parents via a semi-structured interview with a broader focus on parental quality of life and its factors were analyzed. Their autistic children were between 20 and 34 years of age. A thematic analysis was performed on parts of the narratives on their adult periods of life. Results: A complex pattern of parental perception of supportive and hampering factors influencing access to services unfolded. The sparsity of services/activities and reliable information on them made the space for autonomous decisions on service take highly limited. Parents have modest expectations on quality of services, evaluating them along two key aspects: a safe, positive atmosphere, and communication between parents and professionals. Other aspects of individualized autism-specific support were not or just rarely mentioned. Discussion: Parents perceive themselves as investing a lot of effort and resources in getting some form of regular service and/or activity for their adult child. However, these parental efforts often fail, their child becoming inactive, and dependent on their presence. This suggests system-level problems with services for autistic adults in Hungary, with literature showing it is not specific to this country.

Quality of Life in Hungarian Parents of Autistic Individuals.

PURPOSE: Parents of autistic individuals have been known to have a lower overall quality of life (QQL) than those of typically developing children. We present the first Hungarian large-sample study whose objective was to explore the differences in QOL between parents of autistic individuals (AS) and those of neurotypical (NT) persons. METHODS: Based on the ABCX model we developed a questionnaire comprising standardized scales to characterize the life of parents involved. Our data came from parents of 842 individuals (ASD = 521, NT = 321) between 0 and 49 years. Battery deployed standardized instruments to examine quality of life (WHO-QQL BREF and Quality of Life in Autism questionnaire, QOLA). We assessed the families' socio-economic/demographic characteristics, parents' psychological well-being, the autistic/neurotypical individuals' characteristics, and the interventions. RESULTS: Our data showed significantly lower QOL in parents of autistic individuals in all domains of questionnaires. We analyzed 20 relevant factors to uncover the predictors of parental QOL. We confirmed the existence of most but not all predictors present in earlier literature and identified intervention-related predictors. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms the importance of supporting parents in their role, and of providing health and social supports that focus on quality of life, in addition to child care.

Quality of life in parents of autistic children: A transcultural perspective.

Introduction: The concepts of health, illness, and disability as well as the perceptions of autism and quality of life (QoL) vary greatly across cultures and across time. This study sought to explore the interplay of culture on QoL and impact on parents caring for autistic children. Methods: We used a transcultural dataset from seven countries (Australia, Hungary, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom) with participating parents/carers reporting on the Quality of Life in Autism (QoLA) questionnaire. The QoLA questionnaire is a validated measure of QoL for parents of autistic children, with Part A subscale measuring parental QoL and part B subscale assessing the parental impact of the child's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms or features. We used the Quade's ranked analysis of covariance to determine significant differences between the countries in relation to QoLA Part A and Part B scores while adjusting for baseline differences using covariates such as parents' gender, child's age, and gender. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction was also conducted to examine multiple pairwise comparisons. Results and conclusion: We found that while the effect of features of ASD (Part B subscale) stayed strongly comparable between cultures, the self-reported parental QoL was most likely determined by different aspects of culture in different countries. It is concluded that while the ASD symptoms or features appear to affect parents in the same way across different countries, the parental QoL may be a culturally informed construct.

Can Automated Facial Expression Analysis Show Differences Between Autism and Typical Functioning?

Exploratory analyses of emotional expressions using a commercially available facial expression recognition software are reported, from the context of a serious game for screening purposes. Our results are based on a comparative analysis of two matched groups of kindergarten-age children (high-functioning children with autism spectrum condition: n=13; typically developing children: n=13). Results indicate that this technology has the potential to identify autism-specific emotion expression features, and may play a role in affective diagnostic and assistive technologies.

Evidence-based development and first usability testing of a social serious game based multi-modal system for early screening for atypical socio-cognitive development.

