Faculty Bibliography

In a multisite study of 351 children with autism spectrum disorders, 21 children with developmental delays, and 31 children with typical development, this study used caregiver interviews (i.e., the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised) at the time of entry into other research projects and follow-up telephone interviews designed for this project to describe the children's early acquisition and loss of social-communication milestones. Children who had used words spontaneously and meaningfully and then stopped talking were described by their caregivers as showing more gestures, greater participation in social games, and better receptive language before the loss and fewer of these skills after the loss than other children with autism spectrum disorders. A significant minority of children with autism without word loss showed a very similar pattern of loss of social-communication skills, a pattern not observed in the children with developmental delays or typical development

OBJECTIVE: Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects functioning of the autonomic nervous system and possibly also regulation by the neural limbic system, abnormalities of which have both figured prominently in various etiological models of schizophrenia, particularly those that address patients' vulnerability to stress in connection to psychosis onset and exacerbation. This study provides data on cardiac functioning in a sample of schizophrenia patients that were either medication free or on atypical antipsychotics, as well as cardiac data on matched healthy controls. We included a medication-free group to investigate whether abnormalities in HRV previously reported in the literature and associated with atypical antipsychotics were solely the effect of medications or whether they might be a feature of the illness (or psychosis) itself. METHOD: We collected 24-hour ECGs on 19 patients and 24 controls. Of the patients, 9 were medication free and 10 were on atypical antipsychotics. All subject groups were matched for age and gender. Patient groups showed equivalent symptom severity and type, as well as duration of illness. We analyzed the data using nonlinear complexity (symbolic dynamic) HRV analyses as well as standard and relative spectral analyses. RESULTS: For the medication-free patients as compared to the healthy controls, our data show decreased R-R intervals during sleep, and abnormal suppression of all frequency ranges, but particularly the low frequency range, which persisted even after adjusting the spectral data for the mean R-R interval. This effect was exacerbated for patients on atypical antipsychotics. Likewise, nonlinear complexity analysis showed significantly impaired HRV for medication-free patients that was exacerbated in the patients on atypical antipsychotics. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the data suggest a pattern of significantly decreased cardiac vagal function of patients with schizophrenia as compared to healthy controls, apart from and beyond any differences due to medication side effects. The data additionally confirm earlier reports of a deleterious effect of atypical antipsychotics on HRV, which may exacerbate an underlying vulnerability in patients. These results support previous evidence that autonomic abnormalities may be a core feature of the illness (or psychosis), and that an even more conservative approach to cardiac risk in schizophrenia than previously thought may therefore be clinically appropriate

The purpose of this study was to (1) estimate the prevalence of acute stress disorder (ASD) in a sample of burned children, and (2) determine risk factors for ASD in these children. Seventy-two children were assessed for acute stress disorder approximately 10 days after being hospitalized for a burn. Variables hypothesized to predict ASD symptoms (i.e., size of the burn, prior behavioral symptoms, body image, parents' symptoms, heart rate) were also assessed. Based on a diagnosis derived from the ASD module of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA), 31% of children met criteria for ASD. Path analyses revealed that the variables of heart rate, body image, and parents' acute stress symptoms were directly related to the development of ASD symptoms and accounted for 41% of its variance. These variables also mediated the relationship between the size of the burn and ASD symptoms. ASD is found in almost one third of children hospitalized for a burn. A high resting heart rate, lowered body image, and parent's acute stress symptoms were found to be significant risk factors for ASD symptoms

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Social Experience Questionnaire (SEQ) in a sample of 1158 adolescents aged 13-17 years. Confirmatory factor analysis fit indices supported the hypothesized three-factor model of the SEQ that assesses overt and relational victimization, and prosocial behaviors from peers. Analyses of gender differences revealed that boys reported being overtly victimized more than girls, and girls reported greater receipt of prosocial behaviors from peers than boys. No gender differences in relational victimization were found. The internal consistency was adequate across gender, and test-retest stability over 12 months was modest. Intercorrelations among overt and relational victimization subscales suggest that these subscales assess related, but relatively independent constructs of peer victimization. These findings support the use of the SEQ with adolescents

The purpose of this article is to describe the development of a family-based intervention designed to target the harmful effects of exposure to family and community violence on urban youth and their parents. The program, "Supporting Urban Residents to be Violence-Free in a Violent Environment (SURVIVE)," is a 12-week multiple family group (MEG) intervention modeled upon similar children's mental health programs implemented with urban youth of color and their families in several major U.S. cities. The design and implementation of the SURVIVE Community Project were guided by a collaborative partnership between community members, including mental health professionals, teachers, and parents from the Bronx, and an interdisciplinary team of university-based researchers. In order to establish the feasibility and relevance of the program for urban communities, 25 families with children ages 7-11 participated in a pilot test of the curriculum. The description of the SURVIVE Community Project provided here is based on this work, and includes a discussion of facilitation issues. Implications for family-based intervention targeting urban children and families affected by violence are highlighted.