TOPIC

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 5 OF 56 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPOther2017How Anxious Do You Think I Am? Relationship Between State and Trait Anxiety in Children With and Without ASD During Social Tasks.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdolescents with autism were rated by parents and themselves as more anxious on some questionnaires, but their body responses to a stressful social task were not higher than peers. Parent-reported anxiety was linked to lower body responses during stress.
• SLPSurvey2018Positive and negative social exchanges experienced by fathers and mothers of children with autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceParents of children with autism reported spouse as both the biggest source of support and friction. Negative emotional exchanges were associated with depressive symptoms; positive exchanges were not, except lower spouse support was tied to higher symptoms in mothers.
• OTSLPSurvey2018Autism Goes to College: Understanding the Needs of a Student Population on the Rise.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of 16-25-year-olds with autism reported more social and independent living problems than parents of those with ADHD. They asked for speech/language, social, and living-support services.
• SLPOther2017Stranger Fear and Early Risk for Social Anxiety in Preschoolers with Fragile X Syndrome Contrasted to Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersBoys with fragile X or idiopathic autism looked more away than typical boys among 101 preschoolers; boys with fragile X with high autism symptoms and idiopathic autism looked less at a stranger. Only idiopathic autism showed more facial fear. Escape did not separate groups.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2018Systematic review of clinical guidance documents for autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessment in select regions.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceGuidance for diagnosing autism in young children varied widely. Most documents backed team assessment, but the review found little evidence it is more accurate than one clinician, and guideline quality was low for applicability and rigor.
• SLPPilot2018Therapeutic alliance in youth with autism spectrum disorder receiving cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceTherapists rated the working relationship as significantly stronger for children with autism who responded to CBT compared to those who did not. However, because alliance was measured only after treatment ended, it is impossible to know if good rapport caused the improvement or was simply a result of it.
• SLPCase-Control2018Understanding self-reported difficulties in decision-making by people with autism spectrum disorders.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAdults with autism took longer to make decisions and gathered more information before choosing. However, their final choices were more logical and advantageous than those of neurotypical controls. The delay reflects careful analysis, not impaired decision-making ability.
• SLPCase-Control2018Initially intact neural responses to pain in autism are diminished during sustained pain.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAdults with autism had normal early brain responses to painful heat, then weaker activity in brain pain networks as heat continued, while their pain ratings matched controls. This small fMRI study does not show treatment effects.
• PTOTSLPCohort2018Early development in Rett syndrome - the benefits and difficulties of a birth cohort approach.Developmental neurorehabilitationIn this large birth cohort, girls later diagnosed with Rett syndrome showed few developmental differences from the general population at 6 months. By 18 months, all six had clear gross motor delays, such as inability to walk without support, while speech and social milestones lagged similarly to many typical peers.
• SLPOther2017Neural Correlates of Sensory Hyporesponsiveness in Toddlers at High Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersHigh-risk toddlers who often ignored sounds, their name or pain had stronger left frontal brain signals and more synchronized activity. A blunted reaction was seen with early brain differences.
• SLPOther2017Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and autistic symptoms in a school-based cohort of children in Kolkata, India.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn Kolkata, 0.23% of school children met criteria for broader autism spectrum. This is likely a lower bound, as children outside the school system were missed. Parents over-reported symptoms compared to teachers, highlighting the need for multi-informant screening.
• OTSLPOther2017Validating the social responsiveness scale for adults with autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchIn adults with autism, a parent-completed 65-item questionnaire separated social communication difficulties from repetitive behavior difficulties. Social scores linked to daily living and social skills, and repetitive behavior scores linked to behavior problems, including 18 months later.
• OTSLPCohort2017Sex differences in parent-reported executive functioning and adaptive behavior in children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchFemales with autism spectrum disorder were rated by parents as having more everyday executive function problems and worse daily living skills than males, even though IQ, autism symptoms, and ADHD symptoms were similar.
• SLPCohort2017Developmental Changes in Empathic Concern and Self-Understanding in Toddlers at Genetic Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersToddlers later diagnosed with autism showed less concern for a crying baby and a hurt adult than low-risk toddlers. High-risk toddlers without autism caught up with low-risk toddlers by 34 months on empathy and self-understanding.
• OTSLPCohort2017Empathic responding in preschool-aged children with familial risk for autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchPreschoolers with autism showed less visible distress when an adult pretended to hurt herself, but helped clean up just as much as other children. Parents of high-risk siblings without autism rated them as more empathic than parents of low-risk children.
• SLPOther2017The Accuracy of the ADOS-2 in Identifying Autism among Adults with Complex Psychiatric Conditions.Journal of autism and developmental disordersADOS-2 flagged all six adults with autism, but 21 of 69 adults without autism also scored in the autism range. All those adults had psychosis, so social communication scores alone should not drive adult autism diagnosis.
• SLPOther2017Physiological Arousal and Emotion Regulation Strategies in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with ASD and typically developing children showed similar heart rate increases during frustration and recovery. During the same task, children with ASD used fewer goal-directed coping strategies and more venting and avoidance.
