Background: The extant literature demonstrates that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty interacting and socially connecting with typically developing classmates. However, some children with ASD have social outcomes that are consistent with their typically developing counterparts. Little is known about this subgroup…

Background: Neurological subtle signs (NSS) are minor neurological abnormalities that have been shown to be increased in a number of neurodevelopmental conditions. For attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it remains unclear whether NSS may aid the clinical diagnostic process. Methods: This study explored the association of total and…

Background: By 2008, 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were orphaned by AIDS. Cross-sectional studies show psychological problems for AIDS-orphaned children, but until now no longitudinal study has explored enduring psychological effects of AIDS-orphanhood in the developing world. Methods: A 4-year longitudinal follow-up of AIDS-orphaned…

Background: This study examined psychiatric comorbidity in adolescents with a gender identity disorder (GID). We focused on its relation to gender, type of GID diagnosis and eligibility for medical interventions (puberty suppression and cross-sex hormones). Methods: To ascertain DSM-IV diagnoses, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children…

Background: While research indicates elevated behavioural and emotional problems in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and decreased well-being in their parents, studies do not typically separate out the contribution of ASD from that of associated intellectual disabilities (ID). We investigated child behavioural and emotional problems,…

Background: Autism exists across a wide spectrum and there is considerable debate as to whether children with Asperger's syndrome, who have normal language milestones, should be considered to comprise a subgroup distinct other from high-functioning children with autism (HFA), who have a history of delayed language development. Magnetic resonance…

Background: There are two accounts of categorization performance in autism: that there is an impairment in prototype formation (Klinger & Dawson, 2001) and that there is an impairment in processing features held in common between stimuli (Plaisted, O'Riordan, & Baron-Cohen, 1998). These accounts, together with central coherence theory (Frith,…

Background: Contemporary models of working memory suggest that target paradigm (TP) and target density (TD) should interact as influences on error rates derived from continuous performance tests (CPTs). The present study evaluated this hypothesis empirically in a typically developing, ethnically diverse sample of children. The extent to which…