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Autism spectrum research

Everything we have read on autism spectrum. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

2,764 PAPERS · PAGE 20 OF 56 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPCase-Control2021Reduced Proactive Control Processes Associated With Behavioral Response Inhibition Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchPeople with autism had more difficulty stopping eye movements when they had to wait and see, but reacted faster once they decided to stop. This suggests the issue is not a lack of ability to stop, but trouble preparing to hold back in uncertain situations.
• SLPSystematic Review2021Adverse event reporting in intervention research for young autistic children.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceMost autism intervention studies for young children do not monitor or report harms. Only 11 of 150 reports mentioned adverse events, and just 4 noted actual harm. Withdrawal reasons often revealed distress or family crises, while negative outcomes were rarely labelled as adverse effects.
• OTSLPOther2020White matter alterations in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in relation to sensory profile.Molecular autismAdults with autism or ADHD showed similar brain white matter changes compared to controls. Sensory issues linked to these changes in the same way across all three groups. This suggests sensory difficulties may stem from shared brain mechanisms rather than being unique to autism.
• SLPSurvey2021Perceptions of Families of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Crisis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFamilies of people with autism reported high stress and disruption during early Michigan shutdowns. Higher caregiver-rated symptom severity was associated with more stress and disruption for caregivers and individuals.
• SLPOther2021Conversational correlates of rapid social judgments of children and adolescents with and without ASD.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsOnline listeners judged young people with ASD more positively when their first 30 seconds had wider pitch range and pauses within their own turns. Longer silence after questions, less speech, and faster speech were linked with lower ratings.
• SLPCase-Control2020Face individual identity recognition: a potential endophenotype in autism.Molecular autismFace-blindness affects 36% of autistic adults, compared to 6% of controls. In this subgroup, poor face memory predicts difficulty reading mental states from eyes. Self-reported face difficulties did not match test results, so patients may not know they have this deficit.
• SLPOther2021Comparison of Disfluent and Ungrammatical Speech of Preadolescents with and without ASD.Journal of autism and developmental disordersBoys with high-functioning ASD spent more time producing disfluent and ungrammatical speech than controls. Their disfluencies were complex, involving word searches and grammatical errors that disrupted conversation, unlike the simple pauses seen in typical peers.
• PTOTSLPOther2020Physical health of autistic girls and women: a scoping review.Molecular autismAutistic girls and women report more physical health problems than autistic boys and men, with epilepsy and endocrine issues like PCOS standing out. This pattern may reflect under-diagnosis in males or higher biological risk in females, rather than a simple prevalence difference.
• SLPProtocol2021Bumetanide Oral Liquid Formulation for the Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design of Two Phase III Studies (SIGN Trials).Journal of autism and developmental disordersNo results are reported. This paper plans two trials of a bumetanide liquid compared with placebo in children and adolescents with moderate to severe autism. The main planned outcome is change in autism symptom scores after six months.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2021Anxiety and intellectual functioning in autistic children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAcross studies of autistic children, higher IQ scores went with higher anxiety scores, especially when children with intellectual disability were included. The link was small, and anxiety measures were often not validated for autism or intellectual disability.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2021Emotional self-awareness in autism: A meta-analysis of group differences and developmental effects.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic people report significantly more difficulty identifying and describing their own emotions than non-autistic people. This gap is absent in children under 12 but emerges in adolescence and widens through adulthood, likely reflecting increased distress rather than a stable trait.
• OTSLPCohort2021Developmental associations between joint engagement and autistic children's vocabulary: A cross-lagged panel analysis.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceEarly joint engagement with caregivers predicted later vocabulary growth in autistic toddlers, but early vocabulary did not predict later engagement. However, statistical tests showed no clear superiority of the engagement-to-vocabulary direction over the reverse, so the causal pathway remains unresolved.
• OTSLPOther2021The Learning, Social and Emotion Adaptation Questionnaire-Short Form: A Measure of Adaptive Behavior for Primary School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe 53-item LSEAQ-S reliably measures school adaptation for students with autism. It takes teachers 15 to 20 minutes to complete and provides norms showing girls with autism lag behind peers more than boys do, especially as they age.
