Reading utilises at least two neural pathways. The temporal lexical route visually maps whole words to their lexical entries, whilst the nonlexical route decodes words phonologically via parietal cortex. Readers typically employ the lexical route for familiar words, but poor comprehension plus precocity at mechanically "sounding out"…

Rightward cerebral lateralization has been suggested to be involved in the neuropathology of autism spectrum conditions. We investigated functional and neuroanatomical asymmetry, in terms of handedness and corpus callosum measurements in male adolescents with autism, their unaffected siblings and controls, and their associations with executive…

This study reports on the development and validation of an abridged version of the 50-item Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a self-report measure of autistic traits. We aimed to reduce the number of items whilst retaining high validity and a meaningful factor structure. The item reduction procedure was performed on data from 1,263 Dutch students and…

Background: Recent studies of infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism have allowed for a prospective approach to examine the emergence of symptoms and revealed behavioral differences in the broader autism phenotype within the early years. In the current study we focused on a set of functions associated with visual attention, previously…

We report a major revision of the CHecklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT). This "quantitative" CHAT (Q-CHAT) contains 25 items, scored on a 5 point scale (0-4). The Q-CHAT was completed by parents of n = 779 unselected toddlers (mean age 21 months) and n = 160 toddlers and preschoolers (mean age 44 months) with an Autism Spectrum…

This study evaluated "The Transporters", an animated series designed to enhance emotion comprehension in children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). n = 20 children with ASC (aged 4-7) watched "The Transporters" everyday for 4 weeks. Participants were tested before and after intervention on emotional vocabulary and emotion recognition at three…

Children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties recognizing others' emotions. Research has mostly focused on "basic" emotion recognition, devoid of context. This study reports the results of a new task, assessing recognition of "complex" emotions and mental states in social contexts. An ASC group (n = 23) was compared to a general…

Background: In addition to their more clinically evident abnormalities of social cognition, people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) manifest perturbations of attention and sensory perception which may offer insights into the underlying neural abnormalities. Similar autistic traits in ASC relatives without a diagnosis suggest a continuity…

We report a study comparing the narrative abilities of 12 adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger Syndrome (AS) versus 12 matched controls. The study focuses on the use of referential expressions (temporal expressions and anaphoric pronouns) during a story-telling task. The aim was to assess pragmatics skills in people with HFA/AS in…

This study tests the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism. Three groups of participants took part: n = 48 people with autism spectrum, n = 137 general population controls, and n = 1,250 university student controls. Each participant completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the…

The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) quantifies autistic traits in adults. This paper adapted the AQ for children (age 9.8-15.4 years). Three groups of participants were assessed: Group 1: n=52 adolescents with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA); Group 2: n=79 adolescents with classic autism; and Group 3, n=50 controls. The…

LEGO[R] therapy and the Social Use of Language Programme (SULP) were evaluated as social skills interventions for 6-11 year olds with high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome. Children were matched on CA, IQ, and autistic symptoms before being randomly assigned to LEGO or SULP. Therapy occurred for 1 h/week over 18 weeks. A no-intervention…

The AQ (Autism-Spectrum Quotient) is a self-administered instrument for measuring the degree to which an adult with normal intelligence has the traits associated with the autistic spectrum. The AQ was administered in Japan to test whether the UK results would generalize to a very different culture. Three groups of subjects, adults with AS or HFA…

Impaired social cognition is a core feature of autism. There is much evidence showing people with autism use a different cognitive style than controls for face-processing. We tested if people with autism would show differential activation of social brain areas during a face-processing task. Thirteen adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger…

In the current study, the child AQ was administered in Japan, to examine whether the UK results for reliability and validity generalize to a different culture. Assessment groups were: Group 1: n = 81 children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA); Group 2: n = 22 children diagnosed PDD-NOS with average IQ; and Group 3: n =…