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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 23 OF 56 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPOther2021Dimensions of Autistic Traits Rated by Parents of Children and Adolescents with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 312 children with suspected autism, a parent questionnaire’s total score and restricted/repetitive behaviour section appeared to reflect autistic traits. The social communication section did not measure a separate kind of problem; it mostly reflected overall autism traits.
• SLPPilot2021Development and Acceptability of a New Program for Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Online Parent Training in Early Behavioral Intervention.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents rated a new online autism training program as clear and helpful, but 37% dropped out. Dropouts were often lower-income or had older children. The program worked for those who stayed, but time and practical barriers stopped many from finishing.
• SLPOther2021The Impact of Stigma, Autism Label and Wording on the Perceived Desirability of the Online Dating Profiles of Men on the Autism Spectrum.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFor men on the autism spectrum, an explicit autism label and positive wording in online dating profiles were associated with higher ratings for social and task attractiveness. However, this label did not increase the desire to date, and the effect varied by the rater's level of stigmatising views.
• SLPRCT2021Brief Report: Mindfulness Training for Chinese Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Parents in Hong Kong.Journal of autism and developmental disordersNine mindfulness sessions for Chinese adolescents with ASD and parents were feasible; helpfulness to parents scored 5.91 out of 10, helpfulness to adolescents 4.73, below the paper's 5-point threshold, and the program did not show a clear advantage over waitlist.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Sex Differences in Co-occurring Conditions Among Autistic Children and Youth in Florida: A Retrospective Cohort Study (2012-2019).Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 83,500 autistic children, girls had significantly higher odds of anxiety, mood disorders, intellectual disability, epilepsy, sleep, and GI issues than boys. Boys had higher odds of ADHD. This suggests clinicians should screen girls more aggressively for these co-occurring conditions.
• SLPSurvey2021Sibling Adjustment and Sibling Relationships Associated with Clusters of Needs in Children with Autism: A Novel Methodological Approach.Journal of autism and developmental disordersSiblings of autistic children did not adjust worse simply because the child needed more support. Siblings of children with moderate autism symptoms but high behavior problems were rated as having more emotional, behavioral, and relationship difficulties than siblings of children with fewer symptoms.
• SLPOther2022Adapting and validating the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Version 2 for use with deaf children and young people.Journal of autism and developmental disordersThe ADOS-2 adapted for deaf children correctly identified 73% of children with autism and correctly ruled out 71% without autism when checked against clinical assessment, below the 85% target for finding autism.
• PTOTSLPCohort2022Which Factors Influence Teacher Report of Adaptive Functioning in Autistic Children?Journal of autism and developmental disordersTeachers reported very low adaptive functioning in autistic children. Scores dropped as age and parent-reported autism severity increased. Higher nonverbal ability and expressive language predicted better scores. Direct autism assessment did not predict adaptive functioning, except for motor skills.
• SLPNarrative Review2022Characterizing Available Tools for Synchronous Virtual Assessment of Toddlers with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Brief Report.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFive telehealth observational tools are available to assess toddlers with suspected autism during a synchronous video visit, but none has published data on how well it measures symptoms, and all are only one part of a full diagnosis.
• SLPCase-Control2022Social-Pragmatic Inferencing, Visual Social Attention and Physiological Reactivity to Complex Social Scenes in Autistic Young Adults.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 14 autistic and 14 controls, autistic young adults scored lower on inferring social meanings in complex videos. They looked less at moments when submissive characters were interrupted. Their heart-rate variability did not show the typical decrease seen in controls.
• OTSLPOther2022Brief Report: Role of Parent-Reported Executive Functioning and Anxiety in Insistence on Sameness in Individuals with Germline PTEN Mutations.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParent-reported executive function difficulties, particularly with shifting attention, and anxiety are strongly linked to insistence on sameness in individuals with PTEN mutations, ASD, and macrocephaly. Set-shifting was the unique independent predictor, suggesting it as a key target for intervention.
• SLPOther2021Rethinking Measurement Standards of Autism Symptomology in Adolescents with Fragile X Syndrome.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdolescents with Fragile X Syndrome receive autism diagnoses at very different rates depending on the test used. The ADOS-2 identified autism in 71% of participants, while the CARS2-ST identified it in only 38%. Discrepancies occurred because the ADOS-2 often flagged social communication deficits without requiring evidence of restricted or repetitive behaviors.
