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Do children with autism 'switch off' to speech sounds? An investigation using event-related potentialsAutism is a disorder characterized by a core impairment in social behaviour. A prominent component of this social deficit is poor orienting to speech.
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Evidence against poor semantic encoding in individuals with autismThis article tests the hypothesis that individuals with autism poorly encode verbal information to the semantic level of processing, instead paying greater...
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Psychosocial and neurocognitive correlates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours amongst siblings of persons with and without neurodevelopmental conditionsSiblings of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) have greater incidence of neuropsychiatric diagnoses and neurocognitive difficulties compared to siblings of persons without NDCs. Despite suicidality being labelled a global health crisis (WHO, 2014) and NDC siblings experiencing risk factors implicated in suicidality, no previous studies examined suicidality amongst adolescent and young adult siblings of persons with NDCs. Our study aimed to bridge this gap.
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Sertraline for anxiety in adults with a diagnosis of autism (STRATA): study protocol for a pragmatic, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised controlled trialSelective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed to manage anxiety in adults with an autism diagnosis. However, their effectiveness and adverse effect profile in the autistic population are not well known. This trial aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the SSRI sertraline in reducing symptoms of anxiety and improving quality of life in adults with a diagnosis of autism compared with placebo and to quantify any adverse effects.
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An investigation of a novel broad autism phenotype: increased facial masculinity among parents of children on the autism spectrumThe broad autism phenotype commonly refers to sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behaviour and cognition presented in biological relatives of autistic people. In a recent study, we reported findings suggesting that the broad autism phenotype may also be expressed in facial morphology, specifically increased facial masculinity.
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Parental perspectives of the everyday experiences of uncertainty among young children on the autism spectrumAnxiety commonly co-occurs in autism. Exploring and understanding potential underpinning mechanisms contributing to and maintaining anxiety in the early years is important in managing anxiety. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a tendency to find uncertainty difficult, is a transdiagnostic mechanism contributing to anxiety, but little is known about how IU may be experienced in young children on the autism spectrum. This study investigated parental perspectives of children's experiences of uncertainty.
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Eye Gaze in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Neural Evidence for the Eye Avoidance HypothesisReduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli.
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Continuity of temperament subgroup classifications from infancy to toddlerhood in the context of early autism traitsOur previous cross-sectional investigation (Chetcuti et al., 2020) showed that infants with autism traits could be divided into distinct subgroups based on temperament. This longitudinal study builds on this existing work by exploring the continuity of temperament subgroup classifications and their associations with behavioral/clinical phenotypic features from infancy to toddlerhood.
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Sleep problems and anxiety from 2 to 8 years and the influence of autistic traits: a longitudinal studyAnxiety and sleep problems may be an early indicator of autism in young children and early autistic traits may also contribute to anxiety problems later in childhood
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Atypical nested 22q11.2 duplications are associated with neurodevelopmental phenotypes including autism spectrum disorder with incomplete penetranceOur findings contribute to the genotype–phenotype data for atypical nested 22q11.2 duplications, with implications for genetic counseling