Cooperation is a fundamental human ability that seems to be inversely related to aggressive behaviour in typical development. However, there is no knowledge whether similar association holds for children with autism spectrum disorder. A total of 27 boys with autism spectrum disorder and their gender, age and total score intelligence matched…

A percentage of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities engage in severe, dangerous challenging behaviors. Two common approaches for intervening for these behaviors are function-based interventions (FBI), which have been effective at reducing such behaviors, and crisis intervention, which has been shown to increase staff…

While a considerable number of youth with autism spectrum disorder exhibit impaired self-regulation (dysregulation), little is known about the neural correlates of dysregulation in autism spectrum disorder. In a sample of intellectually able boys with autism spectrum disorder (further categorized as those with and without dysregulation) and…

Sensory issues are of great interest in ASD diagnosis. However, their investigation is mainly based on external observation (parent reports), with methodological limitations. Unobtrusive olfactory assessment allows studying autism neurosensoriality. Here, 20 male children with high-functioning ASD and 20 matched controls were administered a…

This article presents an individual intervention combining cognitive-behavioral and behavior-analytic approaches to target severe emotion dysregulation in verbal youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) concurrent with intellectual disability (ID). The article focuses on two specific individuals who received the treatment within a therapeutic…

Brief experimental analysis (BEA) is a useful tool for quickly evaluating intervention strategies for individuals with academic deficits and minor behavior problems. However, there is a lack of research investigating BEA for intervention strategies with individuals who emit severe problem behavior to avoid academic demands. For the current study,…

This article describes how a behaviour contract has been implemented to achieve positive and enduring results for four boys with a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Four case studies are described which address reductions in behaviours such as assaultive and destructive behaviour, out-of-seat behaviour, inappropriate contact with…

Background: Empathy dysfunction is one of the hallmarks of psychopathy, but it is also sometimes thought to characterise autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Individuals with either condition can appear uncaring towards others. This study set out to compare and contrast directly boys with psychopathic tendencies and boys with ASD on tasks assessing…