Purpose: Prior work developed a shortened 16-item version of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), a quantitative measure of social communication and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related traits. However, its properties for use in risk factor estimation have not been fully tested compared to the full SRS. We compared the associations between…

Executive function is an area of challenge for both children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parent ratings of everyday executive function relate to a range of outcomes, including social functioning in ASD. Comparisons between FASD and ASD have revealed both overlapping and distinct…

SYNGAP1-related ID is a genetic condition characterised by global developmental delay and epilepsy. Individuals with SYNGAP1-related ID also commonly show differences in attention and social communication/interaction and frequently receive additional diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We…

The transition out of high school brings a myriad of changes, including shifts in contexts that impact social and community participation. Previous research indicates that this transition results in disparate social and communication outcomes for autistic young adults compared to their peers. This study includes 170 young adults with autism who…

This study used a single-subject design to determine the effectiveness of the Cool versus Not Cool (CNC) discrimination procedure to teach social skills to three young U.S. adults with autism. The CNC procedure was administered remotely during this study. The specific social skills targeted were asking open-ended questions and responding…

Parents of autistic children report barriers to engaging in physical activity, which may be exacerbated during subsequent pregnancies. We aimed to describe physical activity of parents caring for an autistic child, before and during a subsequent pregnancy, and to explore whether physical activity was associated with the autistic child's Social…

Recent research suggests there may be differences in the social presentations of autistic males and females. Camouflaging is believed to account for some of these differences and executive function (EF) may support compensatory social behaviors. As few studies have explored the role of sex and everyday EF when evaluating specific social…

Social skills group training is frequently used to support autistic children and adolescents in coping with everyday social demands and expectations. Meta-analytic studies suggest small to medium effect sizes. Effect moderators must be better understood to inform implementation and allow optimization of intervention protocols. Using data from two…

Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The DSM criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how…

A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer social…

Purpose: Several studies have reported on the intersection of autism and gender incongruence (GI) in clinical populations. This study aims to investigate autistic characteristics and registered autism spectrum diagnoses (ASD) in a clinical cohort of 83 adolescents referred to the National Gender Team for Children and Adolescents in Norway during…

Objective: Depression and anxiety have been identified as growing concerns for many populations in the United States, including young adults. We investigated how internalizing symptoms may have changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic among students transitioning to college. Participants: Participants were incoming undergraduates in Fall 2020,…

Previous research has shown that conversational language predicts vocational independence and friendship development. This study investigated the efficacy of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for School-Based Professionals delivered via Zoom as a pre-employment transition service on the social competence of…

Many autistic children receive special education services via Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that include specific educational goals and needs. Prior research has examined programming options available to support autistic students, but less is known about their educational needs across academic and developmental educational goals.…

Primary care providers are often the first to identify concerns for autism through routine screening in the first 2 years of life. However, most children do not receive a diagnosis until years later resulting in delays accessing appropriate intervention. Delays in diagnosis disproportionately impact those who are otherwise disadvantaged by society…