Purpose: Follow-up studies of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in early childhood that focus on friendship formation during adolescence are scarce. The present study focused on exploring characteristics possibly related to the ability to establish friendships during adolescence among children diagnosed with ASD in…

Psychosexual functioning is an important aspect of human development and relationships. A previous study investigated psychosexual functioning of autistic adolescents using the Teen Transition Inventory (TTI), but there is a lack of comprehensive measurement of psychosexual functioning among autistic and non-autistic (NA) adults. To address this…

Background: Prospective population-based follow-up study of 120 individuals with autism followed from childhood to adulthood. Methods: Individuals with autism, diagnosed in childhood, were followed prospectively for a period of 13-22 years and re-evaluated at ages 17-40 years. The instruments used at follow-up were the DISCO, WAIS-R, WISC-III,…

This case study describes a 13-year-old female with autism, mutism, hyperlexia, and spelling ability. Analysis indicated her reading and spelling abilities were dominated by visual rather than phonological processes. Most striking was an apparent social awakening during the 3.5 month period of the study, possibly related to the onset of puberty.…

A follow-up survey was conducted of 201 Japanese young adults with autism who had participated in therapeutic camping or had therapeutic involvement at medical consultation agencies. Assessment of symptoms and dependency level indicated that 31.5 percent showed marked deterioration during adolescence, whereas 43.2 percent showed marked…