The current prospective cohort study investigated whether early perceptual abilities, measured at preschool age, could predict later intellectual abilities at school age in a group of 41 autistic (9 girls, 32 boys) and 57 neurotypical children (29 girls, 28 boys). More than 80% of the autistic children were considered minimally verbal.…

The recent introduction of inclusive schooling settings in France has allowed children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 3 years to benefit from teaching adapted to their special needs, while sharing the same educational environment as their typical peers. The present study examined (1) whether children with ASD attending an…

Students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in Saudi Arabia are provided with the educational services they need in their local schools, but a standardized checklist is needed to measure the level of progress and the benefits acquired through the educational programs. This study aimed to standardize a version of Saudi performance norms on the…

Purpose: Differences in communication development impact long-term outcomes of children with autism. Previous research has identified factors associated with communication in children with autism, but much of the variance in communication skill remains unexplained. It has been proposed that early differences in sensory responsiveness (i.e.,…

This report summarizes research about development during the first 3 years of life. It highlights research in domains that are foundational for later school readiness and success, including: (1) perceptual, motor, and physical development; (2) social and emotional development; (3) approaches to learning; (4) language and communication; and (5)…

Audiovisual speech consists of overlapping and invariant patterns of dynamic acoustic and optic articulatory information. Research has shown that infants can perceive a variety of basic auditory-visual (A-V) relations but no studies have investigated whether and when infants begin to perceive higher order A-V relations inherent in speech. Here, we…

Autism is currently one of the most prominent and widely discussed human conditions. Its increased prevalence has intensified the demand for effective educational and therapeutic services, and intervention science is providing mounting evidence about practices that positively impact outcomes. The purpose of this report is to describe a set of…

This paper describes the FAB (Functionally Alert Behavior) Strategies approach to improve behavior in children and adolescents with complex behavioral challenges. FAB Strategies include evidence-based environmental adaptations, sensory modulation, positive behavioral support, and physical self-regulation strategies. FAB Strategies can be used by…

This study investigated the association between therapeutic riding (TR) and the social communication and sensory processing skills of 21 elementary students with autism attending TR as part of a school group. An interrupted treatment design was employed to determine whether children were able to maintain treatment effects following the removal of…

Purpose: To examine patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., hyperresponsiveness, hyporesponsiveness, and sensory seeking) as factors that may account for variability in social-communicative symptoms of autism and variability in language, social, and communication skill development in children with autism or other developmental disabilities…

Two experiments, involving a total of 126 subjects with mental retardation (mental age from 5-11 years), found that subjects were less likely than controls to employ the "difference rule" (communicate to the listener how a referent is different from other stimuli) and that perceptual feedback training enhances referential communication…

Examined toddlers' awareness of partners' knowledge states when communicating with them. In two studies, the parent either witnessed or did not witness placement of an object the child asked for help in retrieving. Subjects named the object and location and gestured to its location more often for parents who did not know the information than for…

Suggests a connection between the perceptual world taken as a system of signs and the system of signs we normally think of as visible language and defends this thesis. (TO)

Examines how children's responses to questions about object terms varied across objects and the degree to which children specified common and conventional values for different object dimensions. (HOD)