We investigated infant's manual motor behaviour; specifically behaviours crossing the body midline. Infants at elevated likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) produced fewer manual behaviours that cross the midline compared to infants with a typical likelihood of developing these…

Self-report measures offer a unique source of information in the assessment and intervention of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, it is not known if children with autism spectrum disorder can answer self-report questionnaires accurately and consistently. As a step to address this issue, we examined validity indexes of the…

In this study, we examined trajectories of specific domains of behavior problems (i.e., attention problems, depression/anxiety, and aggressive behavior) from age 6 to 18 in a sample of 55 children with fragile X syndrome. We also examined autism status and early parenting as predictors of subsequent behavioral trajectories. We found that attention…

Numerous studies have investigated the predictors of language in pre-verbal toddlers and verbally fluent children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study investigated the concurrent relations among expressive language and a set of empirically-selected social communication variables--joint attention, imitation, and play--in a unique…

Autism spectrum disorder is associated with sensory processing alterations, such as sensory hyper- and hypo-responsiveness. Twin studies are scarce in this field, but they are necessary in order to disentangle the genetic and environmental contributions to this association. Furthermore, it is unclear how different neurodevelopmental/psychiatric…

To evaluate an eye tracking task as a predictor and outcome measure of treatment response for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) social skills interventions, adolescents and young adults with ASD completed the eye tracking task before, immediately after, and two months after completing Social Cognition and Interaction Training for Autism (SCIT-A). The…

Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions are promising approaches for young children with, or suspected of having, autism spectrum disorder. Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement and regulation intervention (JASPER) is a well-researched naturalistic developmental behavioural intervention but, to date, no reviews have specifically…

Little empirical evidence exists about school-age pragmatic communication or predictors in siblings at heightened familial risk for ASD (HR) and low-risk (LR) controls. The "Pragmatic Rating Scale-School-Age" (Landa unpublished) was scored for 49 HR siblings and 18 LR controls at 8-12 years. Social-communication and language measures…

Paying attention is a critical first step toward learning. For children in primary school classrooms there can be many things to attend to other than the focus of a lesson, such as visual displays on classroom walls. The aim of this study was to use eye-tracking techniques to explore the impact of visual displays on attention and learning for…

Background: Responses to digital cognitive training interventions vary greatly among children with intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD). Investigating possible predictors of improvements following training is vital in ascertaining which individuals benefit from these interventions. Methods: Seventy-three children (4-11 years) with IDD…

Purpose: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate many mechanisms of lexical acquisition that support language in typical development; however, 1 notable exception is the shape bias. The bases of these children's difficulties with the shape bias are not well understood, and the current study explored potential sources of individual…

Trajectories of expressive language development are highly heterogeneous in autism. Yoder et al. found that parental responsiveness, child response to joint attention, child communicative intent and consonant inventory were unique predictors of expressive language growth in minimally verbal preschoolers 16 months later (n = 87). This study applied…

Comprehensive interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often incorporate augmentative and alternative communication (AAC); however, variability in outcomes exists even among children who access similar intervention. This study investigated predictors of expressive language change for 48 children with ASD aged 31 to 67 months…

Mental distress is highly prevalent in university students, and autistic traits can hinder academic education. The substantial lifestyle changes experienced by new university students can induce mood and anxiety dysfunctions and subsequent suicide-related behaviors. The aims of this study were to evaluate the detectability of suicidal ideation…

Previous studies independently demonstrated impairments in rapid orienting/disengagement and zooming-out of spatial attention in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These attentional mechanisms, however, are not completely independent. Aiming at a more complete picture of spatial attention deficits in ASD, we examined the relationship between…