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The impact of adverse childhood events on service support and educational outcomes of children who are autistic: A theory‐guided analysis using structural equation modeling Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-21 Micah Hartwell, Kelsi Batioja, Covenant Elenwo, Ashley Keener, Anya Mazur, Tessa Chesher
Autistic children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may have barriers to receiving special education or other developmental services—thus, impacting educational outcomes. Our objective was to model such a pathway using the 2016–2021 National Survey of Children's Health datasets. We extracted data for school outcomes, use of special education and autism‐related specialty services
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Contribution of the serotonergic system to developmental brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-19 Jarek Wegiel, Kathryn Chadman, Eric London, Thomas Wisniewski, Jerzy Wegiel
This review highlights a key role of the serotonergic system in brain development and in distortions of normal brain development in early stages of fetal life resulting in cascades of abnormalities, including defects of neurogenesis, neuronal migration, neuronal growth, differentiation, and arborization, as well as defective neuronal circuit formation in the cortex, subcortical structures, brainstem
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Child behavior problems and parental psychological distress in Chinese families of children with autism: The putative moderating role of parental social support and cultural values Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Wenyuan Liu, Paul A. Thompson, Kylie M. Gray, Richard P. Hastings
The wellbeing of parents of children with autism residing in mainland China remains understudied. We aimed to examine whether and how parental perceived social support, individualism, and collectivism acted together to moderate the relationships between child behavior problems and parental psychological distress in Chinese parents of children with autism. With convenience and snowball sampling, data
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Investigating implicit emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross‐modal emotional priming study Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Florence Y. N. Leung, Vesna Stojanovik, Cunmei Jiang, Fang Liu
Cumulating evidence suggests that atypical emotion processing in autism may generalize across different stimulus domains. However, this evidence comes from studies examining explicit emotion recognition. It remains unclear whether domain‐general atypicality also applies to implicit emotion processing in autism and its implication for real‐world social communication. To investigate this, we employed
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Social competence in autism: A structural equation modeling approach Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 G. L. Simmons, B. A. Corbett, M. D. Lerner, K. Wofford, S. W. White
Autistic individuals present with difficulties in social competence (e.g., navigating social interactions and fostering relationships). Clinical interventions widely target social cognition and social behavior, but there is inconsistent understanding of the underlying components of social competence. The present study used structural equation modeling to examine social cognition and social behavior
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Early executive functioning predicts externalizing problems in neurodiverse preschoolers Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-13 Katherine All, Katarzyna Chawarska, Suzanne L. Macari
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit externalizing problems, which have been linked with increased anxiety and depression, peer rejection, and parental stress. Identification of early predictors of externalizing behaviors in autism will facilitate identification of vulnerable children and implementation of early preventative interventions. There is ample evidence that executive
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A matter of precision? Scene imagery in individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 Larissa L. Faustmann, Mareike Altgassen
The ability to create mental representations of scenes is essential for remembering, predicting, and imagining. In individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) this ability may be impaired. Considering that autistic characteristics such as weak central coherence or reduced communication abilities may disadvantage autistic participants in traditional imagery tasks, this study attempted to use a
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Do focused interests support word learning? A study with autistic and nonautistic children Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 S. Arunachalam, A. Steele, T. Pelletier, R. Luyster
Although focused interests are often associated with a diagnosis of autism, they are common in nonautistic individuals as well. Previous studies have explored how these interests impact cognitive, social, and language development. While some research has suggested that strong interests can detract from learning (particularly for autistic children), newer research has indicated that they can be advantageous
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Dynamic functional connectivity in the right temporoparietal junction captures variations in male autistic trait expression Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Laura Bravo Balsa, Ahmad Abu‐Akel, Carmel Mevorach
Autistic individuals can experience difficulties with attention reorienting and Theory of Mind (ToM), which are closely associated with anterior and posterior subdivisions of the right temporoparietal junction. While the link between these processes remains unclear, it is likely subserved by a dynamic crosstalk between these two subdivisions. We, therefore, examined the dynamic functional connectivity
