1. Barbosa F, Montenegro ACA, Queiroga BAM. The effects of the DHACA method on expressive communication in children with autism spectrum disorder. Codas. 2025; 37(3): e20240148.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the contributions of the DHACA method to expressive communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: This longitudinal case series study had a sample of 12 children with ASD, nonverbal or minimally verbal communication, and support level one or two. Data were collected by applying the ACOTEA-R Protocol by analyzing videos recorded during intervention sessions before and after using the DHACA. Participants underwent 20 individual speech-language-hearing sessions with the DHACA. RESULTS: After the intervention with the ACOTEA-R, 10 of the 12 children improved their overall expressive communication skills. Concerning the communicative profile, initially, 10 children were nonverbal and 2 were minimally verbal. After the intervention, 7 evolved to a verbal pattern, whereas 5 remained nonverbal. The progress of the following communication skills stands out: use of sentences with four or more words, naming objects, social expressions, greeting people, and making comments. Moreover, 8 of the 12 participants advanced to the third skill in the DHACA, characterized by request with lexical and morphosyntactic expansion. CONCLUSION: The children’s speech and use of the communication book indicated progress in their expressive communication development after intervention with the DHACA.

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2. Bessé M, Morel-Kohlmeyer S, Houy-Durand E, Prévost P, Tuller L, Bouazzaoui B, Taconnat L, Capdeville J, Angel L, Gomot M. Cognitive and Cerebral Aging Research in Autism: A Systematic Review on an Emerging Topic. Autism Res. 2025.

Aging in autism is an emerging and under-explored area of research. This systematic review provides a comprehensive overview of studies on cognitive and both structural and functional cerebral aging in autism. A systematic search of PubMed and APA PsycInfo was conducted up to and including January 2024. Two researchers independently screened and identified relevant English studies on cognitive (i.e., processing speed, executive function, working memory, episodic memory) and/or cerebral (i.e., structural and functional aspects) aging in autism. Study quality was assessed using the QualSyst quantitative scale to minimize bias. Thirty-six studies met the inclusion criteria, with nine focusing on cerebral mechanisms, 19 on cognitive function, and eight addressing both. We examined cerebral and cognitive aging profiles in autism within the context of three hypotheses: accelerated aging, parallel aging, and the safeguard hypothesis. The synthesis does not reveal a consistent pattern with respect to any of the three hypotheses, as results varied across methodology types (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal) and studies, even with similar measures of cerebral or cognitive function. This systematic review highlights the ongoing lack of consensus in this area, which may be attributed to various internal or external factors (e.g., participants age, co-occurring conditions, lifestyle, cognitive reserve). Despite divergent findings, this review suggests that cross-sectional studies on cerebral and cognitive autistic aging predominantly align with the parallel or safeguard hypothesis. In contrast, the few longitudinal studies, which are the only ones capable of directly informing the aging process, are more consistent with the parallel or accelerated hypothesis. Further research is crucial to understand how cerebral and cognitive aging impact autistic symptomatology, enabling tailored support.

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3. de Sales-Millán A, Guillén López S, López Mejía L, Reyes-Ferreira P, González-Cervantes RM, Velázquez Aragón JA. Nutrient imbalance and obesity in children with autism spectrum disorder. Nutr Hosp. 2025.

INTRODUCTION: children with ASD have a higher percentage of obesity compared to neurotypical children of the same age. Diet problems can lead to excesses or deficiencies in the consumption of macro and micronutrients. OBJECTIVES: to rigorously and serially evaluate the anthropometric and dietary data of ASD patients of preschool and school age over a period of 6 months. METHODS: a longitudinal study that included 34 children diagnosed with ASD of both sexes, from 4 to 11 years of age, recruited at convenience in the Mental Health Service of the National Institute of Pediatrics in Mexico City. The variables considered were: age, body mass index with Z-score and intake of macro and micronutrients. RESULTS: at the end of the follow-up, 25 of 34 patients concluded the study and their nutritional status showed changes that did not have statistical significance, where 4 % were underweight, 56 % were normal weight, 12 % were overweight and 28 % were obese. Macronutrients, such as energy and fiber, and micronutrients, such as zinc, vitamin D, omega-3 and omega-6, and tryptophan, showed imbalances in consumption by patients without statistical significant changes in time. CONCLUSIONS: there is an imbalance in the consumption of macro and micronutrients in children with ASD and the prevalence of obesity is higher compared to other studies.