At current, screening for, and diagnosis of, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are based on purely behavioral data; established screening tools rely on human observation and ratings of relevant behaviors. The research and development project in the focus of this paper is aimed at designing, creating and evaluating a social serious game based multi-modal, interactive software system for screening for high functioning cases of ASD at kindergarten age. The aims of this paper are (1) to summarize the evidence-based design process and (2) to present results from the first usability test of the system. Game topic, candidate responses, and candidate game contents were identified via an iterative literature review. On this basis, the 1st partial prototype of the fully playable game has been created, with complete data recording functionality but without the decision making component. A first usability test was carried out on this prototype (n=13). Overall results were unambiguously promising. Although sporadic difficulties in, and slightly negative attitudes towards, using the game occasionally arose, these were confined to non-target-group children only. The next steps of development include (1) completing the game design; (2) carrying out first large-n field test; (3) creating the first prototype of the decision making component.

Evidence-based development and evaluation of mobile cognitive support apps for people on the autism spectrum: methodological conclusions from two R+D projects.

A growing body of evidence confirms that mobile digital devices have key potentials as assistive/educational tools for people with autism spectrum disorders. The aim of this paper is to outline key aspects of development and evaluation methodologies that build on, and provide systematic evidence on effects of using such apps. We rely on the results of two R+D projects, both using quantitative and qualitative methods to support development and to evaluate developed apps (n=54 and n=22). Analyzing methodological conclusions from these studies we outline some guidelines for an 'ideal' R+D methodology but we also point to important trade-offs between the need for best systematic evidence and the limitations on development time and costs. We see these trade-offs as a key issue to be resolved in this field.

Applicability of standard eye-tracking technique in people with intellectual disability: methodological conclusions from a series of studies.

Although considerable amount of evidence suggest that info-communication technologies have important potential to promote higher level of adaptive functioning and more efficient learning in people with intellectual disability (ID), very little is known about how people with ID scan visually the visual user interfaces of digital tools. Eye-tracking technique is widely used to study visual scanning processes and is used more and more extensively in assistive and educational technologies, too. Therefore, it is important to explore and understand the limitations and potentials of applying eye-tracking technique in people with ID. The present paper aims this by analyzing data from 4 studies (n=38/38 and n=15/30), via contrasting data from people with ID with data from neurotypical (NT) control subjects along 3 variables, indicative of the applicability of eye-tracking technique. Results strongly suggest that there are specific difficulties in using eye-tracking in people with ID, showing considerable individual variability but depending also on the nature of the actual task. Consequentially, using eye-tracking in this group expectedly requires special considerations and specific solutions.

Reduced fronto-cortical brain connectivity during NREM sleep in Asperger syndrome: an EEG spectral and phase coherence study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether sleep macrostructure and EEG power spectral density and coherence during NREM sleep are different in Asperger syndrome (AS) compared to typically developing children and adolescents. METHODS: Standard all night EEG sleep parameters were obtained from 18 un-medicated subjects with AS and 14 controls (age range: 7.5-21.5years) after one adaptation night. Spectral, and phase coherence measures were computed for multiple frequency bands during NREM sleep. RESULTS: Sleep latency and wake after sleep onset were increased in AS. Absolute power spectrum density (PSD) was significantly reduced in AS in the alpha, sigma, beta and gamma bands and in all 10 EEG derivations. Relative PSD showed a significant increase in delta and a decrease in the sigma band for frontal, and in beta for centro-temporal derivations. Intrahemispheric coherence measures were markedly lower in AS in the frontal areas, and the right hemisphere over all EEG channels. The most prominent reduction in intrahemispheric coherence was observed over the fronto-central areas in delta, theta, alpha and sigma EEG frequency bands. CONCLUSION: EEG power spectra and coherence during NREM sleep, in particular in fronto-cortical derivations are different in AS compared to typically developing children and adolescents. SIGNIFICANCE: Quantitative analysis of the EEG during NREM sleep supports the hypothesis of frontal dysfunction in AS.