Identifying infants at elevated likelihood for autism and other developmental differences in the first year of life remains a significant challenge. This study explored associations between behavioral differences in infancy and developmental outcomes in toddlerhood. We conducted a secondary data analysis of 256 infants with an older autistic…

Early detection of autism spectrum condition is crucial for children to maximally benefit from early intervention. The study examined a machine learning model predicting the increased likelihood for autism from wellness records from 0 to 24 months. The study included 591,989 non-autistic and 12,846 autistic children. A gradient boosting model with…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading heritable cause of intellectual disability, has a co-occurrence rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) estimated at ~60%. The onset and rates of motor development in FXS are slower relative to neurotypical development, and even more so in the context of co-occurring FXS + ASD. Extant evidence suggests these…

A recent study suggests that parent report on the Social Symptom and Prosocial scales of the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale provides useful information about differences in the social development of school-aged autistic children. The current study provides additional psychometric data on the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale regarding…

In children with autism spectrum disorder, atypical gesture use is a core deficit with consequences for social learning, social interaction, and language development. Little is known about the relevance of early gesture use in predicting developmental outcomes of children receiving early interventions targeting social-communicative behaviors such…

Cross-sectional research has demonstrated the overrepresentation of gender dysphoria in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder. However, the predictors and underlying mechanisms of this co-occurrence remain unclear. This follow-up study aimed to explore baseline (childhood/adolescence) predictors for the follow-up (adulthood)…

Few studies have examined growth and predictors of receptive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder. Here we aimed to compare receptive vocabulary from 4 to 8 years and identify predictors of receptive vocabulary, at 8 years, in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Participants were drawn from a nationally…

This prospective study examined the developmental changes over time of adolescents diagnosed in toddlerhood with autism spectrum disorder and searched for child characteristics at toddlerhood that predict outcome at adolescence. The study included 65 participants who were divided into low cognitive (developmental quotient [less than] 85; N = 41)…

'High functioning autism' is a term often used for individuals with autism spectrum disorder without an intellectual disability. Over time, this term has become synonymous with expectations of greater functional skills and better long-term outcomes, despite contradictory clinical observations. This study investigated the relationship between…

Little is known about their stability and the factors that influence their persistence or change over the life-course. To address this, we use data from 158 participants from the Special Needs and Autism Project cohort studied at three time-points from 12 to 23 years. We used latent growth models to study the role of child, family, and contextual…

Recent studies have suggested that skill acquisition rates for children with autism spectrum disorders receiving early interventions can be predicted by child motivation. We examined whether level of interest during an Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule assessment at 2?years predicts subsequent rates of verbal, nonverbal, and adaptive skill…

This prospective study of the FIRST WORDS® Project examined restricted and repetitive behaviors in a sample of 55 toddlers at a mean age of 20 months who were later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Restricted and repetitive behaviors were coded using the Repetitive Movement and Restricted Interest Scales in two video-recorded observation…

Daily living skills (DLS), such as personal hygiene, meal preparation, and money management, are important to independent living. Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibit impairments in daily living skills relative to their cognitive skills. This study examined predictors of daily living skills attainment and…

The present quasi-experimental study examines the outcomes for a group of 102 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder at age 2 who attended an inclusive toddler program (described by Stahmer and Ingersoll, 2004) until age 3. Outcomes on standardized developmental assessments indicate significant improvement, with large effect sizes, in…