Background: Previous research indicated a high prevalence of disordered sleep among adults with learning disabilities, however issues with design impacted findings. The current systematic review aims to: (1) present how disordered sleep and sleep disorders amongst adults with learning disabilities are described in the literature, and (2) report on…

Duplication of chromosome 15q11.2-q13.1 (dup15q syndrome) results in hypotonia, intellectual disability (ID), and autism symptomatology. Clinical electroencephalography has shown abnormal sleep physiology, but no studies have characterized sleep behaviors. The present study used the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) in 42 people with…

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by delays including a severe expressive language delay, motor concerns, ataxia, epilepsy, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal problems, and characteristic behaviors, including a happy demeanor, hyperactivity, and excitability. The syndrome is one of the first neurodevelopmental…

Background: Children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) commonly have behaviour problems. The present study aimed to determine which of the most common clinical features experienced by children and adolescents with CP and intellectual disability are associated with behaviour problems. Method: We investigated 11 possible associated variables…

Purpose: We sought to estimate the prevalence of isolated epileptiform activity (IEA) in children with speech and language impairments and discuss the utility of an electroencephalogram (EEG) in assessing these children. Method: We conducted a systematic review and searched for eligible studies in 8 databases. All languages were included, and…

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher probability of developing co-occurring mental or physical health conditions. However, little is known about how these health conditions develop and impact the lives of the adult ASD population. This paper reviewed existing studies concerning factors affecting the health status…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder experience a significant number of co-occurring medical conditions, yet little is known about these conditions beyond prevalence. Using large-scale de-identified medical records, we can use a novel phecode-based tool to characterize co-occurring conditions in autism spectrum disorder. We hypothesized that…

People with severe disabilities have a higher prevalence of many health conditions when compared with the general population. Examples include gastrointestinal conditions, chronic allergies, epilepsy, and sleep dysregulation, among many other health concerns. Of particular interest in the treatment of challenging behavior is the comorbidity of…

Autistic children have a high prevalence of co-occurring mental health, developmental/behavioral, and medical conditions, but research on sex/gender differences has been mixed. We used Florida healthcare claims data to characterize sex differences (female/male) in co-occurring conditions among autistic children ages 1-21 (N = 83,500). After…

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was established by the "Children's Health Act of 2000" (Public Law 106-310), reconstituted under the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA;…

This study aimed to examine sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and epilepsy in clinical settings. We assessed 64 children with ASD, 64 with ADHD, 64 with epilepsy, and 64 typically developing children without any neuropsychiatric disorders by using a sex-and age-matched…

The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the research on sleep problems in autism spectrum disorder. Topics explored are the prevalence of sleep problems, the importance of studying sleep problems, as well as the objective and subjective measures used to measure sleep. Research on the relationships between sleep problems…

The current study investigated comorbidity in eighty-nine children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Ireland. Comorbidity is the presence of one or more disorders in addition to a primary disorder. The prevalence of comorbid psychological disorders, behaviours associated with comorbid psychopathology, epilepsy, gastrointestinal…

Background: Challenging behaviour is a major problem among people with intellectual disabilities. Physical factors may be an important cause. The aim of the present systematic review was to determine the physical conditions associated with challenging behaviour. Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed and the Cochrane systematic…

Nitric oxide (NO) and interlukin-6 (IL-6) are highly reactive mediators that have been shown to play different roles in a variety of different biological process. The role of NO and IL-6 in the neuropathogenesis of brain seizures is still questionable. In order to evaluate the role of NO and IL-6 in neurological disorders such as seizures, we…