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Caregiver and youth inter-rater assessment agreement in autism spectrum disorder, developmental coordination disorder, and typical development Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Michelle Shipkova, Christiana D. Butera, Genesis D. Flores, Emily Kilroy, Aditya Jayashankar, Laura Harrison, Sharon A. Cermak, Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
Youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are at heightened risk for co-occurring mental health diagnoses, especially anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, caregiver-child agreement on presence of related symptoms in populations with neurodevelopmental conditions is not well understood. Here, we examine
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Measurement matters: A commentary on the state of the science on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in autism research Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Hillary K. Schiltz, Zachary J. Williams, Shuting Zheng, Elizabeth A. Kaplan-Kahn, Hannah E. Morton, Kashia A. Rosenau, Christina Nicolaidis, Alexandra Sturm, Catherine Lord
High quality science relies upon psychometrically valid and reliable measurement, yet very few Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) have been developed or thoroughly validated for use with autistic individuals. The present commentary summarizes the current state of autism PROM science, based on discussion at the Special Interest Group (SIG) at the 2022 International Society for Autism Research
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Gestational thyroid hormones and autism‐related traits in the EARLI and HOME studies Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Caichen Zhong, Juliette Rando, Marisa A. Patti, Joseph M. Braun, Aimin Chen, Yingying Xu, Bruce P. Lanphear, Kimberly Yolton, Lisa A. Croen, M. Daniele Fallin, Irva Hertz‐Picciotto, Craig J. Newschaffer, Kristen Lyall
Thyroid hormones are essential for neurodevelopment. Few studies have considered associations with quantitatively measured autism spectrum disorder (ASD)‐related traits, which may help elucidate associations for a broader population. Participants were drawn from two prospective pregnancy cohorts: the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI), enrolling pregnant women who already had a child
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Autistic and nonautistic adolescents do not differ in adaptation to gaze direction Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Emma K. Ward, Jan K. Buitelaar, Sabine Hunnius
Predictive processing accounts of autism posit that autistic individuals' perception is less biased by expectations than nonautistic individuals', perhaps through stronger precision‐weighting of prediction errors. Since precision‐weighting is fundamental to all information processing, under this theory, the differences between autistic and nonautistic individuals should be domain‐general and observable
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Sensory experiences questionnaire unravels differences in sensory profiles between MECP2‐related disorders Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Bernhard Suter, Davut Pehlivan, Muharrem Ak, Holly K. Harris, Ariel M. Lyons‐Warren
The methyl CpG‐binding protein‐2 (MECP2) gene is located on the Xq28 region. Loss of function mutations or increased copies of MECP2 result in Rett syndrome (RTT) and MECP2 duplication syndrome (MDS), respectively. Individuals with both disorders exhibit overlapping autism symptoms, yet few studies have dissected the differences between these gene dosage sensitive disorders. Further, research examining
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Are autistic females at greater risk of suicide? A call for clarity to advance suicide prevention for the whole community Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Anne V. Kirby, Caitlin M. Conner, Carla A. Mazefsky
Understanding suicide risk is critical for supporting prevention. A growing body of evidence shows autistic people are at greater risk for multiple suicide‐related outcomes than non‐autistic people. This commentary is in response to an observed pattern of miscommunication in scientific and community spaces about autistic females having higher risk of suicide. However, it is not always clear who they
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The clinical relevance of subgroups of autistic adults: Stability and predictive value Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Tulsi A. Radhoe, Joost A. Agelink van Rentergem, Carolien Torenvliet, Annabeth P. Groenman, Wikke J. van der Putten, Hilde M. Geurts
Autism in adulthood is characterized by heterogeneity, complicating the provision of tailored support. In previous work, we aimed to capture this heterogeneity by determining subgroups of autistic adults that differed in clinical outcomes: cognitive failures, psychological difficulties, and quality of life (QoL). Two subgroups were identified: a “Feelings of Low Grip” subgroup characterized by experiencing
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Racial and ethnic disparities in the co-occurrence of intellectual disability and autism: Impact of incorporating measures of adaptive functioning Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Sarah M. Furnier, Ronald Gangnon, Julie L. Daniels, Susan Ellis Weismer, Cy Nadler, Karen Pazol, Nuri M. Reyes, Steven Rosenberg, Eric Rubenstein, Lisa D. Wiggins, Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, Maureen S. Durkin
