Autism Research最新文献

{"title":"Benign External Hydrocephalus in a Subgroup of Autistic Children Prior to Autism Diagnosis","authors":"Gal Ben-Arie,&nbsp;Ilan Shelef,&nbsp;Gal Meiri,&nbsp;Idan Menashe,&nbsp;Ilan Dinstein,&nbsp;Ayelet Arazi","doi":"10.1002/aur.70104","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70104","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Benign external hydrocephalus (BEH) is evident in &lt; 0.6% of births. It is defined by abnormally large cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes in the subarachnoid space (SAS) and otherwise normal neuroimaging findings before 2 years of age. BEH has not been associated with specific developmental disorders and is not treated because it usually resolves spontaneously. However, quantitative MRI studies have reported that some toddlers with autism exhibit enlarged extra-axial CSF (EA-CSF) volumes. Our objective was to determine whether a subgroup of children with autism exhibits both qualitative BEH and quantitative EA-CSF volume enlargements. We analyzed clinical brain MRI scans in a retrospective sample of 136 children, 5–99 months old, 83 with autism, who were assessed for BEH by neuroradiologists. EA-CSF volume and total cerebral volume (TCV) were quantified in T2-weighted scans by manual labeling. Measures were compared across groups while stratifying participants by age. Neuroradiologists reported BEH findings in 33% of autistic children scanned before the age of 2 years old (i.e., before autism diagnosis). Quantitative MRI analyses demonstrated that autistic children in this age group exhibited significantly larger EA-CSF volumes relative to controls (<i>t</i>\u0000 ₍₄₉₎ = 2.89, <i>p</i> = 0.006, Cohen's <i>d</i> = 0.82) with 30% of autistic children and 9.5% of the controls exhibiting EA-CSF/TCV ratios &gt; 0.14, a previously suggested threshold of potential clinical relevance. EA-CSF differences were not apparent in older children. The prevalence of BEH associated with quantifiable EA-CSF enlargements was remarkably high in toddlers who later developed autism, suggesting a specific autism etiology involving early transient CSF circulation problems with potentially long-lasting neurodevelopmental impact.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1796-1804"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12442519/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144801074","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":"Enhancing Handwriting Performance in Autistic Children: A Randomized Crossover Study on the Effectiveness of a Spatial-Structured Handwriting Intervention Program","authors":"Jia Le Pong,&nbsp;Tsu-Hsin Howe,&nbsp;Hao-Ling Chen,&nbsp;Zhi-Chi Weng,&nbsp;Tien-Ni Wang","doi":"10.1002/aur.70102","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70102","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Handwriting is an essential skill for school-aged children. Research indicates that autistic children often demonstrate poor handwriting fundamentals, which significantly affect their handwriting performance. These children also often exhibit weak central coherence (WCC), a cognitive visual processing characteristic that impairs their ability to integrate details into a cohesive whole in writing tasks. This challenge is particularly pronounced in logographic handwriting, where spatial relationships between radicals are essential for legibility, adding another layer of complexity. The modified geometric-based handwriting intervention program was designed to improve fundamental skills while addressing the spatial demands of logographic characters and the impact of WCC for autistic children. Twenty-two first- and second-grade autistic students were recruited and received a 12-h one-on-one handwriting intervention. Assessments of handwriting performance (legibility and speed), fundamental skills (visual perception, fine motor coordination, and visual-motor integration), and acceptability (motivation and satisfaction) were collected for data analysis. Results showed significant improvements in handwriting legibility, visual perception, and fine motor coordination, with high acceptance ratings from both participants and caregivers. This study provides evidence that the program effectively enhances handwriting legibility and foundational skills while maintaining high motivation levels in autistic children.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 10","pages":"2031-2040"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144801075","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":"Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Social Anxiety Does Not Increase Reports of Camouflaging Behavior in Autistic Adults: Results From an Exploratory Study","authors":"Bruna B. Roisenberg,&nbsp;Kelsie A. Boulton,&nbsp;Emma E. Thomas,&nbsp;Adam J. Guastella","doi":"10.1002/aur.70103","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70103","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Camouflaging has been defined as the masking or compensation of autistic traits during social interactions, often as a response to the stigma associated with autism and social expectations. Social anxiety has been closely linked to camouflaging, as autistic individuals may adopt camouflaging strategies to navigate social expectations and to reduce the risk of being negatively evaluated. Understanding the relationship between social anxiety and camouflaging in autism is essential for developing effective clinical interventions. This study investigated the effects of a modified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group intervention, the Engage Program, on camouflaging and social anxiety. Specifically, the objective was to determine whether the CBT program would reduce social anxiety symptoms and if this reduction would also be associated with improvements in camouflaging behaviours. Seventy-one autistic adults participated in an 8-week modified CBT group intervention for social anxiety. Camouflaging