This thesis investigated the development of emotional functioning in 2-to-6-year-old children with and without autism. Whereas autistic children experienced more challenges in the emotional domain,... Show moreThis thesis investigated the development of emotional functioning in 2-to-6-year-old children with and without autism. Whereas autistic children experienced more challenges in the emotional domain, their emotional abilities improved with age, and developed in similar ways as observed in non-autistic children. On the one hand, this thesis showed that autistic children might deal with emotions in a different way, and they might experience various difficulties when communicating emotions with non-autistic people. One the other hand, it is important to note that the difficulties could be bidirectional. As stated by the “double empathy problem”, non-autistic people may experience the same difficulties when communicating with autistic people. This could be a meaningful direction for future research, investigating emotional communication as a two-way interaction rather than focusing only on how people with autism react to people without autism. Furthermore, this thesis showed that autistic children had the potential to learn and to develop in the emotional domain. Again, this points to the importance of investigating how to create an inclusive social environment, which is not only nurturing for children without autism, but can also benefit the development of children with autism and with other special needs. Show less
Experiencing shame and guilt is painful but these emotions have an important social function. They prevent socially inappropriate behaviors as they make us aware of norms and values that are... Show moreExperiencing shame and guilt is painful but these emotions have an important social function. They prevent socially inappropriate behaviors as they make us aware of norms and values that are necessary for creating and maintaining social harmony. Participation in the social world is crucial for the development of shame and guilt, and less access to the social world could therefore be detrimental to this development. In this thesis, the influence of access to the social world on the development of self-conscious emotions is examined in two groups with less access to the social world: adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and adolescents with hearing loss. In addition, this thesis aimed to unravel the longitudinal contributions of shame and guilt on the development of adolescent aggression. Adolescents with diminished access to the social world reported lower levels of shame and guilt. The longitudinal relationships applied to both adolescent with diminished access and typically developing adolescents. It was demonstrated that shame is a risk factor for the development of reactive aggression, and that guilt is an inhibiting force on the development of bullying and proactive aggression Show less
Peer influence plays a crucial role in the rise of health-risk behaviors during adolescence. However, there is increasing evidence that peer influence can also lead to positive psychosocial... Show morePeer influence plays a crucial role in the rise of health-risk behaviors during adolescence. However, there is increasing evidence that peer influence can also lead to positive psychosocial outcomes, such as prosocial behavior. The main goal of this thesis was to investigate peer influence on risk-taking and prosocial behavior in adolescence and to unravel its underlying neural processes. Findings showed that effects of peers on risk-taking behavior are dependent on the context. Adolescents take into account both social norms from peer feedback and the uncertainty associated with outcomes in risky decisions. Moreover, peers can both increase and decrease prosocial behavior in typically developing (TD) adolescents and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), illustrating that peer influence can also lead to more adaptive outcomes. Finally, we studied the neural processes underlying prosocial peer feedback and results indicate that prosocial peer influence is underlined by the social brain network, regions involved in thinking about the self and others. Eventually, the results of this thesis can contribute to interventions aimed at decreasing risk-taking and promoting prosocial behavior in adolescence, with possibly long lasting effects into adulthood. Show less
