The wait for ASD evaluation dramatically increases with age, with wait times of a year or more common as children reach preschool. Even when appointments become available, families from traditionally underserved groups struggle to access care. Addressing care disparities requires designing identification tools and processes specifically for and…

Purpose: Only a few studies examined the longitudinal pattern of parent-teacher reports on autism severity and comorbidities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and yielded conflicting results. The study's aims were to compare parents and teachers' perception of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety symptoms severity in…

Background: Family members of children with developmental disabilities on average report poorer family functioning and mental health. Positive Family Connections is a co-produced, positively-oriented, family-systems support programme for families of children with developmental disabilities aged 8-13. We investigated experiences of Positive Family…

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of instruments for assessing mental health (MH) among autistic people. This study aimed to review the psychometric properties of broadband instruments used to assess MH problems among autistic people. In accordance with the PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO: CRD42022316571) we searched the APA PsycINFO via…

Inclusive music classrooms in theory and in practice, within the context of Cyprus, are an under-researched area. This study wishes to address this gap in research, by proposing a Model of Musical Development in Inclusive Education (MMDIE) that could act as a valuable tool for music educators, researchers, teachers, parents and stakeholders for…

A recent large-scale study on the portrayal of autism in British newspapers revealed a deficit-based coverage, which concentrated on children and boys in particular, typically represented from the mothers' perspective. This follow-up study refines these representations, considering how they differ by gender and family role. We analysed 2998 text…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may face challenges with reporting past behavior. Although some behavior-analytic studies have shown success with increasing these reports, the use of materials within activities that do not repeat has not been assessed (e.g., Shillingsburg et al., 2017). Thus, the purpose of the current study was to…

Purpose: Parents of autistic children are often advised to use only one language to simplify their child's language acquisition. Often this recommendation orients towards the geographically predominant language, which may cause difficulties especially for minority-language families. On the other hand, scientific evidence suggests that…

Specialized multidisciplinary supports are important for long-term outcomes for autistic youth. Although family and child factors predict service utilization in autism, little is known with respect to youth with rare, autism-associated genetic variants, who frequently have increased psychiatric, developmental, and behavioral needs. We investigate…

Purpose: School is an important developmental setting for children. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to overall lower educational attainment and are more prevalent in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) than in their neurotypical peers. The aim of this study is to test the association between ACEs and school outcomes among…

Aim: Responses to complex problems demand collaboration across practice boundaries. The studies presented here make visible the processes that constitute successful collaborations between practitioners and clients. The Argument: Complex problems can be "discovered", where practitioners recognize and address complexity through an existing…

Because autistic youth experience increased suicide risk and there are no suicide risk screening tools for this population, existing measures need to be evaluated and then modified with input from the autism community. This pilot study obtained feedback from autistic youth, caregivers, and autism specialist clinicians (N = 14) on the applicability…

Urine-detecting alarms are prevalent in toilet training intervention research and clinical practice for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but the effects of urine alarms remain unclear. Urine alarms may function as punishing or reinforcing contingencies, or may merely alert trainers to accidents and improve treatment…

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience stress, potentially affecting parenting and child outcomes. The roles of psychological flexibility and parental reflective functioning in coping strategies of parents of children with ASD are not fully understood. The study aims to examine differences in psychological flexibility,…

This review aims to systematically review qualitative research exploring the social support experiences of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (CWASD). Limited to original research in English language only; reported on the social support experiences of parents of CWASD; publication dates 2013 to 2023. PsycInfo, PubMed, Web of…