• SLPCohort2021What Happens After a Positive Primary Care Autism Screen Among Historically Underserved Families? Predictors of Evaluation and Autism Diagnosis.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPFamilies already in Early Intervention were five times more likely to get a diagnostic evaluation. However, Hispanic families and those with public insurance were significantly less likely to follow through. The screening tool also produced fewer true diagnoses for minority families and females.
• SLPCase-Control2022Metaphor Comprehension in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Core Language Skills Matter.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMetaphor difficulty in autism is not a hallmark trait but depends on core language skills. Expressive vocabulary and abstract semantic reasoning explained the performance gap. Receptive grammar did not. Assess and support underlying vocabulary and semantic reasoning before targeting figurative language directly.
• OTSLPSurvey2022Health Services Use and Costs in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Germany: Results from a Survey in ASD Outpatient Clinics.Journal of autism and developmental disordersGerman ASD outpatient clinic patients averaged 3287 EUR in yearly health service costs. Occupational therapy was the most used non-doctor service. Higher costs were seen with female sex, lower IQ, and Asperger syndrome.
• SLPOther2022Language and Aggressive Behaviors in Male and Female Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn verbally fluent youth with autism, lower adaptive communication skills and younger age were associated with more parent-reported aggression in males, but not females. Family income and paternal education also contributed in the combined group.
• SLPOther2022Autistic Adults are Not Impaired at Maintaining or Switching Between Counterfactual and Factual Worlds: An ERP Study.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAutistic adults were not impaired at understanding counterfactuals. Their brain responses to language anomalies matched those of non-autistic adults, even when switching between hypothetical and real-world scenarios.
• OTSLPCohort2022Trajectories of Symptom Severity in Children with Autism: Variability and Turning Points through the Transition to School.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAmong 187 children with autism followed from diagnosis to age 10, 51 improved continuously and 136 improved then plateaued around age 6. Higher scores on language, cognitive, and adaptive behavior measures were seen in the continuously improving group.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2022Review of Cognitive Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Performance on Six Subtests on Four Versions of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with autism consistently score high on Block Design and low on Coding, regardless of IQ or diagnosis. However, the classic profile of very low verbal scores disappears in higher-IQ children, who instead show strong language skills alongside these specific visual-motor weaknesses.
• SLPOther2022Autistic Adults May Be Erroneously Perceived as Deceptive and Lacking Credibility.Journal of autism and developmental disordersViewers judged autistic adults who were telling the truth as more deceptive and lower in competence and character. The measured behaviors did not differ between groups in this study, and telling viewers the person may have autism reduced deception and character differences.
• OTSLPPilot2022Identifying Predictors of Momentary Negative Affect and Depression Severity in Adolescents with Autism: An Exploratory Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 17 autistic boys, poor social interaction quality predicted higher momentary negative affect. Early puberty showed more people boosted positive mood, while late puberty showed only interaction quality mattered. Emotional instability predicted parent-reported depression, but affect autocorrelation did not.
• SLPPilot2021Using telehealth-delivered procedures to collect a parent-implemented expressive language sampling narrative task in monolingual and bilingual families with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A pilot study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesMost parents of children and adolescents with autism, including Spanish-speaking families, learned to run a home video language task after telehealth training, and most children completed it. This is a first step, not proof the task replaces clinic testing.
• SLPCase-Control2022Social Inferences in Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum and Autism: Semantic Analysis and Topic Modeling.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdults with AgCC or autism described animated triangles as conventionally as controls on standard tests. But computer analysis showed their descriptions lacked the imaginative detail controls added. This suggests a specific deficit in social elaboration that standard scoring misses.
• OTSLPOther2022Brief Report: Autism-Specific College Support Programs: Differences Across Geography and Institutional Type.Journal of autism and developmental disordersOnly 2.2% of US colleges host autism-specific support programs. These programs are rare at 2-year colleges, where 81% of autistic students start, and completely absent from all institutions in New England. Most programs are at public 4-year universities.
