Children with autism are characterized by milestones in joint attention (JA) skill. They fail to understand the directional cue issued by a partner (during social communication), which often results in them reciprocating inappropriately and not completing the JA bid successfully. The directional cues can be gaze-pointing, finger-pointing, etc.,…

The current study examined eye movement control in autistic (ASD) children. Simple targets were presented in isolation, or with central, parafoveal, or peripheral distractors synchronously. Sixteen children with ASD (47-81 months) and nineteen age and IQ matched typically developing children were instructed to look to the target as accurately and…

Although most researchers agree that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit atypical attention, there is little consensus on the exact nature of their deficits. We explored whether attentional control in ASD varies as a function of motor proficiency. Nineteen children with ASD and 26 typically-developing controls completed the…

Self-report measures offer a unique source of information in the assessment and intervention of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, it is not known if children with autism spectrum disorder can answer self-report questionnaires accurately and consistently. As a step to address this issue, we examined validity indexes of the…

There is evidence that autistic children may have reduced executive function skills, contributing to day-to-day difficulties, but much remains unknown regarding the influence of bilingualism. We investigated its influence on sustained attention, interference control, flexible switching and working memory, in Arabic-English autistic (n = 27)…

Analogical reasoning was investigated among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) without intellectual disabilities and typical development (TD). Children were asked to select one of two targets in two conditions: (1) with and without spatial structure similarity; (2) with and without a perceptual distractor. Results demonstrate that…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, individuals with ASD show clearly atypical…

A common example of social differences in autism spectrum disorder is poor modulation of reciprocal gaze, including reduced duration of eye contact and difficulty detecting the aim of another's gaze. It remains unclear, however, whether such differences are specific to the social domain, or are instead indicative of broader alterations in…

To identify quantitative indicators of social communication dysfunctions, we explored the oculomotor performances in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. Discordant findings in the literature have been reported for oculomotor behavior in subjects with autism spectrum disorders. This study aimed to explore reflexive and voluntary saccadic…

Inability to acquire a new motor skill is a common motor difficulty in children with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the motor learning benefits of an external focus of attention for typically developing children and children with intellectual disabilities could also be applied to children with autism…

There is debate whether social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are truly domain-specific, or if they reflect generalized deficits in lower-level cognitive processes. To solve this issue, we used auditory-evoked EEG responses to assess novelty detection (MMN component) and involuntary attentional orientation (P3 component) induced by…

High-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders often find writing challenging. These writing difficulties may be specific to autism spectrum disorder or to a more general clinical effect of attention disturbance, as these children are often comorbid for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology (and children with…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at high risk for sleep disturbance and behavioral dysregulation. However, the relationships between these difficulties are not fully understood. The current study examined the relationships between specific types of sleep and behavioral problems among 81 children with ASD. Sleep problems were…

Atypical sensory response patterns are common in children with autism and developmental delay. Expanding on previous work, this observational electroencephalogram study assessed auditory event-related potentials and their associations with clinically evaluated sensory response patterns in children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 28),…

We examined spontaneous attention orienting to visual salience in stimuli without social significance using a modified Dot-Probe task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in high-functioning preadolescent children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and age- and IQ-matched control children. While the magnitude of attentional bias (faster…