Intellectual disability (ID) commonly co-occurs in children with autism. Although diagnostic criteria for ID require impairments in both cognitive and adaptive functioning, most population-based estimates of the frequency of co-occurring ID in children with autism—including studies of racial and ethnic disparities in co-occurring autism and ID—base the definition of ID solely on cognitive scores. The
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Leisure, community, workforce participation and quality of life in primary and secondary caregivers of autistic children Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Gemma Davy, Josephine Barbaro, Katy Unwin, Megan Clark, Rachel Jellett, Perrin Date, Melanie Muniandy, Cheryl Dissanayake
Parents of Autistic children often modify their participation in leisure, social, and employment activities to meet the caregiving needs of their child. However, few studies have examined the impact this has on caregiver quality of life (QoL). The aim in the current study was to examine the role of participation in a range of activities on QoL amongst primary and secondary caregivers of school‐aged
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Age at autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and its association with child and family characteristics in a tertiary care hospital in Malaysia Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Jasminder Kaur Amarjit Singh, Wong Hoi Ling, Ranjini S. Sivanesom, Cindy Chan Su Huay, Audrey Chong Shuk Lan
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder. Despite the absence of a cure, early diagnosis and intensive early intervention can improve the outcomes. However, little is known about the median age at ASD diagnosis in Malaysia or the child/family characteristics associated with early diagnosis. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the median age at ASD diagnosis among
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Reported quality indicators and implementation outcomes of community partnership in autism intervention research: A systematic review Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-14 Jessica E. Tschida, James D. Lee, Anamiguel Pomales-Ramos, Vivien Koo
There is minimal research on the quality of community partnerships in studies of interventions for autistic children. However, building high quality community engagement in autism intervention research may improve implementation outcomes. This systematic review examined studies that report community partnership in autism intervention research. A total of 135 articles were identified and 11 of these
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Vowel distinctiveness as a concurrent predictor of expressive language function in autistic children Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-13 Paul J. Simeone, Jordan R. Green, Helen Tager-Flusberg, Karen V. Chenausky
Speech ability may limit spoken language development in some minimally verbal autistic children. In this study, we aimed to determine whether an acoustic measure of speech production, vowel distinctiveness, is concurrently related to expressive language (EL) for autistic children. Syllables containing the vowels [i] and [a] were recorded remotely from 27 autistic children (4;1–7;11) with a range of
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Autistic identity: A systematic review of quantitative research Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-09 Jade Davies, Kate Cooper, Estelle Killick, Evelyn Sam, Molly Healy, Grace Thompson, Will Mandy, Benjamin Redmayne, Laura Crane
Autism can be considered both a personal and social identity. Identifying the factors contributing to positive Autistic identity development is crucial given the potential implications for mental health and wellbeing. In this systematic review, we aimed to synthesize quantitative literature on Autistic identity to identify the (individual and environmental) factors associated with Autistic identity
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Neural correlates of audiovisual narrative speech perception in children and adults on the autism spectrum: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-09 Lars A. Ross, Sophie Molholm, John S. Butler, Victor A. Del Bene, Tufikameni Brima, John J. Foxe
Autistic individuals show substantially reduced benefit from observing visual articulations during audiovisual speech perception, a multisensory integration deficit that is particularly relevant to social communication. This has mostly been studied using simple syllabic or word-level stimuli and it remains unclear how altered lower-level multisensory integration translates to the processing of more
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Is camouflaging unique for autism? A comparison of camouflaging between adults with autism and ADHD Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 W. J. van der Putten, A. J. J. Mol, A. P. Groenman, T. A. Radhoe, C. Torenvliet, J. A. Agelink van Rentergem, H. M. Geurts
Camouflaging (using (un)conscious strategies to appear as non-autistic) is thought to be an important reason for late autism diagnoses and mental health difficulties. However, it is unclear whether only autistic people camouflage or whether people with other neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions also use similar camouflaging strategies. Therefore, in this preregistered study (AsPredicted:
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Evaluating the regulatory function of non-coding autism-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms on gene expression in human brain tissue Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Kealan Pugsley, Atefeh Namipashaki, Mark A. Bellgrove, Ziarih Hawi
Common variants account for most of the estimated heritability associated with autism spectrum disorder (autism). Although several replicable single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the condition have been detected using genome-wide association study (GWAS) methodologies, their pathophysiological relevance remains elusive. Examining this is complicated, however, as all detected loci are situated
