Do Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders Help Other People With Autism Spectrum Disorders? An Investigation of Empathy and Helping Motivation in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recognizing and Resisting Ableist Language in Schools: Suggestions for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists and Related Professionals

PURPOSE

The language that school professionals use to describe disabled students can reveal and perpetuate ableist assumptions. Professionals' language choices can also challenge ableist attitudes to help create more inclusive, equitable learning environments. This tutorial seeks to guide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and other school professionals to identify ableist language, understand the ableist ideologies that such language reveals, and develop strategies to implement ways of communicating with and about disabled students that align with an anti-ableist stance. We offer a brief description of ableism in schools, describe models of disability and their varying alignments toward ableist ideologies, and identify ways in which language can reflect and perpetuate ableism. Using Individualized Education Program goals as an example, we examine the ways in which ableist language can manifest in school practices. Finally, we provide suggestions to guide SLPs and other school professionals to examine and change their language to better align with an anti-ableist stance.

CONCLUSIONS

School professionals' language use is not neutral and may reveal and maintain ableist assumptions about disability and disabled students. While dismantling ableism requires systemic change, we suggest that individual professionals can use language in ways that resist ableism and powerfully impact their students' educational experiences.

Examining the Link Between Social Affect and Visual Exploration of Cute Stimuli in Autistic Children

Baby schema refers to physical features perceived as cute, known to trigger attention, induce positive emotions, and prompt social interactions. Given the reduced visual attention to social stimuli observed in individuals on the autism spectrum, the current study examines whether the sensitivity to baby schema is also affected. We expected that the looking time towards cute-featured stimuli would vary with symptom severity levels and would be associated with social affect. Ninety-four children (31 typically developing; 63 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder - ASD) aged 20-83 months (M = 49.63, SD = 13.59) completed an eye-tracking visual exploration task. Autistic participants were separated into two groups based on symptom severity: children with high autism severity symptoms (HS ASD; N = 23) and low-moderate autism symptoms (LMS ASD; N = 40). Animals and neutral objects were simultaneously presented on the screen along with either human babies (condition 1) or adults (condition 2). The results indicated that visual attention oriented to cute-featured stimuli varied with autism symptom severity: only LMS and TD groups spend more time looking at cute-featured stimuli (babies; animals) than neutral objects. Moreover, children with higher severity in the social affect domain spent less time on the stimuli depicting cute than non-cute stimuli. These findings suggest that autism symptom severity and social skills are linked to variations in visual attention to cute stimuli. Implications of baby schema sensitivity are discussed in relation to the development of social competencies and play, responsiveness to robot-based interventions, as well as appraised relevance in autistic children.

Camouflaging in Autistic Adults is Modulated by Autistic and Neurotypical Characteristics of Interaction Partners

Many autistic people reportedly engage in camouflaging to navigate everyday social interactions; however, the function of this behavior remains largely unknown. We hypothesized that autistic people camouflage more toward neurotypical others than toward autistic others, employing it as a strategy to "fit in" within the neurotypical-majority community. This study aimed to empirically investigate this hypothesis for the first time. Autistic and neurotypical participants took part in a web-based survey. Data from 48 autistic and 137 neurotypical participants were analyzed. Camouflaging toward autistic and neurotypical others was separately measured using the modified Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). For each CAT-Q item, a sentence describing a hypothetical interaction partner with autistic or neurotypical characteristics was added, creating respective sentence conditions. The interaction effect of the participants' characteristics and sentence conditions was analyzed using a multilevel regression analysis, accounting for differing individual baselines. The analysis revealed an interaction effect between participants' characteristics and sentence conditions. The autistic group showed significantly more camouflaging in the autistic sentence condition than in the neurotypical sentence condition. Conversely, the neurotypical group did not differ significantly in camouflaging levels in the sentence conditions. Contrary to our hypothesis, autistic people demonstrated more camouflaging toward autistic others than toward neurotypical others. This finding questions the assumption that autistic people camouflage to assimilate into a neurotypical-majority society. Instead, it could be conceptualized as a more general social strategy used by autistic people aiming to improve their relationships with others.

