Difficulties regulating emotions have been coined as inherent to autism, possibly even presenting a core difficulty of autism. While several models of emotion regulation have been proposed in the past, in this targeted review article, we aim to map emotion regulation difficulties in autistic individuals within the framework of the extended process…

Gelotophobia (fear of being laughed at) is an under-researched phenomenon in autistic people, yet can have a significant impact on autistic people's quality of life. A narrative review was undertaken to explore if gelotophobia and being autistic are related and what is currently known in the academic literature regarding gelotophilia (joy of being…

Previous studies have reported that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher levels of loneliness than neurotypical (NTP) people, most likely because of their difficulties in social communication with their predominantly NTP peers. However, direct investigations on the causal influence of friendship on their feelings of loneliness is…

The use of emotion recognition technologies in the workplace is expanding. These technologies claim to provide insights into internal emotional states based on external cues like facial expressions. Despite interconnections between autism and the development of emotion recognition technologies as reported in prior research, little attention has…

Genetic testing is recommended as part of an autism assessment, and most parents support genetic testing for their minor children. However, the impact on parents of receiving a monogenetic/ copy number variant diagnosis for autism in their child is not well understood. To explore this, we surveyed and interviewed parents of children in the SPARK…

Background: The impact of having a disabled brother or sister on siblings' psychological well-being and sibling relationships has been the subject of several research studies. However, research which focuses on the relationship between siblings and their autistic brother or sister with an intellectual disability and complex care needs is rare. We…

Background: According to family systems theories, the family is an inter-connected social unit, where dysfunction, disability or illness in one family member may affect the rest of the family. Research indicates that the presence of an individual with autism can influence the functionality of the various subsystems, including siblings. Objective…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in many functional areas requiring long-term interventions to promote autonomy. This study aims to map The Sensory Profile™ 2 (SP-2), one of the most widely used assessment tools in children with ASD, with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for…

Purpose: We investigate the extent to which automated audiovisual metrics extracted during an affect production task show statistically significant differences between a cohort of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing controls. Method: Forty children with ASD and 21 neurotypical controls interacted with a…

Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties and differences in autism are well documented in both research and clinical literature, negatively impacting well-being for autistic young people. Emotion dysregulation can significantly decrease access to opportunities to learn life skills and increase the risk of mental health problems in adulthood. This…

Background: Adults with intellectual disability (ID) are at high risk of exhibiting challenging behaviors, especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are clinical and transdiagnostic variables that are largely related to the existence of these behaviors, and it is necessary to know the particularities of their role in people with…

Fatigue is associated with numerous harmful physical and mental health outcomes. Despite the established relationship between sleep and fatigue, research examining sleep variability within a person (i.e. intraindividual variability; IIV) and fatigue is limited. In addition, the associations between child and parent sleep regarding parent fatigue…

In this article, we describe the sources of funding cited, and topics of research associated with that funding, in Australian disability research. We conducted a systematic search for publicly available peer-reviewed papers reporting the findings of Australian disability research studies focused on Australia in the 2018-2020 period. Papers…

The study aimed to assess the suitability of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in evaluating the hopelessness of parents with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using multidimensional item response theory modelling, the research involved 437 participants recruited from a private psychological institution in Shenzhen, China.…

High parenting stress is associated with diminished quality of life in parents and more problem behaviors in autistic children. Mindfulness-based interventions have demonstrated efficacy in mitigating parenting stress. Psychological flexibility and resilience have been recognized as protective factors against psychological distress. However, the…