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The impact of measurement on clinical trials: Comparison of preliminary outcomes of a brief mobile intervention for autistic adults using multiple measurement approaches Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-06 Annabelle M. Mournet, Gabrielle Gunin, Jacqueline Shinall, Emily Brennan, Nikita Jadav, Emily Istvan, Evan M. Kleiman, Vanessa H. Bal
Initial studies of the emotional safety plan (ESP), a new, brief telehealth and mobile intervention to support autistic adults to cope with periods of distress, have reported feasibility and acceptability (Bal et al., 2023, Autism, 1–13). Herein we report the preliminary clinical outcomes of thirty-six autistic adults who developed a personalized ESP, with a specific interest in comparing “outcomes”
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Assessing pragmatic language difficulties using the Revised Children's Communication Checklist-2. Exploratory structural equation modeling and associations with restricted and repetitive behaviors Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-04 Jennifer Keating, Mirko Uljarević, Stephanie H. M. van Goozen, Kirsten Abbot-Smith, Dale F. Hay, Susan R. Leekam
In this paper, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Child Communication Checklist-Revised (CCC-R) for the first time with an English-speaking sample. We used a confirmatory application of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) to re-evaluate the CCC-R's psychometric properties. We found strong support for its use as an assessment for pragmatic and structural language. Our second
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Correction to “Prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms among autistic individuals, with and without co-occurring intellectual disability” Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-02-02
Holingue, C., Pfeiffer, D., Ludwig, N. N., Reetzke, R., Hong, J. S., Kalb, L. G., & Landa, R. (2023). Prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms among autistic individuals, with and without co-occurring intellectual disability. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2972. The following attribution language was mistakenly omitted: This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration
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Correction to “Well-being spectrum traits are associated with polygenic scores for autism” Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-28
Mohammad, S., Ruijter, M. J. T., Rukh, G., Rask-Andersen, M., Mwinyi, J., & Schiöth, H. B. (2023). Well-being spectrum traits are associated with polygenic scores for autism. Autism Research, 16(10), 1891–1902. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3011. Correction 1 In paragraph 1 of the “Introduction” section, the text “Several previous studies have suggested that individuals with ASD suffer from poor mental
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Prevalence of bias against neurodivergence-related terms in artificial intelligence language models Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Sam Brandsen, Tara Chandrasekhar, Lauren Franz, Jordan Grapel, Geraldine Dawson, David Carlson
Given the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in many decision-making processes, we investigate the presence of AI bias towards terms related to a range of neurodivergent conditions, including autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We use 11 different language model encoders to test the degree to which words related to neurodiversity are associated with groups
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Brain glutathione and GABA+ levels in autistic children Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-26 Yulu Song, Kathleen E. Hupfeld, Christopher W. Davies-Jenkins, Helge J. Zöllner, Saipavitra Murali-Manohar, Abdul Nashirudeen Mumuni, Deana Crocetti, Vivek Yedavalli, Georg Oeltzschner, Natalie Alessi, Mitchell A. Batschelett, Nicolaas A. J. Puts, Stewart H. Mostofsky, Richard A. E. Edden
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication challenges and repetitive behaviors. Altered neurometabolite levels, including glutathione (GSH) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), have been proposed as potential contributors to the biology underlying ASD. This study investigated whether cerebral GSH or GABA levels differ between a cohort of children
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Role of autonomic, nociceptive, and limbic brainstem nuclei in core autism features Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-26 Brittany G. Travers, Olivia Surgent, Jose Guerrero-Gonzalez, Douglas C. Dean, Nagesh Adluru, Steven R. Kecskemeti, Gregory R. Kirk, Andrew L. Alexander, Jun Zhu, Emily C. Skaletski, Sonali Naik, Monica Duran
Although multiple theories have speculated about the brainstem reticular formation's involvement in autistic behaviors, the in vivo imaging of brainstem nuclei needed to test these theories has proven technologically challenging. Using methods to improve brainstem imaging in children, this study set out to elucidate the role of the autonomic, nociceptive, and limbic brainstem nuclei in the autism features
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Changing perspectives on autism: Overlapping contributions of evolutionary psychiatry and the neurodiversity movement Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Adam D. Hunt, Tanya L. Procyshyn
Perspectives on autism and psychiatric conditions are affected by a mix of scientific and social influences. Evolutionary psychiatry (EP) and the neurodiversity movement are emerging paradigms that reflect these distinct influences, with the former grounded in scientific theory and the latter driven by political and social principles. Despite their separate foundations, there is a significant overlap