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4. Dick K, Kaczmarek E, Ducharme R, Bowie AC, Dingwall-Harvey ALJ, Howley H, Hawken S, Walker MC, Armour CM. Transformer-based deep learning ensemble framework predicts autism spectrum disorder using health administrative and birth registry data. Sci Rep. 2025; 15(1): 11816.

Early diagnosis and access to resources, support and therapy are critical for improving long-term outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is typically detected using a case-finding approach based on symptoms and family history, resulting in many delayed or missed diagnoses. While population-based screening would be ideal for early identification, available screening tools have limited accuracy. This study aims to determine whether machine learning models applied to health administrative and birth registry data can identify young children (aged 18 months to 5 years) who are at increased likelihood of developing ASD. We assembled the study cohort using individually linked maternal-newborn data from the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) Ontario database. The cohort included all live births in Ontario, Canada between April 1st, 2006, and March 31st, 2018, linked to datasets from Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO), Prenatal Screening Ontario (PSO), and Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) (Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS)). The NSO and PSO datasets provided screening biomarker values and outcomes, while DAD and NACRS contained diagnosis codes and intervention codes for mothers and offspring. Extreme Gradient Boosting models and large-scale ensembled Transformer deep learning models were developed to predict ASD diagnosis between 18 and 60 months of age. Leveraging explainable artificial intelligence methods, we determined the impactful factors that contribute to increased likelihood of ASD at both an individual- and population-level. The final study cohort included 707,274 mother-offspring pairs, with 10,956 identified cases of ASD. The best-performing ensemble of Transformer models achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 69.6% for predicting ASD diagnosis, a sensitivity of 70.9%, a specificity of 56.9%. We determine that our model can be used to identify an enriched pool of children with the greatest likelihood of developing ASD, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach.This study highlights the feasibility of employing machine learning models and routinely collected health data to systematically identify young children at high likelihood of developing ASD. Ensemble transformer models applied to health administrative and birth registry data offer a promising avenue for universal ASD screening. Such early detection enables targeted and formal assessment for timely diagnosis and early access to resources, support, or therapy.

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5. Hryniewiecka-Jaworska A, Sloper E, Archer H, Clarke AJ. Middle-Aged Women With Rett Syndrome: Longitudinal Profile From the British Isles Rett Syndrome Survey and Suggestions for Care. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2025; 38(2): e70051.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: We report historical information from longitudinal data held in the British Isles Rett Syndrome Survey (BIRSS) concerning women of at least 40 years. This information, including comments on the quality of care, has been provided by families, carers, and clinicians. RESULTS: Information was available on 30 women with a clinical diagnosis of Rett syndrome (RTT), of whom 24 were < 50 years. Twenty-nine women were diagnosed with classic RTT and one with atypical RTT. Of 18 women tested for MECP2 mutations, pathogenic variants were identified in 14. There was little increase in severity over time. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that: (1) milder phenotypes were common; (2) depression may be under-recognised; (3) menopause does not seem to occur early; (4) nutrition standards from the general population will often be inapplicable; (5) multiple opportunities exist to prevent functional decline through detailed attention to the quality of the medical and social care.

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6. Hu X, Wu J, Shi L, Wang F, He K, Tan P, Hu Y, Yang Y, Wang D, Ma T, Ding S. The transcription factor MEF2C restrains microglial overactivation by inhibiting kinase CDK2. Immunity. 2025; 58(4): 946-60.e10.

