Paediatrics (RCH) - Research Publications
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ItemInjury(Elsevier, 2017-11-02)Exploration of the consequences of brain insult sustained early in life has a long history, dating back to the 1920s and the seminal works of Lashley (1929), Kennard (1938, 1942), and Hebb (1949), and later comprehensive reviews (e.g., Finger & Stein, 1982; Isaacson, 1975; St James-Roberts, 1975). In this literature, while insults in infancy and early childhood were regarded as qualitatively and quantitatively distinct from those occurring in adulthood, there was little agreement regarding the potential benefits and vulnerabilities of early brain insult.
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ItemSocial cognition in autism spectrum disorder and neurogenetic syndromes(Routledge, 2021)Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairing social communication deficits and restricted and repetitive behaviours. Over the past few decades, a growing body of research has proposed that social cognitive deficits are a key psychological driver of ASD. In the following chapter, we review evidence for this and show that while social cognitive deficits are common in individuals with ASD, they do not hold clear relationships with ASD symptoms and are not necessary nor sufficient for a diagnosis of ASD. We consider several reasons for this, including the heterogeneity inherent within individuals with ASD, at the symptom, cognitive and aetiological levels. We then discuss the utility of examining ASD and social cognition within syndromic ASD populations which reduce the heterogeneity in the idiopathic population and can be thought of as human ‘genetic models’ of ASD. These syndromic cases of ASD offer a valuable opportunity to elucidate the neurobiological and developmental pathways that lead to both ASD symptoms and aberrant social cognitive processing that are due to a single gene mutation. The possibility of this research to translate into targeted treatments is also explored.
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ItemImpact of early brain insult on the development of social competence(Routledge, 2021)There is growing interest in the social consequences of paediatric brain insult. While current evidence is relatively scarce, findings consistently demonstrate that brain injury in early life confers an elevated risk of social dysfunction across a range of dimensions – social adjustment, social interaction and participation and social cognition. Interactions across these domains and their impact on the child’s other skills is poorly understood. In addition, it appears that the injury-related risk factors that are predictive of cognitive and physical outcomes from early brain insult (injury severity, lesion location, age at insult) are less reliable indicators of social outcomes. Rather, pre-insult child status and environmental factors play a larger role. In particular, social context, family function, child temperament and adjustment to brain insult are all important in determining the child’s social recovery and outcome. Emerging findings from longitudinal studies of childhood ABI show great promise and will facilitate the design of evidence-based interventions in this field. Further, the advent of recent theoretical models of social function and early brain insult, integrating social neuroscience, developmental and developmental psychopathology literatures, provide a strong bio-psychosocial framework for future research.