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Correction to “Sleep problems in autism: Sex differences in the school-age population” Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-14
Estes, A., Munson, J., St. John, T., Finlayson, R., Pandey, J., Gottlieb, B., Herrington, J., & Schultz, R. T. (2023). Sleep problems in autism: Sex differences in the school-age population. Autism Research, 16(1), 164–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2848 In Table 1 the number of Autism Males was incorrectly listed as N = 30. The correct number is 220. The corrected table appears below. TABLE 1. Sample
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Accuracy of initial diagnostic impressions of autism in toddlers and behaviors that inform these impressions Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-12 Rebecca P. Thomas, Ashley de Marchena, Andrea Trubanova Wieckowski, Aubyn Stahmer, Stephanie Milan, Jeffrey D. Burke, Marianne L. Barton, Diana L. Robins, Deborah A. Fein
Clinicians form initial impressions about a child's diagnosis based on behavioral features, but research has not yet identified specific behaviors to guide initial diagnostic impressions. Participants were toddlers (N = 55, mean age 22.9 months) from a multi-site early detection study, referred for concern for ASD due to screening or parent/provider concern. Within 5 min of meeting a child, clinicians
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Social interaction links active musical rhythm engagement and expressive communication in autistic toddlers Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Noah R. Fram, Talia Liu, Miriam D. Lense
Rhythm is implicated in both social and linguistic development. Rhythm perception and production skills are also key vulnerabilities in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism which impact social communication. However, direct links between musical rhythm engagement and expressive communication in autism is not clearly evident. This absence of a direct connection between rhythm and expressive communication
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Large increase in ASD prevalence in Israel between 2017 and 2021 Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-09 Ilan Dinstein, Shirley Solomon, Michael Zats, Ronit Shusel, Raphael Lottner, Bella Ben Gershon, Gal Meiri, Idan Menashe, Dorit Shmueli
Accurate estimation of annual changes in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) prevalence is critical for planning the expansion of diagnostic, education, and intervention services at an adequate rate. Previous studies from Israel have reported that ASD prevalence among 8-year-old children has increased from estimates of 0.3% in 2008 to 0.65% in 2015 and 1.3% in 2018. Here, we analyzed data acquired from
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Oculomotor randomness is higher in autistic children and increases with the severity of symptoms Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-08 Inbal Ziv, Inbar Avni, Ilan Dinstein, Gal Meiri, Yoram S. Bonneh
A variety of studies have suggested that at least some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) view the world differently. Differences in gaze patterns as measured by eye tracking have been demonstrated during visual exploration of images and natural viewing of movies with social content. Here we analyzed the temporal randomness of saccades and blinks during natural viewing of movies, inspired
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Intellectual development in young children with autism spectrum disorders: A longitudinal study Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-06 Eleni Peristeri, Maria Andreou
Intelligence profiles in autism have been characterized by great variability. The questions of how autistic children's intelligence changes over time, and what factors influence these changes deserve study as part of efforts to document child autism profiles, but also because the relationship between intellectual functioning and children's background characteristics is poorly understood, particularly
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Seeing through a robot's eyes: A cross-sectional exploratory study in developing a robotic screening technology for autism Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2024-01-06 Wing-Chee So, Elsa Wong, Wingo Ng, John Fuego, Sally Lay, Ming-Ting So, Yuen-Yung Lee, Wai-Yan Chan, Lok-Ying Chua, Hiu-Lok Lam, Wing-Tung Lam, Hin-Miu Li, Wing-To Leung, Yu-Hei Ng, Wing-Ting Wong
The present exploratory cross-sectional case–control study sought to develop a reliable and scalable screening tool for autism using a social robot. The robot HUMANE, installed with computer vision and linked with recognition technology, detected the direction of eye gaze of children. Children aged 3–8 (M = 5.52; N = 199) participated, 87 of whom had been confirmed with autism, 55 of whom were suspected
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Sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A comparative study and effects on communication skills Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-29 Carmen Berenguer, Inmaculada Baixauli, Eva Rosa, Simona De Stasio
Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent among children with neurodevelopmental disorders, like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The first objective of this study is to examine the differences in sleep problems between a group of children with ASD without intellectual disabilities, a group with ADHD and a typically developing (TD) group. A second objective
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Autism research: Thank you to our 2023 reviewers Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-29
