Autism significantly impacts how individuals interact, communicate and perceive the world. Gastrointestinal disturbances, particularly constipation, are prevalent among autistic people, affecting their overall well-being. However, to the best of our knowledge, no specific guidelines are currently available regarding the diagnosis of constipation…

Purpose: Disorders on the autism spectrum have characteristics that can manifest as difficulties with communication, executive functioning, daily living, and more. These challenges can be mitigated with early identification. However, diagnostic criteria has changed from DSM-IV to DSM-5, which can make diagnosing a disorder on the autism spectrum…

Purpose: Increased local-to-global interference has been found in those with ASD, AD and OCD, and as such, may represent a transdiagnostic marker. As a first step to investigating this, we aimed to assess the overlap in traits of these disorders in a non-clinical sample, and whether local-global processing relates to the traits of the three…

Only one in every five children with autism is diagnosed before the age of 3 years. As a result, tens of thousands of children every year in the United States miss benefiting from early interventions and supports that could potentially optimize their lifetime outcomes. A major obstacle is the extremely limited access to high quality diagnosis. To…

Background: Engineering students experience high levels of distress and low rates of mental health treatment seeking, yet there is a gap in knowledge around how this compares with that of students in other fields of study. Given the influence of social identity (e.g., gender identity, race/ethnicity) on mental health and treatment seeking, it is…

Purpose: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are conditions that similarly alter cognitive functioning ability and challenge the social interaction, attention, and communication skills of affected individuals. Yet these are distinct neurological conditions that can exhibit diverse characteristics…

This study aimed to systematically assess the impact of clinical and demographic variables on the diagnostic yield of Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) when applied to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from a consanguineous population. Ninety-seven children were included in the analysis, 63% were male and 37% were females. 77.3% had a…

Approximately 3-4 boys for every girl meet the clinical criteria for autism in studies of community diagnostic patterns and studies of autism using samples of convenience. However, girls with autism have been hypothesized to be underdiagnosed, possibly because they may present with differing symptom profiles as compared to boys. This secondary…

Differential diagnosis of young children with suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is challenging, and clinician uncertainty about a child's diagnosis may contribute to misdiagnosis and subsequent delays in access to early treatment. The current study was designed to replicate and expand a recent report in this Journal (McDonnell et al. in…

Sensory processing abilities are highly variable within and across people diagnosed with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined the transdiagnostic nature of sensory processing abilities, and their association with features of autism and ADHD, in a large sample of autistic people (n = 495) and people with…

Sensory features are included in the diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorder, and sensory responsiveness may produce "cascading effects" on later development. However, the relation between early sensory profiles and later skills has yet to be defined. This study aims to characterize sensory subgroups in 116 toddlers at elevated…

Purpose: Down Syndrome Regression Disorder (DSRD) is a diagnosis of exclusion. Psychiatric and neuroimmunologic etiologies have been proposed although the exact etiology remains unknown. This study sought to review non-DSRD diagnoses at a large quaternary medical center specializing in the diagnosis of DSRD and compare clinical characteristics…

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to compare scale and conditional reliability derived from item response theory analyses among the most commonly used, as well as several newly developed, observation, interview, and parent-report autism instruments. Methods: When available, data sets were combined to facilitate large sample evaluation.…

Although it is recognised that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and personality disorders (PDs) have a variety of factors in common, the exact nature of the relationship between ASD and the PDs remains unclear. The overlapping symptom profiles and complexities in developmental trajectories in ASD and PDs can lead to diagnostic uncertainty and to…

Anxiety is now recognized as one of the most common co-occurring conditions in youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite the prevalence of this comorbid condition, accurate assessment and diagnosis of anxiety in ASD has proven difficult. This paper will address the considerable research literature on assessing anxiety in youth…