This study profiled various levels of engagement and related communication behaviours among 50 Asian Indian Tamil autistic children (AUT) and their mothers. The interaction was compared with two groups of mother-child dyads of non-autistic (NA) children, 50 in each group, matched for chronological age (CA), and for language level (LL). Results…

In this systematic review, we aimed to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children/adolescents with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The protocol was registered on PROSPERO CRD42021255848. Articles were selected from PubMed, Embase, and LILACS according to these characteristics: patients from zero to 18 years old,…

Autistic individuals often experience challenges in social communication and interaction, and there is growing evidence that specific interests can help them regulate these difficulties. However, it is unclear what specific properties of these interests make them suitable for this role. In this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured…

Social turn taking, a preverbal social communication competency often difficult for young children with autism, may be foundational to joint attention when included as a component of interventions for children with autism. In this study, social turn-taking was promoted through a parent mediated learning approach to intervention in a telehealth…

The ability to repair breakdowns in communication is a critical pragmatic language skill. To date however, studies of repairs have been conducted with mothers or examiners. Little is known about repairs children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use in interactions with fathers. Expanding our understanding of communication repairs used with…

Social communication and interaction (SC/I) skill quality may be influenced by cultural values, norms, and expectations. Because difficulties in SC/I is a core criterion for identifying autism and is a frequent construct of interest in autism research, a measure designed to capture cross-cultural differences in the perspectives of SC/I skills is…

Adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have persistent difficulty developing and generalizing social communication and interaction skills. Emerging research has demonstrated that people with ASD have benefited from strategies that embed multiple-exemplar training (MET) to increase generalization of social skills.…

Successful social interactions are assumed to depend on theory of mind--the ability to represent others' mental states--yet most studies of the relation between theory of mind and social-interactive success rely on non-interactive tasks that do not adequately capture the "spontaneous" engagement of theory of mind, a crucial component of…

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…

A survey asked autistic and non-autistic people about the driving difficulties they experience and their autistic traits. Principle components analysis was used to identify how reported difficulties clustered together in each group, and regression was used to determine which subscales of the Autism Spectrum Quotient predict these factors. For…

This study investigated the benefits and challenges of computer-mediated communication use among a sample of young adults who identify with the autism spectrum via semistructured interviews. The interviews revealed that participants enjoyed using computer-mediated communication technologies (e.g. Discord, Facebook, Steam, and Zoom) to fulfill…

Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous disorder, recently more homogeneous phenotypic subgroups, which still lack evidence, have been identified. Our goal is to describe and analyse different behavioural profiles of ASD, in social communication and interaction (SCI) and restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests…

Both the amount "and" responsiveness of adult language input contribute to the language development of autistic and non-autistic children. From parent-child interaction footage, we measured the amount of adult language input, overall parent responsiveness, and six discrete parent responsive behaviours ("imitations, expansions,…

Traditional teaching and working environments often prioritize extroverted qualities, disadvantaging individuals with conditions that impact social engagement, such as autism spectrum condition (ASC). These individuals usually thrive in calmer, low-key learning environments but face challenges in lecturestyle classes, and traditional office…

Improving social communication is a frequent goal of early autism services. However, it is unclear whether existing models of social communication align with the perspectives and priorities of key stakeholders, including parents, teachers, and expert clinicians. Stakeholder perspectives on social communication characteristics and priorities for…