The diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder in the DSM-5-TR features the option to designate levels of support for social communication (SC) and restricted, repetitive behaviors (RRB). These levels are conceptual in nature, but research indicates standardized assessment outcomes correspond with clinician-assigned levels of support. The…

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…

Some evidence suggests that bilingualism improves communication and cognitive skills which are often impaired in autism. However, diagnosing autism in bilinguals may suffer a cultural bias, which can affect the investigation of bilingualism and autism. Therefore, the current study investigates relations between autistic-like traits (ALTs) and…

Hierarchical cluster analyses were used to detect three subgroups in a sample of children with pervasive developmental disorder--not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) evaluated at ages 2 and 4. At age 2, Cluster 1 demonstrated few autism symptoms and high cognitive scores; 60% no longer met criteria for PDD at 4. Cluster 2 exhibited more autism…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a variety of social and non-social behavioral deficits. One potential mechanism that could unify this diverse profile of behaviors is slower processing speed. Seventy-six high-functioning adults with ASD were compared to 64 matched controls on standardized measures of processing speed.…

This study was a replication of Mazefsky et al.'s ("Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities" 43:1236-1242, 2013) investigation among a sample of 45 high ability children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD under DSM-IV-TR. Items from the ADOS and ADI-R were mapped onto DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ASD and SCD to determine…

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…

This study investigated mealtime behaviors of Chinese-American children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty-one parents of Chinese-American children with ASD participated in this study and the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI) was used. The top problematic mealtime behaviors reported by parents were prefers…

Group social skills interventions (GSSIs) are a commonly offered treatment for children with high functioning ASD. We critically evaluated GSSI randomised controlled trials for those aged 6-25 years. Our meta-analysis of outcomes emphasised internal validity, thus was restricted to trials that used the parent-report social responsiveness scale…

This study aimed to assess the validity and normative statistics of the Farsi version of the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2). Among the mainstream elementary schools, 191 boys and 342 girls with a mean age of 9.46 (+ 1.72) years were recruited. Teachers and parents completed the SRS-2. The parents also answered the Social Communication…

Adults with autism and subclinical autistic traits report greater internalizing problems than their peers, but the psychological processes underlying these associations are not well understood. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine whether social experiences (social connectedness and loneliness) mediate the link between…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience internalizing and externalizing problems at higher rates than typically developing children, which could worsen social impairment. The present study compared impairment scores (social responsiveness scale, 2nd edition; SRS-2 scores) in 57 children (3-17 years, 82.5% male) with ASD, either…

This research investigates the paradox of creativity in autism. That is, whether people with subclinical autistic traits have cognitive styles conducive to creativity or whether they are disadvantaged by the implied cognitive and behavioural rigidity of the autism phenotype. The relationship between divergent thinking (a cognitive component of…

Toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were assessed on the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R), which we found to have acceptable internal consistency. Stereotypical subscale scores showed a negligible association with cognitive level, but correlated more strongly with adaptive and social indicators. Relative to earlier reported RBS-R…