• SLPCase-Control2022Brief Report: Linguistic Mazes and Perseverations in School-Age Boys with Fragile X Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder and Relationships with Maternal Maze Use.Journal of autism and developmental disordersBoys with Fragile X plus autism and boys with idiopathic autism produced similar rates of speech mazes, but those with Fragile X showed more topic and utterance perseverations. Maternal speech patterns correlated differently with each group's language features.
• OTSLPCohort2022Evaluating the Feasibility of The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery for Autistic Children and Adolescents.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMost autistic children completed the NIH Toolbox cognitive tests, but those with IQs below 70 struggled with the later tasks. The tests identified specific cognitive weaknesses in inhibition and processing speed, but did not show expected differences in flexibility or memory.
• OTSLPQualitative2022A Taxonomy of Reported Harms in Pediatric Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening: Provider and Parent Perspectives.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents and providers reported seven domains of harm from autism screening, including psychological distress, social strain, and financial costs. Providers noted that borderline scores caused anxiety and doubt about clinical abilities. Parents reported feeling torn between advancing screening and maintaining family harmony.
• SLPSurvey2022Understanding Camouflaging as a Response to Autism-Related Stigma: A Social Identity Theory Approach.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAutistic adults who felt more stigma camouflaged autistic traits more. Camouflaging did not explain the link between stigma and lower wellbeing. Both identifying with autism and distancing from it were associated with camouflaging.
• SLPCohort2022Maternal Pragmatic Language Difficulties in the FMR1 Premutation and the Broad Autism Phenotype: Associations with Individual and Family Outcomes.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMothers with mild social communication difficulties reported higher loneliness regardless of whether their child had Fragile X or autism. In the Fragile X group only, these difficulties also linked to depression, lower life satisfaction, and poorer family relationships.
• SLPCase-Control2022Comparing Frequency of Listener Responses Between Adolescents with and Without ASD During Conversation.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdolescents with autism gave less listener feedback while interviewing an unfamiliar adult, especially nonverbal feedback such as nods and facial expressions. Their verbal feedback and gaze time were similar to peers.
• OTSLPOther2022Externalizing Behaviors are Associated with Increased Parenting Stress in Caregivers of Young Children with Autism.Journal of autism and developmental disordersExternalizing behaviors like aggression and tantrums predicted higher parenting stress in caregivers of young children with autism, more strongly than the autism diagnosis itself. Clinicians should prioritize managing these behavioral challenges to support caregiver well-being.
• SLPCohort2022Alexithymia and Autistic Traits as Contributing Factors to Empathy Difficulties in Preadolescent Children.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn preadolescent children, difficulty identifying and describing one's own feelings (alexithymia) predicted lower empathy scores more strongly than autistic traits did. This suggests that empathy challenges often attributed to autism may actually stem from co-occurring alexithymia, pointing to emotional awareness support rather than autism-specific social training.
• SLPQualitative2021Using qualitative content analysis to understand the active ingredients of a parent-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceCaregivers reported that Project ImPACT techniques like following the child's lead increased engagement, but results varied. Imitating the child and playful obstruction sometimes caused frustration or mixed responses. No single technique consistently produced the expected outcome across all situations.
• SLPQualitative2021Intense connection and love: The experiences of autistic mothers.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic mothers described parenting as a strong bond with their children, often helped by shared autism, but said professionals judged, dismissed or missed their needs, so getting support felt like a fight.
• SLPRCT2021The effect of early autism intervention on parental sense of efficacy in a randomized trial depends on the initial level of parent stress.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceNeither autism intervention style nor assigned intensity alone changed parent efficacy over 12 months. Initial parent stress changed the intensity effect: lower-stress parents gained more with 25 hours/week, higher-stress parents with 15 hours/week.
• SLPOther2021Psychometric properties of the Chinese Parent Version of the Autism Spectrum Rating Scale: Rasch analysis.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceA Chinese parent-rated autism scale can be shortened into a total score and three subscales that work consistently and show no scoring differences tied to age, sex, diagnosis status, rater or city. The converted score did not diagnose better than the raw score.
• SLPOther2022Qualitative Differences in Attribution of Mental States to Other People in Autism and Schizophrenia: What are the Tools for Differential Diagnosis?Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdults with autism understood story meanings but gave physical or literal explanations for characters' actions. Adults with psychosis often failed to understand the stories or attributed hostile intentions to neutral characters. These distinct reasoning styles may help differentiate the two conditions.
