Psychology Commons^™

Relationships Between Sensory Reactivity, Restricted And Repetitive Behaviors, And Autonomic Nervous System Activity In Autistic And Non-Autistic Individuals, Sapir Elimaliah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current dissertation includes seven chapters. Chapter 1 includes my professional background and describes the experiences that led me to study restricted and repetitive behaviors. It also briefly describes my personal journey as an international graduate student. Chapter 2 is devoted to the rich literature that this dissertation is based on. The literature review covers both the foundational and most recent findings in the fields of sensory reactivity, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and autonomic activity, as well as the known relationships between these areas in autistic and non-autistic individuals. In Chapter 3, I describe in detail the methodology used in …

Exploring Influences On Autistic Identity Development In Adolescence And Early Adulthood, Ariana Riccio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Personal identities grow and change across development, co-constructed and renegotiated within our environment, through our interactions, and by our relationships with the people and places around us. This dissertation aimed to explore the development of autistic identity in adolescence as influenced by parents, introduces a novel method for measuring emotions and autistic identity where participants rate their emotional responses to autistic experiences, and explores the influence that colleges and universities may have on autistic identity in young autistic adults.

In a study of 19 autistic adolescents and their parents, if and how parents disclosed an autism diagnosis to their child …

Cognitive And Affective Control Deficits In Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Melissa-Ann Mackie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cognitive control constrains mental operations to prioritize information that reaches conscious awareness and is essential to flexible, adaptive behavior under conditions of uncertainty. However, cognitive control can be compromised by neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterized by the presence of social and communicative deficits, and restricted interests/repetitive behaviors. Although prior investigations have attempted to elucidate the nature of cognitive control deficits in ASD, whether there is an underlying deficit in cognitive and affective control associated with the symptom domains of ASD remains unclear. The present series of eight experiments presents an information theoretic framework for …

A Developmental Perspective On Parental Cognitions And Emotions In The Context Of A Parent-Mediated Intervention For Children With Asd, Emily R. Hotez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous research demonstrates that parenting-related schemas and perceptions, reflective functioning abilities, and emotional experiences (i.e., parental cognitions and emotions) play a pivotal role in predicting whether parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are actively involved in, and demonstrate capacity in, meeting their child’s needs in the context of intervention programs or services related to their child’s development. In light of these findings, researchers have focused increased attention towards investigating whether parent-mediated interventions that target children’s behaviors and developmental outcomes exert collateral effects on parental cognitions and emotions.

The current dissertation investigated a sample of 70 mothers of …

Exploring The Role Of Perceived Religiosity On Daily Life, Coping, And Parenting For Jewish Parents Of Children With Autism, Frances Rebecca Victory

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This two-part study (a) explores the multi-dimensional aspects of religious and psychosocial experience of Jewish mothers and fathers with and without a child with autism; and (b) uses a multi-method design to examine the influence of perceived religious beliefs, ritual practices, and community context on daily life, parenting, and coping processes for these parents. The first study included 20 fathers and 34 mothers of typically developing children. Participants were affiliated with Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox Judaism. They completed three online q-sorts and five open-ended questions. The three q-sorts focused on the perceptions of religious beliefs, ritual practices, and community …

The Neurodevelopment Of Basic Sensory Processing And Integration In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alice Brown Brandwein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis presents three studies that together explore the neurophysiological basis for the sensory processing and integration abnormalities that have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since the disorder was first described over half a century ago. In designing these studies we seek to fill a hole that currently exists in the research community‟s knowledge of the neurodevelopment of basic multisensory integration -- both in children with autism and as well as in those with typical development. The first study applied event related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures of multisensory integration to a large group of healthy participants ranging …