29476
EEG Coherence Changes Related to the PEERS® Intervention: Evidence of Neuroplasticity

Oral Presentation
Friday, May 3, 2019: 2:06 PM
Room: 517A (Palais des congres de Montreal)
A. D. Haendel1, A. Barrington2, B. Magnus3, A. J. McVey4, B. Dolan5, K. Willar6, A. Carson7, A. Arias4, N. Johnson8, M. Jones Moyle9 and A. V. Van Hecke3, (1)Speech-Language Pathology, Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, WI, (2)Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, (3)Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, (4)Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, (5)Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, (6)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, (7)Pediatrics, Autism Center, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, (8)Nursing, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, (9)Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Background: There is consensus that neurological differences present in people with autism. Furthermore, theories emphasize the mixture of hypo- and hyper-connectivity as a neuropathology in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (O’Reilly, Lewis, & Elsabbagh, 2017). Literature examining changes in neurological connectivity as a result of a well-validated social skills intervention, however, is limited.

Objectives: The current study examined changes in EEG coherence across the Program for Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for adolescents with ASD with the following aims: 1) to examine changes in neural connectivity among adolescents with ASD who received PEERS® (experimental group; EXP) versus those who did not (waitlist control group; WL), 2) to evaluate whether changes in EEG coherence were related to behavioral changes.

Methods: One-hundred ten adolescents with ASD ages 11-16 years, with an IQ ≥ 70, participated in a randomized controlled trial of the PEERS® intervention. Autism diagnosis was confirmed via the ADOS-G (Lord et al., 2001). Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected using a 3-minute eyes-open resting state paradigm at two timepoints (pre- and post-intervention for the EXP group). At both timepoints, adolescents completed the Test of Adolescent Social Skills Knowledge(TASSK) and Quality of Socialization Questionnaire(QSQ-A); caregivers completed the Social Responsiveness Scale(SRS) and Social Skills Improvement System(SSIS). EEG data from eight regions of interest: frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, in each hemisphere, were calculated and averaged (see Figure 1). Magnitude Squared Coherence was calculated using MATLAB MVDR method for all of the possible pairings (28) in the alpha band (pre and post). Path Analyses were used to investigate correlated outcomes and covariates.

Results: Significant differences were found between the EXP and WL groups at post in OL-TL coherence (β = 0.20, p < .01), controlling for Time 1. Significant effects of Income were found on EEG coherences at post in OR-FR (β = -0.13, p < .005), OR-PL (β = -.29, p < .01), OR-TL (β = -0.27, p < .003), OR-FL (β = -0.14, p < .001), and OL-OR (β = -0.30, p < .005). ADOS-G Total score was a predictor of EEG coherences at post in TR-PR (β = -0.27, p < .01), OR-TR (β = -0.25, p < .009), OL-TL (β = -0.27, p < .006). The residualized post score in the FR-PR coherence pair was significantly related to the Social Skills subscale of the SSIS at post (β = .30, p < .002). Significant effects of OL-PL (β = .32, p < .002), and OR-TR residualized coherence (β = .36, p < .008) were found on QSQ-A scores at post.

Conclusions: Results indicated that adolescents with ASD exhibiting more severe symptoms of autism, showed less coherence in “short-range” EEG pairings in social brain areas. After receiving PEERS®, those adolescents exhibited changes in an exemplar “short-range” coherence pair in left occipital-temporal regions that was linked to changes in their social knowledge and behavior. The study’s results provide neural evidence for the initial brain differences in ASD being affected by the PEERS® social intervention; therefore, supporting the theory of neuroplasticity.

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See more of: Biomarkers (molecular, phenotypic, neurophysiological, etc)