Matching Items (15)
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- All Subjects: Autism
- Creators: Department of Psychology
- Creators: Dixon, Maria
- Resource Type: Text
Description
With a growing number of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), more and more research has been conducted on majority male cohorts with ASD from young, adolescence, and some older age. Currently, males make up the majority of individuals diagnosed with ASD, however, recent research states that the gender gap is closing due to more advanced screening and a better understanding of how females with ASD present their symptoms. Little research has been published on the neurocognitive differences that exist between older adults with ASD compared to neurotypical (NT) counterparts, and nothing has specifically addressed older women with ASD. This study utilized neuroimaging and neuropsychological tests to examine differences between diagnosis and sex of four distinct groups: older men with ASD, older women with ASD, older NT men, and older NT women. In each group, hippocampal size (via FreeSurfer) was analyzed for differences as well as correlations with neuropsychological tests. Participants (ASD Female, n = 12; NT Female, n = 14; ASD Male, n = 30; NT Male = 22), were similar according to age, IQ, and education. The results of the study indicated that the ASD Group as a whole performed worse on executive functioning tasks (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trails Making Test) and memory-related tasks (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Weschler Memory Scale: Visual Reproduction) compared to the NT Group. Interactions of sex by diagnosis approached significance only within the WCST non-perseverative errors, with the women with ASD performing worse than NT women, but no group differences between men. Effect sizes between the female groups (ASD female vs. NT female) showed more than double that of the male groups (ASD male vs. NT male) for all WCST and AVLT measures. Participants with ASD had significantly smaller right hippocampal volumes than NT participants. In addition, all older women showed larger hippocampal volumes when corrected for total intracranial volume (TIV) compared to all older men. Overall, NT Females had significant correlations across all neuropsychological tests and their hippocampal volumes whereas no other group had significant correlations. These results suggest a tighter coupling between hippocampal size and cognition in NT Females than NT Males and both sexes with ASD. This study promotes further understanding of the neuropsychological differences between older men and women, both with and without ASD. Further research is needed on a larger sample of older women with and without ASD.
ContributorsWebb, Christen Len (Author) / Braden, B. Blair (Thesis advisor) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Dixon, Maria (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In this creative thesis, I traveled to India and used my month long summer vacation back home to interview people about mental health in India. I talked to a therapist and four students about depression to find out what the situation is in India, contributing factors, experiences and stigma unique to depression among students in India, what the government is doing, and possible solutions or steps that can be taken to help students struggling with mental health problems. I also went to mainstream and special schools to meet special educators who work with differently abled children, occupational therapists, parents of differently abled children, and a student with Asperger’s in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to find out about the stigma surrounding differently abled children and their education path.
My efforts have culminated in the creation of the website mentalhealthinindia.com that can be used as a resource both by people in India as well as those abroad who are curious to learn about the stigma surrounding depression and differently abled children in India.
My efforts have culminated in the creation of the website mentalhealthinindia.com that can be used as a resource both by people in India as well as those abroad who are curious to learn about the stigma surrounding depression and differently abled children in India.
ContributorsVenkatakrishnan, Ranjani (Author) / Koester, Nicole (Thesis director) / Pruitt, Rhonda (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Token economies are a type of behavioral reinforcement that are particularly useful in classroom settings for increasing student compliance, for both typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. During this study, we implemented a token economy in an inclusive preschool classroom with tokens contingent on compliance to classroom rules. Three participants, two with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and one considered typically developing, were included in the study. Results indicated that levels of compliance increased for both the typically developing participant and participants with autism, and did not drop below baseline levels during the withdrawal phase, suggesting there was no lack of intrinsic motivation. Further, the typically developing participant and one of the participants with autism spectrum disorder had very similar levels of compliance, while the other participant had much higher levels of compliance throughout every phase, suggesting that the compliance levels for peers with more advanced repertoires with autism may differ from both typically developing peers and peers who have less developed repertoires. The implications of these results are discussed as they relate to compliance from an ABA perspective.
