We explored associations among the core behavioural features and developmental/cognitive abilities of 155 autistic children, assessed between ages 13-67 months and again around 1-year later to understand predictive directionality. Bidirectional, cross-domain association was apparent, albeit with stronger direction of effect from earlier cognition…

Research evaluating predictors of mathematics ability in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is scarce and inconclusive. The present study first compared the mathematics ability and cognitive abilities of preschoolers with ASD and age-matched typically developing (TD) peers. Then, we examined the relative contributions of cognitive…

Are Autism Quotient (AQ) scores related to executive functioning (EF)? We sampled 200 students of normal intelligence and examined the relationship between AQ scores and: (a) 5 self-ratings of EF, (b) 5 performance-based measures of EF, and (c) 5 types of activities or experiences that are assumed to recruit EF and sometimes enhance EF. Our…

Life Course Theory contends that school transitions can interrupt academic and wellbeing trajectories, depending on child, family, and school factors. Hierarchical regression analyses examined how autistic traits were associated with school transition outcomes. Autistic traits explained 12% of the variance in Quality of Life (QOL), 24% of the…

The rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) necessitates a greater understanding of the academic experience of diagnosed children. The present study investigates several predictors of teacher-reported academic competence among a sample of elementary school children. All children in the sample were referred for an ASD evaluation and…

Deficits in cognitive flexibility are thought to underpin the core symptom of repetitive and restricted patterns of behaviour in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies investigating this relationship, however, report inconsistent results. This is partly due to the variable nature of measures used to assess the construct of flexibility. The main…

High rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity have been described in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study searched for predictors at toddlerhood of the severity of ADHD symptoms at adolescence. The study included 65 participants, (mean age = 13:8 year), diagnosed with ASD at toddlerhood. Participants underwent a…

Many males with FXS meet criteria for ASD. This study was designed to (1) describe ASD symptoms in adolescent and young adult males with FXS (n = 44) and (2) evaluate the contributions to ASD severity of cognitive, language, and psychiatric factors, as well as FMRP (the protein deficient in FXS). A few ASD symptoms on the ADOS-2 were universal in…

Questions have been raised about the significance of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in predicting outcomes of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Previous studies have yielded mixed findings, but some suggest that the presence of RRBs during preschool years is a negative prognostic indicator for later childhood. This study…

As youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to experience anxiety than youth in the general population, investigation of associated factors is important for diagnosis and treatment. The present study extended prior research by examining factors associated with caregiver-reported anxiety in 2662 youth (mean age = 8.82 years) with…

Current research on children's autistic traits in the general population relies predominantly on caregiver-report, yet the extent to which individual, caregiver or demographic characteristics are associated with informants' ratings has not been sufficiently explored. In this study, caregivers of 396 Singaporean two-year-olds from a birth cohort…

Cognitive control dysfunctions, like inhibitory and attentional flexibility deficits are assumed to underlie repetitive behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the present study, prepotent response inhibition and attentional flexibility were examined in 64 high-functioning individuals with ASD and 53 control participants.…

Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have co-occurring feeding problems. However, there is limited knowledge about how these feeding habits are related to other behavioral characteristics ubiquitous in ASD. In a relatively large sample of 256 children with ASD, ages 2-11, we examined the relationships between feeding and mealtime…

Acquiring useful language by age 5 has been identified as a strong predictor of positive outcomes in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study examined the relationship between age of language acquisition and later functioning in children with ASD (n = 119). First word acquisition at a range of ages was probed for its…

Clinical predictors of 2-year outcome in preschoolers with ASD were studied in a population-based group of very young children with ASD (n = 208). Children who gained the most (n = 30) and lost the most (n = 23), i.e., increased or decreased their adaptive functioning outcome according to the Vineland Composite Score between study entry (T1) and…