Autism Research relies on the autism research community to provide careful reviews of submitted manuscripts. The journal endeavors to publish the highest quality papers and is only able to publish a fraction of the submissions received. We depend on peer review from experts in the field to establish the priority of submitted papers. We understand that reviewing a paper is an added burden on everyone's
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Objective assessment of autism spectrum disorder based on performance in structured interpersonal acting-out tasks with prosodic stability and variability Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-27 Keiko Ochi, Masaki Kojima, Nobutaka Ono, Miho Kuroda, Keiho Owada, Shigeki Sagayama, Hidenori Yamasue
In this study, we sought to objectively and quantitatively characterize the prosodic features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) via the characteristics of prosody in a newly developed structured speech experiment. Male adults with high-functioning ASD and age/intelligence-matched men with typical development (TD) were asked to read 29 brief scripts aloud in response to preceding auditory stimuli. To
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Treatment mechanism of the WHO caregiver skills training intervention for autism delivered in community settings Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-27 Michele Settanni, Katharine Suma, Lauren B. Adamson, Helen McConachie, Chiara Servili, Erica Salomone
This study examined the mechanism of effect of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training (CST) through secondary analysis of a pilot RCT conducted in community settings. Participants were 86 caregivers (77% mothers) of children with ASD (78% male, mean age: 44.8 months) randomized to CST (n = 43) or treatment as usual (n = 43). The primary outcomes, measured at baseline (t1), immediately post-intervention
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Receptive language and receptive-expressive discrepancy in minimally verbal autistic children and adolescents Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-27 Yanru Chen, Brynn Siles, Helen Tager-Flusberg
Among the approximately one-third of autistic individuals who experience considerable challenges in acquiring spoken language and are minimally verbal (MV), relatively little is known about the range of their receptive language abilities. This study included 1579 MV autistic children and adolescents between 5 and 18 years of age drawn from the National Database for Autism Research and the SFARI Base
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A commentary on children's books about autism: What messages do they send about neurodiversity? Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-26 Courtney E. Venker, Emily Lorang
The past three decades have seen an exponential increase in the publication of children's books about autism. This increased availability of children's books is exciting because they have the power to promote understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of neurodiversity. However, growing concerns have been raised by both autistic and non-autistic people that some children's books about autism may work
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Associations of unintended pregnancy with autism spectrum disorders and the modification of folic acid supplements Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-22 Qian Chen, Xing-Lian Liu, Li-zi Lin, Xin Wang, Ming-Hui Li, Mei-Xia Dai, Mu-Qing Cao, Xiu-Hong Li, Jing Jin, Hai-Qing Xu, Li Cai
There is limited evidence on the associations of unintended pregnancy with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study aimed to examine this relationship and the modification of pre-conceptional and prenatal folic acid supplements. Six thousand and five toddlers aged 16 to 30 months from seven cities of six provinces in China were eligible for participation. Information on unintended pregnancy and
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Quantitative assessment of tip-toe behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability: A cross-sectional study Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-18 Giulio Valagussa, Giulia Purpura, Valeria Balatti, Luca Trentin, Alessio Signori, Enzo Grossi
The term “toe walking” describes walking on the toes with a lack of heel strike upon initiation of the stance phase of gait. In individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this phenomenon, or “tip-toe behavior” (TTB), can be present in a substantial proportion of subjects even during standing. In this study, we investigated TTB in 50 persons with ASD (age range 4–26 years). We evaluated TTB through
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Exploring the mediating effect of camouflaging and the moderating effect of autistic identity on the relationship between autistic traits and mental wellbeing Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-18 Heather L. Moore, Sarah Cassidy, Jacqui Rodgers
Mental health difficulties are prevalent among autistic adults. Camouflaging (behaving differently to fit in) may be a mechanism by which autistic traits and mental health difficulties relate to each other, but little research has considered the role of different facets of camouflaging. Additionally, autistic identity might buffer against camouflaging and mental health difficulties. This research aims
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Increased anticholinergic medication use in middle-aged and older autistic adults and its associations with self-reported memory difficulties and cognitive decline Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-18 Goldie A. McQuaid, Sean C. Duane, Neha Ahmed, Nancy Raitano Lee, Rebecca Charlton, Gregory L. Wallace