Microglial intrinsic immune checkpoints are essential safeguards to maintain immune homeostasis by preventing microglial overactivation, a process that substantially influences neurological disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). MEF2C is a crucial immune checkpoint that regulates microglial activation, but the mechanism remains unclear. We found that MEF2C-deficient (MEF2C(-/-)) induced microglia-like cells (iMGLs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) exhibited overactivation following lipopolysaccharide stimulation, mimicking patterns observed in various neuroinflammatory disorders. High-throughput screening identified BMS265246, a cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibitor, which suppressed overactivation of MEF2C(-/-) iMGLs and normalized their inflammatory responses. Mechanistically, MEF2C transcriptionally upregulated p21 to inhibit CDK2 activation-mediated retinoblastoma protein (RB) degradation, thereby preventing transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NFκB) nuclear translocation and consequent microglial overactivation. BMS265246 treatment substantially ameliorated microglial overactivation and ASD-like behaviors in Mef2c-deficient mice. Our findings identify the MEF2C-p21-CDK2-RB-NFκB axis as a critical pathway to maintain microglial homeostasis and highlight CDK2 as a potential therapeutic target for neuroinflammation.

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7. Kim GS, Chandio BQ, Benavidez SM, Feng Y, Thompson PM, Lawrence KE. Mapping Along-Tract White Matter Microstructural Differences in Autism. bioRxiv. 2025.

Previous diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) research has indicated altered white matter microstructure in autism, but the implicated regions are highly inconsistent across studies. Such prior work has largely used conventional dMRI analysis methods, including the traditional microstructure model, based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). However, these methods are limited in their ability to precisely map microstructural differences and accurately resolve complex fiber configurations. In our study, we investigated white matter microstructure alterations in autism using the refined along-tract analytic approach, BUndle ANalytics (BUAN), and an advanced microstructure model, the tensor distribution function (TDF). We analyzed dMRI data from 365 autistic and neurotypical participants (5-24 years; 34% female) from 10 cohorts to examine commissural and association tracts. Autism was associated with lower fractional anisotropy and higher diffusivity in localized portions of nearly every commissural and association tract examined; these tracts inter-connected a wide range of brain regions, including frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital. Taken together, BUAN and TDF allow robust and spatially precise mapping of microstructural properties in autism. Our findings rigorously demonstrate that white matter microstructure alterations in autism may be greater within specific regions of individual tracts, and that the implicated tracts are distributed across the brain.

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8. Kong J, Mailick MR, Almeida DM, Hong J, Song J, Dembo RS. Daily Stress and Cortisol Patterns in Midlife and Older Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025.

OBJECTIVE: The current study aims to investigate the association between daily stressful experiences and daily diurnal cortisol in midlife and older parents of children with developmental disabilities and a matched sample of parents of children without developmental disabilities. METHODS: Analyses were employed using data from the third wave of the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE 3) within the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, a population-based sample. The study sample included 55 parents of children with developmental disabilities and 591 comparison parents who provided diurnal cortisol data. RESULTS: Multilevel modeling showed that parents of children with developmental disabilities exhibited a less pronounced cortisol awakening response on days when the severity of daily stressors was higher than their average level across days, a pattern that was different than in the comparison group. This finding may suggest a blunted cortisol awakening response, which aligns with previous research on parents of children with developmental disabilities and other groups facing chronic stress. DISCUSSION: The current study describes a distinct pattern of cortisol response to stressful parenting, evident in midlife and older age, reflecting the lifelong impacts of parenting children with developmental disabilities.

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9. Leisman G, Melillo R. Evaluating Primitive Reflexes in Early Childhood as a Potential Biomarker for Developmental Disabilities. J Paediatr Child Health. 2025.

We aim to understand better the significance of retained primitive reflexes (RPRs) and examine the effect of RPRs in children, adolescents, and adults, focusing on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as examine a basis for future treatment alternatives. We included a history section to better recognise the way that the scientific and medical communities have studied and understood the importance of RPRs. We review findings indicating that aspects of these disorders are related to the presence of functional disconnectivities related to a cortical maturational effect on neuronal networks. Cortical maturational delay within specific networks may lead to enhanced growth and maturation in other networks, resulting in asynchronous development and inconsistency in functional skills. There has been reported an overconnectivity of short-range, more immature connections and an underconnectivity of long-range, more mature connectivities. We review the relationship between motor and cognitive impairments and RPRs. A crucial conclusion will be that inhibiting these RPRs is representative of treatment targets.