• SLPOther2020Person Ability Scores as an Alternative to Norm-Referenced Scores as Outcome Measures in Studies of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilitiesIn small samples, scores that track a child's own ability showed change more clearly than scores comparing them to same-age peers. Peer-comparison scores often hit a low limit and can make stable or improving ability look unchanged or worse.
• SLPOther2021Autism spectrum disorder screening in preschools.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceA 13-item classroom checklist, rated by preschool teachers or briefly trained observers, flagged children who were later more likely to meet ASD criteria. It is a screening aid, not a diagnosis.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children with cerebral palsy: high prevalence rates in a population-based study.Developmental medicine and child neurologyIn a population of children with cerebral palsy, 30% had autism and 30% had ADHD, rates higher than previously reported. Intellectual disability, not motor severity, was the strongest predictor. Screening for these conditions is warranted regardless of physical function.
• SLPOther2020Factor analysis of signs of childhood apraxia of speech.Journal of communication disordersSpeech signs in 57 children with childhood apraxia clustered into three distinct groups: prosody, coarticulation, and inconsistency. This supports using these three areas as core diagnostic criteria. Syllable segmentation was the strongest prosody sign, suggesting it may help identify apraxia even in minimally verbal children.
• SLPCase-Control2020No preference for direct versus averted gaze in autistic adults: a reinforced preferential looking paradigm.Molecular autismAutistic adults showed no preference for looking at mouths over eyes. They also did not distinguish between direct and averted gaze, unlike neurotypical adults who preferred direct gaze. Reduced attention to the eye region was linked to higher alexithymia scores, not autism diagnosis alone.
• SLPOther2020High-throughput screening identifies histone deacetylase inhibitors that modulate GTF2I expression in 7q11.23 microduplication autism spectrum disorder patient-derived cortical neurons.Molecular autismA screen did not find compounds that raised target gene expression in Williams syndrome neurons. In neurons from people with 7q11.23 duplication, three histone deacetylase inhibitors lowered GTF2I levels. Vorinostat was most consistent. Not tested in patients.
• SLPCohort2021Camouflaging in Autism: Examining Sex-Based and Compensatory Models in Social Cognition and Communication.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAdolescent girls with autism showed fewer repetitive behaviors and more varied vocal tone during social tasks than boys. However, boys and girls had similar social affect scores. Clinicians should not assume girls are less impaired based on standard diagnostic observations alone.
• SLPCohort2021Different Ways of Making a Point: A Study of Gestural Communication in Typical and Atypical Early Development.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren with autism produced fewer pointing gestures than typical peers, specifically using fewer index-finger points and fewer points without touching the object. These morphological differences suggest a delay in reaching the more sophisticated stage of gestural communication.
• SLPOther2021Utility of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Brief Observation of Social and Communication Change for Measuring Outcomes for a Parent-Mediated Early Autism Intervention.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn Module 1 children, the ADOS-BOSCC showed no clear difference between parent-mediated therapy and usual care. The ADOS did not outperform it. The measure was reliable, but it did not reveal a larger treatment effect.
• SLPCohort2021Qualification for upper secondary education in individuals with autism without intellectual disability: Total population study, Stockholm, Sweden.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceStudents with autism without intellectual disability were significantly less likely to qualify for upper secondary education than their peers. Comorbid ADHD, female sex, and lower family income further reduced the likelihood of meeting graduation criteria.
• SLPCohort2020Combined frequency-tagging EEG and eye-tracking measures provide no support for the "excess mouth/diminished eye attention" hypothesis in autism.Molecular autismBoys with autism looked at faces just as much as typical boys did, focusing on the eyes rather than the mouth. Brain scans showed no difference in how they processed these features. The idea that autistic people avoid eyes is not supported by this data.
• SLPCohort2021Characterizing the early vocabulary profiles of preverbal and minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceChildren with autism producing 1-10 words used a higher proportion of verbs than typically developing toddlers with the same vocabulary size. They used fewer animal, people, and sound-effect words, and more food and drink words. Both groups still showed a noun bias.
