Recent evidence suggests that, contrary to traditional views, empathy difficulties may not be a core feature of autism; but are rather due to co-occurring alexithymia. Empathy, alexithymia and autistic traits have yet to be examined concurrently in children. Therefore, we examined the co-occurrence of empathy difficulties and alexithymia in 59…

Emotion dysregulation is common among autistic people, yet few measures have received psychometric evaluation in this population. We examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a commonly-used measure of emotion dysregulation, the "Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale" ("DERS"), in a sample of 156 autistic…

Irritability is an impairing problem in children with ASD that may be associated with other behavioral and emotional concerns. The Affective Reactivity Index (ARI) is a parent-rated measure of irritability widely used in children with mood disorders, however, its utility in children with ASD remains unclear. In this study, we examined ARI parent…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges and disruptions for autistic individuals receiving specialized treatment services. This caregiver-report survey study (n = 339) explored predictors of satisfaction with autism services during COVID-19 to improve perceived support for these families. Specifically, we investigated whether…

Co-occurring emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs) frequently exist in young autistic children. There is evidence based on parental report that parenting interventions reduce child EBPs. More objective measures of child EBPs should supplement parent reported outcomes in trials. We describe the development of a new measure of child and parenting…

This study examined whether adaptive behaviour, emotional and behavioural challenges, and social skills, respectively, moderated the effect of a movement skill intervention on movement skills among preschool aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Twenty-seven participants with autism spectrum disorder (N = 13 experimental) between 3 and 5…

Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a genetic syndrome most often caused by a deletion on chromosome 17 or more rarely by a mutation in the retinoic acid-induced 1 gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) profile of persons with SMS and the associations between behavioural and emotional problems, age,…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common comorbidities in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. However, the clinical implications of the co-occurrence of these two disorders are still poorly understood. Based on a preregistered protocol (PROSPERO CRD42020193880), this systematic review identified 34 articles,…

Parent-mediated interventions can reduce behavioral and emotional problems in children with ASD. This report discusses the development of the first group parent intervention targeting behaviors "and" anxiety in children with ASD, across the spectrum of cognitive and language ability. 'Predictive Parenting' was developed from the clinical…

Research suggests that a childhood diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with poorer teacher-child relationship quality and higher rates of externalising behaviours. It is proposed that the socio-emotional problems experienced by those children with ASD and/or ADHD lead to poor…

Autistic young people experience high levels of co-occurring mental health difficulties, including anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties, across their lifespan. Understanding the neuropsychological mechanisms which underlie these difficulties is vital in developing personalised supports and interventions. Cognitive inflexibility is one…

This study examined the validity of the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL) with 180 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in South Korea. Rasch analysis was applied to examine item fit, item difficulty, suitability of the response scale, and person and item separation indices of the K-CBCL. The results indicated that,…

Rehabilitation professionals working with students with disabilities and the families of those students face unique challenges in providing inclusive services to special education student populations. There needs to be a focus on adaptive teaching methods that provide quality experience for students with varying disabilities to promote student…