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Comparison of the Sensory Profile Among Autistic Individuals and Individuals with Williams Syndrome

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Abstract

Purpose

With the current study, we aimed to reveal the similarities and differences in sensory profiles between Williams syndrome (WS) and autism spectrum disorder.

Methods

Using the sensory profile questionnaire completed by the caregivers, we analyzed the WS (n = 60, 3.4–19.8 years) and autistic (n = 39, 4.2–14.0 years) groups.

Results

The Severity Analysis revealed a significant group difference in Sensory Sensitivity but not in Low Registration, Sensation Seeking, and Sensation Avoiding subscales. Age can modulate the subscale scores differently across groups. For Sensation Seeking, the scores of both groups decreased with development. However, the scores of Sensory Sensitivity decreased with age in the autistic group but not in the WS group. Sensation Avoiding scores increased with development in the WS group but not in the autistic group. No significant developmental changes were observed in Low Registration.

Conclusion

This study highlights the cross-syndrome similarities and differences in sensory profiles and developmental changes in autistic individuals and individuals with WS.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Data Availability

Data are available upon request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all caregivers for their participation. Further, we thank C. Matsui for helping to recruit participants and M. Sasaki for assistance in data collection.

Funding

This study was funded by the Pfizer Health Research Foundation, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: 18H01103, 21K18554); and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Grant Number: 15H01585) awarded to MH. RK received grants from the Yuumi Memorial Foundation for Home Health, the SENSHIN Medical Research Foundation, and JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: 19K08251, 21H05326, and 22H00986, respectively). The grant-giving institutions played no role in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data or the writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Furo- cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Masahiro Hirai

  2. Center for Development of Advanced Medical Technology, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan

    Masahiro Hirai

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan

    Masahiro Hirai, Takahiro Ikeda & Takanori Yamagata

  4. Department of Psychology, Senshu University, Kanagawa, Japan

    Ayaka Ikeda

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Shiga Medical Center for Children, Shiga, Japan

    Takeo Kato

  6. Faculty of Sociology, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Kosuke Asada

  7. Global Research Institute, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoko Hakuno

  8. Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan

    Kanae Matsushima & Toshihiro Kato

  9. Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Tomonari Awaya, Masatoshi Hagiwara & Ryo Kimura

  10. Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Tomonari Awaya

  11. Department of Pediatric Neurology, Osaka City General Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Shin Okazaki

  12. Department of Pediatrics, Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center, Hyogo, Japan

    Toshio Heike

  13. Todaiji Ryoiku Hospital for Children, Nara, Japan

    Kiyotaka Tomiwa

Authors
  1. Masahiro Hirai
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  2. Ayaka Ikeda
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  3. Takeo Kato
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  7. Kanae Matsushima
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  8. Tomonari Awaya
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  9. Shin Okazaki
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  12. Masatoshi Hagiwara
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  13. Takanori Yamagata
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  14. Kiyotaka Tomiwa
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  15. Ryo Kimura
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Contributions

Masahiro Hirai and RK contributed to conceptualization. Masahiro Hirai and AI contributed to formal analysis. Masahiro Hirai contributed to Writing - original draft preparation. Masahiro Hirai, AI, KA, YH, KM, Toshihiro Kato and RK contributed to data curation. Masahiro Hirai, AI, KA, YH, KM, Toshihiro Kato and RK contributed to investigation. Masahiro Hirai, AI, Takeo Kato, TI, KA, YH, KM, TA, SO, Toshihiro Kato, TH, Masatoshi Hagiwara, TY, KT and RK contributed to writing - review and editing. Takeo Kato, TI, KM, TA, SO, Toshihiro Kato, TH, Masatoshi Hagiwara, TY, KT and RK contributed to resources. Masahiro Hirai and RK contributed to funding acquisition. Masahiro Hirai and RK contributed to project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masahiro Hirai.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical approval

Research involving human participants: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was obtained from the local ethics committees of both Jichi Medical University and Kyoto University.

Informed consent

All parents provided written informed consent.

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Not applicable.

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Hirai, M., Ikeda, A., Kato, T. et al. Comparison of the Sensory Profile Among Autistic Individuals and Individuals with Williams Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06205-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06205-1

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