The assessment of and differences among intellectually disabled adults with Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorders and epilepsy

The goal of this study was to systematically examine group differences among those with intellectual disabilities (ID) and comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and epilepsy in an adult population through a detailed exploration of the characteristics that these disorders present in the areas of psychopathology, behavior problems, and impaired social behavior. Previous studies indicating that individuals with ID have comorbid ASD and neurological conditions tend to stop short of addressing these disorders’ impact on the full range of psychosocial issues, particularly in adult samples. Assessments of psychopathology, behavior problems, and impaired social behavior were made with the ASD-Comorbidity-Adult Version and ASD-Behavior Problems-Adult Version batteries and the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals with Severe Retardation. One hundred participants with ID were matched and compared across four equal groups comprising 25 participants with ID, 25 participants with epilepsy, 25 participants with ASD, and 25 participants with combined ASD and epilepsy. When controlling for age, gender, race, level of ID, and hearing and visual impairments, significant differences were found for psychopathology (p \u3c .05), behavior problems (p \u3c .05), and social skills (p \u3c .01). A direct discriminant function analysis was also conducted to determine whether certain subscales could predict group membership. Overall, 63% of the participants in the sample could be reliably distinguished between groups on these measures. These data conclusively demonstrated that individuals with ID expressing combined comorbid ASD and epilepsy were significantly more impaired than the control group (ID only) or groups containing only a single comorbid factor with ID (ASD or epilepsy only) on measures of psychopathology, behavior problems, and social skills. Implications of these findings elucidate the nature of these disorders and their influence on patient care and management

Gender differences in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and comorbid psychopathology

Abstract Children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) frequently exhibit symptoms that are not associated with the core features of ASD. These symptoms may meet criteria for an additional diagnosis; however, accurate assessment of comorbid psychiatric conditions in ASD has been hindered by a lack of measures designed for this specific purpose. The newly constructed assessment measure, Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbid for Children (ASD-CC) has been developed specifically for examining comorbid psychiatric disorders in ASD. Therefore, this study set out to assess differences in the endorsement rates of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD compared to their same aged typically developing peers, utilizing the ASD-CC. Additionally, an examination of gender differences of psychiatric symptom endorsements was conducted. Results of the analyses indicated that there are no significant differences between males and females in regards to psychiatric symptom endorsement. However, the ASD-CC did reveal significant differences between children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD compared to those without ASD. The subscales (i.e., of the ASD-CC) worry/depressed, under-eating, over-eating, avoidant behavior, and repetitive behavior all contributed to the significant difference between groups. The implications of the significant and non-significant results as well as directions for future research are discussed

The Non-Standardization of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder: A Call to Action

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most diagnosed disorders in adults and children, yet there is no standardized method to assess for ADHD. The similarity of symptoms shared across other disorders (comorbidity) makes the assessment of ADHD a very delicate process. This is not aided by the fact that the assessment of ADHD is not standardized. This allows individuals able to assess for ADHD to give a test or a combination of tests that they find fitting. This in turn brings into question the quality of testing and disagreement in diagnosing across fields. Lastly, ADHD-focused measures typically fail to address the overlap in symptoms with other disorders, which can help assist clinicians with differential diagnoses. The question then becomes, how does one attempt to standardize ADHD testing while providing testing that shows adequate clinical validity in both the diagnosis of ADHD and differential diagnosing? This paper aims to produce insight into the complications of ADHD diagnosis and suggest a solution to current testing, in the form of an assessment battery

Comorbid psychological disorder in individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by deficits in three areas of functioning: communication, socialization, and restricted interests/repetitive behavior. With the rise in diagnoses of ASD in recent years, these disorders have received increasing recognition by researchers and clinicians. These efforts have largely been with young children. However, the study of ASD and comorbid disorders in adults with intellectual disability (ID) has been almost nonexistent. While there are measures available to assess comorbid disorders in people with only ID, the differences in adults with ASD and ID and adults with ID alone may also be a good deal different than in children, and therefore warrants a specialized scale to measure symptoms of ASD in this population. Through research, it is recognized that persons with ASD and ID often evince concomitant psychopathology; yet, the topic has not been systematically studied. The Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbidity for Adults (ASD-CA) was designed to screen symptoms of psychopathology that occur more commonly with ASD/ID in adults. The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of the ASD-CA in a first attempt to establish the test’s psychometric properties. Three forms of reliability (inter-rater, test-retest, and internal consistency), item analysis, and a factor analysis were conducted

The moderating effect of gender on the relationship between socialization and internalizing problems in early childhood

Researchers in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have confirmed that comorbidities are a common problem among diagnosed individuals. Current estimates suggest that more than two thirds meet criteria for an additional diagnosis of psychopathology. In particular, rates of several internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depression) appear to be greater for individuals with ASD than their typically developing counterparts. However, little research has been conducted examining factors apart from autism symptomatology that could influence this prevalence difference. Additionally, it is well established that anxiety and depression are more common in females than males in the general population. However, few studies have analyzed gender differences in internalizing problems in persons with ASD. Researchers who have examined this potential difference have obtained discrepant results. The current study aims to examine the interactions between autism symptomatology, comorbid internalizing problems, and gender by analyzing the potential moderating effect of gender on socialization differences predicting the development of internalizing problems in toddlers with autism

