The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of animal-assisted interventions on social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder, based on evidence from randomized control trials. Included studies were articles published in English, with school aged children from 4 to 18 years with autism spectrum disorder. Databases…

The alexithymia hypothesis posits that specific aspects of the autistic socio-cognitive profile, namely emotion recognition difficulties, can be explained by the increased prevalence of alexithymia in autistic populations. However, this hypothesis has largely been tested in adults. We tested whether co-occurring alexithymia could account for…

"The Transporters" intervention contains 15 animated episodes that autistic children watch daily for a month and learn emotion recognition through stories depicting social interactions between vehicle characters with grafted human faces, expressing emotions. Its automated, home-based format is cost-effective. This study included four…

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…

Robust evidence supports the efficacy of early autism intervention. Despite broad consensus that earlier intervention leads to better outcomes, evidence for this has been limited to correlational studies. This study examined timing effects of the Early Social Interaction (ESI) model, a parent-implemented intervention, using a complete crossover…

How parents support social learning at the preverbal level for toddlers with autism is rarely reported, limiting the field's understanding of factors that may influence early development of social competency. As a central challenge in autism that is resistant to intervention, preverbal social initiating is an important indicator of social…

It is widely believed that early diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder is essential for better outcome. This is demonstrated by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to screen all 1.5-2.5-year-old toddlers for autism spectrum disorder. However, multiple longitudinal studies of children diagnosed with autism spectrum…

Emotional self-awareness is increasingly suggested to be an area of difficulty in autism that may predict socioemotional outcomes for this population. However, whether emotional self-awareness is consistently diminished in autism across age and methodology remains unclear. We systematically reviewed 47 papers measuring emotional self-awareness in…

Adolescents with autism are more often victims of bullying than peers without autism. Although prior work indicates that emotions play an important role, bidirectional relationships are yet unknown. This study examines the longitudinal associations of anger, fear, guilt and shame with being victimized and bullying others in adolescent boys with…

The ability to deceive is a key milestone in social cognitive development for typically developing individuals. In this scoping review, we systematically searched the literature to summarise research on deceptive behaviour in autism and identify gaps in knowledge. Across the 28 studies identified, three main themes were synthesised, with seven…

Several interventions have demonstrated efficacy in improving social outcomes for children with autism; however, few have been successfully implemented in schools. This study compared two implementation strategies to improve the use of a social engagement intervention for children with autism in public schools. In total, 31 children with autism in…

There has been a significant increase in the development of interventions to improve the social competence and success of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. The current investigation used direct observation and coding of social conversations as a rigorous method to further assess the efficacy of the Social Tools And Rules for Teens…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder and average IQ exhibit a widening discrepancy between lagging adaptive skills relative to their cognitive potential, but it is unknown when this discrepancy emerges in development. To address this important question, we measured adaptive and cognitive skills longitudinally, from 12-36 months, in 96…

This study reports child and family outcomes from a community-based, quasi-experimental pilot trial of "Project ImPACT for Toddlers" that is a parent-mediated, naturalistic, developmental behavioral intervention for children with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder developed through a research-community partnership. Community early…

The population of adults on the autism spectrum continues to increase, and vocational outcomes are particularly poor. Longitudinal studies of adults with autism spectrum and without intellectual disability have shown consistent and persistent deficits across cognitive, social, and vocational domains, indicating a need for effective treatments of…