Decreased Attention In Children With Autism

Decreased attention in children with autism

Autism is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder. It seems that of congenital cause, and is one of the most inherited psychiatric disorders, which affects approximately 1 in 88 people. On the other hand, when it comes to the number of affected genes, it can be said that 3 to 100 different genes have damage and this leads to the question: how does this genetic complexity give rise to common forms of disability?

Regarding the diagnosis of children with autism, instruments are used that evaluate the level of visual attention, since this is crucial to relate socially and in people with autism it is remarkable that they present deficiencies in visual contact during social interaction.

According to one of the specifications that appear in DSM -V (American Psychiatric Association, 2014), the symptoms must be present in the early stages of development, but may not manifest fully until social demand exceeds limited capacities, or may be maskedFor strategies learned in later phases of life.

It is known that disorder differently affects the sexes. Specifically, it affects children than girls, in a proportion of 3 or 4 boys affected by each girl. However, this relationship is lower in patients with acute mental retardation, and on the contrary, it is higher in those who have a high intellectual quotient (Rodríguez-Barrionuevo and Rodríguez-Vives, 2002).

Nonverbal communication, such as visual contact, facial expression and regulatory gestures of social interaction, can be very affected.

They also usually have an inability to establish relationships with children of their age. Children with a lack of social interaction dispense with other children, including their brothers, and do not share the needs or mood of others (Rodríguez-Barrionuevo and Rodríguez-Vives, 2002).

Among the most relevant aspects of this research, it was wanted to verify to what extent this condition is present from birth, since this could be a useful knowledge in the early diagnosis of children with ASD. In the study, the attention that they have in the eyes of others was analyzed, since it is a characteristic that is presented significantly in children affected with autism.

The application of the study results would offer the possibility of a diagnosis at earlier ages by allowing early intervention.

There was a sample of 110 children between 2 to 24 months, of which 59 are high risk (with brothers suffering from the disorder) and 51 are low risk (because they do not have affected relatives of ASD).

The experiment consisted of showing video scenes in which a child interacted with a caregiver. The visual fixation time was measured, which was the time that the baby spent watching the body, mouth, eyes and video objects.

Contrary to the initial hypothesis, the data showed a decrease in development when setting the eye from 2 to 24 months although the ability is present from the beginning as in all children.

Regarding the method used, it was evaluated how babies scan the video, through a team called ISCAN, which allows you to know where there is a greater eye fixation on a computer, that is, where there are greater areas of visual stimulation.

The trials consisted of watching video scenes, represented by a woman. His role was to look directly at the camera acting as a caregiver, demanding the child’s participation in children’s games.

The context was the recreation of a children’s room decorated with toys, shelves …

Dynamic stimuli were recreated trying to be as realistic as possible, instead of choosing static stimuli. This decision was taken taking into account, the results of previous investigations in which it was found that older children diagnosed with ASD are shown differently in real situations that are familiar to them as they do in more structured and unknown places, such asconsequence of its cognitive potential.

Due to the difficulty that data collection entailed as a result of the young age of the children, only 80.2% of valid data was achieved compared to 19.8% of data whose collection was not correct.

The evaluation was carried out in four zones: eyes, mouth, body and objects, measuring individually in each video session.

The results obtained falsified the initial hypothesis, although the babies later

Automatic fixing time coding for each region of interest consisted of a numerical comparison of the data of each child’s fixing coordinates with each bits map of the regions of interest.

conclusion

In short, the results of the study show the existence of an ability to fix the gaze from the moment of birth in children with ASD, just like typical Normo children, an unknown fact so far.

While it is an insufficient sample to draw definitive conclusions, this finding leads us to explore new horizons. On the one hand, the existence of a period in which the neuronal base seems preserved places us in a different position opening a door to hope. On the other hand, the possibility of giving a diagnosis as soon as possible, and the advantage that this would involve intervening as soon as possible, thus being able to meet the needs that these people and their families require.