• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sensory diet home program for children with autism spectrum disorder who have sensory defensiveness and explore how this intervention affect to sensory modulation and social interaction ability. Methods : The subject of this case study was a 12-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder who was struggling with her sensory modulation problem. Parent interview and evaluations were conducted and subject-tailored sensory diet home program was made by the therapist. Parent education for the home program was provided to parents and everyday, 3 times, 30minutes of home program activities were conducted to the child for 23 days. Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile and Social Maturity Scale were measured at pre and post intervention and parent wrote daily observation record about child during the intervention. Results : After the intervention, Low Registration, Sensory Sensitivity, Sensation Avoiding area of Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile included to the normal range and the scores of the Social Maturity Scale improved. Conclusions : Child's sensory defensiveness was relieved and sensory modulation and controling emotion ability were improved. While there was significant improvement for sensory modulation and social interaction ability, this was a case study and there was only one subject. So we need to study with larger sample size to generalize this intervention's effectiveness.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.83-95
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Power Card strategy on the receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorders. Method: Three children with autism spectrum disorder were selected for this study and the power card strategy language intervention was applied, using a multiple baseline design across individuals. The target vocabulary was selected by examining the individual preferred characters. Power cards were constructed, and intervention was applied to improve the receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary through the baseline stage, intervention, and maintenance. Result: The application of the power card strategy showed that the acquisition rate of receptive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder was increased, and expressive vocabulary acquisition rate was also improved. Conclusion: During the intervention period using the power card strategy, the children's target receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary acquisition rates improved, and the acquisition rate was maintained, even after the intervention. This suggests that the power card strategy is effective in improving the vocabulary of autistic children with disabilities, of school age.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how accurately children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 9) recognized four basic emotions (i.e., happiness, sadness, anger, and fear) following musical or visual cues. Their performance was compared to that of typically developing children (TD; n = 14). All of the participants were between the ages of 7 and 13 years. Four musical cues and four visual cues for each emotion were presented to evaluate the participants' ability to recognize the four basic emotions. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the two groups between the musical and visual cues. In particular, the ASD group demonstrated significantly less accurate recognition of the four emotions compared to the TD group. However, the emotion recognition of both groups was more accurate following the musical cues compared to the visual cues. Finally, for both groups, their greatest recognition accuracy was for happiness following the musical cues. In terms of the visual cues, the ASD group exhibited the greatest recognition accuracy for anger. This initial study support that musical cues can facilitate emotion recognition in children with ASD. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of the mechanisms involved in emotion recognition and the role of sensory cues play in emotion recognition for children with ASD.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.61-88
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• 2023

This case study examined whether a cooperative musical instrument playing could enhance interactions between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their neurotypical (NT) siblings. It involved three children with ASD aged 7-12 years and three NT siblings aged 6-11 years. Each group, comprising a child with ASD and their NT sibling, participated in a 40-minute sessions twice weekly for eight sessions over four weeks. The intervention included three stages: simultaneous action, complementary action, and achieving a joint goal. Evaluation criteria included the initiation and response behaviors of each child, and sequential interactive behaviors and cooperative behaviors between pairs were measured. Additionally, before and after the intervention, parents and NT sibling assessed their perceived sibling relationships. Results showed increased interactive and cooperative behaviors. Post-intervention, both parents and NT siblings rated the sibling relationship highly, despite little change in sibling conflict and competition consciousness. These findings indicate that interactive instrument playing can enhance perceptions of siblings as cooperative play partners and aid in teaching them how to collaborate during interactions.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.69-87
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• 2024

This study investigated whether joint attention response behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) change in response to musical cues and reinforcing stimulus, and compared them with neurotypically developing (NT) children. The participants included 13 children with ASD and 14 NT children aged between 3 to 5 years. The study established six task conditions, involving cues (verbal vs. musical) for responding to joint attention (RJA) behaviors and reinforcing stimulus (verbal vs. sound vs. musical) for social referencing behaviors. These tasks were presented 12 times with two repetitions each. The results of the study showed that providing musical cues during the RJA phase increased levels of RJA in children with ASD, consistent with prior studies. Subsequently, musical reinforcing stimuli increased the frequency of social referencing behaviors in these children. This indicates that musical stimuli can extend beyond mere sensory cues, helping individuals to understand and respond to social and emotional cues from others. Moreover, these musical stimuli could serve as effective social reinforcement factors for this population.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.93-111
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• 2023

