Background: A significant minority of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are considered "minimally verbal" due to language development stagnating at a few words. Recent developments allow for the severity of ASD symptoms to be examined using Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Social Affect (SA) and Restricted and…

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, with a high degree of co-occurrence. Methods: Prospective longitudinal studies of infants who later meet criteria for ASD or ADHD offer the opportunity to determine whether the two disorders share…

Background: The range of outcomes for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and the early childhood factors associated with this diversity have implications for clinicians and scientists. Methods: This prospective study provided a unique opportunity to predict outcome 17 years later for a relatively large sample of children diagnosed…

Background: Research has shown that children born very prematurely are at substantially elevated risk for social and behavioral difficulties similar to those seen in full-term children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Methods: To gain insight into core deficits that may underlie these difficulties, in this study, we assessed the social…

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are impaired in social communication and interaction with peers, which may reflect diminished social motivation. Many children with ASD show enhanced stress when playing with other children. This study investigated social and stress profiles of children with ASD during play. Methods: We…

Background: This study examines the social relationships of elementary school children with high-functioning autism, focusing on how gender relates to social preferences and acceptance, social connections, reciprocal friendships, and rejection. Method: Peer nomination data were analyzed for girls with and without ASD (n = 50) and boys with and…

Background: Delayed, abnormal language is a common feature of autism and language therapy often a significant component of recommended treatment. However, as with other disorders with a language component, we know surprisingly little about the language trajectories and how varied these might be across different children. Thus, we know little about…

Background: Although many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) experience difficulties with anxiety, the manifestation of these difficulties remains unresolved. The current study assessed anxiety in a large population-based twin sample, aged 10-15 years. Phenotypic analyses were used to explore anxiety symptoms in children with ASDs,…

Background: Developmental disorders of language and communication present considerable diagnostic challenges due to overlapping of symptomatology and uncertain aetiology. We aimed to further elucidate the behavioural and linguistic profile associated with impairments of social communication occurring outside of an autism diagnosis. Methods: Six to…

Background: The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a gold standard assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms and behaviours. A key underlying assumption of studies using the ADI-R is that it measures the same phenotypic constructs across different populations (i.e. males/females, younger/older, verbal/nonverbal). The…

Background: Introduction of proposed criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has raised concerns that some individuals currently meeting diagnostic criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD; DSM-IV-TR/ICD- 10) will not qualify for a diagnosis under the proposed changes. To date, reports of sensitivity and specificity of the new…

Background: Social withdrawal is a core neuropsychiatric phenomenon in developmental psychopathology. Its presence predicts psychopathology across many domains, including depression, psychosis, autism, anxiety, and suicide. Withdrawn behavior is highly heritable, persistent, and characteristically worsens without intervention. To date, few studies…

Background: Although neurodevelopmental disorders are demarcated as discrete entities in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of mental disorders, empirical evidence indicates that there is a high degree of overlap among them. The first aim of this investigation was to explore if a single general factor could account for the large degree of observed…

Background: It is well established that very few individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and an IQ below 70 are able to live independently as adults. However, even amongst children with an IQ in the normal range, outcome is very variable. Childhood factors that predict later stability, improvement or decline in cognitive functioning…

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by notable phenotypic heterogeneity, which is often viewed as an obstacle to the study of its etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. On the basis of empirical evidence, instead of three binary categories, the upcoming edition of the DSM 5 will use two dimensions--social…