Growing evidence highlights the importance of visual-spatial processing skills (VSPS) but teaching and training of these skills at early age in schools remain understudied. To this end, we have... Show moreGrowing evidence highlights the importance of visual-spatial processing skills (VSPS) but teaching and training of these skills at early age in schools remain understudied. To this end, we have developed a computerized application called TangSolver that aim to move one step toward assessment and training of VSPS of school age children. First, we compared the effectiveness of an experimental computerized VSPS-enhancing approach, a conventional face-to-face training regime, and a non-training control group in improving performance in a tangram game among typical children. Second, we investigated how training-resistant possible visuospatial processing differences between children with and without ASD are. We studied the effect of computerized vs. face-to-face visuospatial training in a group of normally intelligent children with ASD and typically developing children as control. Findings show that (a) children with and without ASD do not differ much in visuospatial processing (as assessed by a tangram-like task) and the few differences we observed were all eliminated by training; (b) training can improve visuospatial processing (equally) in both children with ASD and normally developing children; and (c) computer-based and face-to-face training was equally effective. Show less
In this thesis we examine how different aspects of emotion regulation are linked to social functioning and psychopathology in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared... Show moreIn this thesis we examine how different aspects of emotion regulation are linked to social functioning and psychopathology in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. We take a broad perspective on emotion regulation by examining i) Emotion awareness, ii) Coping, and iii) Empathy. Main findings where that children with ASD scored lower on social functioning and higher on internalizing behavior, compared to their TD peers. Furthermore, all three aspects of emotion regulation were related with social functioning and psychopathology in both groups. Although children with ASD appeared to be motivated to engage in peer interactions, cognitive and affective impairments may prevent them from effectively deal with the own and other__s emotions. This thesis showed that internalizing and externalizing behavior in children with ASD mainly stems from impaired emotion regulation. Clinical implications and suggestions for further research are also given. Show less
Aim of the dissertation: To expand the knowledge on the behavioural phenotypes, level of parenting stress and the relationship between child characteristics and parenting stress in five genetic... Show moreAim of the dissertation: To expand the knowledge on the behavioural phenotypes, level of parenting stress and the relationship between child characteristics and parenting stress in five genetic syndromes. The included syndromes are Angelman, CHARGE, Cornelia de Lange, Prader-Willi, and Rett syndrome. All syndromes are associated with intellectual disabilities. Method: Participants were children and adults with one of the syndromes and their parents, recruited through the Dutch Parent Support Groups. Parents filled out questionnaires concerning parenting stress and behavioural characteristics of their child. Additionally an interview regarding autistic traits of the child was administrated with parents. Main results: The behavioural phenotypes of the syndromes are described in detail. In all syndromes there is a high risk to display autistic traits. The syndromes can been seen as a risk factor for high levels of parenting stress. Specialized psycho-education on the behavioural strengths and weaknesses of a specific syndrome should be given to parents. Awareness on the high prevalence of autistic traits is important to be able to shape an optimum adaptive environment. Professionals should not only focus on the child with the syndrome, but also on the family system given the high stress levels for parents. Show less
Autisme en veilige gehechtheid Men heeft lang gedacht dat kinderen met autisme, door hun problemen in sociale interacties en communicatie, niet in staat zijn om een emotionele band te ontwikkelen... Show moreAutisme en veilige gehechtheid Men heeft lang gedacht dat kinderen met autisme, door hun problemen in sociale interacties en communicatie, niet in staat zijn om een emotionele band te ontwikkelen met hun ouders, met andere woorden zich te hechten aan hun ouders. Empirisch onderzoek heeft echter laten zien dat kinderen met autisme wel degelijk gehechtheidsgedrag laten zien (Buitelaar, 1995). Uit onze meta-analyse bleek dat kinderen met autisme wel minder vaak veilig gehecht zijn dan kinderen zonder autisme. Dat geldt echter alleen voor kinderen met strikt gedefinieerd autisme en kinderen met autisme en een verstandelijke beperking. Het observeren van gehechtheid in een natuurlijke situatie heeft verschillende voordelen. De Attachment Q-sort (AQS; Vaughn & Waters, 1990; Waters, 1995) is ontwikkeld voor thuisobservatie van gehechtheid bij 'normale' kinderen, maar gebruik ervan bij kinderen met autisme blijkt gerechtvaardigd op grond van een studie onder 59 experts. Uit de literatuur komt naar voren dat de opvoeding van kinderen met autisme een groot beroep doet op de ouders. In onze studie bleek echter dat ouders van kinderen met autisme goed lijken om te kunnen gaan met de uitdagingen die gepaard gaan met het opvoeden van hun kind met autisme. Show less