ContributorsEggen, Kelly (Author) / Hahs, Adam (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
This document introduces the need for the Rest Egg system and defines an accessible method of smartphone integration. Excessive noise can prevent recovering patients and special needs persons from resting correctly. The Rest Egg was designed for these people- people who are in critical need of quality rest but are often unable to eliminate stressors themselves. This system ensures their environment is calm by alerting caretakers' smartphones if noise reaches abrasive levels. Smartphones were the preferred device due to the wide spread of such devices in today's market. After making open sourcing a goal, something ubiquitous and affordable \u2014 yet usable and dependable \u2014 was necessary for the alert system. These requirements lead to the election an online alert service: Pushover, a trademark and product of Superblock, LLC.
ContributorsJennings, Tyler Blake (Author) / Goryll, Michael (Thesis director) / Kozicki, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
An investigation of the Caregiver Autism Residential E-health (CARE) system composed of low-cost, end-user deployable smart home technology and accompanying heuristics for rule-based models of human behavior has been evaluated for its potential as an empowering assistive technology with the capacity to enhance the well-being of people living with autism, their caregivers, and family members. It allows adults living with autism to create personalized smart home interventions that provide motivational support and is accompanied by guidelines for a safe and effective means of behavioral change. This investigation contributes a participatory co-design approach which addresses both the role of flexibility for the dynamic needs of the individual while offering strategies for dealing with the challenges of designing assistive smart home technologies for the needs of individuals across the wide range of autism spectrum disorders.
ContributorsNewman, Naomi Catton (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis director) / Brotman, Ryan (Co-author) / Lozano, Cecil (Co-author) / Adams, Jim (Committee member) / Zautra, Alex (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Graduate College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This paper analyzes existing literature regarding how excessive aggravating stimuli in a hospital environment can reduce the quality and quantity of sleep. The sick and injured are most sensitive to aggravating stimuli and the most vulnerable to poor sleep conditions. For individuals with anxiety, stress, hypersensitivity, or conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as additional stress during rest periods could seriously harm development and overall well-being. While solutions have been proposed and tested, there is no one solution to the problem. One possible solution is to design a device that monitors a patient's room and alerts a nurse or parent of aggravating stimuli so that it can be removed.
ContributorsKhan, Zarah Noor (Author) / Goryll, Michael (Thesis director) / Adams, James B. (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This pilot study evaluated whether Story Champs and Puente de Cuentos helped bilingual preschoolers increase their usage of emotional terms and ability to tell stories. Participants in this study included 10 Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers. Intervention was conducted in 9 sessions over 3 days using the Test of Narrative Retell to measure results. Results did not find significant gains in either emotional term usage or ability to tell stories, but the results were promising as a pilot study.
ContributorsSato, Leslie Mariko (Author) / Restrepo, Maria (Thesis director) / Dixon, Maria (Committee member) / Department of Speech and Hearing Science (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this project was to research the expression of Autism Spectrum Disorder in children and create a children’s book that can help the peers of individuals with a diagnosis to understand what the disorder entails and potentially gain a new sense of empathy for peers of all levels of physical and mental abilities. The research component includes interviews with individuals deemed knowledgeable about ASD, including occupational therapists, behavioral analysts, and parents, as well as a literature review of research studies on the expression of Autism in children. This written portion of the project may also serve as a manual for individuals who have little to no knowledge of ASD, as it dives deeper into the content of the book and research, while remaining easily understandable and clear to those without any prior knowledge or experience with ASD. It could prove especially useful for those in professions that come into contact with individuals with Autism, but do not necessarily require psychology courses or training as a prerequisite for the role, such as teachers and some health professionals.
ContributorsSigna, Hope (Author) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This research paper covers many topics related to autism, including causes, treatment, DSM changes, and more. It is a review of current literature and journals and aims to give the audience a better understanding of the disorders and to discuss the changes in diagnostic criteria and prevalence of ASD.
ContributorsPeters, Emily Morgan (Author) / Stenhoff, Donald (Thesis director) / Hahs, Adam (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
In this thesis I will explore deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) in autistic people due to new evidence that they do not completely lack a ToM. A new theory is proposed, claiming that autistic people use a Hyper Theory of Mind (HyperToM) which has some application and processing differences from typical ToM. The HyperToM test will be administered as an online questionnaire that includes a self-reported Autism Quotient (AQ) section. The study is done in low support needs autistic (LSA) adults, which should have a developed ToM due to age and ability. Results showed some correlations with the AQ symptoms and HyperToM, but not enough diagnosed autistic people (9) participated in this study for significant results.
ContributorsMarkov, Vlada A (Author) / Fabricius, William (Thesis director) / Philips, Ben (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05