Many commonly used prescription and over-the-counter medicines have potent anticholinergic (AC) effects. Among older adults, AC medications are associated with cognitive impairment and risk for cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Collectively, the impact of AC medications is known as anticholinergic cognitive burden (ACB). Because of the high rates of co-occurring medical and psychiatric
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Gender diversity in a Chinese community sample and its associations with autism traits Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-15 Anna I. R. van der Miesen, Sylvia Yun Shi, Hoi Ching Lei, Cho Lam Ngan, Doug P. VanderLaan, Wang Ivy Wong
Emerging evidence suggests that gender dysphoria or gender diversity (GD) intersects frequently with autism spectrum disorder or autism traits. However, the magnitude and interpretation of this link continue to be debated. Most child studies on this topic were performed in clinical populations, and little is known about the generalizability of this co-occurrence to the broader community, especially
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Verbal fluency and autism: Reframing current data through the lens of monotropism Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-15 Alaina Grissom, Erinn Finke, Emily Zane
The purpose of this study was to reexamine research that used verbal fluency tasks to reinforce assumed deficits in word knowledge and retrieval in the autistic population. We identified seventeen articles that compared the performance of autistic and non-autistic people on verbal fluency measures and provided an interpretation of the observed performance. In this narrative review, we summarize many
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Risk factors and clinical correlates of sensory dysfunction in preschool children with and without autism spectrum disorder Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-15 Lisa D. Wiggins, Katie Overwyk, Julie Daniels, Brian Barger, Hayley Crain, Rebecca Grzadzinski, Eric Moody, Ann Reynolds, Nuri Reyes, Cordelia Rosenberg, Steven Rosenberg, Karen Pazol
Sensory dysfunction is a common feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The objectives of this analysis were to examine risk factors and clinical correlates of sensory dysfunction in preschool children with and without ASD. Children aged 2–5 years were enrolled in a multi-site case–control study. Data were collected in eight areas across the United States in three phases. Caregivers completed an
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Figurative language processing in autism spectrum disorders: A review Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Stella Lampri, Eleni Peristeri, Theodoros Marinis, Maria Andreou
Impairments in the broader domain of pragmatics are considered to be a defining feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A challenging aspect of pragmatic competence is the ability to process nonliteral language. Interestingly, previous studies in figurative language comprehension in ASD have demonstrated conflicting results regarding participants' performance. The main scientific debate focuses
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Autonomic nervous system responses to social stimuli among autistic individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Ester Zadok, Ofer Golan, Michal Lavidor, Ilanit Gordon
Physiological responses to environmental and social stimuli have been studied broadly in relation to psychological states and processes. This may be especially important regarding autistic individuals, who show disparities in social interactions. However, findings from studies assessing autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses of autistic individuals present contradictions, with reports showing both
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Corneal structural alterations in autism spectrum disorder: An in vivo confocal microscopy study Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-12-05 Yi-Ling Chien, Po-Ying Wu, Jo-Hsuan Wu, Wei-Lun Huang, Chia-Chieh Hsiao, Yi-Ting Hsieh, Ting Cheng, Susan Shur-Fen Gau, Wei-Li Chen
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit joint hypermobility and connective tissue disorders. However, it remains unclear if ASD individuals also have structural alterations in the connective tissue of the cornea. This study aims to determine whether the Kobayashi structure (K-structure) characteristics differ between adults with ASD and typically developing controls (TDC) and
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Endophenotyping social cognition in the broader autism phenotype Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-11-30 Emmanuel Peng Kiat Pua, Tarishi Desai, Cherie Green, Krysta Trevis, Natasha Brown, Martin Delatycki, Ingrid Scheffer, Sarah Wilson
Relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may display milder social traits of the broader autism phenotype (BAP) providing potential endophenotypic markers of genetic risk for ASD. We performed a case–control comparison to quantify social cognition and pragmatic language difficulties in the BAP (n = 25 cases; n = 33 controls) using the Faux Pas test (FPT) and the Goldman-Eisler Cartoon
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Scene construction and autobiographical memory retrieval in autism spectrum disorder Autism Res. (IF 4.7) Pub Date : 2023-11-30 Anna M. Agron, Alex Martin, Adrian W. Gilmore
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit difficulties in retrieving autobiographical memories (AMs) of specific events from their life. Such memory deficits are frequently attributed to underlying disruptions in self-referential or social cognition processes. This makes intuitive sense as these are hallmarks of ASD. However, an emerging literature suggests that parallel deficits