• SLPOther2021Do Biological Sex and Early Developmental Milestones Predict the Age of First Concerns and Eventual Diagnosis in Autism Spectrum Disorder?Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe sex difference in age at diagnosis was not clear. Girls with ASD had first concerns over 7 months later than boys, despite speaking their first word about 3 months and first three-word phrase nearly 6 months earlier.
• SLPRCT2021Family navigation to increase evaluation for autism spectrum disorder in toddlers: Screening and Linkage to Services for Autism pragmatic randomized trial.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceFamily navigation increased the likelihood of toddlers receiving an autism diagnostic evaluation but did not improve rates of referral to early intervention services or eligibility determination. Benefits were concentrated among families who actually engaged with the navigator, while many eligible families could not be reached.
• SLPCohort2021Complex Interplay Between Cognitive Ability and Social Motivation in Predicting Social Skill: A Unique Role for Social Motivation in Children With Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn children with autism, low social motivation predicts poor social skills independently of IQ. This link is strongest in those without intellectual disability. For these children, targeting social motivation may be more effective than focusing solely on skill acquisition.
• SLPPilot2021Ameliorating the disadvantage for autistic job seekers: An initial evaluation of adapted employment interview questions.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAdapting job interview questions by breaking them into parts and giving candidates a printout improved answer quality for both autistic and non-autistic applicants. This reduced the disadvantage autistic candidates faced when answering standard questions, though employers still rated them lower on overall impression.
• SLPCase-Control2021Attend Less, Fear More: Elevated Distress to Social Threat in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe main distress result did not show one overall difference between groups. Toddlers with ASD looked less at the stranger and used more varied regulation strategies; their distress was higher than in typical toddlers in stranger probe and lower in object and mask probes.
• OTSLPCase-Control2020Alpha connectivity and inhibitory control in adults with autism spectrum disorder.Molecular autismAdults with autism matched controls on lab-based inhibition tasks but reported more everyday difficulties. Brain scans showed reduced alpha-band connectivity in a right-hemisphere network, which correlated with self-reported poor inhibition. This suggests a specific difficulty suppressing distractions in complex real-world settings.
• SLPQualitative2021Embedding school cultures and climates that promote evidence-based practice implementation for youth with autism: A qualitative study.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceTeachers identified seven principal behaviors that support evidence-based practice, including providing autism-specific training, adjusting evaluations to fit student needs, and allocating adequate resources. Conversely, generic professional development and rigid performance standards were linked to low teacher support and high stress.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Motor Impairment Increases in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder as a Function of Social Communication, Cognitive and Functional Impairment, Repetitive Behavior Severity, and Comorbid Diagnoses: A SPARK Study Report.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn children with autism, the risk of motor impairment rises alongside social, cognitive, and functional difficulties. The risk also increases with comorbid diagnoses like ADHD or intellectual disability. This suggests motor issues are pervasive and linked to overall severity.
• SLPOther2020Gene functional networks and autism spectrum characteristics in young people with intellectual disability: a dimensional phenotyping study.Molecular autismGenetic cause of intellectual disability did not predict overall autism likelihood. However, chromatin-related variants linked to greater inflexibility, especially with hyperactivity. Synaptic variants linked to social withdrawal with anxiety. These patterns suggest distinct mechanisms for specific autism traits rather than a single global risk.
• SLPCohort2020Evidence for the placenta-brain axis: multi-omic kernel aggregation predicts intellectual and social impairment in children born extremely preterm.Molecular autismPlacental molecular profiles modestly predicted later social and intellectual scores in children born extremely preterm. External checks did not confirm this.
• SLPCohort2021Fear Potentiated Startle in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association With Anxiety Symptoms and Amygdala Volume.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren with autism showed the same fear-potentiated startle response as typically developing peers, regardless of anxiety diagnosis. This physiological measure did not track anxiety severity, suggesting it is not a reliable biomarker for anxiety in this population.
• SLPOther2021Competing Perceptual Salience in a Visual Word Recognition Task Differentially Affects Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren with autism still recognized named words, but looked less at the named target when a more colorful and patterned distractor competed. Children without autism did not show this drop. Design therapy materials so distractors do not draw attention away from the target.