Therapists' perceptions of altruistic patient behaviour upon the treatment outcomes of borderline personality disorder

Professionals in the mental health industry often attach a stigma to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It is commonly thought of as a frustrating disorder to treat. As a result many professionals avoid dealing with BPD individuals. In an attempt to promote positive treatment outcomes, the aim of the study is to explore how the introduction of altruistic behaviours would affect the outcome of the overall treatment of individuals with BPD. Snowball sampling procedures were implemented. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews with six mental health professionals and analysed through qualitative data processing and thematic analysis procedures. To the researcher’s knowledge, no research has been conducted specifically exploring the relationship between altruistic behaviour and BPD to date. The following superordinate themes emerged: treatment challenges, treatment context, treatment approach, diagnostic challenges, altruism/prosocial influences, and altruism/prosocial behaviour. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will increase awareness of this possible avenue in the treatment of BPD, so that the results of this study can then be taken to the next level of exploration in research and in clinical practice

Examining the Association between Depressive Symptoms and Performance on Executive Function Measures in Children

A variety of cognitive deficits have been linked to depression. In particular, data exists to suggest that persons with depression are subject to poorer executive function compared to normal controls. Establishing the connection between depression and impaired executive function is particularly important in childhood as a child\u27s daily functioning, including social interactions and academic performance, may be impacted. The purpose of this study was to explore if children with significant symptoms of depression displayed deficits on tasks designed to measure the executive functions of attentional control, information processing and cognitive flexibility (Anderson, 2002) compared to a clinical control group. A clinical sample of children referred for outpatient, neuropsychological evaluation was used in this investigation. Results revealed that the sample of children with elevated symptoms of depression did not demonstrate impaired, or worse executive function performance compared to clinical controls. Further investigations should examine executive function within the context of verified clinical depression, and with an expanded array of executive function measures, including ratings of executive function across settings

Biopsychosocial risk factors for the development of conduct problems in children with autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND: The aim of this systemic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the rates at which oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) occur in children and adolescents with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Furthermore, the study aimed to explore moderating factors which might influence prevalence rates of these co-occurring conditions between studies. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted on August 10, 2020 using the PsycInfo and Medline databases to identify relevant literature using key words and MeSH terms. Only studies of children and adolescents aged between 3-25 were included in the meta-analysis. A modified Hoy’s risk of bias tool was used to assess the bias of the included studies. Following the identification and selection of relevant articles, a meta-analysis was conducted using R-studio software. Moderator analysis was performed to explore whether participant characteristics and methodological design of studies were associated with differences in reported ODD and CD prevalence rates. Potential moderators included age, gender, intellectual ability, ethnicity, nationality, sample type, detection bias, and sampling bias. RESULTS: Nineteen eligible studies were identified including a total sample of 6,085 individuals with a diagnosis of ASD. The diagnostic rates of comorbid ODD and CD within the pooled sample were 14.03% [95% CI 9.0-21.22] and 3.13% [95% CI 1.4-5.4] respectively. There was significant heterogeneity in the rates of diagnosis between studies. Greater study bias was associated with increased rates of co-occurring diagnoses. Recruitment bias moderated the prevalence of CD but not ODD diagnoses. Detection bias moderated the number of ODD but not CD diagnoses. Study demographics, sample type, and intelligence were not associated with the prevalence rate of comorbidity found in the pooled sample. DISCUSSION: Study bias played a significant role over the rates of co-occurring CD and ODD reported in the ASD population, yet the findings should be interpreted with some caution. The meta-analysis was based on a predominantly Caucasian male sample and studies which used DSM-IV criteria to assign diagnoses. This lack of participant heterogeneity limits the generalizability of the study and underscores the importance of studying both population characteristic and methodology in meta-analyses. Future research should explore the impact that the updated DSM-5 have over co-occurring ODD and CD and focus on including more minoritized populations

Autism: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Counseling Journals, 1986-2021

Abstract This qualitative content analysis (QCA) examined three American Counseling Association (ACA) journals and how Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is covered in them: Journal of Counseling Development (JCD), Journal of Multicultural Counseling Development (JMCD), and Counselor Education and Supervision (CES). Within the three listed journals, there were a total of 4,749 articles published from the years 1986 to 2021, with a total of 6 articles found related to ASD. Throughout the QCA process, four themes were established: Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder, Considerations for Counseling Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Treatment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Neurofeedback in Counseling. This research study shows that although the prevalence of ASD is increasing, the research is not. In addition to an increasing rate of ASD, there is a high comorbid rate with mental health diagnosis and ASD, which often require counseling. With the different dynamics and characteristics of ASD, counselors need to be trained appropriately to ensure competency in this area. This meaning, there a significant lack of research done on the topic of ASD in the counseling journals, and it is recommended that more research is completed. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autism, Asperger’