• SLPSurvey2017Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Romantic Relationships in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMost autistic adolescents and adults identified with their assigned gender at birth, but sexual orientation was more varied than in general population peers. 50% had a relationship, compared with 70% of controls; most relationships were satisfying.
• OTSLPCohort2018Parent Support of Preschool Peer Relationships in Younger Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersPreschool siblings with autism had fewer playmates than at-risk siblings without autism and low-risk peers, and lower-quality home play. Parents reported more help needed during play and fewer community activities. At-risk siblings without autism matched low-risk peers in playmates and play quality.
• SLPCohort2017Interactive Effects of Prenatal Antidepressant Exposure and Likely Gene Disrupting Mutations on the Severity of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn children already diagnosed with autism, prenatal antidepressant exposure alone was not linked to severity. Prenatal antidepressant exposure and a likely gene-disrupting mutation were linked to overall severity only together, but only nine children had both.
• SLPSurvey2017Social Media Use, Friendship Quality, and the Moderating Role of Anxiety in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn adolescents with autism, social media use they found useful was linked to better friendship quality, but only when anxiety was low. High anxiety weakened the link. No association appeared in adolescents without autism.
• SLPOther2017Parenting a Child with ASD: Comparison of Parenting Style Between ASD, Anxiety, and Typical Development.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of children with anxiety reported more acceptance and firm control than parents of children with ASD or typical development. Parents of children with ASD reported more depressive symptoms than parents of children with anxiety.
• SLPCase-Control2017Audition-specific temporal processing deficits associated with language function in children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchChildren with autism needed longer silent gaps to hear them than typically developing peers, but saw visual gaps just as well. This auditory deficit correlated with weaker phonological memory and receptive language, suggesting rapid sound processing issues may underpin communication difficulties.
• OTSLPOther2018The combined impact of social support and perceived stress on quality of life in adults with autism spectrum disorder and without intellectual disability.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceSocial support did not weaken the link between stress and lower quality of life in adults with autism without intellectual disability. Higher stress and lower support each tracked with lower quality of life, so both may need separate attention.
• SLPOther2017Speaker-Versus Listener-Oriented Disfluency: A Re-examination of Arguments and Assumptions from Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdults with high-functioning autism produced more speech repairs, or restarts and corrections, than controls in a sentence-repetition task. Repetitions did not differ significantly, and filled pauses were too rare to analyse. This does not show that their speech is less helpful to listeners.
• SLPCohort2017The influence of parental concern on the utility of autism diagnostic instruments.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchADOS cutoffs identified autism consistently. ADI-R cutoffs missed 43% of toddlers diagnosed with autism when parents had not raised concern. A low ADI-R score should not rule out autism without direct observation and attention to parental concern.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2017How to Implement Robots in Interventions for Children with Autism? A Co-creation Study Involving People with Autism, Parents and Professionals.Journal of autism and developmental disordersProfessionals and stakeholders said robot KASPAR for children with autism should be matched to each child's plan, short, gradual, and embedded in practice. They described operation, voice, movement, setting, and training needs, not tested effects.
• SLPCohort2018Gaze to faces across interactive contexts in infants at heightened risk for autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceGaze to an examiner during structured testing was associated with gaze to a parent during play at 9 and 12 months, not at 6 months. Infants with later ASD did not show the higher parent-play gaze seen in non-ASD siblings.
• SLPCase-Control2017The Broader Autism Phenotype in Mothers is Associated with Increased Discordance Between Maternal-Reported and Clinician-Observed Instruments that Measure Child Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMothers whose spouses or others rated them as having broader autism traits were more likely to report their child met autism screen or interview criteria when clinician observation did not. This was not true for every clinician comparison.
• SLPCase-Control2017Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdolescents with autism made more effort choices for others than controls, but ignored reward size. They did not differ from controls when working for themselves. This suggests a specific issue with valuing rewards for other people.
• OTSLPSurvey2017Are autistic traits associated with suicidality? A test of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide in a non-clinical young adult sample.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchHigher self-reported autistic traits were linked to more lifetime suicidal behavior in 163 young adults. The link ran through feeling like a burden on others and lacking social belonging. Ask about these feelings when assessing suicide risk.
• SLPRCT2017Effect of Omega-3 and -6 Supplementation on Language in Preterm Toddlers Exhibiting Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms.Journal of autism and developmental disordersA 3-month omega-3, -6, and -9 supplement increased gesture use and combined gesture and word scores in preterm toddlers screened for ASD risk, but not word use alone; this pilot secondary analysis of language cannot establish efficacy.
• SLPCohort2017Accurate Autism Screening at the 18-Month Well-Child Visit Requires Different Strategies than at 24 Months.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFor younger toddlers, the follow-up interview did not much improve the chance a positive screen meant autism, but for older toddlers it did. A positive screen at the earlier visit was less likely to mean autism.