• SLPCase-Control2020Left hemispheric deficit in the sustained neuromagnetic response to periodic click trains in children with ASD.Molecular autismChildren with autism showed a normal brain response to the rhythm of clicks but a delayed response to pitch processing in the left hemisphere. This suggests a specific low-level neural deficit in how the brain extracts sound patterns, distinct from general hearing issues.
• SLPQualitative2021Autistic parents' views and experiences of talking about autism with their autistic children.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic parents described talking about autism as ongoing, child-led, and often light-hearted, using their own lived experience to explain diagnosis positively and adapt language to each child. These are parents' accounts, not tested outcomes.
• SLPCohort2021What categorical induction variability reveals about typical and atypical development.Journal of child languageChildren with autism were less likely to use a shared category name to extend a property. Typically developing peers did so more consistently, and early shape bias predicted later category reasoning only in typical development.
• OTSLPMeta-Analysis2021Intensive behavioural interventions based on applied behaviour analysis for young children with autism: An international collaborative individual participant data meta-analysis.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceCompared with usual or eclectic early support, intensive ABA-based programmes showed a 14-point IQ difference and a 7-point adaptive behaviour difference after 2 years. These studies were not randomised and often unblinded, so these differences may be overstated.
• SLPQualitative2020'A blender without the lid on': Mealtime experiences of caregivers with a child with autism spectrum disorder in South Africa.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsCaregivers prioritise family connection over food variety. Most struggle with children refusing to sit at the table, not just picky eating. Financial stress from cooking two meals and social isolation due to lack of support are major burdens. Interventions should target seating and family routine, not just food acceptance.
• OTSLPQualitative2021End-user perspectives on the development of an online intervention for parents of children on the autism spectrum.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceParents of autistic children described online services as fragmented and hard to trust. They asked for a single hub combining peer support, clear diagnosis pathways, and direct access to professionals like SLTs and OTs, with content they could search by their child's specific needs.
• SLPSystematic Review2021A systematic review of technological approaches for autism spectrum disorder assessment in children: Implications for the COVID-19 pandemic.Research in developmental disabilitiesPhone, web, live video, and recorded video tools showed variable accuracy for ASD assessment in children. Many were tested in small clinic samples, so they are not ready to replace in-person evaluation.
• SLPQualitative2021While quarantined: An online parent education and training model for families of children with autism in China.Research in developmental disabilitiesParents of children with autism in China prioritized emotional support and peer connection over technical training during lockdown. They valued feeling understood and less alone, while struggling with cultural stigma and pressure to make their children "fit in".
• OTSLPOtherShared Decision-Making During Initial Diagnostic and Treatment Planning Visits for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPObserved shared decision-making was very low in first autism diagnosis visits: providers rarely discussed options or preferences, and 41% showed none, though parents and providers rated it much higher.
• OTSLPMeta-Analysis2021Understanding the Effects of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: A Project AIM Meta-analysis.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchNaturalistic developmental behavioral interventions improved social communication, language, play, and cognition in children with autism. However, gains were larger when measured in the same context as therapy or on specific skills taught, suggesting some reported benefits may not generalize to daily life.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2021How have youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder managed quarantine derived from COVID-19 pandemic? An approach to families perspectives.Research in developmental disabilitiesParents reported that children with autism were generally happier and calmer during quarantine, with many showing increased autonomy and participation in family routines. However, some children became more irritable or developed new stereotypies, while families missed external support and struggled with work-life balance.
• SLPOther2021Health characteristics of reproductive-aged autistic women in Ontario: A population-based, cross-sectional study.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic reproductive-aged women had higher rates of chronic disease, mental illness, assault, and pregnancy-risk medications, plus more material deprivation after age adjustment. They also had better primary care continuity.
• SLPCohort2021Cross-level analysis of molecular and neurobehavioral function in a prospective series of patients with germline heterozygous PTEN mutations with and without autism.Molecular autismPTEN mutation status alone did not explain cognitive or behavioral differences in 61 people with PTEN mutations or autism-related macrocephaly. Blood PTEN pathway protein levels were linked to cognition, language, attention, processing speed, and externalizing behavior.