Toddlers with ASD Face Emotional Vulnerabilities



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When Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be reliably diagnosed for the first time, toddlers with ASD already have emotional vulnerabilities that may lead to the emergence of comorbid affective and behavioral disorders. very common in older children. ] According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), young children with ASD display increased anger and frustration and an attenuated fear in response to naturalistic situations. They also found that the ability to experience joy appears intact at the very beginning of the disorder.

"ASD appears in most cases in the first two years of life and affects about 1 in 59 children," said lead authors Suzanne Macari and Katarzyna Chawarska. "This study shows, for the first time, that at a young age when the disorder can be diagnosed reliably, toddlers with ASD already have emotional vulnerabilities signaling a risk of comorbid emotional and behavioral problems. "

21-month-old toddlers were recruited between December 2013 and March 2017. Using a multimodal approach, researchers examined the intensity of vocal and facial channel emotional responses to naturalistic situations designed to elicit the anger, fear and joy.

"Vulnerabilities are not related to the symptoms of autism and thus contribute, independently, to the development of complex and highly heterogeneous autism phenotypes," Drs added. Macari and Chawarska. In addition to targeting social and communication issues, clinicians should also focus on the badessment and treatment of affective symptoms in young children with ASD, in the hope of improving the quality of life. severity of common comorbid conditions in ASD. "

The desired object is put out of reach of the toddler, toddlers with ASD had high levels of anger and frustration. However, in the face of new and potentially threatening objects, their fear intensity is lower than that of comparison groups. Although a high anger reaction may challenge the developing emotion regulation system, the weakened fear response suggests an atypical appreciation of the threat and risk for security reasons. The study found that levels of joy in response to playful situations were comparable among toddlers with ASD and control groups. This suggests that at the beginning of the disorder, the ability to experience joy can be intact. It is essential to exploit this intact emotional competence for therapeutic purposes, since the activation of positive emotions promotes learning and exploration, while reducing stress.

The study reveals a surprising and complex emotional landscape of toddlers with ASD and is an important motivation for the early emotional development of ASD and its role in the emergence of autism.

(This story was not edited by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated thread.)

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