Kristy A Anderson, Melissa Radey, Jessica E Rast, Anne M Roux, Lindsay Shea
{"title":"The Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Autistic Children and Their Families.","authors":"Kristy A Anderson, Melissa Radey, Jessica E Rast, Anne M Roux, Lindsay Shea","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06280-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10803-024-06280-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>We used data from the National Survey of Children's Health to (1) examine differences in economic hardship and safety net program use after the implementation of federal relief efforts, and (2) assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated autism-based disparities in hardship and program use.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We examined five dimensions of economic hardship (poverty, food insecurity, medical hardship, medical costs, and foregone work) and four safety net programs (cash assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and free or reduced-cost meals). First, we calculated adjusted prevalence and odds ratios to compare pre-COVID (2018-2019) and during COVID (2021) outcomes by autism status. Next, we calculated the adjusted odds of each outcome among autistic children compared to those of children with and without other special healthcare needs at both time points.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>COVID-19 exacerbated autism-based disparities in food insecurity, SNAP, and public health insurance, but alleviated inequities in medical hardship, foregone work, and cash assistance. Autistic children did not experience declines in food insecurity or increases in SNAP like other children; medical hardship and foregone work decreased more for autistic children; and the magnitude of autism-based differences in public coverage significantly increased during the pandemic.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Federal relief efforts likely improved economic outcomes of children; however, these effects varied according to type of hardship and by disability group. Efforts to promote economic well-being among autistic populations should be tailored to the financial challenges most salient to low-income autistic children, like food insecurity.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":"1329-1340"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139931220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kaitlynn M P Baiden, Zachary J Williams, Rachel K Schuck, Patrick Dwyer, Mian Wang
{"title":"The Social Validity of Behavioral Interventions: Seeking Input from Autistic Adults.","authors":"Kaitlynn M P Baiden, Zachary J Williams, Rachel K Schuck, Patrick Dwyer, Mian Wang","doi":"10.1007/s10803-024-06297-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10803-024-06297-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many in the autistic community have expressed concerns regarding the use of behavioral interventions with autistic children, suggesting that these interventions may not be socially valid. Though behavioral interventions have evolved to be more naturalistic and child-centered, little structured research has been done to explicitly seek autistic perspectives on the acceptability of specific components of behavioral interventions. Autistic adults (N = 235) were recruited online to take the Autism Intervention Attitudes Scale (AIAS), a questionnaire designed to gather feedback on common intervention goals and practices. Results indicate that participants find goals and practices that highlight quality of life, safety, and autistic interactions acceptable, while those that focus on normalization based on neurotypical standards are not. An exploratory graph analysis revealed three communities of goals (\"uncontroversial goals\", \"controversial goals\", and \"social goals\"). Comparison between naturalistic and structured intervention components additionally showed that autistic participants favored naturalistic strategies. These findings are in line with known criticisms of behavioral intervention from autistic adults, but also provide more information on the specific ways in which behavioral interventions can be reformed. This information can guide professionals in the development of appropriate goals and decisions around intervention planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":"1172-1186"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11933200/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140110337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katie Logos, Alliyza Lim, Neil Brewer, Robyn L Young
{"title":"The Behavioral Presentation of Autistic Adults in a Forensic Interview.","authors":"Katie Logos, Alliyza Lim, Neil Brewer, Robyn L Young","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06805-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06805-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autism diagnostic criteria, and research primarily involving autistic children, highlight verbal and nonverbal behaviors likely to manifest during social interaction that may generate unfavorable impressions of interaction partners (e.g., poor credibility, incompetence). These behaviors are thought to bias evaluations of autistic individuals, particularly within high-stakes contexts (e.g., police or employment interviews). However, the prevalence of those behaviors in autistic adults is unclear. IQ-matched samples of autistic (n = 43) and non-autistic (n = 41) adults participated in a simulated chatroom, exposed to text-based conversations about illegal hacking. Participants were then interviewed about the chatroom in a one-on-one video-recorded online interview with the researcher. We measured the prevalence of 19 verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and memory report characteristics displayed by the interviewees, and investigated differences between the diagnostic groups. Diagnosis had a strong effect on overall behavioral displays but was only associated with minor differences in individual behaviors. Three significant effects indicated greater difficulty interpreting figurative language, longer speech hesitations, and greater verbal intonation for autistic than non-autistic adults. Inter-individual variability within groups and within-individual variability across behaviors highlighted that behaviors were neither ubiquitous nor consistently displayed in combination. There was also a suggestion of more noticeable differences in the behavior of male than female autistic adults. Although minor behavioral differences were detected based on diagnosis, they included behaviors that could lead to negative outcomes for autistic individuals during high-stakes interactions. Whether more pronounced behavioral differences are detected during face-to-face interactions warrants further research.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143742929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wenqing Li, Chenxi Bao, Yupei Ye, Qingxiang Liu, Kangkang Chu, Ya Wang, Xiaoyan Ruan, Huimin Lü, Xi Liu, Xiaoyan Ke
