The study aimed to identify the mediating role of emotional intelligence and social competences in the relationship between gender and broad autism phenotype (BAP) as well as between age and BAP. It comprised 85 parents of children with ASD. They completed the questionnaires of Autism-Spectrum Quotient, social competences, and emotional…

Few studies have investigated the effect of age on treatment effectiveness of evidence-based social skills training in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) adolescents. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) in different ages of ASD adolescents. A total of 110 ASD adolescents aged…

Empathy evokes support for the person in distress, and thus strengthening social cohesion. The question is to what extent empathic reactions can be observed in autistic adolescents and autistic girls in particular, since there is evidence that they have better social skills than boys, which might hinder their recognition as autistic. We examined…

In the context of Social Stories™, we compared visual attention to social scenes using BoardMaker™ versus photographic stimuli among typically developing (TD) children and age-matched children with ASD. For visual attention, the dependent measures were the number of fixations and fixation time to eye, mouth, and 'other' (background) areas of…

Differences in motivation during adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood in autism was tested in a cross-sectional study. 156 Typically developing individuals and 79 individuals with autism ages 10-30 years of age completed a go/nogo task with social and non-social cues. To assess age effects, linear and quadratic models were used.…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairments in social communication and social cognition. Difficulties in emotion understanding, from emotion recognition to emotion regulation are common features that can affect the inclusion process. One outstanding question is the extent to which age and IQ affect…

Autism spectrum disorder symptom emergence is heterogeneous, yet literature comparing young children diagnosed early versus later is relatively scant. Toddlers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between 12 and 18 months (n = 20), 19 and 24 months (n = 65), or 25 and 41 months (n = 27) were compared on demographics, developmental functioning,…

The sources of anxiety for a sample of 132 young males with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were investigated from standardised scales and verbal responses to a series of open-ended questions asked to them and their mothers. As well as using parametric statistics to test for effects on standardised scales, verbal responses were analysed via NVivo…

Relationships between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and age and IQ were investigated in children with autism and/or ADHD covering broader age and IQ ranges than in previous studies. Mothers rated 1436 children with autism and 1,056 with ADHD (2-17 years, IQs 9-149) on Pediatric Behavior Scale SCT items. Increasing age correlated with SCT in the…

The assessment instruments for diagnosing children with autism spectrum disorder have been developed mostly in affluent, English-speaking countries. Among the most popular has been the Autism Diagnostic Interview--Revised. This article reports its use in Iran with the dual aims of confirming the factor structure of the revised Autism Diagnostic…

Social cognition impairment is a core shared phenotype in both schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study compares social cognition performance through four different instruments in a sample of 147 individuals with ASD or SSD and in healthy controls. We found that both clinical groups perform similarly…

We conducted a meta-analysis of 18 studies to establish whether a relation exists between Reading the Mind in the Eye Test (RMET) performance and intelligence quotient (IQ) in individuals diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) and controls, taking into account relevant characteristics such as age, gender, and autism quotient. Our findings…

Previous studies have reported reduced quality of life in autism. Improving quality of life for autistic people is, therefore, a key priority for clinical research and practice. However, the relative impact of core autism traits (e.g. social-communication difficulties), as compared to associated mental health symptoms (e.g. anxiety, depression) on…

The aim of this study was to identify sensory subtypes in children on the autism spectrum using the Short Sensory Profile-2 (SSP-2). Caregivers of children on the autism spectrum aged 4-11 years (n = 271) completed the SSP-2. Analysis using Dirichlet process mixture model identified a two-cluster model which provided the best solution to subtype…

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an important public health problem. It refers to a developmental disability and can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. According to the previous studies there is no precisely treatment for individuals with ASD. However, they can be improved and can be taught important skills such…