The Adult Autism Quotient (AQ), the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the Relative's Questionnaire (RQ) were used as part of the Adult Asperger's Assessment (AAA) by a diagnostic service for adults without an intellectual disability with suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This service is part of the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Little…

The diagnosis of autism can be challenging, particularly if an individual coming for assessment is considered to be near the diagnostic threshold. It is important to understand the experiences and challenges of diagnosis from the perspective of clinicians. In this study, 21 in-depth interviews were conducted with clinicians working in specialist…

Prediction in language comprehension has become a key mechanism in recent psycholinguistic theory, with evidence from lexical prediction as a primary source. Less work has focused on whether comprehenders also make structural predictions above the lexical level. Previous research shows that processing is facilitated for syntactic structures which…

Autistic people have difficulties recalling episodic memories, including retrieving fewer or less specific and detailed memories compared to typically developing people. However, the ability to effectively recall episodic memories is crucial in many real-world contexts, such as the criminal justice system, medical consultations, and employment…

It is well established that phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks reliably predict children's developing word reading abilities across a wide range of languages. However, existing research has not yet demonstrated unequivocally whether RAN and PA are independently and causally linked to reading, nor has it fully…

An anaphoric reference to the complement-set is a reference to the set that does not fulfil the predicate of the preceding sentence. Preferred reference to the complement-set has been found in eye movements when a character's implicit desire for a high amount has been denied using a negative emotion. We recorded event-related potentials to examine…

Previous research suggests that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) might be associated with impairments on implicit but not explicit mentalizing tasks. However, such comparisons are made difficult by the heterogeneity of stimuli and the techniques used to measure mentalizing capabilities. We tested the abilities of 34 individuals (17 with ASD) to…

Self-governance and responsibilisation are integral to Basic Key Skills Builder (BKSB) assessments and Functional Skills qualifications. However, very little is known of its neoliberalist effects and the governance practices of tutors teaching disengaged youth taking Functional Skills as part of the overall employability certificate. Adopting a…

In this article, two government education policies for primary schools in England are scrutinised, the Phonics Screening Check and Baseline Assessment, both claimed by ministers to be 'evidence based'. What has become a high-stakes test rather than a diagnostic assessment, the Phonics Screening Check, introduced in 2012, now dominates early years…

This paper provides an evaluative report on the use of a questionnaire as a diagnostic tool to support undergraduate students' development of self-regulated learning. The diagnostic tool to be used is the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). A considerable body of research highlights the significance of self-regulated learning…

Language comprehension delays in pre-schoolers are predictive of difficulties in a range of developmental domains. In England, early years practitioners are required to assess the language comprehension of 2-year-olds in their care. Many use a format based on the Early Years Foundation Stage Unique Child Communication Sheet (EYFS:UCCS) in which…

The view of the government in England is that good English and mathematics knowledge is key to employment and education prospects. Students who do not achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above in these subjects must continue to study English and mathematics alongside their chosen post-16 studies. This article outlines the background to this situation, then…

We describe a simple, cost-effective experiment to demonstrate cardiovascular integration of heart rate and blood pressure to accommodate the environmental and dietary factors of gravity and caffeine. Specific learning objectives associated with this include understanding the effects of posture on blood pressure and heart rate, coupled with the…

A key index of top-down control in task switching--preparation for a switch--is underexplored in language switching. The well-documented EEG "signature" of preparation for a task switch--a protracted positive-polarity modulation over the posterior scalp--has thus far not been reported in language switching, and the interpretation of…

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children matched on receptive language share resources fairly and reciprocally. Children completed age-appropriate versions of the Ultimatum and Dictator Games with real stickers and an interactive partner. Both groups offered similar numbers of…