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10. Li S, Fang H, Li H, Peng M, Bao J, Cai Y, Chen J, Li Z. Novel Compound Heterozygous Variants in ZNF526 Causing Dentici-Novelli Neurodevelopmental Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2025; 13(4): e70089.

BACKGROUND: The ZNF526 gene encodes a ubiquitously expressed Kruppel-type zinc finger protein crucial in transcriptional regulation. Recent studies suggest that biallelic pathogenic variants in ZNF526 may lead to Dentici-Novelli neurodevelopmental syndrome, characterized by microcephaly, developmental delay, epilepsy, and ocular anomalies. To date, phenotypic details have been reported for only six patients with ZNF526 variants. METHODS: This study gathered clinical information and genetic data from a child with neurodevelopmental disorders. A three-dimensional protein model was employed to predict variant effects on protein structure. A literature review was conducted to compare this case with previously reported cases, analyzing clinical features and genetic findings. RESULTS: The proband, a 7-month-old girl, exhibited developmental delay, microcephaly, limb hypotonia, abnormal brain imaging, and seizures. Chromosomal karyotype analysis and copy number variation analyses were normal. Whole exome sequencing revealed two heterozygous variants in the ZNF526 gene (NM_133444.3): c.1426del (p.Val476Phefs*9), a de novo frameshift variant, and c.1513T;> C (p.Cys505Arg), inherited from her mother. These previously unreported variants are on separate alleles, forming a compound heterozygous state correlated with the clinical presentation. Ocular anomalies were absent, while café-au-lait spots may represent a novel feature. Among 12 cases of Dentici-Novelli neurodevelopmental syndrome, 11 unique ZNF526 variants have been identified, with loss-of-function variants possibly linked to seizures. CONCLUSION: This study describes the youngest patient with Dentici-Novelli neurodevelopmental syndrome, broadening the ZNF526 mutation spectrum and detailing the associated clinical profile. These findings are valuable for genetic diagnosis and family counseling in cases of this syndrome.

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11. Li X, Conway CM, Yin S, Bai X, Xu D. Learning in the face of failure: The benefit of autistic traits. Br J Psychol. 2025.

This study aims to explore how learning performance differs for non-diagnosed adults with high and low levels of autistic traits (ATs) for positive versus negative feedback delivered via social and nonsocial stimuli. College student participants were tested on their ability to learn novel words (i.e., Korean characters) in a simple memory experiment incorporating either positive or negative feedback. A 2 (positive feedback vs. negative feedback) × 2 (ATs: high vs. Low) between-subject design was adopted in both Experiments 1 and 2. Social feedback stimuli were used in Experiment 1 and nonsocial feedback stimuli were used in Experiment 2. The results revealed that individuals with both high and low levels of ATs showed learning for both types of feedback (success and failure) using social and nonsocial stimuli (Experiments 1 and 2, respectively). However, individuals with low levels of ATs learned less from failure than from success, whereas individuals with high levels of ATs showed equivalent learning for failure and success, for both social and nonsocial stimuli. These results suggest that for college students, a benefit of having high levels of ATs is increased resilience and an ability to continue to learn in the face of failure.

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12. Mahmood MA, Jamel L, Alturki N, Tawfeek MA. Leveraging artificial intelligence for diagnosis of children autism through facial expressions. Sci Rep. 2025; 15(1): 11945.

