Self-development is a central developmental issue in adolescence, there are few studies describing the experiences related to the self in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We conducted semi-structural interviews with 14 adolescents with ASD and three with ADHD to describe the self.…

Typically developing (TD) infants could capitalize on social eye gaze and social contexts to aid word learning. Although children with autism disorder (AD) are known to exhibit atypicality in word learning via social eye gaze, their ability to utilize social contexts for word learning is not well understood. We investigated whether verbal AD…

Studies investigating inferential reasoning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have focused on the ability to make socially-related inferences or inferences more generally. Important variables for intervention planning such as whether inferences depend on physical experiences or the nature of social information have received less consideration. A…

Findings from research investigating goal-directed intention understanding in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been equivocal, in part because of the varying methodologies used across studies. This study compares both object-oriented and social-communicatively cued goal-directed intention understanding in children with ASD and…

This study investigated whether the novel Comic Strip Task (CST) could be used to detect Theory-of-Mind impairments (ToM) in 4- to 8-year-old children with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Twelve children with either high-functioning autism or Asperger's Disorder and 12 typically-developing children completed the 21-item measure.…

We investigated if variation in autistic traits in the typically-developed population (using the Autism-spectrum Quotient, AQ) influenced implicit learning of social information. In the learning phase, participants repeatedly observed two identities whose gaze and expression conveyed either a pro- or antisocial disposition. These identities were…

Research on theory of mind (TOM) has provided a major contribution to the understanding of developmental disorders characterized by atypical social behaviour. Yet, there is still little consensus relative to TOM abilities in Williams syndrome (WS). This study used visual and verbal tasks to investigate attribution of intentions in individuals with…