Purpose: Restricted and repetitive behaviours are a core feature of autism diagnoses but have not been widely studied in adulthood. This study examined the rates of and associations between repetitive behaviours and sensory sensitivity in autistic and non-autistic adults; and whether repetitive behaviours described as "stimming" impacted…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit challenging behaviors. Existing behavioral parent trainings (BPT) address ASD symptomology, but are lengthy and associated with significant attrition. In the current pilot study, a longitudinal randomized controlled trial was used to evaluate a novel brief BPT targeting caregivers of…

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…

Distress caused by sensory processing differences for autistic individuals may be reduced by repetitive behaviours (RRB), including repetitive motor (RMB) and insistence on sameness (ISB) behaviours. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety mediate the relationship between sensory processing and RRB in autistic children. We replicated this…

Purpose: Autistic camouflaging is a collection of strategies used to hide autistic characteristics. It can have serious consequences on autistic people's mental health and needs to be addressed and measured in clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the French adaptation of the Camouflaging…

Caregivers of children with neurodiverse needs are known to experience challenges and hardship due to the increased needs of the child and the lack of support available. This study aimed to explore the support needs and well-being of caregivers of children with neurodiverse needs in Australia. Sixty-six caregivers participated in an online survey…

Parent-mediated interventions can reduce behavioral and emotional problems in children with ASD. This report discusses the development of the first group parent intervention targeting behaviors "and" anxiety in children with ASD, across the spectrum of cognitive and language ability. 'Predictive Parenting' was developed from the clinical…

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of instruments for assessing mental health (MH) among autistic people. This study aimed to review the psychometric properties of broadband instruments used to assess MH problems among autistic people. In accordance with the PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO: CRD42022316571) we searched the APA PsycINFO via…

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…

Evidence of the effectivity of play-based interventions in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was evaluated by PRISMA-based literature study and a Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment. Many of the 32 eligible randomized controlled trials (RCT) reported improved social interaction, communication, daily functioning and play behaviour. They also…

Children with autism spectrum disorder present with challenging behaviors that can impact caregivers by increasing parental perceived stress and risk for depression. However, positive coping strategies have also been identified as protective factors for parents of children with ASD. The present study examined parental perceived daily stressors and…

Female caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often report higher levels of psychological distress related to increased levels of caregiver strain, as well as frequency and severity of child problem behaviors (CPB). However, despite reported distress, caregivers have also reported benefits. A sample of n = 259 female caregivers…

This research evaluated the feasibility of actigraphy to measure sleep and physical activity in children (ages 2-8 years) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We also explored associations between sleep and physical activity. Validated screening measures established eligibility. Questionnaires, diaries, and 5 days and 5 nights of actigraphy…

The sex difference in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be magnified by sex differences on diagnostic measures. The current study compared autistic males and females on items on the gold-standard diagnostic measure, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2). In a sample of 8-to-17-year old autistic…

This is a comparative analysis of everyday executive functioning between individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) and controls using Dysexecutive Questionnaire-Spanish (DEX-Sp), to identify patterns of difficulties. Also we assessed the relationship between EF and adaptive behavior as measured by the…