The global population contains a substantial number of individuals who experience autism spectrum disorder, thus requiring immediate identification to enable successful intervention approaches. The authors assess the detection of autism-related learning difficulties in children by evaluating deep learning models that use transfer learning methods along with fine-tuning methods. Using autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosed child RGB images data, researchers evaluated six prevalent deep learning structures: DenseNet201, ResNet152, VGG16, VGG19, MobileNetV2, and EfficientNet-B0. ResNet152 reached the highest accuracy rate of 89% when functioning independently. This paper develops a hybrid deep-learning model by integrating ResNet152 with Vision Transformers (ViT) to achieve better classification performance. The ViT-ResNet152 model’s convolutional and transformer processing elements worked together to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis to 91.33% and make it better at finding different cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).The research outcomes demonstrate that AI tools show promise for delivering highly precise and standardized methods to detect ASD at an early stage. Future research needs to include multiple data types as well as extend dataset variability while optimizing hybrid architecture systems to elevate diagnostic forecasting. The incorporation of artificial intelligence in ASD evaluation services holds promise to transform early therapy approaches, which leads to better results for autistic children all around the globe.

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13. Paranjapye A, Ahmad R, Su S, Waldman AJ, Philips-Cremins J, Zhang S, Korb E. Autism spectrum disorder risk genes have convergent effects on transcription and neuronal firing patterns in primary neurons. bioRxiv. 2025.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorder with numerous genetic risk factors. Notably, a disproportionate number of risk genes encode transcription regulators including transcription factors and proteins that regulate chromatin. Here, we tested the function of nine such ASD-linked transcription regulators by depleting them in primary cultured neurons. We then defined the resulting gene expression disruptions using RNA-sequencing and tested effects on neuronal firing using multielectrode array recordings. We identified shared gene expression signatures across many ASD risk genes that converged on disruption of critical synaptic genes. Fitting with this, we detected drastic disruptions to neuronal firing throughout neuronal maturation. Together, these findings provide evidence that multiple ASD-linked transcriptional regulators disrupt transcription of synaptic genes and have convergent effects on neuronal firing that may contribute to enhanced ASD risk.

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14. Parra-Díaz P, Monteil A, Calame D, Hadouiri N, Soliani L, Spinelli E, Caron EJ, Dieterich K, Kritzer A, Riley K, Serratosa Fernández JM, Tanner JA, Tevissen H, Thauvin C, Vera-Medialdea R, Waltz SM, Beltrán-Corbellini Á, García Morales I, Sánchez-Miranda Román I, Toledano R, Valls-Carbó A, Gil-Nagel A. Genotype-Phenotype Landscape of NALCN and UNC80-Related Disorders. Neurology. 2025; 104(7): e213429.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The NALCN channelosome regulates the resting membrane potential through sodium leak currents, influencing cellular excitability. Genetic variants in NALCN and UNC80, a subunit of the NALCN channelosome, cause ultra-rare and severe neurodevelopmental disorders. Autosomal dominant congenital contractures of the limbs and face, hypotonia, and developmental delay (CLIFAHDD) syndrome is associated with gain-of-function (GOF) variants in NALCN. Infantile hypotonia with psychomotor retardation and characteristic facies (IHPRF) 1 syndrome is associated with biallelic variants in NALCN and IHPRF 2 syndrome with biallelic variants in UNC80, both resulting in a loss-of-function (LOF). This study aims to expand the phenotypes associated with these syndromes, exploring potential genotype-phenotype associations. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study including patients with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in NALCN and UNC80. Phenotypes were evaluated through a structured interview, questionnaires, and review of medical records. Associations between variants, clinical features, and syndromes were analyzed. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients were included (34 with CLIFAHDD, 9 with IHPRF 1, 8 with IHPRF 2; 3 months-27 years; 37.3% female). All exhibited neurodevelopmental delay, more severe in patients with LOF variants (p = 0.019). Neurodevelopmental regression was observed in 29.4% of patients with CLIFAHDD syndrome, associated with the onset of ataxia (70%). Patients with CLIFAHDD had more severe respiratory symptoms at birth (11.7% orotracheal intubation). Distal arthrogryposis (76.5%), episodic ataxia (41.2% of ambulatory patients), and paroxysmal dystonia (11.7%) were exclusively diagnosed in patients with CLIFAHDD. Patients with LOF variants presented more frequently with failure to thrive (88.2%, p = 0.001), central sleep apnea (CSA, 64.7%, p < 0.001), and epilepsy (70.6%, p < 0.001). Epilepsy was associated with more severe cognitive delays (p = 0.016) and was refractory in 58.8% of patients. Earlier seizure onset was associated with refractory epilepsy (p = 0.014). Patients with CLIFAHDD and premature death, epilepsy, or paroxysmal dystonia carried variants within NALCN pore domains. DISCUSSION: This study provides an in-depth clinical characterization of NALCN-related and UNC80-related disorders. Distal arthrogryposis, episodic ataxia, and paroxysmal dystonia were diagnosed in patients with CLIFAHDD while failure to thrive, CSA, and epilepsy were associated with LOF variants. We suggest potential genotype-phenotype associations, formulating hypotheses for validation in future studies with larger cohorts.

