Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism are characterized by the presence of repetitive behaviors. Differentiating between repetitive behaviors attributable to a diagnosis of autism, and those attributable to OCD, poses challenges for differential and co-occurring diagnosis. Differentiation is important to inform appropriate supports and…

Purpose: Professional supports play an important role in aiding autistic children's learning, participation, and overall wellbeing. Yet, limited research exists on stakeholders' perspectives and preferences regarding targeted outcomes for children undergoing support facilitated by professionals. This study investigated stakeholder views on the…

The interactions between sleep problems, autism symptoms and emotional and behavioural difficulties were explored using network analysis in 240 autistic children (mean age: 8.8 years, range 5-13 years) with moderate to severe sleep problems. Findings revealed a highly connected and interpretable network, with three separate clusters identified of…

Little is currently known about the autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related difficulties of females narrowly below the ASD diagnostic threshold and whether the disorder conceptualisation should be broadened to capture their presentations. We extracted fine-grained information from the assessment reports of 222 children who were either diagnosed…

Studies have shown that there are differences between the presentations of males and females diagnosed with autism. There remains a developing understanding about how the presentation of autism differs between boys (hereafter referred to as 'assigned males at birth') and girls (assigned females at birth). This study sought to investigate the…

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the demographic, clinical characteristics, and service systems of patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual disability presenting to a large paediatric hospital emergency department (ED) with behaviours of concern (BOC) over a two-year period. Method: Retrospective audit…

There is limited literature on the association between parenting practices, parenting stress and externalising behaviours in autistic children. We investigated whether parenting practices mediate the association between parenting stress and externalising behaviours. Parents of school-aged autistic children (n = 138) completed an online survey on…

Many autistic children have co-occurring behavioural problems influencing core autism symptomology potentially relevant for intervention planning. Parental Expressed Emotion -- reflecting critical, hostile and overprotective comments -- contributes to understanding and predicting behaviour in autistic school-aged children, adolescents and adults…

Objective: Previous studies at child and youth mental health services (CYMHS) suggest that children with ADHD have poorer outcomes compared to those with other diagnoses. This study investigates this in more detail. Methods: Children with ADHD were compared to those with ASD and those with emotional disorders, on routinely collected outcomes at…