Advances in Autism – 11-3
1. Wolpe SM, Tien IS, Lee NM, Sozeri S. Differentiation of autistic adults’ perceptions of research by gender: a mixed methods exploration. Advances in Autism;2025;11(3):147-158.
Purpose The funding breakdown of autism research diverges with the research priorities of the autism community and stakeholders (Putnam et al., 2023), prompting concern about the disconnect between researchers and the autism community (Keating, 2021). This study aims to address this gap in the literature through an exploration of autistic adults’ opinions of the current research landscape and what autism research should address through a survey disseminated to the autistic community. Design/methodology/approach In total, 89 autistic adults completed the survey. Participants rated their agreement to statements with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” Participants were asked “What should autism research be focused on?” and answered via long answer text. Findings A numerical difference was found in participants’ ratings of autism research as more harmful than helpful. Participants who identified as nonbinary felt the research community was significantly less helpful and more harmful to the autistic community than those who identified as male (p < 0.01). Nonbinary participants expressed that community involvement in autism research is lower than those who identified as males or females (p < 0.01). Six main themes were identified: “Representation of Diversity in Gender and Ethnicity,” “Improving Quality of Life,” “A Strength-Based Approach,” “Autistic Subjective Experiences,” “Comorbid Mental and Physical Health Disorders” and “Autistic People Involved in Research.” Originality/value This research identified intersectional relationships between identity and feelings about autism research and explored recommendations from the autistic community on autism research that serves the best interests and desires of the community.
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2. Colombo-Dougovito AM, Joshi M. Indian caregiver’s perceived acceptance of their child’s autism diagnosis and the influence of caregiver stress and knowledge. Advances in Autism;2025;11(3):159-176.
Purpose Cultural differences in the construct of “autism” combined with limited knowledge or availability of services have been shown to greatly impact a family’s well-being. As caregivers are vital to the development of autistic youth, it is necessary to understand their perspectives as well as misconceptions to more effectively offer resources or support. The purpose of this paper, therefore, was to understand the impacts on the expectations of Indian caregivers after their child’s autism diagnosis and how the social environment and immediate community members may influence a caregiver’s stress or acceptance of such a diagnosis. Design/methodology/approach A convenient sample of 29 caregivers from urban settings in India was gathered through an online survey distributed through local physical therapy clinics and social media groups. Participants were asked to complete the Autism Stigma and Knowledge Questionnaire, Parental Stress Scale, Societal Attitudes Toward Autism scale and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Data were examined for relationships among variables based on the caregiver’s perceived acceptance of their autistic child at the individual, spouse or society. Findings Caregivers, individually, reported an overall perception of a positive acceptance of their child’s diagnosis; however, caregivers perceived more pervasive negative responses from their spouses and those from their community (i.e. society). Significant differences in how parents perceived the stigma, attitudes, stress and uncertainty were seen between their responses regarding: (1) self (individual); (2) their spouse; and (3) society; however, post-hoc t-tests failed to demonstrate significant differences between groups. Originality/value These findings suggest that empowering caregivers with knowledge about autism is an important first step to ensuring the acceptance of their child’s diagnosis, particularly for two-parent households. Additionally, the misconceptions about autism need to be counteracted at the societal level to reduce the additional burden on caregivers.
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3. Harrison J, van Mourik M, Hopkins L. Evaluating the experience of neurodevelopmental assessment via telehealth: a pandemic-inspired response or a sustainable evolution in healthcare?. Advances in Autism;2025;11(3):177-188.
Purpose In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, telehealth offered a platform to continue providing neurodevelopmental assessment services, however the evidence base for the experience of delivering and receiving an assessment service online is limited. This project was developed to determine the experiences of young people, their families and service clinicians when undertaking the neurodevelopmental assessment online. Design/methodology/approach The project collected data from 13 parents of children who had been assessed via telehealth during the pandemic period. In addition, eleven staff members participated in a staff focus group regarding their experiences and preferences for using telehealth. Findings The majority of parents felt that receiving the assessment via telehealth was suitable for them and their families, however a minority felt that the telehealth option was unsuitable for a range of reasons. There were concerns from both parents and staff that the online assessment was not as accurate as a clinic-based assessment. Other concerns included managing change, uncertainty and risk, technology issues, fatigue and preparing parents adequately for the assessment. Issues for staff such as validity of the process or not seeing the child in person, as well as understanding and predicting which families might benefit from online affordances compared to face-to-face still require more investigation. Originality/value This paper examines the feasibility of delivering neurodevelopmental assessment using telehealth from the perspectives of service users, as well as the staff delivering the service.
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4. Costescu CA, Rosan A, Thill S, Herrera G. Digitally mediated social stories perform on par with traditional means of delivery in teaching social norms to adolescents with ASD. Advances in Autism;2025;11(3):189-207.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of digitally mediated social stories (SS) compared with standard SS in teaching social norms in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). All the SS used in this study addressed social norms in initiating and maintaining friendship and covered subjects such as how to listen to your friends, how to be a good friend and how to behave when you lose a game. Design/methodology/approach The participants from this study were three adolescents with ASD, between the ages of 10 and 12, who are attending schools in inclusive settings. To investigate the effect of different ways of delivering SS intervention (printed book or via mobile phone), the authors choose a single-case subject experiment alternating treatment design. Findings All participants showed great improvements in their comprehension of the social norms involved in maintaining friendships from baseline to intervention phases. However, the authors did not find any significant differences between the two phases of the intervention, SS delivered in a standard way and SS delivered using a mobile phone. Originality/value The study results demonstrate that SS delivered on a common and low-cost device are on par with the standard format, thus opening new avenues for increasing the availability of interventions. Future studies should investigate if the use of interactive features, cartoon animations or 3D interactive content, such as avatars or digital agents, can improve the effectiveness of SS while keeping the same psychological content.
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5. André ML, Maintenant C. The development of theory of mind in autistic children: contribution of executive function, syntactic structure and lexical development. Advances in Autism;2025;11(3):208-224.
Purpose Understanding the role played by executive functions and language in theory of mind skills in child development is a major research challenge, as it could provide important knowledge for clinical practice and fundamental research. Thus, the underlying issue to be addressed is which among the two variables of executive function and language abilities contributes more to explaining theory of mind skills in children, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated the relationship between the three variables and aimed to deepen knowledge on executive functions and language regarding theory of mind abilities in ASD children. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 15 ASD children and 32 children with typical development performed an expressive and a receptive vocabulary task, a syntax and a morphosyntax task, a false belief task and three executive function tasks assessing inhibition, cognitive flexibility and working memory. Findings The results showed that autistic children performed significantly less well than typically developing peers in all except the two vocabulary tasks. Correlational analyses showed a significant correlation between theory of mind and morphosyntax in autistic participants. There was also a significant correlation between theory of mind and receptive vocabulary for children with typical development. Originality/value Better understanding the role of language abilities in theory of mind skills in child development is crucial. The original contribution is allowing more precision on how syntactic structure of language is involved in autistic children’s mastery of false belief tasks.
