This study explores how capable young children are of thinking about a potential future that uses DNA screening to assess an individual's likelihood of experiencing learning or behaviour difficulties. Puppets and a scenario-based approach were used to ask children aged 4-10 (n = 165) whether they thought DNA screening might be helpful or harmful.…

This study explored the nature, prevalence, and developmental profiles of sensory processing disorders among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants comprised 119 children with ASD and 30 typically developing children and their parents. The Child Sensory Profile-2 was used to assess the children's sensory processing…

The current work suggests that two factors conspire to make vocabulary learning challenging for youth on the Autism spectrum: (1) a tendency to focus on specifics rather than on relationships among entities and (2) the fact that most words are associated with distinct but related meanings (e.g. baseball "cap," pen "cap," bottle…

Sleep disturbances (SD) are prevalent in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Less is known about the effects of SD on cognition and learning in adolescents with high-functioning ASD (HF-ASD). Adolescents with HF-ASD (N = 96) were evaluated for the relationships of SD to working memory and learning problems. Results found SD…

No study has analyzed the relative occurrence of a broad range of symptoms reported by mothers of children with autism, ADHD-Combined, and ADHD-Inattentive and typical controls. Mothers rated 1436 children with autism, 1056 with ADHD without autism, and 186 controls, 2-17 years, on 41 internalizing, externalizing, neurodevelopmental, and somatic…

This study explored whether adults and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate difficulties making metacognitive judgments, specifically judgments of learning. Across two experiments, the study examined whether individuals with ASD could accurately judge whether they had learnt a piece of information (in this case word pairs).…

This investigation aimed to determine if children with ASD are impaired in their ability to switch attention between different tasks, and whether performance is further impaired when required to switch across two separate modalities (visual and auditory). Eighteen children with ASD (9-13 years old) were compared with 18 typically-developing…

Many approaches to word learning argue for the importance of joint attention and other social-pragmatic abilities. This study explored word learning in children with autism (CWA), by examining it in ostensive and non-ostensive contexts, tested through both comprehension and elicited production. Novel nouns were taught to 17 CWA and 13 children…

Individuals with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulties understanding the non-verbal cues conveyed by others that provide symbolic information about relationships between self, other, and environmental events. This study examined whether these difficulties reflect underlying problems in the identification of temporal…

This study identified a possible autistic spectrum subtype expressed through family psychopathology coupled with autistic probands' cognitive functioning (i.e., an endophenotypic profile). Participants included 24 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 49 children with Learning Disorder (LD). There were significantly higher rates of Mood…

A study examined the cognitive and behavioral profiles in 10 individuals (ages 14-51) with Smith-Magenis syndrome. Results found the individuals showed significant relative weaknesses in sequential processing and strengths in naming a partially completed drawing, identifying things, and in reading/decoding. Behavioral findings indicated…

Past research has shown that children with autism and their families have compromised quality of life (QOL) in several domains. This study examined QOL and parental concerns in children with autism during early childhood, childhood, and adolescence compared to children with Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder…

It is argued that the general learning difficulties exhibited by mentally retarded persons are similar in many respects to the learning difficulties of nonretarded persons who are in a state of learned helplessness (M. Seligman, 1975) or who are external in locus of control orientation. (Author)

Children with Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) exhibit deficits in adaptive behavior but systematic studies using objective measures are lacking. This descriptive study assessed adaptive functioning in 19 children with SMS using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). Maladaptive behavior was examined through parent questionnaires and the…