behaviors were assessed using the CAT-Q scale, and social anxiety levels were measured using three established and validated self-report measures. Pre- and post-intervention scores were analyzed to determine change following treatment, and correlations between social anxiety and camouflaging measures were explored. As expected, the CBT intervention program significantly reduced social anxiety symptoms across all measures, showing moderate effect sizes from pre- to post-treatment. However, no significant changes in camouflaging behaviors were observed from pre- to post-treatment. Despite this, reductions in social anxiety symptoms were correlated with decreases in camouflaging behaviours, particularly for the compensation and assimilation subscales. Autistic participants who showed the most benefit from therapy on social anxiety measures also showed the greatest reduction in their camouflaging scores from pre- to post-treatment. These findings suggest that improvements in social anxiety symptoms from CBT are also associated with reductions in camouflaging. Importantly, CBT did not lead to an increase in camouflaging behaviors in autistic adults. This study supports the overall benefits of CBT for autistic adults and suggests a need for more randomized controlled studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1896-1909"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12442530/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144796272","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":"Auditory and Semantic Processing of Speech-in-Noise in Autism: A Behavioral and EEG Study","authors":"Jiayin Li,&nbsp;Maleeha Sujawal,&nbsp;Zivile Bernotaite,&nbsp;Ian Cunnings,&nbsp;Fang Liu","doi":"10.1002/aur.70097","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70097","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Autistic individuals often struggle to recognize speech in noisy environments, but the neural mechanisms behind these challenges remain unclear. Effective speech-in-noise (SiN) processing relies on auditory processing, which tracks target sounds amidst noise, and semantic processing, which further integrates relevant acoustic information to derive meaning. This study examined these two processes in autism. Thirty-one autistic and 31 non-autistic adults completed a sentence judgment task under three conditions: quiet, babble noise, and competing speech. Auditory processing was measured using EEG-derived temporal response functions (TRFs), which tracked how the brain follows speech sounds, while semantic processing was assessed via behavioral accuracy and the N400 component, a neural marker of semantic processing. Autistic participants showed reduced TRF responses and delayed N400 onset, indicating less efficient auditory processing and slower semantic processing, despite similar N400 amplitude and behavioral performance. Moreover, non-autistic participants demonstrated a trade-off between auditory and semantic processing resources. In the competing speech condition, they showed enhanced semantic integration but reduced neural tracking of auditory information when managing linguistic competition introduced by intelligible speech noise. In contrast, the autistic group showed no modulation of neural responses, suggesting reduced flexibility in adjusting auditory and semantic demands. These findings highlight distinct neural processing patterns in autistic individuals during SiN tasks, providing new insights into how atypical auditory and semantic processing shape SiN perception in autism.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 10","pages":"2011-2030"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aur.70097","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144777038","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":"Causal Network Analysis Reveals Key Brain Regions Associated With Severity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder","authors":"Xiaofen Sun,&nbsp;Haibo Wang,&nbsp;Jingbo Deng,&nbsp;Shitong Cheng,&nbsp;Xiaocheng Wang,&nbsp;Chenghui Fu,&nbsp;Ling Li,&nbsp;Yuefu Zhan,&nbsp;Jianqiang Chen","doi":"10.1002/aur.70098","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70098","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study aims to investigate the relationship between gray matter (GM) changes and severity in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We examined 113 ASD children aged 2–8 years (17 mild cases, 56 moderate cases, and 40 severe cases), as well as 110 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to compare GM density (GMD) changes between ASD and HC groups. Additionally, structural covariance network analysis quantified the cross-regional synchronous changes in GM among ASD children, and causal analysis described the pattern of changes in the GM network related to symptom severity in ASD children. The results indicated that ASD children exhibiting mild symptoms have an enlarged parahippocampal gyrus, and as the severity of ASD increases, the range of GMD changes expands (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05, FDR correction). Granger causality (GC) analysis revealed that the parahippocampal gyrus may function as a central hub within ASD-related directional networks, exerting causal effects on other brain regions (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). These findings were validated by external datasets. Our results provide preliminary insights into the role of the parahippocampal gyrus in ASD and promote the application of dimensional models.