Autism Biomarker Consortium for Clinical Trials

NEPSY-II - Memory for Faces Subtest (administered to all ages): The NEPSY-II Memory for Faces subtest entails viewing a series of faces and having the child identify the sex of each face. The child is then shown three faces at a time and required to identify the previously seen face.

NEPSY-II - Memory for Faces Subtest (administered to all ages): The NEPSY-II Memory for Faces subtest entails viewing a series of faces and having the child identify the sex of each face. The child is then shown three faces at a time and required to identify the previously seen face.

NEPSY-II - Memory for Faces Subtest (administered to all ages): The NEPSY-II Memory for Faces subtest entails viewing a series of faces and having the child identify the sex of each face. The child is then shown three faces at a time and required to identify the previously seen face.

Video tracking of social behavior is an observational method involving automated tracking of children's movements using the Noldus EthoVision Computerized tracking system. Using computer vision, video recordings of children's movements assess proximity-seeking/approach behaviors. During one six-minute free-play session in the laboratory, children's movements will be recorded from a ceiling-mounted camera and two side cameras while a parent sits in a corner of the room. Software automatically tracks the child (via the ceiling mounted camera) as the child plays with a standardized set of toys and interacts with the parent, and computes the percentage of session spent near the parentlatency to approach the parent, percentage of time spent in the periphery and latency to approach the periphery. A subset of side camera recordings will be manually coded by reliable coders for social engagement behaviors to validate the automatically generated movement behaviors calculated by EthoVision.

Video tracking of social behavior is an observational method involving automated tracking of children's movements using the Noldus EthoVision Computerized tracking system. Using computer vision, video recordings of children's movements assess proximity-seeking/approach behaviors. During one six-minute free-play session in the laboratory, children's movements will be recorded from a ceiling-mounted camera and two side cameras while a parent sits in a corner of the room. Software automatically tracks the child (via the ceiling mounted camera) as the child plays with a standardized set of toys and interacts with the parent, and computes the percentage of session spent near the parentlatency to approach the parent, percentage of time spent in the periphery and latency to approach the periphery. A subset of side camera recordings will be manually coded by reliable coders for social engagement behaviors to validate the automatically generated movement behaviors calculated by EthoVision.

Video tracking of social behavior is an observational method involving automated tracking of children's movements using the Noldus EthoVision Computerized tracking system. Using computer vision, video recordings of children's movements assess proximity-seeking/approach behaviors. During one six-minute free-play session in the laboratory, children's movements will be recorded from a ceiling-mounted camera and two side cameras while a parent sits in a corner of the room. Software automatically tracks the child (via the ceiling mounted camera) as the child plays with a standardized set of toys and interacts with the parent, and computes the percentage of session spent near the parentlatency to approach the parent, percentage of time spent in the periphery and latency to approach the periphery. A subset of side camera recordings will be manually coded by reliable coders for social engagement behaviors to validate the automatically generated movement behaviors calculated by EthoVision.

The Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) is a symptom checklist for assessing problem behaviors of children and adults with neurodevelopmetnal disorder at home, in residential facilities, ICFs/MR, and work training centers. It is also useful for classifying problem behaviors of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmetnal disorder in educational settings, residential and community-based facilities, and developmental centers.

Aman MG, Singh NN, Stewart AW, Field CJ. The aberrant behavior checklist: a behavior rating scale for the assessment of treatment effects. Am J Ment Defic. 1985; 89(5):485-491.

The Autism Impact Measure (AIM) uses a 2-week recall period with items rated on two corresponding 5-point scales (frequency and impact). PMID: 23748386.

The Autism Impact Measure (AIM) uses a 2-week recall period with items rated on two corresponding 5-point scales (frequency and impact). PMID: 23748386.

The Child & Adolescent Symptom Inventory-5 (CASI-5) is a behavior rating scale for DSM-5-defined emotional and behavioral disorders in youths between 5 and 18 years old.

The PDD-BI is an assessment tool for children on the autism spectrum. PDDBI profiles can provide guidance to clinicians regarding the child's problems as perceived by the informants, how a particular child compares to most children their age with ASD, and the skills and abilities of the child.

