The Autism Spectrum Disorders-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC) is a 40-item Likert format scale designed to serve in the diagnosis of children and adolescents from 2 to 16 years of age. The reliability and factor structure of the scale have been established in previous research. Studies 1 and 2 were designed to evaluate the validity of the measure…

An area of research with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which has received a considerable amount of attention recently is early diagnosis. This phenomenon is due largely to encouraging results from intensive intervention programs for children at very young ages. While five types of ASD exist, efforts in this area have focused almost exclusively…

There is an abundance of research investigating Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in children; however, little emphasis has been placed on ASD in adults, especially in regards to comorbid psychopathology. Although scales are available that measure comorbidity in adults with ID, what is needed are scales that measure comorbidity in adults with ID and…

The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have generated great interest among clinicians and researchers. Once considered rare, recent epidemiological data now suggests rates of up to 1 in 150 people. One of the most frequent of the ASD, Asperger's syndrome (AS), has been known as a disorder for as long as autism, which is easily the most visible of…

PDD-NOS has been an illusive diagnostic category in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It is a frequently occurring ASD, but it has typically been defined by what it is not--autism. This latter condition has received the bulk of the attention in the development of diagnostic methods, while PDD-NOS has largely been ignored from a diagnostic…

Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is now considered best practice in the field of developmental disabilities. Despite calls by national pediatric organizations and others for routine screening in young children, such recommendations have been hard to implement in practice. One of the major unresolved problems is the need for…

Early intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has proven to be a successful strategy for remediating many difficulties experienced by these children. As a result, accurate diagnoses of children with this range of disorders has become more critical. Additionally, while current training programs are for 3-4 year olds, in efforts to start…

Researchers and clinicians now recognize that adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) evince the full range of mental health concerns. Only recently, however, have attempts been made to develop evidence-based diagnostic and screening methods to identify these problems. Given that the way these people display symptoms of psychopathology may…

Rett Syndrome is one of the least commonly occurring autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but certainly one of the most devastating. A genetic profile has been identified, but checklists still have an important role for prescreening, especially before expensive genetic testing, and to provide precise strengths and weaknesses with respect to the core…

Asperger's syndrome (AS), first diagnosed in 1944, and has only recently begun to receive a great deal of research attention. An emerging controversy has been whether AS is a distinct condition from high functioning autism (HFA), and if so, can it be reliably and validly diagnosed. While measures designed specifically to aid in the screening and…

A considerable amount of attention has occurred with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) of children and youth. Furthermore, the rationale for using the most restrictive of the applied behavior analysis methods and medication has been largely based on the presence of severe challenging behaviors such as…

Diagnosing autism and PDD-NOS at very early ages has become a major priority in the field of mental health. More recently, researchers have also come to realize the importance of identifying co-occurring conditions of psychopathology in this population. In the present study, 309 children between 17 and 37 months of age who had been identified as…

Background: Autism is one of the most intriguing and highly studied conditions in the field of mental health. However, most research has been carried out with young children to the exclusion of adults, particularly adults with intellectual disability (ID). The present study represents a first attempt to describe symptom patterns of autism for…

Researchers and clinicians have generally agreed that persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are susceptible to other DSM Axis I disorders. However, to date, little has been done to establish the specific disorders, their rate and severity of occurrence, and their interrelationship with ASD symptoms. One reason for the lack of research has…

Psychologists interviewed direct-care staff using a battery of assessment measures including the autism spectrum disorders-diagnosis for intellectually disabled adults (ASD-DA), the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II), the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals with Severe Retardation (MESSIER), the…