Functional MRI connectivity of children with autism and low verbal and cognitive performance.
Terisa P Gabrielsen, Jeff S Anderson, Kevin G Stephenson and 9 others
PMID 30603063WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism and very low verbal and cognitive performance can complete MRI scanning without sedation using video, noise reduction, comfort items, and parent contact.
Their scans showed lower connections inside some networks than higher-functioning autistic children, and higher between some networks than typical children.
Key findings
01All 56 analysed participants achieved at least 200 motion-free functional MRI volumes.
02The low verbal/cognitive autism group showed lower connectivity inside the default, salience, auditory, and frontoparietal networks than the higher verbal/cognitive autism group.
03The low verbal/cognitive autism group had higher connections between the default network and dorsal attention network and between the default network and frontoparietal network than neurotypical children, and lower left-right matched connections in 49 regions than the higher verbal/cognitive autism group and in 28 regions than neurotypical children.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The final analysed sample was small: 17 children in the low verbal/cognitive autism group, 20 in the higher verbal/cognitive autism group, and 19 neurotypical children. Ten families did not attempt scanning, four low verbal/cognitive children could not continue after lying on the table, and two participants were excluded for excessive motion, so the scanned sample was not representative of all children with autism and low verbal/cognitive performance. The study did not test whether any single support caused successful scanning, because preparation, anxiety reduction, headphones, parent contact, and scan protocol were used together. The low verbal/cognitive group had more head motion than the other groups, and head motion can affect connectivity estimates. The wide age range, 7 to 17 years, makes developmental differences hard to separate. The study reports brain connectivity patterns, not treatment effects, communication outcomes, or predictors for individual patients.
Declared interests
The paper states the funder was the National Institute of Mental Health. No author conflicts of interest are given in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that video modeling, noise-canceling headphones, or weighted items improve speech, behaviour, or therapy outcomes. This paper used those supports to obtain MRI scans and reported brain connectivity differences; it did not measure communication gains or treatment response.