Purpose: Cross-informant ratings are considered best practice for assessing children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, informant disagreement often occurs, which can pose significant challenges to various aspects of clinical services. This study explored the degree of parent and speech-language pathologist (SLP) agreement on ratings of…

We investigated gesture production in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and caregiver responsiveness between 12 and 24 months of age and assessed the extent to which early gesture predicts later language and ASD outcomes. Participants included 55 high-risk infants, 21 of whom later met criteria for ASD, 34 low-risk…

Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been characterized as having deficits in social communication and empathy which present difficulties in the areas of social reciprocity, sharing of emotions and developing and maintaining relationships. This study explores the associations between vocabulary, executive function…

Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is one of many scientific based practices used in the education of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is seen that many evidence based practices are limited to the studies conducted by universities and cannot become widespread. Involvement of parents in their children's education processes and…

Language abilities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are variable and can be challenging to ascertain with confidence. This study aimed to compare and evaluate different forms of language assessment: standardized language testing, narrative analysis and parent/teacher reports. 14 adolescents with ASD and 14 typically developing…

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is an empirically based, behavioral parent training program for young children exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Parent--Child Interaction Therapy shows promise for treating disruptive behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder. Treatment processes (i.e. treatment length and homework compliance), parenting…

The present study examined children's compliance and noncompliance behaviors in response to parental control strategies in 20 children with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 20 matched typically-developing children. Observational coding was used to measure child compliance (committed, situational), noncompliance (passive, defiance, self-assertion,…

Eighty-seven preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders who were initially nonverbal (under 6 words in language sample and under 21 parent-reported words said) were assessed at five time points over 16 months. Statistical models that accounted for the intercorrelation among nine theoretically- and empirically-motivated predictors, as well as two…

Purpose: The authors examined longitudinal associations between 2 categories of parent verbal responsiveness and language comprehension and production 1 year later in 40 toddlers and preschoolers with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: Parent-child play samples using a standard toy set were digitally captured and coded for…

Preschoolers with severe autism and minimal speech were assigned either a discrete trial or a naturalistic language treatment, and parents of all participants also received parent responsiveness training. After 12 weeks, both groups showed comparable improvement in number of spoken words produced, on average. Approximately half the children in…

Joint attention (JA), which occurs when two individuals focus on the same object or event, plays a critical role in social and language development. Two major kinds of joint attention have been observed: response to joint attention (RJA), in which children follow the attentional focus of their social partners, and initiation of joint attention…