Background: Despite the mounting evidence of efficacy of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders, there is little research that considers the various perceptions and resources with which parents respond to the pressures and opportunities associated with participation in early intervention. Research is particularly lacking…

Objectives: To investigate the most frequent reasons for referral, the most common special interests, age at first referral to a mental health service, and the age of diagnosis in children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome living in Turkey. Methods: This study includes 61 children and adolescents diagnosed with Asperger syndrome using…

Background: Pitch perception is enhanced among persons with autism. We extended this finding to memory for pitch and melody among school-aged children. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate pitch memory in musically untrained children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 7-13 years, and to compare it to that of age- and…

The understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning was studied in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders ("n" = 71) and in typically developing children ("n" = 71), aged 6-12 years. Children were presented with eight stories about two protagonists who experienced the same positive or negative…

Epilepsy is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but little is known about how seizures impact the autism phenotype. The association between epilepsy and autism symptoms and associated maladaptive behaviors was examined in 2,645 children with ASD, of whom 139 had epilepsy, from the Simons Simplex Collection. Children with ASD and…

Children with Asperger's syndrome are often reported by their parents as having difficulties communicating affection. This study aimed to develop a valid measure of affectionate behaviour that could be used to investigate and quantify these anecdotal reports and then be used in further intervention research. Using parent and expert focus…

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) is a semi-structured, standardized assessment designed for use in diagnostic evaluation of individuals with suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The ADOS has been effective in categorizing children who definitely have autism or not, but has lower specificity and sometimes sensitivity for…

This study compared perceptions of adolescents' friendships between adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents, examined factors associated with friendship qualities, and investigated the adolescents' reports on the activities they did with friends and how activity patterns differed by gender. Ninety-one…

Raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presents significant challenges for parents that potentially have a impact on their health and wellbeing. The current study examined the extent to which parents experience fatigue and its relationship to other aspects of wellbeing and parenting. Fifty mothers of children with an ASD aged 2-5…

This study explored factors (gender, age, relationship status, symptomatology) associated with the sexual well-being of 141 (56 men and 85 women) adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome (HFA/AS) living in the community. Participants completed an online survey consisting of a measure of autistic symptoms as well as measures of…

Previous eye tracking research on the allocation of attention to social information by individuals with autism spectrum disorders is equivocal and may be in part a consequence of variation in stimuli used between studies. The current study explored attention allocation to faces, and within faces, by individuals with Asperger syndrome using a range…

Anxiety disorders are common among children and young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Despite growing knowledge about the prevalence, phenomenology and treatment of anxiety disorders, relatively little is understood about the nature and impact of anxiety in this group and little is known about autism-specific factors that may have a…

Perceiving someone else's gaze shift toward an object can influence how this object will be manipulated by the observer, suggesting a modulatory effect of a gaze-based social context on action control. High-functioning autism (HFA) is characterized by impairments of social interaction, which may be associated with an inability to automatically…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display impairments in creativity, yet savant artists with ASD are reported to produce highly novel and original artistic outputs. To explore this paradox, we assessed nine savant artists with ASD, nine talented art students, nine non-artistically talented individuals with ASD, and nine…

This study reports on a new false belief measure in a sample of 124 children and adolescents with or without high functioning autism (HFASD). In the classic paradigm, a participant predicts in which of two discrete locations a deceived protagonist will look for an object. In the current Sandbox task, the object is buried and reburied in a sandbox,…