A systematic review was conducted to analyze the scope and breadth of the existing training protocols for establishing social and communicative behavior using high-tech, touchscreen devices. This review aimed to determine the degree to which studies evaluating high-tech communication aides have established procedures to extend, or completely…

Bleak transition outcomes for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), coupled with the surge in incidence, has led to the need for focused and innovative transition strategies. While structured community service reveals promise, documentation of how community service experiences contribute to building employment skills for youth with…

Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 established procedural mandates and accountability requirements ensuring all students with disabilities participate and progress in general education curriculum. Broadly speaking, improvements toward greater access have been found for many students with disabilities;…

Social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD) is a new diagnostic category (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) that describes individuals with severe deficits in social communication who do not also meet the criteria for repetitive, restricted behaviors and interests (RRBI) that would qualify them for a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum…

Social programs and mandates are usually studied in isolation even though they often interact closely with each other. Given the immense recent changes to health insurance systems, there is much potential for spillover effects to other systems in which health plays a large role. In this study, we examine how health insurance interacts with…

Repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests are a major feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Insistence on sameness, rigid adherence to rituals and routines and resistance to change, and related symptoms can have a highly disruptive impact on an individual's ability to transition from one task to the next and progress through the…

Traumatic events such as abuse, bullying, and exposure to violence are commonplace among typically developing children and occur at least as often among those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD are vulnerable to traumatization due to their deficits in social communication and emotion regulation. Research on posttraumatic…

The widely used percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND) treatment effect calculation was compared to more recently developed methods which, it has been argued, better account for outlying variables and trend in single-case design (SCD) intervention studies. Percentage of all nonoverlapping data (PAND) and nonoverlap of all pairs (NAP) were…

This review evaluated a total of 22 research papers on observational learning as it applies to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. The researchers divided the papers into three domains. The first domain was comparing the observational learning behavior of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders to typically…

Adults with autism spectrum disorder are underrepresented in the workforce. This review examined single case design research investigating vocational interventions for this population. Reporting of generalization and social validity data was also assessed. Eighteen studies met inclusion criteria. They were categorized as Behavioral Skills…

From a preeminent researcher, this book looks at the key role of joint attention in both typical and atypical development. Peter C. Mundy shows that no other symptom dimension is more strongly linked to early identification and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He synthesizes a wealth of knowledge on how joint attention develops, its…

Unlike English, Korean wh-questions do not involve complex syntactic operations of wh-movement and auxiliary inversion; this study explored how this grammatical difference influenced the following two problems. (1) The literature investigating children acquiring wh-movement languages emphasizes relative ease of "subject" wh-questions…

The nutritional guidelines for individuals with autism are the same as those for the general population. However, many teens with autism face challenges related to food and/or eating that can negatively impact their health. "Autism at-a-Glance" is a series of practitioner and family-friendly documents created by the Center on Secondary…

The importance of individuals' ability to communicate cannot be overstated. Educational teams are charged with making educational placement decisions for students, like the ones in this study, with assessment tools that are not normed for nonverbal students with autism. This study focused on identical male twins with autism who are nonverbal and…

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review empirical evidence for the assessment and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Systematic searches were conducted in electronic databases, reference lists, and journals. Fifty-five studies met inclusion criteria: 21 studies…