Purpose: Converging research suggests that speech timing, including altered rate and pausing when speaking, can distinguish autistic individuals from nonautistic peers. Although speech timing can impact effective social communication, it remains unclear what mechanisms underlie individual differences in speech timing in autism. Method: The present…

This meta-analysis examined correlations between eye-tracking measures of gaze behaviors manifested during dynamic salient social stimuli and behavioral assessment measures of social communication skills of young autistic children. We employed a multilevel model with random effects to perform three separate meta-analyses for correlation between…

Purpose: Follow-up studies of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in early childhood that focus on friendship formation during adolescence are scarce. The present study focused on exploring characteristics possibly related to the ability to establish friendships during adolescence among children diagnosed with ASD in…

Anxiety has been associated with social communication and interaction differences among autistic children. We sought to clarify the direction of these associations longitudinally, and test executive function as a moderator. Participants were autistic children (N = 157; 15% female, 85% male) engaged in a longitudinal study. Analyses focused on two…

Autistic-like features and functional somatic symptoms (FSS) frequently co-occur. It remains unknown how autistic-like features and FSS affect each other and develop throughout adolescence. This study examined reciprocal relations between autistic-like features and FSS in adolescence. Participants were 2772 adolescents (52.5% male) from the…

Nonverbal turn taking, defined as back-and-forth exchanges, may be used to convey instrumental or social intent. It has been theorized that social turn taking is foundational to joint attention and, as such, it has been incorporated as a component of early interventions for children with autism, who often have challenges in joint attention…

The relationship between turn taking (i.e., back-and-forth preverbal communicative exchanges) and joint attention has not been studied in interactions between children with autism and caregivers. In joint attention, a form of preverbal social communication, young children socially share attention with a partner about objects, a competency that is…

Grounded in the biopsychosocial models of expressive language in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), this dissertation included two novel studies that examined the role of biological (i.e., physiology), psychological (i.e., autistic traits, anxiety symptoms, and child affect) and social (i.e., communication partner…

Nonverbal turn taking, defined as back-and-forth exchanges, may be used to convey instrumental or social intent. It has been theorized that social turn taking is foundational to joint attention and, as such, it has been incorporated as a component of early interventions for children with autism, who often have challenges in joint attention…

Purpose: Caregivers of autistic children present with high stress levels, which have been associated with poorer child outcomes in several domains, including language development. However, prior to this study, it was unknown whether elevated caregiver stress was associated with language development in infant siblings of autistic children…

Autistic people are over-represented at gender clinics, but there is limited research to guide clinical practice with this group. We investigated the perspectives of clinicians working with autistic patients who experience gender dysphoria. We asked clinicians about the relationship between autism and gender dysphoria, and whether they work…

This study investigated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) with video modeling and in situ training on workplace conversational skills of four transition-age students with autism enrolled in a U.S. community-based internship program. Intervention sessions began with BST, which included direct instruction, video modeling,…

The use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the child's natural setting is critical for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to improve communication skills and promote generalization. Yet, to implement EBPs effectively, caregivers often require training. The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy of behavior skills…