Investigating the development of core cognitive skills in autism: a 3-year prospective study

This longitudinal study tested the veracity of one candidate multiple-deficits account of autism by assessing 37 children with autism (M age = 67.9 months) and 31 typical children (M age = 65.2 months) on tasks tapping components of theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and central coherence (CC) at intake and again 3 years later. As a group, children with autism showed poor false-belief attribution, planning ability, and set-shifting, together with enhanced local processing at both time points. At an individual level, however, the profile was far from universal at either intake or follow-up. Moreover, autistic children demonstrated significant changes over time in ToM and EF, but not CC, over the 3-year period. The challenges these findings pose for a multiple-deficits account are discussed

Do autistic symptoms persist across time? Evidence of substantial change in symptomatology over a 3-year period in cognitively able children with autism

This study investigated the extent and nature of changes in symptomatology in cognitively able children with autism over a 3-year period. Thirty-seven children diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition involved in an earlier study (M age 5 5 years, 7 months) were followed and reassessed 3 years later (M age 5 8 years, 4 months). Scores on the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ; M. Rutter, A. Bailey, & C. Lord, 2003) decreased significantly over time in all symptom domains but especially in the social domain, and correlational findings suggested the presence of 2 distinct developmental trajectories? social communication and repetitive behaviors?that interact across time. Furthermore, 7 children (19% of sample) made substantial changes to the extent that they failed to meet criteria on diagnostic instruments (the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule?Generic [ADOS-G; C. Lord, M. Rutter, P. C. DiLavore, & S. Risi, 1999] and the SCQ) 3 years later. Children showing diagnostic discontinuity were distinguishable from those who fulfilled ADOS-G criteria only in terms of the age at which they began receiving intervention. The presence of a significant proportion of children showing considerable progress over the 3-year period challenges assumptions of diagnostic continuity and highlights the potential long-term benefits of early intervention

The Development of Core Cognitive Skills in Autism: A 3-Year Prospective Study

This longitudinal study tested the veracity of one candidate multiple-deficits account of autism by assessing 37 children with autism (M age=67.9 months) and 31 typical children (M age=65.2 months) on tasks tapping components of theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and central coherence (CC) at intake and again 3 years later. As a group, children with autism showed poor false-belief attribution, planning ability and set-shifting, together with enhanced local processing at both time-points. At an individual level, however, the profile was far from universal at either intake or follow-up. Moreover, autistic children demonstrated significant changes over time in ToM and EF, but not CC, over the 3-year period. The challenges these findings pose for a multiple-deficits account are discussed

"Knowing That I'm Not Necessarily Alone in My Struggles": UK Autistic Performing Arts Professionals' Experiences of a Mentoring Programme

This research examined whether professional mentoring could have a positive effect on the occupational self-efficacy of autistic performing arts professionals. We compared the outcomes of one group who received mentoring to a waitlist control group. 26 participants took part in this study: 15 autistic mentees and 11 mentors, three of whom were also autistic. The mentoring programme was well received and felt to be beneficial by the participating mentees and mentors, particularly regarding gains in mentees’ occupational self-efficacy. Professional mentoring also addressed several work-oriented challenges identified by autistic performing arts professionals such as feelings of isolation in the industry and need for consultation and advice on both a professional level, and for mentees with autistic mentors, also a neurodivergent one

The Relationship Between Intolerance of Uncertainty, Sensory Sensitivities, and Anxiety in Autistic and Typically Developing Children

Guided by a recent theory that proposes fundamental differences in how autistic individuals deal with uncertainty, we investigated the extent to which the cognitive construct ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ and anxiety were related to parental reports of sensory sensitivities in 64 autistic and 85 typically developing children aged 6–14 years. Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety explained approximately half the variance in autistic children’s sensory sensitivities, but only around a fifth of the variance in typical children’s sensory sensitivities. In children with autism only, intolerance of uncertainty remained a significant predictor of children’s sensory sensitivities once the effects of anxiety were adjusted for. Our results suggest intolerance of uncertainty is a relevant construct to sensory sensitivities in children with and without autism

The design and implementation of a CBT-based intervention for sensory processing difficulties in adolescents on the autism spectrum

