Evidence suggests increased rates of suicidality in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the research has rarely used comparison samples and the role of emotion dysregulation has not been considered. We compared the prevalence of parent-reported suicidality ideation and considered the role of emotion dysregulation in 330 psychiatric inpatient youth…

Psychiatric hospitalization of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is common, but there is little comparative information available on different psychiatric hospital treatment models. Children with ASD ages 4-20 were enrolled upon admission to either a specialized (N = 53) or a general child psychiatric unit (N = 27). Caregivers completed…

The lack of sensitive measures suitable for use across the range of functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a barrier to treatment development and monitoring. The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) is a caregiver-report questionnaire designed to capture emotional distress and problems with emotion regulation in both minimally verbal…

Psychiatric hospitalization of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is relatively common and occurs at a higher rate than in non-ASD youth. This study compared changes in the severity of serious problem behaviors in 350 youth with ASD enrolled in the autism inpatient collection during and after hospitalization in six specialized child…

Limited information about self-injurious behavior (SIB) is known for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who require intensive behavioral health interventions. We examined risk-factors for SIB in 302 individuals with ASD (ages 4-20) admitted to six specialized psychiatric inpatient units. Seventy-four percent were reported…

Data from the Autism Inpatient Collection was used to examine the relationship between problem behaviors and verbal ability, which have generally, though not universally, been highly associated. In a comparison of 169 minimally-verbal and 177 fluently-verbal 4 to 20-year-old psychiatric inpatients with ASD, the severity of self-injurious behavior,…

We examined the relationship between sleep duration and awakenings to Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC-C) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) scores in hospitalized youth with ASD and behavioral disturbance. Participants included 106 patients with a stay of at least 10 nights. Sleep in the hospital was recorded by staff…

Research on individuals severely affected by autism, including those who are minimally verbal, have intellectual disability or challenging behaviors, has become less common. The Autism Inpatient Collection (AIC) was initiated so data on this group is available to the research community. Ten studies utilizing phenotypic data from the first 350 AIC…