Effects of paternal deprivation on empathetic behavior and the involvement of oxytocin receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex

Paternal deprivation (PD) impairs social cognition and sociality and increases levels of anxiety-like behavior. However, whether PD affects the levels of empathy in offspring and its underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The present study found that PD increased anxiety-like behavior in mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus), impaired sociality, reduced the ability of emotional contagion, and the level of consolation behavior. Meanwhile, PD reduced OT neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in both male and female mandarin voles. PD decreased the level of OT receptor (OTR) mRNA in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of male and female mandarin voles. Besides, OTR overexpression in the ACC reversed the PD-induced changes in anxiety-like behavior, social preference, emotional contagion, and consolation behavior. Interference of OTR expression in the ACC increased levels of anxiety-like behaviors, while it reduced levels of sociality, emotional contagion, and consolation. These results revealed that the OTR in the ACC is involved in the effects of PD on empathetic behaviors, and provide mechanistic insight into how social experiences affect empathetic behaviors.

Can group membership modulate the social abilities of autistic people? An intergroup bias in smile perception

Autistic adults struggle to reliably differentiate genuine and posed smiles. Intergroup bias is a promising factor that may modulate smile discrimination performance, which has been shown in neurotypical adults, and which could highlight ways to make social interactions easier. However, it is not clear whether this bias also exists in autistic people. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate this in autism using a minimal group paradigm. Seventy-five autistic and sixty-one non-autistic adults viewed videos of people making genuine or posed smiles and were informed (falsely) that some of the actors were from an in-group and others were from an out-group. The ability to identify smile authenticity of in-group and out-group members and group identification were assessed. Our results revealed that both groups seemed equally susceptible to ingroup favouritism, rating ingroup members as more genuine, but autistic adults also generally rated smiles as less genuine and were less likely to identify with ingroup members. Autistic adults showed reduced sensitivity to the different smile types but the absence of an intergroup bias in smile discrimination in both groups seems to indicate that membership can only modulate social judgements but not social abilities. These findings suggest a reconsideration of past findings that might have misrepresented the social judgements of autistic people through introducing an outgroup disadvantage, but also a need for tailored support for autistic social differences that emphasizes similarity and inclusion between diverse people.

Can measures of social cognition predict autistic traits?

Past research has yielded conflicting findings concerning socio-cognitive deficits in individuals with autistic traits. This raises the fundamental question whether autistic traits and socio-cognitive abilities are related. The present study investigated whether three key socio-cognitive abilities-imitation-inhibition, empathy, and emotion regulation-can serve as predictive factors for autistic traits within a neurotypical population. Participants (N = 166, Mage = 24.83 years, SDage = 5.20 years, rangeage = 18 to 39 years) were asked to perform an online imitation-inhibition task and complete self-report measures assessing empathy, emotion regulation, and autistic traits. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), emotion regulation was assessed using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and autistic traits were measured using the ten-item short form of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10). Multiple regression analyses revealed that both imitation-inhibition and emotion regulation were significantly associated with autistic traits. However, empathy was not found to be a significant predictor. Our study aimed to clarify inconsistent results regarding the relationship between socio-cognitive abilities and autistic traits.

Empathy: Assessment Instruments and Psychometric Quality - A Systematic Literature Review With a Meta-Analysis of the Past Ten Years

Objective: To verify the psychometric qualities and adequacy of the instruments available in the literature from 2009 to 2019 to assess empathy in the general population. Methods: The following databases were searched: PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scielo, and LILACS using the keywords "empathy" AND "valid∗" OR "reliability" OR "psychometr∗." A qualitative synthesis was performed with the findings, and meta-analytic measures were used for reliability and convergent validity. Results: Fifty studies were assessed, which comprised 23 assessment instruments. Of these, 13 proposed new instruments, 18 investigated the psychometric properties of instruments previously developed, and 19 reported cross-cultural adaptations. The Empathy Quotient, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy were the instruments most frequently addressed. They presented good meta-analytic indicators of internal consistency [reliability, generalization meta-analyses (Cronbach's alpha): 0.61 to 0.86], but weak evidence of validity [weak structural validity; low to moderate convergent validity (0.27 to 0.45)]. Few studies analyzed standardization, prediction, or responsiveness for the new and old instruments. The new instruments proposed few innovations, and their psychometric properties did not improve. In general, cross-cultural studies reported adequate adaptation processes and equivalent psychometric indicators, though there was a lack of studies addressing cultural invariance. Conclusion: Despite the diversity of instruments assessing empathy and the many associated psychometric studies, there remain limitations, especially in terms of validity. Thus far, we cannot yet nominate a gold-standard instrument.

