The addition of 'clinically significant impairment' (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Author, 2013) to the diagnostic criteria for autism in DSM-5 attempts to establish a threshold for the condition. However, the increased prominence of the neurodiversity paradigm and social model of…

It seems that many parents have concerns about their child's current mental health and more broadly about their development and what kind of potential they have at school and beyond. In Neil Humphrey's article, "Are the Kids Alright? Examining the Intersection between Education and Mental Health," Humphrey offers some promising points of…

It is only in recent years that research has begun to focus on gender differences in males and females on the autism spectrum. There is now an increasing awareness that we are missing women and girls on the autism spectrum and the assumption has been that there are more males with autism or Asperger syndrome. The questions needing to be asked are…

It seems decidedly odd that after more than half a century of both research and clinical experience with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), there continue to be arguments on the nature of autism. "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition" ["DSM-5"; American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013] has not…

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults is estimated to be at least 1% (Brugha et al., 2011), yet almost all ASD research focuses on children. Adult intervention studies, in particular, are few in number and poor in quality (Bishop-Fitzpatrick, Minshew, & Eack, 2013), and support networks for adults with ASD are much more…

Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes; one set from the mother and one from the father. However, nondisjunction errors during meiosis can lead to a case of trisomy, where there are three rather than two chromosomes. Although such events are not uncommon, they are usually lethal, and account for a high proportion of spontaneous abortions. There…

Watters questions the universality of mental illness and warns of the harms that accompany the exportation of Western typologies to non-Western cultures. He is particularly concerned that these effects will be exacerbated by the upcoming revisions of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM-V").…

Roy Richard Grinker started his training in psychiatry before he hit puberty, listening to his grandfather discuss the field. Later, Grinker rejected the idea of studying science, eventually settling into his current job as a professor of anthropology at George Washington University. But the academic wanderings over the years have brought him…

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…

Briefly comments on the previous article by Noll and Benedict, disputing the assumption that the present state of knowledge limits clinicians to symptoms as a frame of reference for classification. (RH)

The Checklist for Autism in Young Children, comprising 30 symptoms, was administered to 143 children with autism. The children had an average of 23 (77 percent) of the listed symptoms. Percentages of children exhibiting each checklist symptom and other data were compared with diagnostic criteria reported in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual…

This paper urges advancement and refinement in the assessment of people with autistic disorders to include evaluation of additional psychiatric conditions which are frequently present, especially in lower-functioning autistic individuals. Implications of more comprehensive assessment for behavioral and medical intervention are discussed. (DB)

The general nature of neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood, and the areas in which gains in understanding such disorders have been made are discussed in the first portion of this paper. Thereafter, discussion focuses on the contemporary approach to neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood as exemplified by three serious disturbances: attention…

Research prospects and priorities in autism are discussed with respect to: (1) diagnosis, classification, and epidemiology; (2) clinical research; (3) neuropsychological research; (4) genetics; (5) structural and functional brain imaging; (6) postmortem studies; (7) other biological research; and (8) treatment research. Application of research…

The number of children diagnosed with autism is rapidly increasing. While autism is not a new disability, many families are still embarking on unforeseen journeys with their children. The autism spectrum has broadened, and with increased awareness in recent years, it is undetermined which aspect has the greatest impact on the increasing numbers.…