• OTSLPCohort2022Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mental Health Problems: Patterns of Difficulties and Longitudinal Trajectories in a Population-Based Twin Sample.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with autism had far more emotional, behavioural and peer difficulties than their non-autistic twins or typical peers. These problems were common, often multiple, and persisted or increased into early adolescence, rather than settling down.
• OTSLPCohort2022Comparison of Adaptive Functioning Measures in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Disability.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdolescents with autism and average IQ scored significantly lower on the Vineland-3 than the ABAS-3. The Vineland-3 identified more severe deficits in daily living skills, which were far below their cognitive abilities. Choose the measure based on whether you need to document impairment or plan intervention.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2022"It's Not Just in My Head, and It's Not Just Irrelevant": Autistic Negotiations of Menopausal Transitions.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAutistic adults described menopause as confusing due to difficulty interpreting bodily sensations and a lack of prior information. They valued clinicians who validated their experiences rather than dismissing symptoms as psychological, and found peer support helpful but insufficient compared to evidence-based guidance.
• SLPOther2022Difficulties in Recognising Dynamic but not Static Emotional Body Movements in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersPeople with high-functioning autism identified emotions from body movements as accurately as controls, but took significantly longer to process dynamic movements. Static postures were recognized at similar speeds. This suggests recognition is intact but requires more cognitive effort for motion.
• SLPCohort2021Prenatal exposure to paternal smoking and likelihood for autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceIn two large Korean child samples, fathers who smoked during pregnancy had children more likely to screen positive for high likelihood of autism. The association was small and does not prove cause.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2022Health-Related Quality of Life in Pediatric Patients with Syndromic Autism and their Caregivers.Journal of autism and developmental disordersCaregivers reported children with syndromic autism had low quality of life, especially physical functioning. Rett syndrome scored lowest. Families rated emotional well-being as the area most strained. Therapists should ask about mobility, pain, energy, self-care, school participation, and family stress.
• OTSLPQualitative2022Parental Views of Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of children with autism described the lockdown as a mix of strain and unexpected gain. They reported lost school support and social isolation, but also more time together, improved father-child interaction, and new self-care or verbal skills in their children.
• SLPCohort2022Relations of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors to Social Skills in Toddlers with Autism.Journal of autism and developmental disordersRepetitive sensory-motor behaviors, like hand flapping or lining up objects, predicted lower social skills in toddlers with autism more consistently than insistence on sameness or self-injury. These behaviors appeared linked to poorer play and interpersonal skills at both 24 and 36 months.
• SLPCohort2022Brief Report: Examining the Links Between Language Processes and Working Memory Impairments in Toddlers and Preschoolers with ASD.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with autism had lower working memory than peers, even after accounting for nonverbal ability. Stronger verbal skills linked to better working memory, especially in autism. Two-year-olds with weaker working memory used more self-talk, suggesting it may be a compensation strategy rather than a helpful tool.
• OTSLPOther2022Characterizing Social Functioning in School-Age Children with Sensory Processing Abnormalities.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with sensory abnormalities had worse social functioning than typically developing children and similar functioning to children with autism, even when communication differences were considered.
• OTSLPSurvey2022Intervention Services for Autistic Adults: An ASDEU Study of Autistic Adults, Carers, and Professionals' Experiences.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMany recommended intervention steps were experienced, but gender, consent, speech, safety, family support, and help for self-harm were less common than professionals reported.
• SLPOther2021The Early Screening for Autism and Communication Disorders: Field-testing an autism-specific screening tool for children 12 to 36 months of age.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceIn toddlers already flagged for possible autism or delay, using the age-specific ESAC cutoffs identified most children with autism across 12 to 36 months. It has not yet been proven in low-risk primary care screening.
• PTOTSLPCohort2022Parent Questionnaires in the Evaluation of Pre-School Children Referred for Neuropsychiatric Assessment.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParent questionnaires tracked with autism severity, but the ABC missed many children with higher IQs. The ESSENCE-Q identified almost all diagnosed cases regardless of ability. Use these tools as guides for assessment, not as standalone diagnostic proof.