Purpose: The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is frequently used in research settings to measure characteristics associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A short version has been developed but not yet tested for certain properties of the full SRS, such as familiality. The purpose of this study was to determine if prior familiality…

Qualitative studies of autistic people's pregnancy experiences have indicated sensory and communication related barriers to accessing adequate prenatal healthcare. However, quantitative work on the topic is scarce. This online survey study explored pregnancy experiences among 417 autistic and 524 non-autistic people. Compared with non-autistic…

Research has found 96% of autistic individuals experience sensory processing difficulties, and being a parent presents many sensory demands that may be especially challenging for autistic mothers. Despite the high prevalence, no research exists exploring the sensory experiences of autistic mothers, highlighting the gap in current knowledge.…

Purpose: To explore the recalled experience of pregnancy and motherhood in women diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) without intellectual disabilities, focusing on sensory perceptions and mood. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated, through an ad-hoc structured interview, the sensory sensitivity during the pre-partum, the peri-partum,…

Purpose: The present study investigated school absence among 1,076 5-15 year-old children with neurodevelopmental conditions (intellectual disability and/or autism) approximately one year following the start of COVID-19 in the UK. Methods: Parents completed an online survey indicating whether their child was absent from school during May 2021 and…

Since subthreshold autistic social impairments aggregate in family members, and since attentional dysfunctions appear to be one of the earliest cognitive markers of children with autism, we investigated in the general population the relationship between infants' attentional functioning and the autistic traits measured in their parents.…

This study examined the bidirectional relations over time between behavioral functioning (autism symptoms, maladaptive behaviors, activities of daily living) and vocational/educational activities of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Participants were 153 adults with ASD (M age = 30.2 years) who were part of a larger longitudinal study.…

Extensive empirical evidence indicates that the lesser variant of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) involves a communication impairment that is similar to, but milder than, the deficit in clinical ASD. This research explored the relationship between the broader autism phenotype (BAP) among parents, an index of genetic liability for ASD, and proband…