{"title":"Exploring Psychotropic Medication Use in Hospitalized Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in China: The Role of Intellectual Disability.","authors":"Wenqing Li, Chenxi Bao, Yupei Ye, Qingxiang Liu, Kangkang Chu, Ya Wang, Xiaoyan Ruan, Huimin Lü, Xi Liu, Xiaoyan Ke","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06779-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06779-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently present with mental health comorbidities and behavioral crises, necessitating inpatient care. However, evidence-based guidelines for psychotropic medication use in specialized inpatient settings remain limited, particularly in non-Western contexts. This study examined the clinical characteristics and prescribing patterns among 269 hospitalized ASD patients (2012-2023), with a focus on how intellectual disability (ID) influences medication decisions. A retrospective analysis was conducted using electronic medical records to assess mental disorders, behavioral challenges, and psychotropic medication use at discharge. Logistic regression analyses was performed to examine factors associated with medication prescribing patterns, including the impact of ID status. Psychotropic medication use was highly prevalent (96.7%), with antipsychotics (89.96%) being the most frequently prescribed class, followed by anxiolytics (35.32%) and antidepressants (33.09%). ID was significantly associated with distinct prescribing patterns: patients with ID had 63% lower odds of antidepressant use (aOR = 0.37, p = 0.001) and 80% lower odds of ADHD medication use (aOR = 0.20, p = 0.009), while being more likely to receive antipsychotics (aOR = 2.74, p = 0.049) and experience polypharmacy (aOR = 1.89, p = 0.028). Additionally, disruptive behaviors and age were key predictors of antipsychotic use, whereas suicidal thoughts/attempts or SIBs independently predicted antidepressant prescribing. These findings suggest that ID status plays a critical role in shaping psychotropic prescribing practices beyond symptom severity alone, potentially reflecting diagnostic overshadowing and safety concerns. Future research should focus on developing tailored clinical assessment tools and treatment protocols for ASD populations with and without ID, while enhancing individualized medication monitoring to optimize therapeutic outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143719343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robert M Jertberg, Sander Begeer, Hilde M Geurts, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Erik Van der Burg
{"title":"Intact but Protracted Facial and Prosodic Emotion Recognition Among Autistic Adults.","authors":"Robert M Jertberg, Sander Begeer, Hilde M Geurts, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Erik Van der Burg","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06786-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06786-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite extensive research efforts, it is unclear how autistic and non-autistic individuals compare in their ability to recognize emotions. Differences in demographic and task factors have been proposed as explanations for divergent findings, but limitations in samples and designs have obscured insight into this possibility. This study investigated the extent of emotion recognition differences among autistic adults and the influence of these factors upon them. We recruited a large sample of autistic and non-autistic adults (N = 1,239) spanning across adulthood (18-76 years). In three online experiments, we compared their performance in recognizing emotions from basic facial expressions, complex expressions conveyed by the eyes alone, and prosodic elements of speech. Autistic individuals performed as well as non-autistic ones in terms of recognition accuracy/sensitivity across measures and emotional categories but took longer to do so. We also detected comparable influences of age, estimated intelligence quotient, and gender (as well as task demands) on both groups. While autistic adults may differ in how they process emotional stimuli, they can do so effectively when given sufficient time. Accordingly, efforts to help autistic individuals improve their ability to recognize emotions may be more fruitful if they focus on efficiency over accuracy. Additionally, reaction time data may offer greater insight than accuracy into differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals on emotion recognition tasks. The similar effects of the demographic and task factors we analyzed on both groups suggest that explanations of the discrepancies in prior literature lie elsewhere.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143719344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristal Xie, Ashley Blanchard, Stanford Chihuri, Matthew Russell, Caleb Ing, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, Guohua Li
{"title":"Unintentional Drowning Incidents Involving Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Treated in US Emergency Departments, 2016-2020.","authors":"Kristal Xie, Ashley Blanchard, Stanford Chihuri, Matthew Russell, Caleb Ing, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, Guohua Li","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06769-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06769-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at heightened risk of unintentional drowning. We examined the epidemiological patterns of unintentional drowning incidents involving children diagnosed with ASD treated in US emergency departments (EDs). Data for this study came from the 2016-2020 Nationwide ED Sample. Children aged 1-19 years diagnosed with ASD and treated in EDs were identified using ICD-10-CM code F84.0. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of drowning-related ED visits associated with ASD. During the study period, there were an estimated 21,226 unintentional drowning-related ED visits in children, including 369 in children diagnosed with ASD. Compared to children without ASD, ED visits for unintentional drownings in children with ASD were more likely to have occurred in swimming pools (47.45% vs. 41.21%), natural water (15.55% vs. 8.82%), and bathtubs (8.08% vs. 4.79%). Among children with ASD, unintentional drowning-related ED visits occurred more commonly in children > 10 years (43.20% vs. 18.19%) and were more likely to result in hospital admission (35.14% vs. 22.02%) than among children without ASD. With adjustment for demographic characteristics, ASD was associated with more than a 2-fold increased odds of ED-treated unintentional drowning (aOR = 2.31; 95% CI 1.84, 2.89). Epidemiologic patterns of unintentional drowning are different between children with and without ASD. Targeted interventions designed to increase supervision, provide adaptive swimming lessons, and enhance environmental safety may reduce the risk of unintentional drownings among children diagnosed with ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143719345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Juliette E Lerner, Hillary Schiltz, Noa Schisterman, Sonja Ziegler, Catherine Lord