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1746-1763"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144765854","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":"Executive Function and Social Cognition Performance Predicts Social Difficulty for Autistic Adults","authors":"T. R. Wong,&nbsp;K. A. Boulton,&nbsp;E. A. Demetriou,&nbsp;E. E. Thomas,&nbsp;N. L. Phillips,&nbsp;L. Hankin,&nbsp;S. H. Park,&nbsp;I. B. Hickie,&nbsp;A. J. Guastella","doi":"10.1002/aur.70090","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70090","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There has been limited research aimed at understanding the cognitive features that predict outcomes in autistic adults. Difficulties in social cognition and executive function (EF) processes have been proposed as important cognitive components underlying social functioning outcomes. In this study, 305 autistic adults were administered a battery of social cognition, EF, and social functioning assessments to determine the degree to which social cognition and EF factors predicted outcomes. For social cognition, hierarchical regressions showed that EF explained neither theory of mind scores nor emotion recognition scores. We then ran several mediation models to determine whether EF explained social functioning independently of social cognition. These exploratory analyses show that poorer performance-based EF and social cognition both predicted more clinician-observed social challenges, while poorer self-reported EF and social cognition predicted more self-reported social challenges. Effects on outcomes were independent of each other. Our results highlight the potential of bot EF and social cognition measures to provide clinically meaningful markers for social functioning, but via separate pathways. This study supports the utility of targeting EF and social cognition processes in autistic adults in assessment and support pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1734-1745"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12442527/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144762470","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":"Transdiagnostic Examination of Interrelationships Between Anxiety, Insistence on Sameness and Compulsions","authors":"Emily Spackman,&nbsp;Lacey Chetcuti,&nbsp;Emma K. Baker,&nbsp;Emily F. Ferguson,&nbsp;Benjamin E. Yerys,&nbsp;John D. Herrington,&nbsp;Thomas W. Frazier,&nbsp;Susan R. Leekam,&nbsp;Antonio Y. Hardan,&nbsp;John W. Harrington,&nbsp;Mirko Uljarević","doi":"10.1002/aur.70096","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70096","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Although insistence on sameness (IS) and compulsions occur across a wide range of neurodevelopmental (NDD) and neuropsychiatric (NPD) conditions, they are typically only examined within the confines of specific singular disorders. Indeed, while anxiety has been consistently linked to IS in autism and compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), no empirical study has examined these associations in a sample spanning a range of NDD and NPD. Therefore, this study utilized a large sample of children and adolescents spanning several NDD and NPD to examine whether anxiety shows different patterns of association with IS or compulsions within and across diagnostic groups. The transdiagnostic sample encompassed youth (mean age = 10.36 [3.40]; <i>N</i> = 1852) diagnosed with autism (<i>N</i> = 387), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; <i>N</i> = 931), internalizing disorders (<i>N</i> = 208), OCD/Tic disorder (<i>N</i> = 59) and oppositional defiant/conduct disorder (ODD/CD; <i>N</i> = 267). IS and compulsions were assessed using the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised, and anxiety using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders. Within-group comparisons revealed that, in the autism, ADHD, and OCD/Tic groups, anxiety showed a slightly stronger association with IS than compulsions although effect sizes indicated small to no effect (<i>q</i> &lt; 0.24). Between-group comparisons showed that interrelationships between anxiety, IS, and compulsions did not differ across groups, except for the association between IS and compulsions, which was slightly weaker in the ADHD group compared to the autism (<i>z</i> = 4.20) and ODD/CD groups (<i>z</i> = 3.32). Findings affirm the transdiagnostic nature of IS and compulsions and suggest that anxiety plays a key role in these behaviors, irrespective of primary diagnosis.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 10","pages":"1991-1998"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144980672","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":"Characterizing the Relationship Among the Social Competence Elements in Autistic Adolescents","authors":"Alexandra P. Key,&nbsp;Trey McGonigle,&nbsp;Jinyuan Liu,&nbsp;Rachael Muscatello,&nbsp;Philip Gable,&nbsp;Susan White,&nbsp;Matthew Lerner,&nbsp;Blythe A. Corbett","doi":"10.1002/aur.70095","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70095","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have significant difficulties in social competence. This study provided empirical evaluation of the theoretical model by Kennedy and Adolphs (2012) positing that social competence relies on an interconnected network of four components: social brain, cognition, behavior, and functioning. Data from 243 youth (69 female, 174 male), age 10–17 years, were used to test the hypothesized mediation effect of social cognition (Theory of Mind) from social brain (event-related potential markers of face perception and memory) to social behavior (Contextual Assessment of Social Skills) and functioning (Child Behavior Checklist). An additional analysis evaluated whether the structure of the social competence model varied based on the biological sex of the autistic participants. The findings support the conceptual model of social competence where the social brain's contributions to social behavior and functioning are mediated by social cognition, with an additional direct path between the brain and behavior. The relationship among the four components of social competence is not significantly different for autistic males and females. Social competence is best represented as a network of direct and indirect connections among the neural, cognitive, and behavioral components. Thus, focusing on any single element is not sufficient for effective design of novel assessment and treatment approaches in autism. The findings also highlight the importance of self-initiated active engagement with social cues as a contributor to successful social behavior and functioning in autism.