Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in many functional areas requiring long-term interventions to promote autonomy. This study aims to map The Sensory Profile™ 2 (SP-2), one of the most widely used assessment tools in children with ASD, with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for…

Autistic people are at elevated risk of mental health conditions and experience significant barriers to effective support. While adaptations to therapy for autistic people have been proposed by clinicians, there is limited research on how helpful autistic people themselves rate these. We aimed to address this gap. Participants were 130 autistic…

Children with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely than neurotypical children to experience eating difficulties, such as picky/selective eating, slow eating, and over/under-eating. Recent studies show that eating difficulties can persist into adulthood for autistic individuals. Yet little is known about the…

Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties and differences in autism are well documented in both research and clinical literature, negatively impacting well-being for autistic young people. Emotion dysregulation can significantly decrease access to opportunities to learn life skills and increase the risk of mental health problems in adulthood. This…

This study examined trajectories of repetitive sensorimotor (RSM), insistence on sameness (IS), and verbal RRBs from ages 2-19 in a well-characterized longitudinal cohort. We also tested the factor structure of the ADI-R restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) domain at age 19 and the inclusion of a verbal RRBs factor, in addition to previously…

In this study we aimed to assess the influence of school-based neurofeedback training on the attention of students with autism and intellectual disabilities. We assessed 24 students of a special education center who attended neurofeedback training sessions during the schoolyear; we also assessed 25 controls from the same center. We used two…

Researchers have shown that behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training are effective for teaching firearm safety skills to children. Within the safety skills literature, there is evidence that manualized interventions are effective for teaching parents and teachers to conduct BST. An approach that has not been evaluated for teaching…

Autism diagnosis before age three to expedite access to critical services is a public health priority in the United States. Still, the average age of autism diagnosis is 49 months with substantial variability across states. By examining policy--defined as laws, regulations, procedures, administrative actions, incentives, or voluntary practices of…

Participatory research is one pathway for advancing the agenda of autistic advocates; however, little is known about the attitudes and values of autism researchers toward participatory research. This is a participatory research mixed-methods study of 215 survey respondents and 21 interviewees, all corresponding authors of published autism research…

The number of autistic students educated in general education classrooms in the United States has increased over recent decades. To ensure meaningful participation and learning for this population, there is a critical need to identify evidence-based, inclusive practices. Through systematic review, the authors examine characteristics and…

As educators who provide support to individuals with ASD, our primary goal should be to teach the skills necessary to live as independently as possible. As critically important as these skills are, teaching independent living skills can sometimes be challenging when motivation is low. These issues become even more complicated as individuals get…

Children with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit difficulties in social communication and interaction. Those who do not acquire functional communication to effectively express wants and needs often are at a higher risk of displaying challenging behaviors. Mand training is recognized as an evidence-based intervention for teaching communication…

Behavioral skills training (BST) delivered synchronously via telecommunication (telehealth) has been shown to be effective for training mediators supporting children with autism. A limitation in the literature is that many published training protocols are evaluated under analogue or highly controlled conditions; therefore, further evaluation is…

Receiving an autism diagnosis in adulthood can be profoundly transformative, yet many newly diagnosed autistic adults experience a lack of accessible, affirming post-diagnostic support. This study explores how a self-guided, neurodiversity-affirming resource--the "Welcome Pack"--supports newly diagnosed autistic adults in navigating…

Autistic youth demonstrate an overestimation of competencies when compared with neurotypical (NT) peers. Research has also shown NT males/boys tend to overestimate their competencies more than NT females/girls. This study assessed sex differences in autistic youths' overestimations on academic self-perception variables. Notably, 127 (70 male)…