Autism Research最新文献

{"title":"Visual Exploration and Construction Strategies Underlying Performance in the Block Design Task in Autism","authors":"Alizee Diu,&nbsp;Anais Gaume,&nbsp;Magali Batty,&nbsp;Lucie Bouvet","doi":"10.1002/aur.70256","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70256","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Visuospatial reasoning in autism is often linked to superior performance on tasks such as the Block Design Task (BDT). While different strategies have been described in the general population, no study has examined how these strategies relate to performance in autistic individuals, even though the task is widely used to characterize their visuospatial profile. To address this gap, the present study examined not only overall scores but also the underlying strategies used by autistic (ASD) and neurotypical (TD) adults during the BDT. Forty-one participants (ASD = 18; TD = 23) completed the standard BDT while eye-tracking and behavioral data captured both visual exploration and construction strategies. Globally, structured strategies—both in visual exploration and construction—were found to be the most effective, as they were associated with higher success rates and faster completion times, consistent with previous findings. At the group level, our results revealed that autistic participants employed these analytic strategies more frequently than neurotypical individuals, along with a stronger alignment between visual and construction approaches. The consistent use of these strategies in the autistic group may help explain the enhanced visuospatial performance observed in our study after controlling for manual dexterity and reported in earlier studies. These findings emphasize the importance of looking beyond traditional performance measures such as accuracy and completion time, highlighting that cognitive strategies are key to understanding visuospatial reasoning.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70256","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147678824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unlocking the Potential of Habitual Napping to Moderate the Association Between Sleep Disturbances and Behavioral Problems Among Autistic and Typically Developing Children","authors":"Yiqing Zhong,&nbsp;Dagmara Dimitriou","doi":"10.1002/aur.70245","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70245","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in autistic children and closely linked to behavioral difficulties, yet the role of napping in this relationship remains poorly understood, particularly in cultural contexts where naps are normative. This pilot study examined sleep–behavior associations and the potential protective role of napping in 53 school-aged children in China (26 autistic, 27 neurotypical, aged 6–12). Sleep was assessed both objectively (1-week actigraphy and sleep diaries) and subjectively (Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire), and behavioral outcomes were measured via the Child Behavior Checklist. Autistic children showed significantly more sleep disturbances than neurotypical peers, including greater bedtime resistance, longer sleep onset delay, more frequent night waking, and shorter total sleep. Night waking was a key correlate of behavioral problems in both groups. Importantly, longer nap durations were associated with weaker associations between sleep disturbances and behavioral outcomes. Temporal analyses further indicated that shorter nocturnal sleep was associated with longer next-day naps, while nap duration was not significantly associated with same-day night sleep. These findings highlight the potential relevance of culturally embedded nap routines in relation to behavioral difficulties and may inform context-sensitive sleep support strategies in neurodevelopmental populations.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147617265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Visual Search Performance in Children With ASD: A Combined Case-Control and Longitudinal Study","authors":"Naisan Raji,&nbsp;Iskra Todorova,&nbsp;Leonie Polzer,&nbsp;Solvejg K. Kleber,&nbsp;Christian Lemler,&nbsp;Luisa Schnettler,&nbsp;Janina Kitzerow-Cleven,&nbsp;Ziyon Kim,&nbsp;Christine M. Freitag,&nbsp;Nico Bast","doi":"10.1002/aur.70274","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70274","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with altered attentional function. This has been associated with enhanced visual search performance. Addressing a gap in the literature, we investigate the longitudinal development of visual search alongside ASD symptoms. Using eye-tracking, we studied performance in a single-feature visual search task with visual search accuracy and time to target. We investigated preschoolers with ASD (<i>n</i> = 60, age = 47 months) and a cohort of developmental age-matched typically developing (TD) children (<i>n</i> = 50, age = 35 months) at baseline and after approximately 3 years. We further explored associations of visual search performance with parent-reported ASD symptom domains. Both groups showed similar visual search accuracy and time to target at baseline. At the 3-year follow-up, the ASD group showed significantly lower visual search accuracy and shorter time to target than the TD group. Within the ASD cohort, higher accuracy and shorter time to target were associated with higher social communication impairments. The often-reported ASD advantage in visual search may not be as pronounced as assumed to differentiate between ASD and neurotypical development. It may also be dependent on the measure reported. More accurate and faster search may be associated with certain symptom severity profiles of ASD, supporting broad heterogeneity in the autism spectrum.