• SLPPilot2017Eye gaze and pupillary response in Angelman syndrome.Research in developmental disabilitiesOnly 8 of 17 people with Angelman syndrome completed eye tracking. Those who did looked less at social scenes than typically developing controls and showed no pupil difference between social and geometric scenes. This is not yet a clinical test.
• SLPOther2017Demographic and Clinical Characteristics Associated with Engagement in Behavioral Health Treatment Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAmong referred children with autism, younger age and private insurance were linked to starting treatment. More than 10 weekly hours were linked to staying in treatment. Only 15% received most authorized hours.
• OTSLPOther2018Addressing medical needs of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in a primary care setting.Autism : the international journal of research and practice17 of 74 patients needed changes to the visit format after phone screening, and all 74 were successfully seen. Waiting rooms, touch, noise, light, and communication were barriers.
• SLPOther2017Production and perception of emotional prosody by adults with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAdults with ASD produced emotional phrases with wider pitch, louder voice and sometimes longer phrases. Listeners identified those phrases more accurately than control phrases, but rated them less natural. Neutral phrases were the exception.
• PTOTSLPCase-Control2017Homogeneous Subgroups of Young Children with Autism Improve Phenotypic Characterization in the Study to Explore Early Development.Journal of autism and developmental disordersResearchers identified four distinct profiles of young children with autism. Two profiles featured mild language delays but significant sensory and behavioral issues. Clinicians should screen for cognitive rigidity and unusual sensory responses even when a child's language development appears near typical.
• SLPSurvey2017The Actions and Feelings Questionnaire in Autism and Typically Developed Adults.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAdults reporting autism scored lower on a questionnaire about reading emotions through body language, gestures and facial expressions. The feelings subscale separated adults with and without autism similarly to an empathy questionnaire, but scores rely on self-report.
• SLPOther2017Social motivation and implicit theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchLooking at social stimuli did not match false-belief performance in either group. Children with autism showed no social looking preference, while typical children did, but the groups did not differ.
• SLPCohort2017Early autism symptoms in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchInfants with tuberous sclerosis who later developed autism showed more atypical social communication behavior at 9 and 12 months than infants with tuberous sclerosis without autism and low-risk controls. The difference remained after controlling for cognitive scores.
• SLPRCT2017Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Versus a Counselling Intervention for Anxiety in Young People with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFor young people with high-functioning autism and anxiety, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) was no more effective than person-centred counselling at reducing anxiety symptoms. Neither treatment showed superiority over the other on primary anxiety measures or social skills outcomes.
• SLPCohort2017Association Between Autistic Traits in Preschool Children and Later Emotional/Behavioral Outcomes.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 189 community children, higher autistic traits at age 5 were linked to more emotional symptoms and peer problems at age 7, even after age 5 problems were considered. Links were not clear for conduct, hyperactivity, and prosocial behavior.
• SLPOther2018Do puzzle pieces and autism puzzle piece logos evoke negative associations?Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAdults linked puzzle pieces to negative words more readily than shapes, and gave more negative first thoughts about puzzle pieces. The same pattern appeared for generic pieces and autism logos.
• SLPOther2017Reading comprehension of ambiguous sentences by school-age children with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchSchool-age children with autism spectrum disorder understood ambiguous sentences less accurately than peers, but both groups used context to access meanings. Difficulty appeared when selecting meanings afterward. Word recognition, word meaning knowledge, and age were associated with performance.
• SLPCohort2017Modelling gesture use and early language development in autism spectrum disorder.International journal of language & communication disordersIn 197 children, gestures and fine motor scores formed one gesture measure strongly linked to current language. In 36 children with autism followed up, early gestures were linked to later caregiver-reported receptive language, but not to later observed receptive language or expressive language.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2018Parents Suggest Which Indicators of Progress and Outcomes Should be Measured in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of young children with autism valued measuring happiness, anxiety, sensory discomfort, distress, aggression, sleep problems and parent stress, not only core social communication symptoms. They wanted assessments to capture daily living and family impact.
• SLPNarrative Review2018Gastrointestinal symptoms in autism spectrum disorder: A review of the literature on ascertainment and prevalence.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchGut symptom rates in autism research vary wildly because studies ask different people using different questions. No autism-specific gut questionnaire has been checked enough to be trusted as a symptom measure, so reported rates are unreliable.
• SLPCohort2017Social Responsiveness Scale Assessment of the Preterm Behavioral Phenotype in 10-Year-Olds Born Extremely Preterm.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPTen-year-olds born before 28 weeks without autism had social impairment more often than expected. They also more often had cognitive, language, communication, attention, anxiety, and behavior problems, even when IQ was normal.
• SLPSystematic Review2017Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Individuals with Mucopolysaccharide Disease Type III (Sanfilippo Syndrome): A Systematic Review.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn 16 studies of 620 people with Sanfilippo syndrome, speech, language and social problems were consistently reported. Only two studies used standard autism assessments; 13 of 21 and 9 of 10 participants met autism diagnostic criteria.