The authors investigated the artistic characteristics of autistic savant artists, hypotheses on the proximate and ultimate causes of their emergence, recent psychological and other studies about them, and psychological and neuroaesthetic studies about non-savant autistic individuals. The artistic features of autistic savant artists were significantly similar to those of outsider artists. Furthermore, the authors investigated the explanatory power of the paradoxical functional facilitation theory, the superior visual perception hypothesis, the "Hmmmmm" hypothesis, and the Neanderthal theory of autism regarding the emergence of autistic savant artists. In addition, we investigated whether an increase in savant characteristics was related to a decrease in the ability for social communication. The authors suggested that in studies on the aesthetic experience of non-savant autistic individuals, their aesthetic experience ability is never lower than that of neurotypical individuals and that some non-savant autistic individuals may potentially have artistic talent. Finally, the authors reviewed the effectiveness of the "autism savant spectrum syndromic disorder" proposed by some researchers. More scientific and systematic studies on autistic savant artists from a multidisciplinary perspective are warranted.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.394-395
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• 2022

Exergames are playing an important role in healthcare/rehabilitation. It has also been used to improve motivation among patients with reduced cognition. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of using augmented reality (AR) with game-based cognitive-motor training programs for executive function, restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in children with autism spectrum disorder. Sixteen children aged 6 -16 years were randomly allocated to the experimental group and control group. Outcome measures were performed before and after the intervention and included executive function, restricted and repetitive behavior. A satisfactory survey was conducted post-intervention. A statistically significant improvement was observed in working memory and cognitive flexibility in the experimental group (P<0.05). However, despite no statistical improvements in cognitive inhibition and four subscales of RRBs, promising changes were observed in all the subscales of the executive function and the behavioral outcomes. Parents appreciated the program and children enjoyed the interaction with the AR game-based training. The findings of this preliminary feasibility study showed that AR using Kinect v2 motion with a cognitive-motor game content can be used for children with autism. However, there is a need for conducting a large-scale study to evaluate his effectiveness on executive function and restricted and repetitive behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.80-85
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• 2018

Objectives: We aimed to assess the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and validity of the Korean version of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT). Methods: The Korean version of the Q-CHAT and the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1.5-5 were completed by parents of 24 toddlers and preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 80 unselected toddlers and preschoolers. Parents of the ASD group also completed the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) scores were obtained from medical records. Results: The ASD group scored higher on the Q-CHAT than the unselected group. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the Q-CHAT was 0.658, and test-retest reliability was calculated to be 0.836. The estimated area under the curve was 0.793. The total scores of the Q-CHAT in the ASD group demonstrated significant positive correlations with findings regarding pervasive development problems in the CBCL, SCQ, and CARS. A total score of 33.5 may be a useful cutoff point to use when identifying toddlers at risk of ASD. Conclusion: The Korean version of the Q-CHAT has good reliability and validity and can be used as a screening tool in order to identify toddlers and preschool children at risk of ASD.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.213-219
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• 2013

Objectives : It is known that adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often concurrently exhibit attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The objective of this study is to investigate how ADHD symptoms modify clinical characteristics in adolescents with ASD. Methods : Subjects were recruited from the Program for the Education Enrichment of Relational Skills program, which is a program for adolescents with ASD to promote and train social skills. The study participants and their parents completed the study questionnaires, such as the ADHD rating scale, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and Korean version of Child Behavior Checklist. Results : Adolescents with ASD and ADHD (N=19) were found to have more impaired sociality, less open communication with their parents, and more behavioral and emotional problems compared with adolescents with ASD, and without ADHD (N=28). Conclusion : Although further research is needed, the results of our study suggest that adolescents with ASD present different clinical characteristics when comorbid with ADHD.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2014

The significant role of joint attention in the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has highlighted the importance of early intervention. With the emphasis on the effective cueing and reinforcer for orienting to social stimuli in improving responding to joint attention (RJA) of children with ASD, the use of musical cue was hypothesized. This study aimed to examine the occurrence of RJA behaviors depending on the attentional cue, which differed in the level of information and type of auditory modality. Nine children with ASD participated in this study. The use of eight different joint attention cues were analyzed in terms of the frequency and accuracy of RJA behaviors elicited. The results of the study showed that RJA behaviors occurred more frequently with musical cues than with verbal cues and the mean accuracy rate of RJA was higher with musical cues (p = .047). Musically delivered eliciting and directing cues accompanied with pointing elicited the highest attentional shift and RJA accuracy. The significant increases in RJA with the use of musical cues indicated that incorporating musical elements into an attentional cue may provide more accurate cue information, enough to improve RJA behaviors of children with autism.