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70274","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147936221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vicarious Perception of Touch in ASD: The Role of Empathy and Touch Experiences","authors":"Ana Rita Pereira,&nbsp;Marta Pozo-Rodríguez,&nbsp;A. Ribeiro-Carreira,&nbsp;Alberto J. González-Villar,&nbsp;Sabela Conde-Pumpido Zubizarreta,&nbsp;María Tubío-Fungueiriño,&nbsp;Angel Carracedo,&nbsp;Montse Fernández-Prieto,&nbsp;Adriana Sampaio","doi":"10.1002/aur.70269","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70269","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>C-Tactile (CT) targeted affective touch plays a central role in social cognition and emotional development. In autism, atypical sensory processing, particularly in response to tactile stimulation, has frequently been reported. Autistic individuals have been shown to exhibit altered perception and reduced hedonic evaluation of affective touch, as well as increased defensive responses. Despite these differences in direct touch, the perception of vicarious social touch or its connection to social and emotional constructs remains poorly explored. Vicarious touch is theoretically relevant because it recruits social-cognitive and affective mechanisms beyond primary somatosensory processing; however, most prior studies have focused on neural correlates in neurotypical adults, with limited behavioral investigation and scarce evidence in autistic populations. The present study evaluated how autistic and non-autistic adolescents and young adults perceive vicarious social touch. Participants observed videos depicting touch delivered at three different speeds (static, CT-optimal, and fast) and across five skin locations (back, upper arm, ventral forearm, dorsal forearm, and palm). Participants provided subjective ratings of how pleasant they believed the touch was for the person in the video (numeric rating scale (NRS) Other/pleasantness) and how much they would like to be touched in the same way (NRS Self/willingness). We also examined associations with empathy and touch-related attitudes. Results showed no group differences in the pleasantness and willingness ratings. However, a significant three-way interaction between speed, skin location, and group emerged for the NRS Self. Across both groups, ratings indicated that speed and skin location modulated ratings, with CT-optimal stroking and touch in the back rated as most pleasant. For NRS Self, male participants reported higher pleasantness than females, across groups. Pleasantness and willingness ratings were positively correlated with attitudes toward touch from friends and family and toward self-care, but not with other touch-related attitudes or empathy scores, across groups. Finally, autistic individuals reported significantly lower empathy and less positive touch-related experiences than non-autistic participants. Overall, these findings suggest that global vicarious touch perception may be relatively preserved in autistic adolescents and young adults, while individual differences in empathy and touch-related experiences may contribute to broader variability in social touch processing.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147965503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Network Analysis of Alexithymia, Interoception, Empathy, Self-Awareness and Psychopathological Symptoms in Young People With Autism Spectrum Disorder","authors":"Antonio Kei-Fung Shek,&nbsp;Simon S. Y. Lui,&nbsp;Eric C. L. Lai,&nbsp;Raisie W. K. Wong,&nbsp;Jason L. F. Chan,&nbsp;Lok-Yin Choi,&nbsp;Kimi H. Y. Lam,&nbsp;Eugenia Y. C. Lok,&nbsp;Siu-Man Lam,&nbsp;Wang Yi,&nbsp;Raymond C. K. Chan","doi":"10.1002/aur.70265","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70265","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with altered interoception, empathy, self-awareness, and alexithymia. However, limited research has been conducted to investigate the interrelationships of these constructs with psychopathological symptoms. A prior network analysis in college students examined the interrelationship of these constructs and demonstrated that cognitive empathy and alexithymia influenced interoception and autistic features. We aimed to examine the interrelationships of these constructs in people with clinical ASD using network analysis. We recruited 208 young people aged 15–25 with Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) confirmed diagnosis of ASD and administered self-report measures for interoception, empathy, self-awareness, and alexithymia. We constructed a regularized partial correlation network. The results showed the alexithymia node of “difficulty-describing-feelings-to-others” (expected influence (EI) = 0.854), interoceptive awareness (strength = 1.273; EI = −0.084), depressive symptoms (EI = 0.537), and anxiety symptoms (EI = 0.652) were important nodes. Our findings suggested that alexithymia, depressive, and anxiety symptoms influenced empathy, self-awareness, and autistic features in people with ASD and supported the important role of interoception in the network.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70265","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147790518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why I Invited a Commentary on “Why We Need to Study Assisted Methods to Teach Typing to Nonspeaking Autistic People”","authors":"David G. Amaral","doi":"10.1002/aur.70259","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70259","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;During 2025, I invited Professor Vikram Jaswal and colleagues to submit a Commentary to &lt;i&gt;Autism Research&lt;/i&gt; on alternative communication methods for nonverbal or minimally verbal autistic individuals (Jaswal et al. &lt;span&gt;2026&lt;/span&gt;). The genesis of this request came from a conversation that I had with the parent of a teenage participant in the UC Davis MIND Institute Autism Phenome Project. I contacted her to ask why she and the participant had not returned for their 5th (adolescent) visit. Her response was that she felt that it might be embarrassing to the participant because the standard behavioral assessment tools that we typically use did not truly represent his capabilities. Even though we had repeatedly assessed the participant as having profound intellectual disability, he had apparently recently graduated from high school and was using a letter board to communicate. The mother wondered whether we could carry out his adolescent assessments using this form of communication. This experience got me wondering whether there were other participants in our program that we had underestimated their cognitive skills because the assessments we use are designed for speaking individuals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This experience forced me to review the checkered history of facilitated communication in autism and the serious claims of manipulation and worse that are associated with these techniques. During my reading, I found the work of Professor Jaswal (e.g., Jaswal et al. &lt;span&gt;2020&lt;/span&gt;) which seemed to be well designed and rationally interpreted. I thus approached Professor Jaswal with the idea of writing a Commentary that would provide a brief overview of the history of assisted communication methods and some sense of a way forward for evaluating the scientific validity of these techniques.