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15. Spolaor F, Beghetti F, Piatkowska W, Guiotto A, Polli R, Bettella E, Liani V, di Giorgio E, Sawacha Z. Children With Fragile X Syndrome Display a Switch Towards Fast Fibres in Their Recruitment Strategy During Gait. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2025.

BACKGROUND: Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder caused by the lack of FMRP, a crucial protein for brain development and function. FMR1 mutations are categorized into premutation and full mutation (FXSFull), with somatic mosaicism (FXSMos) modulating the FXS phenotype. Recent studies identified muscle activity alterations during gait in FXS children. This study aims to explore the relationship between these muscle activity changes and motor fibre recruitment strategies during gait in FXS children. METHODS: Fifty-four FXS children and fourteen healthy controls participated in the study. Gait trials at self-selected speeds were recorded using four synchronized cameras and a surface electromyography system that captured bilateral activity of Gastrocnemius lateralis, Tibialis anterior, Rectus and Biceps femoris muscles. The continuous wavelet transform, using the ‘bump’ mother wavelet, provided the percentage distribution of signal energy across nine frequency bands (50-Hz increments within a 450- to 10-Hz spectrum) and the Instantaneous MeaN Frequency (IMNF) time-frequency distribution. RESULTS: Results indicated that both FXSFull and FXSMos children exhibit a distinct fibre recruitment strategy compared to controls, with a higher percentage of total energy and elevated IMNF (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This increased reliance on fast-twitch fibres may contribute to the observed fatigability and exercise intolerance in FXS children.

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16. Wang H, Cheng G, Li MM. The effectiveness and sustained effects of exercise therapy to improve executive function in children and adolescents with autism: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Pediatr. 2025; 184(5): 286.

This study rigorously examines the efficacy and sustained impact of exercise therapy on enhancing executive function among children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Furthermore, it conducts a comprehensive analysis of five distinct subgroups, categorized by variations in school age, exercise cycles, exercise characteristics, dimensions of executive function, and the administration of medication. A systematic search was conducted across the PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus databases to identify randomized controlled trials published from the inception of the library until October 20, 2024, focusing on the effects of exercise therapy on the enhancement of executive function in children and adolescents with ASD. Sixteen studies were systematically evaluated and included in the meta-analysis, revealing that exercise therapy led to a significant improvement in executive function among children and adolescents with ASD (SMD = 0.41, 95% CI [0.30, 0.52], P = 0.00), along with some evidence of sustained improvement (SMD = 0.74, 95% CI [0.29, 1.20], P = 0.00). Subgroup analyses indicated that exercise did not significantly enhance executive functioning in preschool-aged patients with ASD, and working memory did not exhibit a significant improvement across various dimensions of executive functioning. Furthermore, no differences were observed in analyses of different exercise cycles, exercise characteristics, or the use of medication among subjects. CONCLUSION: Exercise interventions improve executive function in children and adolescents with ASD, with sustained post-intervention effects. Limited impact on working memory and observed heterogeneity highlights the need for more precise intervention designs and rigorous research. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Exercise therapy is widely considered a promising non-pharmacological intervention for improving cognitive functions in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). • Prior studies suggest exercise benefits executive function in ASD, but evidence on sustained effects and subgroup differences remains limited. WHAT IS NEW: • This meta-analysis confirms that exercise therapy significantly and sustainably improves executive function in children and adolescents with ASD, with greater benefits observed in school-aged participants. • For the first time, subgroup analyses reveal age-dependent effects and confirm that working memory shows limited responsiveness to exercise, regardless of medication use or exercise characteristics.