Association of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Traits with Depression and Empathy Among Medical Students

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate the associations of the traits of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with depression and empathy among medical students.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 202 fifth-year students at a Japanese medical school for 10 months during their clinical clerkship. The survey included sociodemographic questions and validated tools to measure depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]), medical students' empathy for patients (Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student version [JSE]), ADHD traits (ADHD Self-Report Scale Screener [ASRS Screener]), and ASD traits (Autism-Spectrum Quotient Japanese version-21 [AQ-J-21]).

RESULTS

A total of 151 students (response rate: 74.7%) participated in the survey. Of these, 41 (27.2%) reported a total score of ≥ 20 on the HADS and were categorized as depressed. Depressed students reported significantly lower and higher rates of having a part-time job and a history of enrolment in other faculties, respectively, than non-depressed students. According to the cutoff criteria of the ASRS Screener and AQ-J-21, 31 (20.5%) and 42 (27.8%) students reported ADHD and ASD traits, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis, controlling for age and sex, reported that higher age, ASRS Screener scores, and AQ-J-21 scores were significant predictors of higher HADS total scores. Additionally, higher AQ-J-21 scores significantly predicted lower JSE scores.

CONCLUSION

The degree of ADHD and ASD traits was significantly associated with depression. Moreover, the degree of ASD traits was significantly associated with lower empathy for their patients. It is important to consider that about 20-30% of medical students have these neurodevelopmental traits and to develop intervention strategies for improving depression and empathy.

Neurotype-Matching, but Not Being Autistic, Influences Self and Observer Ratings of Interpersonal Rapport

The Double Empathy Problem suggests that communicative difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people are due to bi-directional differences in communicative style and a reciprocal lack of understanding. If true, there should be increased similarity in interaction style, resulting in higher rapport during interactions between pairs of the same neurotype. Here, we provide two empirical tests of rapport, with data revealing whether self- and observer- rated rapport varies depending on the match or mismatch in autism status within a pair. An additional opportunity afforded by these data is to examine the effect of the autism status of the rater on the perceived rapport between matched and mismatched pairs. In Study 1 72 participants were allocated to one of three dyad conditions: autistic pairs (n = 24), non-autistic pairs (n = 24) and mixed pairs (n = 12 autistic; n = 12 non-autistic). Each participant completed three semi-structured interactions with their partner, rating rapport after each interaction. Non-autistic pairs experienced higher self-rated rapport than mixed and autistic pairs, and autistic pairs experienced higher rapport than mixed pairs. In Study 2 (n = 80) autistic and non-autistic observers rated interactional rapport while watching videoed interactions between autistic pairs, non-autistic pairs, and mixed pairs (n = 18, a subset of participants in Study 1). Mixed pairs were rated significantly lower on rapport than autistic and non-autistic pairs, and autistic pairs were rated more highly for rapport than non-autistic pairs. Both autistic and non-autistic observers show similar patterns in how they rate the rapport of autistic, non-autistic, and mixed pairs. In summary, autistic people experience high interactional rapport when interacting with other autistic people, and this is also detected by external observers. Rather than autistic people experiencing low rapport in all contexts, their rapport ratings are influenced by a mismatch of diagnosis. These findings suggest that autistic people possess a distinct mode of social interaction style, rather than demonstrating social skills deficits. These data are considered in terms of their implications for psychological theories of autism, as well as practical impact on educational and clinical practice.