Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Neuroimage Clin. 2017 Aug 14;16:303-312. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.08.012. eCollection 2017.
Children with ASD show a unique reading profile characterized by decoding abilities equivalent to verbal abilities, but with lower comprehension skills. Neuroimaging studies have found recruitment of regions primarily associated with visual processing (e.g., fusiform gyrus and medial parietal cortex), but reduced activation in frontal and temporal regions, when reading in adults with ASD. The purpose of this study was to assess neural changes associated with an intense reading intervention program in children with ASD using three fMRI tasks of reading.
25 children with ASD were randomly assigned to a treatment (ASD-EXP) or waitlist group (ASD-WLC). Children participated in a reading intervention program (4-hour sessions per day, 5 days a week for 10 weeks). We utilized three tasks: word, sentence, and multisentence processing, each with differential demands of reading comprehension. fMRI data were acquired at each of two scanning sessions 10-weeks apart.
Across tasks, post-intervention results revealed that the ASD-EXP group showed greater activation in bilateral precentral gyrus and the postcentral gyrus, visual processing regions (e.g., occipital cortex, fusiform gyrus), and frontal regions. In the word task, left thalamus and the right angular gyrus (AG) activation was unique to the ASD-EXP group post-intervention. Sentence tasks showed differential activation of core language areas (e.g., IFG, IPL) post-intervention.
Our results provide evidence for differential recruitment of brain regions based on task demands in children with ASD, and support the potential of targeted interventions to alter brain activation in response to positive gains in treatment. Children with ASD have a different reading profile from other reading disorders that needs to be specifically targeted in interventions.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的阅读表现独特，其解码能力与语言能力相当，但理解能力较低。神经影像学研究发现，成年人在阅读时，ASD 患者主要使用与视觉处理相关的区域（例如梭状回和内侧顶叶皮层），而额叶和颞叶区域的激活减少。本研究的目的是使用三种阅读 fMRI 任务评估 ASD 儿童强化阅读干预计划相关的神经变化。
25 名 ASD 儿童被随机分配到治疗组（ASD-EXP）或候补组（ASD-WLC）。儿童参加阅读干预计划（每天 4 小时，每周 5 天，共 10 周）。我们使用了三种任务：单词、句子和多句子处理，每个任务对阅读理解的要求都不同。在相隔 10 周的两次扫描会话中获取 fMRI 数据。
在所有任务中，干预后结果显示，ASD-EXP 组双侧中央前回和中央后回、视觉处理区域（例如枕叶皮层、梭状回）和额叶区域的激活增加。在单词任务中，左丘脑和右角回（AG）的激活是 ASD-EXP 组干预后的独特表现。句子任务显示出核心语言区域（例如 IFG、IPL）的差异激活。
我们的研究结果提供了证据，证明 ASD 儿童的大脑区域根据任务需求进行差异招募，支持了针对性干预改变大脑激活以应对治疗积极收益的潜力。ASD 儿童的阅读模式与其他阅读障碍不同，需要在干预中特别针对这一点。