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 10","pages":"1999-2010"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144735823","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":"Fundus Peripapillary Vascular Changes in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study","authors":"Yuexuan Wang,&nbsp;Yonglu Wang,&nbsp;Zhaoqi Zhu,&nbsp;Zhengwang Xia,&nbsp;Ningyu Wang,&nbsp;Mingchao Li,&nbsp;Ziyun Jiao,&nbsp;Nairong Pan,&nbsp;Youqiang Zhang,&nbsp;Qiang Chen,&nbsp;Xiaoyan Ke,&nbsp;Weiwei Zhang","doi":"10.1002/aur.70094","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70094","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In this cross-sectional study, participants were recruited through convenience sampling from the Children's Mental Health Research Center at The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and the Department of Ophthalmology at The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, between December 2019 and October 2024. A total of 200 eyes were ultimately enrolled in this study, sourced from 53 individuals with ASD, aged between 7 and 13 years, and an equal number of age- and sex-matched neurotypical (NT) controls. The aim of this research is to explore the changes in retinal and choroidal vasculature in children with ASD, evaluated through optical coherence tomography and its angiography, and to further investigate the potential value of retinal vascular characteristics in the auxiliary screening and diagnosis of ASD. We analyzed intergroup differences in perfusion density (PD), vessel density, flux index (FI), fractal dimension (FD), and vessel diameter (Dm) in the peripapillary region, further stratified by subquadrants and vessel types. The results show that ASD children exhibited significant differences compared to neurotypical controls, including increased PD and Dm in the supero-nasal quadrant (<i>p &lt;</i> 0.01), changes in capillary FI in the nasal quadrant (<i>p</i> = 0.008), increased venous FD (<i>p</i> = 0.009), and abnormal choroidal FI in the temporal quadrant (<i>p</i> = 0.008). A random forest classification model constructed based on these key features demonstrated promising performance (AUC = 0.7853) in distinguishing ASD from NT individuals, highlighting the potential of retinal vascular characteristics for auxiliary ASD screening. Moreover, retinal vascular parameters were significantly correlated (<i>p &lt;</i> 0.01) with blood oxygen level-dependent signals from functional magnetic resonance imaging in several brain regions, such as the amygdala (<i>p</i> = 0.004–0.009) and temporal lobe (<i>p</i> = 0.000–0.009). Further stepwise regression analysis indicates that key retinal vascular characteristics could partially predict core clinical features of ASD, such as social functioning (adjusted <i>R</i>\u0000 ^{\u0000 <i>2</i>\u0000} = 0.091–0.104, quantified by total and subscale scores of Social Responsiveness Scale) and cognitive ability (adjusted <i>R</i>\u0000 ^{\u0000 <i>2</i>\u0000} = 0.2785, quantified by total intelligence quotient scores). This study underscores the potential of retinal vascular features as biomarkers for ASD and provides a basis for future research on non-invasive retinal imaging-based approaches for ASD screening and diagnosis, while offering new perspectives for understanding the pathological mechanisms and clinical applications of ASD.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1775-1795"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144735824","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":"“Being Integrated Does Not Mean Being Included”: What Factors Contribute to School Exclusion for Autistic Children?","authors":"Margaret Schneider,&nbsp;Vanessa C. Fong,&nbsp;Janet McLaughlin","doi":"10.1002/aur.70088","DOIUrl":"10.1002/aur.70088","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Autistic students face a heightened risk of exclusion from school and related activities, yet the factors contributing to this issue remain poorly understood. To address this gap, the current study took place in Ontario, Canada's largest province, where diverse populations and varied inclusive education policies create unique challenges. The study had two primary objectives: (1) to examine the relationship between parent satisfaction with the individual education plan (IEP) process and school exclusion, and (2) to identify key factors parents perceive as predictors of school exclusion in their autistic children. A total of 412 caregivers from Ontario completed an online survey, available in English and French, between April and July 2018. Quantitative analysis revealed that greater satisfaction with the IEP process was associated with a lower likelihood of school exclusion (<i>b</i> = −0.297, OR = 0.743, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses identified two primary contributors to exclusion: bullying by peers and inadequate training and support for school staff. These findings highlight the need for improved supports in educational settings, including comprehensive anti-bullying initiatives, stronger collaboration with parents in the development of IEPs, greater accountability in ensuring that IEPs are properly implemented, a more inclusive approach to meeting student needs, and increased funding for support staff. Addressing these areas could help reduce the risk of exclusion and foster a more equitable learning environment for autistic students.</p>","PeriodicalId":131,"journal":{"name":"Autism Research","volume":"18 9","pages":"1851-1860"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12442517/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144710025","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}