Autistic adults who have a history of committing crimes present a major problem for providers of services in terms of legal disposal options and possible interventions, and greater understanding of this group and their associated needs is required. For this reason, we aimed to investigate the face validity of a proposed sub-typology of autistic…

Background: This study looked to investigate the sometimes conscious and sometimes intuitive decision-making processes of Intensive Interaction practitioners. More specifically, this study set out to develop a rich description of how practitioners make judgements when developing a dynamic repertoire of Intensive Interaction strategies with people…

Background: Pathologic aerophagia (PA) is characterised by excessive swallowing of air resulting in significant abdominal distension or belching. This is a relatively rare condition in general population but has been reported in up to 8.8% of institutionalised patients with intellectual disability. In severe cases, this can cause volvulus and…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. Fragile X E is associated with X-linked non-specific mild intellectual disability (ID) and with behavioral problems. Most of the known genetic causes of ASD are also causes of ID, implying that these two…

The specific neuropsychological and sensory profile found in persons with autism spectrum disorders complicate dental procedures and as a result of this, most are treated under general anesthesia or unnecessary sedation. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a short treatment and education of autistic and related…

The aim of the researchers was to determine if there are alternative methods in treating children with autism. Children diagnosed with autism are currently attending special schools with a different type of curriculum. Many methods have been used by psychologists and psychiatrists to treat children diagnosed with autism. Children with mental or…

Objective: To compare social and behavioural outcomes between children formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with those of children who displayed autistic traits at preschool age, but remained undiagnosed as teenagers. Method: A secondary analysis of data from a birth cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and…

Behavioral momentum theory provides a quantitative account of how reinforcers experienced within a discriminative stimulus context govern the persistence of behavior that occurs in that context. The theory suggests that all reinforcers obtained in the presence of a discriminative stimulus increase resistance to change, regardless of whether those…

The current study investigated clinicians' perspectives on the effectiveness of interventions designed to support the development of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). Researchers developed a semi-structured interview which was administered to 11 clinicians involved in the assessment and treatment of ASDs (5 = clinical…

A 3-part comprehensive synthesis of the early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism based on the University of California at Los Angeles Young Autism Project method (Lovaas in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9, 1987) is presented. The three components of the synthesis were: (a) descriptive…

Researchers and clinicians are recognizing that a subgroup of children with Down syndrome (DS) also present with clinically significant impairments in social-communication and restricted patterns of behavior, such as those that characterize autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Efforts to better describe the behavioral presentation of children with…

The purpose of this study was to examine the response to vestibular sensory events in persons with autism. The data for this study was collected as part of a cross-sectional study that examined sensory processing (using the Sensory Profile) in 103 persons with autism, 3-43 years of age, compared to age- and gender-matched community controls. The…

We discuss the problem of autism-specific special education programs representing themselves as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) programs when the only ABA intervention employed is Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT), and often for limited portions of the school day. Although DTT has many advantages to recommend its use, it is not well suited to teach…

Autism diagnostic practices among school and clinical psychologists, particularly those using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), were examined using national survey results (N = 132). School and clinical psychologists were similar in following the Best Practice Guidelines for screening, diagnosis and assessment. School…

This study utilized retrospective video analysis to distinguish sensory-motor patterns in infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS) (n=11) from other infants [i.e., autism (n=11), other developmental delay (n=10), typical (n=11)] at 9-12 months of age. Measures of development, autistic features, and FMRP were assessed at the time of entry into the…