The study explores work motivation of autistic adults through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Twelve autistic employees (ages 28-47; 3 females) participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews about their work experience. Analysis combined inductive and deductive approaches, identifying motivational themes emerging from the…

Semi-structured interviews were employed to (a) characterize LEOs' knowledge of ASD, (b) understand interactions between LEOs and individuals with ASD, and (c) identify training needs to prepare LEOs for interactions with the ASD community. Researchers utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze data from 17 participants: (a) six…

In two studies we developed and tested a new self-report measure of restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRB) suitable for adults. In Study 1, The Repetitive Behaviours Questionnaire-2 for adults (RBQ-2A) was completed by a sample of 163 neurotypical adults. Principal components analysis revealed two components: Repetitive Motor Behaviours and…

Mimicry involves unconsciously copying the actions of others. Increasing evidence suggests that autistic people can copy the goal of an observed action but show differences in their mimicry. We investigated mimicry in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within a two-dimensional virtual reality environment. Participants played an imitation game with a…

Sotos syndrome is a congenital overgrowth disorder with an incidence of approximately 1 in 14,000. This study investigated behavioural characteristics of ASD within a large cohort of individuals with Sotos syndrome (n = 78). As measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale, second edition (SRS-2), 65 participants (83.33%) met clinical cut-off…

We investigated autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptomatology, hyperactivity and affect in seven genetic syndromes; Angelman (AS; n = 104), Cri du Chat (CdCS; 58), Cornelia de Lange (CdLS; 101), Fragile X (FXS; 191), Prader-Willi (PWS; 189), Smith-Magenis (SMS; 42) and Lowe (LS; 56) syndromes (age range 4-51). ASD symptomatology was heightened in…

Decision-making is an important function that can be quantified using a two-choice prediction task. Individuals with Autistic Disorder (AD) often show highly restricted and repetitive behavior that may interfere with adaptive decision-making. We assessed whether AD adults showed repetitive behavior on the choice task that was unaffected by…

Three studies analyzed stimulus feedback and the concept of control with three children and two adults having autism. The first study explored feedback from spinning tops, while the second and third emphasized control of various stimuli including spinning tops. Results indicate that autistic individuals' common interest in spinning tops is…

The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part, eleven high-functioning adults with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) participated and were videotaped with a concealed camera while having an initial conversation with a typically developing stranger. Analyses revealed some significant differences with regard to the dyad members'…

The follow-up study examined 16 schizo-affective children after a mean of 16 years. In comparison to purely schizophrenic controls, subjects showed an increased incidence of affective psychoses, suicide in the ancestry, and more pre-morbidly well-adjusted personalities. The schizo-affective psychoses had mainly an acute-recurrent character.…

The effectiveness of fenfluramine with hyperserotonergic autistic individuals (n=28 and ages 6-30) was evaluated. Evaluation of videotape recordings of individual behaviors suggested that fenfluramine failed to increase communicative behaviors or decrease stereotypic behaviors and inappropriate behaviors although a serotonergic effect was found in…

Evaluation of the cognitive, behavioral, and adaptive functioning of 12 retarded men with fragile X syndrome indicated that fragile X men were largely indistinguishable from comparison groups. They were, however, significantly more likely to have achieved levels of adaptive functioning commensurate with their intellectual abilities. (Author/DB)

The Autism Behavior Checklist was evaluated with 94 autistic and 63 nonautistic subjects. Although the two groups differed significantly in ratings of pathology both false positive and false negative diagnostic classifications occurred. The test appears to have merit as a screening instrument but should not be used alone to establish a diagnosis…

Two experiments evaluated the social interactions of 15 Asperger-type autistic subjects with either normal or schizoid control subjects. Asperger subjects tended to avoid gazing at the interviewer when the interviewer was talking. Results suggest that a lifelong absence of gaze response to social clues including speech may explain some features of…

A study examined the cognitive and behavioral profiles in 10 individuals (ages 14-51) with Smith-Magenis syndrome. Results found the individuals showed significant relative weaknesses in sequential processing and strengths in naming a partially completed drawing, identifying things, and in reading/decoding. Behavioral findings indicated…