(2017). 9th International Congress on Psychopharmacology & 5th International Symposium on Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology: Vol. 27, 9th International Congress on Psychopharmacology & 5th International Symposium on Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology Abstracts, pp. 85-180.

OBJECTIVE: Studies show partial improvements in some core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in time. However, the predictive factors (e.g. pretreatment IQ, comorbid psychiatric disorders, adaptive, and language skills, etc.) for a better the outcome was not studied with machine learning methods. We aimed to examine the predictors of outcome with machine learning methods, which are novel computational methods including statistical estimation, information theories and mathematical learning automatically discovering useful patterns in large amounts of data. METHOD: The study the group comprised 433 children (mean age: 72.3 ± 45.9 months) with ASD diagnosis. The ASD symptoms were assessed by the Autism Behavior Checklist, Aberrant Behavior Checklist, Clinical Global Impression scales at baseline (T0) and 12th (T1), 24th (T2), and 36th (T3) months. We tested the performance of for machine learning algorithms (Naive Bayes, Generalized Linear Model, Logistic Regression, Decision Tree) on our data, including the 254 items in the baseline forms. Patients with ≤2 CGI points in ASD symptoms at in 36 months were accepted as the group who has “better outcome” as the prediction class. RESULTS: The significant proportion of the cases showed significant improvement in ASD symptoms (39.7% in T1, 60.7% in T2; 77.8% in T3). Our machine learning model in T3 showed that diagnosis group affected the prognosis. In the autism group, older father and mother age; in PDD-NOS group, MR comorbidity, less birth weight and older age at diagnosis have a worse outcome. In Asperger’s Disorder age at diagnosis, age at first evaluation and developmental cornerstones has affected prognosis. CONCLUSION: In accordance with other studies we found early age diagnosis, early start rehabilitation, the severity of ASD symptoms at baseline assessment predicted outcome. Also, we found comorbid psychiatric diagnoses are affecting the outcome of ASD symptoms in clinical observation. The machine learning models reveal several others are more significant (e.g. parental age, birth weight, sociodemographic variables, etc.) in terms of prognostic information and also planning treatment of children with ASD.

One of the areas of social cognition is Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the capacity to interpret, infer and explain mental states underlying the behavior of others. When social cognition studies on neurodevelopmental disorders are examined, it can be seen that this skill has not been studied sufficiently in children with Specific Learning Disorder (SLD). In this study, social cognition skills in children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), SLD or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) evaluated before puberty and compared with controls. To evaluate the ToM skills, the first and secondorder false belief tasks, the Hinting Task, the Faux Pas Test and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task were used. We found that children with neurodevelopmental disorders as ADHD, ASD, and SLD had ToM deficits independent of intelligence and language development. There was a significant correlation between social cognition deficits and problems experienced in many areas such as social communication and interaction, attention, behavior, and learning. Social cognition is an important area of impairment in SLD and there is a strong relationship between clinical symptoms and impaired functionality.

Zihin kuramı son kırk yılda yapılan klinik çalışmalarla psikiyatrideki önemi ortaya konulan bir sosyal biliş becerisidir. Zihin kuramı becerisi başkalarının zihinsel durumlarını ve duygularını fark edebilme yeteneği olarak sosyal bir canlı olan insanın sosyal işlevselliğinde etkili ve gerekli bir beceri olarak görülmektedir. Hayatın özellikle ilk altı yılında pek çok ilişkili alanla birlikte temeli atılan bu becerinin, ayna nöronlarla başlayan ve limbik paralimbik yapılar, prefrontal korteks gibi pek çok nörobiyolojik temelle ilgili bulguları bu beceriyi anlamamıza yardımcı olmaktadır. Zihin kuramı gelişimi ile ilişkili alanlar zihin kuramı beceri ve bozulmalarını daha iyi anlamamızı sağlamaktadır. İlk psikopatoloji çalışmaları otizmli çocuklarda yapılmakla birlikte nörogelişimsel bozukluklar tanı kümesinde zihin kuramı becerileri ile ilgili çalışmalar giderek ilgi çekici olmaktadır. Bu derlemede zihin kuramı gelişimi, nörobiyolojik temeli ve ilişkili olduğu alanlar anlatılacak ve zihin kuramının psikopatoloji ile ilişkisi incelenecektir.