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Our previous cross-sectional investigation (Chetcuti et al., 2020) showed that infants with autism traits could be divided into distinct subgroups based on temperament. This longitudinal study builds on this existing work by exploring the continuity of temperament subgroup classifications and their associations with behavioral/clinical phenotypic features from infancy to toddlerhood.
This study aimed to explore the rates of motor difficulties in children from the Australian Autism Biobank, and how early motor concerns impacted on children functionally.
A diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition (autism) provides limited information regarding an individual’s level of functioning, information key in determining support and funding needs.
Individuals exhibiting pronounced autistic traits (e.g., social differences and specialised interests) may struggle with cognitive empathy (i.e., the ability to infer others' emotions), although the relationship with affective empathy (i.e., the ability to share others' emotions) is less clear in that higher levels of autistic traits may be linked with increased affective empathy for negative emotions but reduced affective empathy for positive emotions. The current study investigates this empathy profile and whether alexithymia and emotion dysregulation help to explain it.
This study investigated whether exposure to high pregestational BMI (≥ 25 kg/m2) is associated with alterations in white matter microstructure in early childhood, explored sex-specific effects, and examined associations with cognitive performance.
Parent-child interactions (PCI) in infants with an elevated likelihood (EL) of autism start to diverge from other infants toward the end of the first year. This divergence is often attributed to emerging features of autism impacting infant social interactions in ways that become increasingly amplified. The aim was to identify which, if any, 12-month autism features were associated with later PCI qualities.
Developmental theory and previous studies support the potential value of prodromal interventions for infants at elevated likelihood of developing autism. Past research has supported the efficacy of parent-mediated prodromal therapies with infants from as early as 7 months. We outline the rationale for implementing interventions following this model from even earlier in development and report on the feasibility of a novel intervention developed following this model of parent-mediated infant interventions.
Despite being highly prevalent among people with autism, restricted and unusual interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This article confirms that restricted interests are very frequent and varied among children and adolescents with autism. It also further extends current knowledge in this area by characterizing the relationship between the presence, number, and type of restricted interests with chronological age, sex, cognitive functioning, and social and communication symptoms.
The Repetitive Behaviours Questionnaire for Adults (RBQ-2A) measures two factors of restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs) associated with autism. However, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provides four criteria for RRBs: repetitive motor behaviours, insistence on sameness, restricted interests, and interest in sensory aspects of the environment (or atypical sensitivity).
The broadening of the clinical definition of autism over time-the so-called, autism spectrum-has run in parallel with the growth of a neurodiversity movement that has reframed the concept of autism entirely. Without a coherent and evidence-based framework through which both of these advances can be situated, the field is at risk of losing definition altogether.