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…

Autism spectrum disorder is associated with sensory processing alterations, such as sensory hyper- and hypo-responsiveness. Twin studies are scarce in this field, but they are necessary in order to disentangle the genetic and environmental contributions to this association. Furthermore, it is unclear how different neurodevelopmental/psychiatric…

Recent research examining the explanations given by the public (i.e. lay beliefs) for autism spectrum disorder often reveals a reasonably accurate understanding of the biogenetic basis of the disorder. However, lay beliefs often manifest aspects of culture, and much of this work has been conducted in western cultures. In this study, 215…

De novo events appear more common in female and simplex autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases and may underlie greater ASD risk in older fathers' offspring. This study examined whether advancing paternal age predicts an increase in simplex (n = 90) versus multiplex ASD cases (n = 587) in 677 participants (340 families). Whether or not controlling…

Objectives: To compare differences in autism between Hispanic and non-Hispanics. We also examined the relationship between multiple language exposure and language function and scores of children. Methods: The Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study is an ongoing population-based case-control study with children…