Background: Unusual reactions to sensory input now form part of the diagnostic criteria for autism. These features are common and can have an often-devastating impact on autistic individuals and their families. Yet there are few validated interventions that help to remediate or support autistic individuals’ adverse sensory experiences. To date, both measurement of sensory experiences and the resulting interventions have been based on assumptions of neurological sensitivities and largely ignored the role of cognition. This study therefore sought to assess the feasibility of a new 8-week CBT-based group intervention for self-regulation of sensory processing difficulties. / Method: Seven cognitively able adolescents diagnosed with autism aged 11–16 years from one mainstream secondary school received the 8-week intervention. Measures of sensory reactivity, anxiety and repetitive behaviours were taken at baseline, post-intervention and follow-up, 8 weeks after the intervention had ceased. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were also conducted with adolescents and their parents to examine further the acceptability of the intervention. / Results: The results showed that the intervention itself was feasible – both in its implementation and its acceptability to participants. Qualitative analysis clearly showed that the intervention was effective in raising meta-conscious awareness and self-regulation in these autistic adolescents. Analysis of outcome variables showed no significant change over the intervention period, although effect sizes were moderate-to-large. / Conclusions: These preliminary results are encouraging and should inform the design of a future pilot randomized controlled trial to test its efficacy with a larger group of participants

“It's about sharing a moment”: Parents' views and experiences of home reading with their autistic children with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND: The home literacy environment plays a critical role in the development of children’s literacy and language development. Little is known, however, about the home literacy environment of autistic children, especially those with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities. AIMS: The current study used a sequential mixed-methods design to understand how parents attempt to engage their autistic children in reading activities and support them in learning to read. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: First, 63 parents (53 mothers) whose autistic children attended an autism-specific special school completed a bespoke questionnaire about the home literacy environments for their children (n = 69, age range = 3–11 years, 61 boys, 8 girls). Second, a subsample of parents (n = 19, 15 mothers) participated in focus groups to understand in-depth their views and experiences of home reading with their children (n = 20, age range = 3–11 years, 19 boys, 1 girl). We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the focus group data. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Across questionnaire and focus group methods, parents were united in considering reading to be an important life skill, a sentiment that was reflected both by their often literacy-rich homes and the ingenuity in their efforts to engage their children in shared home-reading activities – even when such engagement could be challenging. They also emphasised, however, the importance of valuing these activities as an opportunity to “catch a moment” with their child. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Parents and teachers should work together to identify ways to enhance autistic children’s engagement in shared home-reading activities, listening to and learning from each other’s experiences and expertise, and to show what is possible within each learning context

The Extent and Nature of Autistic People’s Violence Experiences During Adulthood: A Cross-sectional Study of Victimisation

This study investigated the extent and nature of violence experiences reported by autistic adults. Autistic (n = 118) and non-autistic (n = 110) adults completed a questionnaire about their experiences of sexual harassment, stalking and harassment, sexual violence and physical violence since the age of 15. Autistic adults reported higher rates of all violence types, multiple forms of violence and repeated instances of the same type of violence. Typical gender differences in the patterns of violence (more physical violence reported by men and more sexual violence reported by women) were apparent in the non-autistic but not the autistic group. Findings add to the limited research in this area and highlight the need to identify risk and protective factors. Policy and practice implications are also discussed

Poly-victimization of autistic adults: An investigation of individual-level correlates

Autistic people experience high rates of violence and victimization which is largely due to structural injustices, including stigma and social attitudes. Identifying and addressing systemic and structural factors is vitally important, however effecting change in embedded social structures is likely to take some time, even with concerted efforts. In the meantime, it is important to understand whether there are other individual-level factors that may assist in developing preventative and protective strategies for autistic people. The current study investigated the role of individual-level risk factors in the victimization of autistic people. Specifically, we examined whether characteristics that are common among autistic people that is, lower social competence, higher compliance and emotion regulation difficulties or more ADHD features (inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity) were associated with poly-victimization in a community sample of 228 adults (118 autistic, 110 non-autistic). Our results show that only ADHD features were predictive of poly-victimization once socio-demographic background variables (age, sexual orientation) were adjusted for. Group status was not a significant predictor in the model and there were no interaction effects between any of the characteristics and group status. These findings suggest that, regardless of whether a person is autistic, ADHD features may place individuals at higher risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence in adulthood. Further research using longitudinal designs and larger, diverse samples is needed. Furthermore, the regression model only accounted for about one-third of the variance in poly-victimization which highlights the importance of looking beyond individual-level risk factors to structural and systemic factors that contribute to disproportionate victimization of autistic people

Comparing the Executive Function Ability of Autistic and Non-autistic Adolescents with a Manualised Battery of Neuropsychological Tasks

Performance on a single executive function (EF) task (e.g., a card sorting task) is often taken to represent ability on the underlying subcomponent of EF (e.g., set shifting) without accounting for the non-specific and non-executive skills employed to complete the task. This study used a manualised battery of EF tasks to derive individual task scores and latent EF scores. Seventy-nine adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years, including 37 autistic and 42 non-autistic participants, matched on cognitive ability, completed the battery. Autistic adolescents had moderate global EF difficulties and had significantly more difficulties on some individual tasks. However, the samples did not differ on any of the specific individual subcomponents of EF (fluency, cognitive control and working memory)