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Query: UMLS:C0004352 (autism)
 32,579 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Children with autism demonstrate "atypical" gaze or social "looking" and frequently manifest such sterotypies as eye pressing, hand flicking, and light gazing. This study's purpose was to evaluate autistic children for visual dysfunction that may be related to the manifested visual signs and symptoms. Thirty-four autistic children, ages 2 to 11 years (median age = 7 years, 6 months) were evaluated for ocular alignment, refractive error, visual acuity, oculomotility skills, and stereopsis. None of the children manifested ocular disease, known seizure disorders, or dysmorphic features. Their developmental levels ranged from average intelligence to severely retarded. Binocular visual acuity was measured with the acuity card procedure. Monocular visual acuity was not obtained. Refractive errors ranged from -4.25 to +3.25 D; the median was plano with the near retinoscopy technique. Of the 34 children, 21% were strabismic at far and 18% were strabismic at near. Lang stereo testing was attempted on all children and completed on 17. Of the 17, all but 3 exhibited 550 sec arc. Only 14.7% of the children exhibited voluntary pursuit movements, and all the children demonstrated saccadic fixations. Thirty-one children had atypical optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) responses such as delayed onset, short duration, gaze avoidance, or stereotypic behavior. Repeated testing revealed consistent visual responses on OKN and visual acuity. Given these findings, research with this population should be pursued further.
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PMID:Assessment of visual function in autistic children. 164 Dec 24

Developmental language and learning disabilities in children can take many different forms and can result from a variety of causes. Research to date has focused primarily on specific disabilities in learning, which are characterized by a significant delay or disorder in one aspect of learning against a background of otherwise normal development. Learning disabilities affecting language and/or reading acquisition (developmental dysphasia and dyslexia) have been studied most thoroughly. Verbal learning disabilities occur more frequently in boys than in girls, and there is a higher than expected incidence of left-handedness among affected children. Although there are many reasons why a child may have delayed or disordered language development, differential diagnosis of specific developmental language or reading disorders calls for ruling out mental retardation, peripheral auditory or visual dysfunction, autism, frank neurological impairments such as hemiplegia or seizure disorder, and severe social deprivation or lack of educational opportunity. The typical profile of a developmentally dysphasic or dyslexic child is one who shows a marked discrepancy between nonverbal (performance) IQ and verbal IQ, with a history of delayed or disordered speech, language and/or reading development. Such a child usually performs quite normally on visual spatial tasks, while demonstrating severe deficits in tasks of auditory temporal processing, motor sequencing, phonological processing and memory, language, reading and spelling. This characteristic neuropsychological profile may suggest left hemisphere dysfunction or a failure to develop normal cerebral lateralization. The etiology of these developmental learning disorders is unknown, but there is evidence of familial aggregation, indicating a potential genetic basis. Although these children respond to remediation, longitudinal studies have shown that the symptoms often persist into adulthood (see Tallal, 1988, for a more detailed discussion).
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PMID:Hormonal influences in developmental learning disabilities. 196 40

Studies have shown considerable evidence of visual dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. Anomalies in visual information processing can have a major effect on the life quality of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. We summarise the hypotheses and theories underlying neural aetiologies and genetic factors that cause these disorders, as well as the possible influences of unusual sensory processing on the communications and behaviour characterised by the autistics. In particular, we review the impact of these dysfunctions on visual performance.
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PMID:Visual function in autism spectrum disorders: a critical review. 2716 96

From birth, vision guides our movement, facilitates social interaction and accords recognition and understanding of the environment. In children, vision underpins development of these skills, and is crucial for typical development. Deficits in visual processing may lead to impairment of cognitive, motor, and social development, placing children at risk of developing features of autism. Severe early onset visual dysfunction accords the greatest risk. Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) can lead to disorders of cognitive and social development that resemble Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Similarly, children who appear primarily affected by cognitive and social developmental disorders, can manifest a range of visual and perceptual deficits that may be contributory to their disorder. This dual perspective highlights the need for links between impaired vision and neurodevelopmental disorders to be identified and acted upon by means of applying appropriate social and educational strategies. There is good evidence to show that targeted systematic screening for visual and perceptual impairments, and implementation of long-term management approaches, is now required for all at risk children.
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PMID:The inter-relationships between cerebral visual impairment, autism and intellectual disability. 3229 9