Sensory and attention abnormalities in autistic spectrum disorders

• Published in: Autism : the international journal of research and practice Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 155 - 172
• Main Authors: Liss, Miriam, Saulnier, Celine, Fein, Deborah, Kinsbourne, Marcel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.03.2006; SAGE Publications; Sage
• Subjects: Adaptive Behavior Scales; Adolescent; Arousal Patterns; Attention; Attention - physiology; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Autism; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic Disorder - epidemiology; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Autistic spectrum disorders; Behavior Rating Scales; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Clinical Psychology; Cluster Analysis; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Comorbidity; Developmental Disabilities - diagnosis; Developmental Disabilities - epidemiology; Developmental disorders; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Female; Humans; Incidence; Infantile autism; Item Rating Scale; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Multivariate Analysis; Persistence; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Prevalence; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychophysiologic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychophysiologic Disorders - epidemiology; Sensation Disorders - diagnosis; Sensation Disorders - epidemiology; Sensory Experience; Sensory impairment; Severity (of Disability); Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales; attention; sensory behavior; autistic spectrum disorder; cluster analysis; autism; Human; Automatic classification; Cognitive disorder; Perceptual disorder; Attention; Developmental disorder; Autism; Attentional disorder; Perception; Behavior; Child
• ISSN: 1362-3613; 1461-7005
• DOI: 10.1177/1362361306062021

Individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) often experience, describe and exhibit unusual patterns of sensation and attention. These anomalies have been hypothesized to result from overarousal and consequent overfocused attention. Parents of individuals with ASD rated items in three domains, ‘sensory overreactivity’, ‘sensory underreactivity’ and ‘sensory seeking behaviors’, of an expanded version of the Sensory Profile, a 103-item rating scale developed for the present study. Parents also rated symptom severity, overselective attention and exceptional memory, and completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Of 222 rated subjects, 144 had complete data. Cluster analysis showed the predicted overfocused pattern of sensation and attention, comprising overreactivity, perseverative behavior and interests, overfocused attention and exceptional memory in 43 percent of this sample. This pattern was striking in 10 percent. The neurological basis of overreactivity and overfocusing is discussed in relation to the overarousal hypothesis. Attention is drawn to its considerable prevalence in the ASD population.