The present study examined the effectiveness of Social Stories[TM], and Social Stories paired with a differential reinforcement procedure on disruptive behaviors of two elementary school children diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We implemented a…

This study aimed to examine sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and epilepsy in clinical settings. We assessed 64 children with ASD, 64 with ADHD, 64 with epilepsy, and 64 typically developing children without any neuropsychiatric disorders by using a sex-and age-matched…

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at high risk for co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Previous research has suggested that restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRB) are associated with symptoms of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in individuals with ASD, but this relationship is not well understood. The current study…

Multiple sleep problems have been reported in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The association of poor sleep with problematic daytime behaviors has been shown in small studies of younger children. We assessed the relationship between sleep and behavior in 1784 children, ages 2-18, with confirmed diagnosis of ASD participating in the…

Maternal ratings of explosiveness, opposition, and aggression were analyzed in 1609 children 6-16 years of age. Behavior problems were common in autism, ADHD-Combined type, and depression, whereas children with ADHD-Inattentive type, anxiety disorder, and acquired brain injury did not differ from typical controls. More than 40% of children with…

As the "Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition" ("BASC-2") is often used to aid in diagnosis it is important to discern how children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) score on the "BASC-2" compared to typically developing controls. This study compared scores of typically developing…

Diagnosing autism and PDD-NOS at very early ages has become a major priority in the field of mental health. More recently, researchers have also come to realize the importance of identifying co-occurring conditions of psychopathology in this population. In the present study, 309 children between 17 and 37 months of age who had been identified as…

Our study of 477 children with autism (1-15 years, IQs 9-146) showed that parent reported sleep problems are found in most children with autism and are not significantly related to age, IQ, gender, race, parent occupation, neuropsychological functioning, and learning ability. However, sleep problems increased with severity of autistic symptoms and…