Infants develop attachment to their caregivers very early on. The quality of attachment is considered to be crucial for the emotional development of humans and animals alike. Despite its importance, very little is known about how attachment develops between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their caregivers. The purpose of the…

A key feature of autism is restricted repetitive behavior (RRB). Despite the significance of RRBs, little is known about their phenomenology, assessment, and treatment. The Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) is a recently-developed questionnaire that captures the breadth of RRB in autism. To validate the RBS-R in an independent sample, we…

Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Modules 1-3 item and domain total distributions were reviewed for 1,630 assessments of children aged 14 months to 16 years with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or with heterogeneous non-spectrum disorders. Children were divided by language level and age to yield more homogeneous cells. Items were…

Research examining autistic symptoms in Angelman syndrome (AS) is limited. The goal of this study was to further characterize the nature of stereotyped behaviors, social interaction deficits, and developmental disturbances in individuals with AS. Parents of 248 individuals between the ages of 3 and 22 completed a survey of autistic symptomatology…

Retrospective analysis of videotape recordings taken at 9 to 12 months of 11 children with autism, 10 with developmental disabilities, and 11 typically developing children found that nine behavioral items, in combination, discriminated the three groups 94 percent of the time. Results support early identification of autism and that infant…

This study attempted to evaluate patterns of behavioral change resulting from abuse in a school setting of 12 children with pervasive developmental disorders, primarily autism. Use of parental reports (with corroboration when possible) found consistent patterns in both the nature and timing of behavioral disturbances, which seemed to relate…

Evaluation of 26 children (ages 24-55 months) with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) while interacting with either the mother, a familiar female teacher, and an unfamiliar male doctor. PDD subjects were most severely impaired during the mother episode. During the teacher episode, PDD subjects were twice as variable in interpersonal response…