{"title":"What Factors Have Been the Most Helpful and Harmful and When? Identifying Key Impacts on Psychosocial Development According to Autistic Adults and Caregivers.","authors":"Juliette E Lerner, Hillary Schiltz, Noa Schisterman, Sonja Ziegler, Catherine Lord","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06800-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06800-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Few studies have asked autistic adults and caregivers directly about what has most positively and negatively impacted their lives. This study sought to: (a) identify positive and negative factors experienced by autistic adults and caregivers; (b) test for within-subject differences in endorsement of promotive factors reported specific to four stages of development; and (c) test for differences in factors between adults with varying cognitive ability (i.e., less cognitively able [LCA; verbal IQ < 70] and more cognitively able [MCA; verbal IQ ≥ 70]). Participants included 91 autistic adults and caregivers. Autistic adults' VIQs ranged from 4 to 139. Participants completed a modified version of the Social/Emotional Functioning Interview which consists of open-ended questions about positive and negative factors experienced across development. Autistic adults and caregivers, regardless of cognitive abilities, frequently reported people supports as more helpful than specific services, aspects of education, or generative activities from early childhood through adulthood. For both cognitive groups, generative activities were increasingly important after childhood. Services were more frequently identified as helpful by LCA caregivers in adulthood, while education was reported more by MCA caregivers and autistic adults. Differences by cognitive ability in negative factors included that more LCA caregivers reported poorly prepared professionals/caregivers as disruptive, while more MCA caregivers and autistic adults reported family conflict and bullying. Positive and negative factors identified through interviews of lived experiences can inform targeted care based on strengths and needs across cognitive abilities and life stages.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143719347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correction: Autistic Traits and College Adjustment.","authors":"Jane D McLeod, Elizabeth M Anderson","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06792-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06792-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143730106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Factor Analysis of the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales Parent Report 6-18 in a Complex Community Sample.","authors":"Amy Camodeca","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06801-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06801-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is a need for research on autism questionnaire psychometrics outside of the standardization sample. This study investigated the factor structure of the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales-Parent report for ages 6-18 (ASRS<sub>p6</sub>) in a well-characterized community sample of 696 children (autism [AUT] n = 231; non-autism [NOT] n = 465; X̄age = 10.03) prospectively evaluated with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2, a gold-standard autism diagnostic measure. The original author-identified structure demonstrated poor model fit. Exploratory Factor Analysis with a randomly selected half of the sample (n = 346) suggested retaining 17-items on three factors (Rigid/Sensory, Social, and Executive Function [EF]), explaining 55% of the variance. Confirmatory Factor Analysis with the remaining participants (n = 350) indicated good model fit. Partial measurement invariance was observed for diagnostic (AUT/NOT) and gender (male/female) groups. Correlations with the DSM-5<sub>p6</sub> (an ASRS<sub>p6</sub> scale) were high. Mean differences were observed between AUT/NOT groups for Social; when controlling for age, marginal differences (p = 0.02 - 0.03) were observed for all factors but EF. Social also demonstrated significant AUC regardless of control variables. However, AUC values for Social and other factors, while significant, were in the poor range; correlations with ADOS-2 scores were weak or non-significant. Despite improving the factor structure, the Total-17 does not appear to measure ASD-specific traits. However, these findings provide a basis for further research on ASD questionnaires.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143709854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jennifer Murphy, Eri Ichijo, Geoffrey Bird, Lauren Cooper
{"title":"Brief Report: False Memory Formation in Autism: The Role of Relational Processing at Study.","authors":"Jennifer Murphy, Eri Ichijo, Geoffrey Bird, Lauren Cooper","doi":"10.1007/s10803-025-06803-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06803-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Several studies have investigated false memory production in autistic adults, yet it remains unclear whether susceptibility to false memories differs from non-autistic adults and what mechanisms might contribute to any differences. This study examines the mechanisms behind false memory formation in autistic adults using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants studied DRM word lists designed to activate a critical word (the 'critical lure). To examine false memory formation and associative processing, participants completed three tasks: a standard recognition test to measure false memory rates, a word stem completion task to assess implicit priming of the critical lure, and a free association task to evaluate explicit associative processing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Autistic individuals showed comparable rates of false memories as non-autistic adults (i.e., falsely reporting having studied the critical lure), were as likely to mention the critical lure on the free association task but showed no tendency to complete word stems with the critical lure when implicitly primed to do so.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest that autistic adults may rely less on spontaneous spreading of semantic activation during encoding but are capable of engaging in explicit associative processing when directed. The results provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying false memory formation in autism.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143692267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}