Behavior analysts typically assess and treat challenging behavior after it occurs regularly and at high severity. Although effective, this reactive approach is quite costly and resource intensive. A growing literature supports an alternative preventive approach; the first step involves conducting sensitivity tests to screen the topographies and…

Recent research suggests there may be differences in the social presentations of autistic males and females. Camouflaging is believed to account for some of these differences and executive function (EF) may support compensatory social behaviors. As few studies have explored the role of sex and everyday EF when evaluating specific social…

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, the etiology of which has not been clearly determined yet. There is increasing evidence that synaptic and dendritic changes are involved in the etiology of ASD. The aim of this study is to determine whether serum Thrombospondin-1 and Thrombospondin-2 differ between ASD…

Children with autistic symptoms experience challenges in school settings, yet little is known about their academic profiles and the mechanisms underlying the association between autistic symptoms and academic achievement. This study examined the association between autistic symptoms and academic achievement in a population-based sample of children…

Previous studies have examined the relationship between sleep problems and challenging behaviors in school-aged children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, literature has not examined this relationship in the context of toddlers or, more specifically, toddlers with aggression. The present study was conducted to examine…

Children with autism spectrum disorder present with challenging behaviors that can impact caregivers by increasing parental perceived stress and risk for depression. However, positive coping strategies have also been identified as protective factors for parents of children with ASD. The present study examined parental perceived daily stressors and…

Little is currently known about the autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related difficulties of females narrowly below the ASD diagnostic threshold and whether the disorder conceptualisation should be broadened to capture their presentations. We extracted fine-grained information from the assessment reports of 222 children who were either diagnosed…

This study examined educators' descriptions of the positive character traits of students with autism spectrum disorder at ages 7-8 and 10-11, using an adapted version of the Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths. The most commonly endorsed strengths at both age intervals were kindness, specific skills, self-regulation, and…

Studies have shown that there are differences between the presentations of males and females diagnosed with autism. There remains a developing understanding about how the presentation of autism differs between boys (hereafter referred to as 'assigned males at birth') and girls (assigned females at birth). This study sought to investigate the…

The current study investigated the effects of an integrative exercise intervention on the behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and if they were influenced by ASD symptom severity. Sixty-six children (7.56 ± 2.03 yrs.) with ASD were enrolled and categorised as having mild (n = 22), moderate (n = 18) or severe (n = 26)…

Up to 80% of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience sleep problems, which have been associated with more severe presentations of ASD symptoms. We examined the bidirectional link between sleep problems and specific ASD symptoms at two time points within 5 years in a well-characterized sample (659 children with ASD). Using…

Previous research has identified possible sex-based differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, this finding is mixed, particularly among preschool-aged children. We investigated the presence of sex-based differences in parent-rated ASD symptomatology, using the Autism Spectrum Rating Scale…

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by deficits in social communication and repetitive behaviors. How specific anatomical alterations contribute to the clinical profile of autism spectrum disorder remains largely uncharacterized. We have previously shown that parvalbumin-positive Chandelier cells, a specific…

Parents of autistic children experience more parenting stress and are at increased risk for poor mental and physical health compared with parents of neurotypical children; however, not all parents are distressed. The present study used a person-centered analytic approach to identify profiles of the parenting experience in a sample of 183 mothers…

Insomnia is one of the most common co-occurring disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this cross-sectional cohort study of 270 children with ASD was to assess the prevalence of insomnia using the Pediatric Sleep Clinical Global Impression Scale and to correlate sleep problems with cognitive level, adaptive…