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Emerging evidence suggests that observers tend to form less favorable first impressions toward autistic people than toward non-autistic people. These negative impressions may be associated with immediate behavioral responses, as well as long-lasting attitudes toward those being observed that may negatively impact their psychosocial wellbeing.
A reliable and valid diagnostic classification system is pivotal for guiding clinical decision-making, facilitating rigorous and reproducible research findings, informing population-level health planning and resource allocation, and promoting well-being.
LiL' STEPS (Language development & Intervention Lab's SupporTing Early social-communication and language by Promoting caregiver Sensitive responsiveness) is a novel, manualized, caregiver-mediated early support program developed in India and delivered online for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism. The program has been found to be feasible and acceptable. The preliminary efficacy of the LiL' STEPS program, which remains to be evaluated, was assessed in this study using a feasibility randomized controlled trial design.
Evidence suggests that the earlier supports are provided to young Autistic children, the better the overall outcomes. Supports have typically only been available after an autism diagnosis but with increased knowledge about early developmental trajectories, clinical supports can now be offered prediagnosis for infants showing early autism features and/or those with a family history of autism.
Autistic children experience significantly higher rates of anxiety compared to nonautistic children. The precise relations between autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms remain unclear in this population. Previous work has explored associations at the domain level, which involve examining broad categories or clusters of symptoms, rather than the relationships between specific symptoms and/or individual characteristics. We addressed this gap by taking a network approach to understand the shared structure of autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms.
Mothers of children with autism without ID had increased risk of cancer, which may relate to common genetic pathways
Reported practice of some professionals in Australia may not be consistent with international best practice guidelines for ASD diagnosis
Strictly defined cases of social (pragmatic) communication disorder and specific language impairment can be distinguished from autism spectrum disorder
Increases in ASD was not only limited to advancing paternal or maternal age alone but also to differences parental age including younger or older similarly age
The prevalence of intellectual disability has risen in WA over the last 10 years with most of this increase due to mild or moderate intellectual disability