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Subsequently, during the summer of 2025, I attended a conference&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; in Stamford CT that featured adult autistic individuals who used letterboards, iPads, or keyboards as their primary means of communication. My goal was to determine whether I thought that these individuals were being manipulated by their facilitators or conversely whether they were communicating their own thoughts. My general impression was that there was little or no manipulation and that individuals who could not express themselves verbally had found an alternative method to do so. Of course, I am not an expert in this area, and my impression is only anecdotal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My hope is that the Commentary by Professor Jaswal and colleagues will restart a dialogue about these techniques and address questions such as: Which autistic individuals can benefit from them, and which cannot? Are there scientific strategies to demonstrate that the autistic individuals are expressing their own thoughts rather than being manipulated by their facilitators? Can there be a conversation between the autistic individuals using alternative forms of communication, their facilitators and language scientists who speci","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70259","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147977676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adverse Childhood Experiences in Autistic and Neurotypical Girls","authors":"Jon Ebert,&nbsp;Rachael A. Muscatello,&nbsp;Trey McGonigle,&nbsp;Simon Vandekar,&nbsp;Blythe A. Corbett","doi":"10.1002/aur.70221","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70221","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic, life-altering events that occur in childhood with long-term negative physical and/or mental health outcomes. Previous research, while limited and largely focused on males, suggests children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at higher risk of experiencing ACEs than typically developing (TD) peers. The study aimed to enhance our understanding of ACEs by focusing on female participants comparing diagnostic (ASD, TD), developmental (age, puberty), and mental health (anxiety, depression) factors. Participants included 212 female children with ASD (<i>N</i> = 112) or TD (<i>N</i> = 100) between 6:0 to 12:11 years. Following diagnostic testing, the 10-item ACEs questionnaire was administered. Statistical analyses included Wilcoxon rank-sum tests, negative-binomial models, linear regression, and Spearman correlations. There was a significant group difference in the total number of ACEs such that autistic children had more parent-reported total adverse events (<i>p</i> = 0.024). There were no significant diagnosis by age or puberty stage interactions (<i>p</i> &gt; 0.05). Depressive symptoms were significantly positively associated with autism diagnosis (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001, RESI = 0.574) and ACE total (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001, RESI = 0.282), indicating overall higher rates of depressive symptoms in autistic youth, and an increase in depressive symptoms for participants with at least one ACE. There were similar findings for anxiety. Results highlight that having autism along with ACEs may place youth at a higher risk of mental health conditions. Treatments developed to address the unique challenges of adverse events in autism may be warranted to prevent long-term sequelae and poor mental health outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13092257/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147463525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hope Is Not Enough: Assisted Typing Must Meet Scientific Standards","authors":"Connie Kasari","doi":"10.1002/aur.70266","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70266","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147977624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inaccurate Claims in a Recent Commentary Supporting Facilitated Communication","authors":"Katharine Beals,&nbsp;Bronwyn Hemsley,&nbsp;Russell Lang,&nbsp;Howard Shane","doi":"10.1002/aur.70258","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70258","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147977662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why We Need to Study Assisted Methods to Teach Typing to Nonspeaking Autistic People","authors":"Vikram K. Jaswal,&nbsp;Barry M. Prizant,&nbsp;Morgan D. Barense,&nbsp;Kristie Patten,&nbsp;Gary Stobbe","doi":"10.1002/aur.70176","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70176","url":null,"abstract":"<p>At least one third of autistic people have limited or no speech. Most nonspeaking autistic people are never provided alternatives that would enable the full range of expression that speech allows, significantly limiting their access to educational, social, and employment opportunities. In this commentary, we argue that assisted methods to teach nonspeaking autistic people to type—long dismissed because the assistant could influence the text they produce during training—warrant fresh study. Although these teaching methods developed in practice rather than research, the practice (including the range of support the assistant provides in the motor, sensory, and attentional domains) is aligned with contemporary research about nonspeaking autistic people's strengths and challenges. We suggest that past research showing that influence can occur during training has been over-interpreted to mean that influence always occurs and that nonspeaking autistic people instructed using assisted methods never learn to type independently. In fact, other research shows that influence does not always occur, and there are independent typers who attribute their skill to the range of assistance they received during training. We believe it is time to revisit assisted methods to teach typing in order to understand their potential, as well as their limits, including how successful learners became independent and for whom these methods would be a good match. These efforts have the potential to result in greater access to effective communication and better quality of life for more nonspeaking autistic people.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70176","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145954018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}