Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are well-known for engagement in challenging behaviors. Unfortunately, due to its absence as a criterion for diagnosis in the "DSM-IV-TR", little attention has been paid to the endorsement rates of such behaviors. However, a recently developed measure to assist in the diagnosis of infants and toddlers…

The benefits of early intervention for very young children with autism are now well established. Hand and hand with these interventions is the necessity of psychometrically sound diagnostic tools. Not only should these tools be instrumental in differentiating developmentally delayed and other at risk infants. These measures should also be…

As the "Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition" ("BASC-2") is often used to aid in diagnosis it is important to discern how children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) score on the "BASC-2" compared to typically developing controls. This study compared scores of typically developing…

Challenging behaviors are common and persistent in persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Best practices dictate that symptoms of ASD and these co-occurring problems be identified and then treated at the earliest possible age. Having said this, there has been a dearth of available assessment methods to make sure identifications in infants…

Diagnosing autism and PDD-NOS at very early ages has become a major priority in the field of mental health. More recently, researchers have also come to realize the importance of identifying co-occurring conditions of psychopathology in this population. In the present study, 309 children between 17 and 37 months of age who had been identified as…

Behavioral symptoms of comorbid psychopathology of 651 children 17-37 months of age who were at risk for developmental disabilities were studied using the BISCUIT-Part 2. In Study 1, norms and cutoff scores were established for this new scale on this sample. In Study 2, frequency of response on the 52 items measured was reported. Problems in…

A study explored the construct of general anxiety in 69 individuals with severe and profound mental retardation and evaluated the validity of the DASH-II anxiety subscale to determine its value in categorizing individuals with and without anxiety. Results indicated only behavioral symptoms associated with anxiety could be reliably assessed.…