Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition affecting information processing across domains. The current meta-analysis investigated whether slower processing speed is associated with the ASD neurocognitive profile and whether findings hold across different time-based tasks and stimuli (social vs. nonsocial; linguistic…

Inconsistent findings regarding sex differences in cognition have been found in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study evaluated sex differences in cognitive-developmental functioning in a large clinical sample of young children diagnosed with ASD. The sample included children 18-68 months of age who received the Mullen Scales of…

Children typically learn by attending to other people. Autism traits may impact access to social stimuli fundamental to early learning, increasing children's likelihood of a learning disability. Recent reports have highlighted that Autistic children from minority backgrounds have a higher likelihood of co-occurring intellectual disability. This…

This paper examines age of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identification and related factors in a diverse urban sample, focusing on ASD identification in the East African Somali community. The overall average age of initial ASD identification was 4.8 years. Somali children received an initial clinical diagnosis of Autistic Disorder later than…

Mental health difficulties, family and childhood adversity factors, substance use and conduct problems have all been linked to offending behaviour in the general population. However, no large-scale study with comparison groups has investigated these risk factors in relation to autistic offenders. The current research included 40 autistic…

The ratio of the index (2nd) finger to ring (4th) finger lengths (2D:4D) is a proxy for fetal testosterone and estradiol. Studies suggesting 2D:4D is inversely associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in males were limited by lack of confounder and subgroup assessments. Studies of females are sparse. We examined associations between ASD and…

A growing body of research suggests that symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may present differently in males and females. This study examined gender differences in ASD symptoms and developmental functioning, using the "Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtism Traits, Part 1" (BISCUIT-Part 1) and the "Battelle…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit emotional problems, which can be associated with emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. Parent co-regulation is often associated with child ER and emotional problems, though little work has been done with reference to youth with ASD. This study investigated the association among parent…

While research regarding emotion recognition in ASD has focused primarily on social cues, musical stimuli also elicit strong emotional responses. This study extends and expands the few previous studies of response to music in ASD, measuring both psychophysiological and behavioral responses in younger children (ages 8-11) as well as older…

This study compared sibling interactions between 24-month-old children and their older sibling with ASD (high-risk; n = 24) with 24-month-old children and their typically developing older sibling (low-risk; n = 32). First, high-risk sibling pairs showed lower levels of positive behaviour and younger siblings of children with ASD imitated their…

Twenty-seven boys and eight girls with ASD and thirty-five controls matched for gender, age and total score intelligence were studied to ascertain whether boys and girls with ASD display stronger reactive aggression than boys and girls without ASD. Participants performed a computerized version of the Pulkkinen aggression machine that examines the…

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurogenetic disorder in which a period of typical development is followed by loss of previously acquired skills. Once thought to occur exclusively in females, increasing numbers of male cases of RTT have been reported. This systematic review included 36 articles describing 57 cases of RTT in males. Mutations of the MECP2…

Some children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) exhibit low mental age (Low-MA; i.e., cognitive functioning below 12 months). We examined diagnosis, symptom severity, and development in children with ASD-low MA (n = 25), autistic disorder (n = 111), and PDD-NOS (n = 82) at ages two and four. We predicted that some ASD-low MA children would…

Due to the predominance of boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), girls are rarely studied independently. Research specifically focusing on play and social-communication in girls with ASD is extremely varied. We were interested in whether girls with ASD demonstrated equivalent social-communication and play skills in early childhood…

The etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is for the majority of cases unknown and more studies of risk factors are needed. Geographic variation in ASD occurrence has been observed, and urban residence has been suggested to serve as a proxy for etiologic and identification factors in ASD. We examined the association between urbanicity level…