Cohen, I. L. (2003). Criterion-related validity of the PDD Behavior Inventory. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 47-53.

The Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) is completed in just 15 to 20 minutes and identifies social impairment associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and quantifies its severity.

Differential Ability Scales - Second Edition; DAS-II (Elliott C, 2007): The DAS-II is a clinical instrument designed to assess cognitive ability include variables such as verbal cluster, spatial cluster, nonverbal cluster, special nonverbal composite and GCA. The overall score will be used.

Resting State EEG (Eyes Open) provides a reference for the event-related EEG measures and a baseline biomarker of EEG spectral power across frequencies, neurofunctional connectivity and coherence, and hemispheric asymmetry and will always be done prior to the other EEG paradigms. Participants will be presented with non-social, abstract moving videos in random order.

Faces processing is a foundation for social perception and attention and serves as a promising and robust biomarker of social impairment in ASD and a potential index of subgroup differences. As the primary non-resting paradigm, the FACES task will always be administered second in the EEG protocol. Participants will be presented with a series of upright and inverted faces, as well as upright houses (as a contrast non-face stimulus).

Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) index low-level visual processing and reflect the functional integrity of the visual pathway. VEPs reflect excitatory (glutamatergic) and inhibitory (GABAergic) activity and may index subgroups of ASD with low-level visual impairments. VEPs also serve as a control for assessment of higher-order activity in social visual paradigms. Subjects will be presented with black and white checkerboards that reverse phase at a defined interval. The order of the VEP and Biomotion paradigms will be counterbalanced.

Biological Motion processed by specific neural circuitry, which has demonstrated to exhibit reduced sensitivity in ASD. Point light displays (PLDs) of a human walking versus scrambled motion will be presented randomly. The order of the VEP and Biomotion paradigms will be counterbalanced.

ET Paradigms will be administered in counterbalanced blocks, one on each day of each screening or study visits. Both blocks will include all the tasks but in different orders. The length of individual paradigms ranges from 1 to 8.5 mins.

Biological Motion Task is measured after short central fixation, children will be presented with Point Light Displays (PLDs) indicating target biological motion and a scrambled or a rotating perceptual control.

ET Paradigms will be administered in counterbalanced blocks, one on each day of each screening or study visits. Both blocks will include all the tasks but in different orders. The length of individual paradigms ranges from 1 to 8.5 mins.

Activity Monitoring Task is measured following central fixation. Children will be presented with multiple activity monitoring trails depicting two actresses engaging in a controlled joint activity such as assembling a puzzle.

ET Paradigms will be administered in counterbalanced blocks, one on each day of each screening or study visits. Both blocks will include all the tasks but in different orders. The length of individual paradigms ranges from 1 to 8.5 mins.

Interactive Social Task (IST) is taps similar constructs as the activity monitoring task in a more naturalistic, dynamic, and complex context. Following a central fixation, children will be presented with interactive social trails in which two children engage in a natural interactive play session.

ET Paradigms will be administered in counterbalanced blocks, one on each day of each screening or study visits. Both blocks will include all the tasks but in different orders. The length of individual paradigms ranges from 1 to 8.5 mins.

Pupillary Light Reflex (PLR) Task is measured following a stimuli that consist of a central fixation point on a black background that flashes white for 133 milliseconds. The constriction of the pupil in response to a bright flash indexes function of the parasympathetic nervous system.

ET Paradigms will be administered in counterbalanced blocks, one on each day of each screening or study visits. Both blocks will include all the tasks but in different orders. The length of individual paradigms ranges from 1 to 8.5 mins.

Color images depicting 12 different female faces with direct gaze and the same faces with averted gaze will be presented. Twelve different exemplars from each of five categories (alarm clocks, mobile phones, birds, cars, and shoes) will be used as distracters. Twelve different slides will each contain six images (one face and five distracters, one from each category) placed at an equal distance from the center of the screen. Each slide contains a different set of six images, each image being shown only once in the experiment. This measure examines scanning patterns towards arrays of objects, synthetic stimuli, and faces as well as towards more complex naturalistic (static) scenes. This task examines complex scene processing and attentional select