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17. Wang L, Qi X, Meng Z, Xiang M, Li Z, Zhang S, Hu L, Hirai HW, To CKS, Wong PCM. Assessing Social Communication and Measuring Changes in Chinese Autistic Preschoolers: A Preliminary Study Using the Social Communication Scale. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2025; 68(4): 1950-65.

PURPOSE: Assessing social communication and measuring its changes among young autistic children presents significant challenges, particularly when tracking intervention effects within short timeframes. Existing measures, mostly validated in Western contexts, may not be suitable for culturally diverse populations. Addressing this gap, the Social Communication Scale (SCS) was developed to provide a culturally accessible and reliable measure for the Chinese population. This study explores the psychometric properties of the SCS and its ability to capture intervention-induced changes. METHOD: Fifty-two autistic children aged 2-5 years were recruited from China. One parent per family participated in a 20-week support program aimed at enhancing parents’ communication strategies to prompt social communication with their children at home. The SCS was administered before and after the program. RESULTS: The SCS exhibited outstanding overall interrater reliability (ICC = .91) and convergent validity with established measures, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition, the Communication subdomain of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Third Edition. Notably, the SCS effectively captured subtle changes during the 20-week intervention. CONCLUSIONS: As the first social communication scale developed for Chinese autistic preschoolers, the SCS proves to be a reliable and valid measure. This addresses unique challenges in autism assessment and intervention in China. To strengthen its broader applicability, future research should prioritize validating the SCS with larger and more diverse samples across various regions, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of its value and limitations. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28569035.

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18. Wang Y, Paul KN, Block GD, Deboer T, Colwell CS. Dim Light at Night Disrupts the Sleep-Wake Cycle and Exacerbates Seizure Activity in Cntnap2 Knockout Mice: Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorders. bioRxiv. 2025.

Epilepsy is one of the most common comorbidities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Many patients with epilepsy as well as ASD experience disruptions in their sleep-wake cycle and exhibit daily rhythms in expression of symptoms. Chronic exposure to light at nighttime can disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms. Contactin associated protein-like 2 knockout ( Cntnap2 KO) mice, a model for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and epilepsy, exhibit sleep and circadian disturbances and seizure-like events. This study examines how chronic dim light at night (DLaN) exposure affects sleep architecture, EEG power spectra, and seizure activity in Cntnap2 KO and wildtype (WT) mice. Using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, male and female Cntnap2 KO and WT mice were exposed to DLaN (5 lux) for 2 or 6 weeks. EEG recordings were analyzed to assess sleep architecture, power spectrum, and seizure-like events. DLaN exposure delays the wake onset and disrupts sleep patterns in a sex-dependent manner, with females being more affected. DLaN significantly increased slow-wave activity (SWA, 0.5-4 Hz) in both WT and KO mice, indicating increased sleep pressure. Finally, we found that DLaN dramatically increased the frequency of seizure-like events in the Cntnap2 KO mice and even increased the occurrence rate in the WT mice. Spectral analysis of seizure-like events revealed increased theta power, suggesting the involvement of hippocampus. Chronic DLaN exposure disrupts sleep and increases seizure-like events in Cntnap2 KO mice, with sex-specific differences. These findings emphasize the potential risks of nighttime light exposure for individuals with ASD and epilepsy, reinforcing the need to manage light exposure to improve sleep quality and reduce seizure risk.

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19. Wechsler DL, Mandy W, Lai MC, Boyd B, Goodwin MS, Divan G, Carter Leno V. Advancing health-care equity for autistic people: mental health as a key priority. Lancet. 2025.

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