The addition of 'clinically significant impairment' (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Author, 2013) to the diagnostic criteria for autism in DSM-5 attempts to establish a threshold for the condition. However, the increased prominence of the neurodiversity paradigm and social model of…

Parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children. Few studies have examined factors associated with parental stress in early childhood. Even fewer have investigated the simultaneous influence of sociodemographic, clinical, and developmental variables on…

Conceptual model-based problem solving (COMPS) was tested for its efficacy in teaching a student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to solve word problems involving multiplication and division. A single-case, multiple-baseline across behaviors design was conducted. The ability to solve each of three types of multiplication problems examined…

A growing body of literature supports the effectiveness of Modified Schema-Based Instruction (MSBI) to improve mathematical problem-solving for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). MSBI is an intervention package that teaches students to identify the problem structure and use a problem-solving heuristic to…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common comorbidities in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, the clinical implications of the co-occurrence of these two disorders are still poorly understood. Based on a preregistered protocol (PROSPERO CRD42020193880), this systematic review identified 34 articles,…

Social impairments are a core feature of autism-spectrum disorders. However, there is a considerable variability in these impairments. Most autistic individuals show large impairments in social functioning but some autistic individuals show small impairments in social functioning. The variability of these impairments has been attributed to the…

Recent evidence suggests that, contrary to traditional views, empathy difficulties may not be a core feature of autism; but are rather due to co-occurring alexithymia. Empathy, alexithymia and autistic traits have yet to be examined concurrently in children. Therefore, we examined the co-occurrence of empathy difficulties and alexithymia in 59…

Studies have reported that physical exercise reduces maladaptive stereotyped motor behaviours (SMB) in children with ASD, but these intervention studies vary in design and outcome. The present systematic review and meta-analysis included 22 studies, involving 274 children with ASD, to quantify the effect of exercise on SMB and its potential…

Autistic young people experience high levels of co-occurring mental health difficulties, including anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties, across their lifespan. Understanding the neuropsychological mechanisms which underlie these difficulties is vital in developing personalised supports and interventions. Cognitive inflexibility is one…

This study examined differences in mother-child relationship quality and parent-rated child behavior problems based on child verbal status (i.e., minimally verbal versus verbal) in mothers and their adolescent and adult children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 219 dyads; child M[subscript age] = 25.38 years, SD = 10.22). Relationship quality…

Research evidence suggests that heterogeneity in emotion processing difficulties in autistic individuals may reflect co-occurring alexithymia. Elevated levels of alexithymia is a robust finding in the adult autistic population but there is a relative poverty regarding the corresponding research in younger populations. The aim of this review is to…

We examined the relations of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRB; insistence on sameness, repetitive sensory-motor, self-injurious behavior) to social skills overall and aspects that comprise social skills as measured by the VABS-II (coping skills, play/leisure time, interpersonal relationships) in 24- (n = 63) and 36-month old (n = 35),…

This study examined maintenance of treatment effects in a culturally tailored parent education program for Latinx families of children with autism spectrum disorder using a behavior maintenance framework. In a two-site randomized waitlist-control study, we compared differences in parent and child outcomes across three timepoints using linear mixed…

Teachers endorse disruptive behavior as a considerable concern for autistic students, which is compounded by the lack of adequate resources for behavioral intervention planning in the classroom. The RUBI program is an evidence-based, low-intensity manualized intervention, initially developed for parents of autistic children ages 3-14 and…

For autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults there are several diagnostic instruments available with a need for consideration of the psychometric properties. This study aimed to conduct a first psychometric evaluation of a new diagnostic ASD instrument, the NIDA (Dutch Interview for Diagnostic assessment of ASD in adults) in 90 adult males without…