1. Aleman-Tovar J, Rios K, Burke MM. Transition Planning: Knowledge and Preferences of Latinx Families of Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(2): 128-44.

Due to systemic barriers, Latinx parents of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) report having limited involvement in transition planning. To facilitate parent involvement in transition planning, it is critical to solicit feedback from Latinx families to inform the content and mode of a transition planning intervention. The purpose of this study was to explore Latinx parents’ knowledge and preferred mode for a transition planning intervention. Twenty-eight Latinx parents of transition-aged youth with IDD completed surveys and focus groups. Participants reported wanting an intervention to focus on school-based transition planning and adult services; to a lesser extent, participants wanted information about natural supports. Regarding modality, participants desired in-person or online training (versus a brochure). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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2. Cole CL, Bambara LM, Telesford AE, Bauer K, Bilgili-Karabacak I, Chovanes J, Thomas A, Weir A. Using a Brief Intervention to Improve Partner-Focused Conversation in Adolescents with Autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022.

Individuals on the autism spectrum often experience pragmatic social conversation difficulties that include showing interest in their conversational partners. This may become particularly evident during adolescence when conversation with peers is the primary medium for social interaction. This study used a multiple baseline design across participants to investigate the effects of a brief intervention package on the partner-focused conversation of three adolescents with autism. Results showed increased partner-focused questions and comments for all participants. Social validity assessments indicated that the intervention led to meaningful improvements in peer conversations.

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3. Easler JK, Taylor TM, Roper SO, Yorgason JB, Harper JM. Uplifts, Respite, Stress, and Marital Quality for Parents Raising Children With Down Syndrome or Autism. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(2): 145-62.

Direct, indirect, and partner effects estimated among uplifts, respite care, stress, and marital quality across mothers and fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 102) and Down syndrome (n = 111) were examined in this cross-sectional study. Parents of children with ASD who reported more uplifts and less stress individually reported better marital quality; these wives reported better marital quality as their husbands reported more uplifts and less stress. Wives with children with DS who reported more uplifts, individually along with their husbands reported less stress and better marital quality. Respite was directly associated with marital quality for parents of children with ASD and indirectly associated with marital quality for parents of children with DS with reduced individual stress. Implications are discussed.

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4. Feng Y, Kang X, Wang H, Cong J, Zhuang W, Xue K, Li F, Yao D, Xu P, Zhang T. The relationships between dynamic resting-state networks and social behavior in autism spectrum disorder revealed by fuzzy entropy-based temporal variability analysis of large-scale network. Cerebral cortex (New York, NY : 1991). 2022.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a core deficit in social processes. However, it is still unclear whether the core clinical symptoms of the disorder can be reflected by the temporal variability of resting-state network functional connectivity (FC). In this article, we examined the large-scale network FC temporal variability at the local region, within-network, and between-network levels using the fuzzy entropy technique. Then, we correlated the network FC temporal variability to social-related scores. We found that the social behavior correlated with the FC temporal variability of the precuneus, parietal, occipital, temporal, and precentral. Our results also showed that social behavior was significantly negatively correlated with the temporal variability of FC within the default mode network, between the frontoparietal network and cingulo-opercular task control network, and the dorsal attention network. In contrast, social behavior correlated significantly positively with the temporal variability of FC within the subcortical network. Finally, using temporal variability as a feature, we construct a model to predict the social score of ASD. These findings suggest that the network FC temporal variability has a close relationship with social behavioral inflexibility in ASD and may serve as a potential biomarker for predicting ASD symptom severity.

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5. Ferenc K, Byrka K, Król ME. The spectrum of attitudes towards the spectrum of autism and its relationship to psychological distress in mothers of children with autism. Autism : the international journal of research and practice. 2022: 13623613221081185.

Mothers of children on the autism spectrum experience high levels of emotional distress. Mothers cope with stress by having their own thoughts and opinions about their children. In this study, we tested whether the way mothers perceive autism may contribute to the level of distress they feel. Some mothers see autism as a developmental disorder that needs to be cured, but some see autism as a type of mind that needs to be accepted. Our findings showed that mothers who see autism more as a type of mind are generally less stressed. But we also showed that it matters how severe are the child’s symptoms, and how heavy was the perceived burden of caring for the child. These results imply that it is worth working on attitudes towards autism to help mothers cope better. But at the same time, we argue that mothers should not be judged for their perceptions of autism, as there is a huge spectrum of a child’s characteristics and family’s life circumstances.

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6. Flenik TMN, Bara TS, Cordeiro ML. Family Functioning and Emotional Aspects of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Southern Brazil. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022: 1-8.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects children and their families. We investigated the family environment of children with ASD in Brazil. Twenty-one families participated. Outcome measures administered to parents included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Short Form, and the Family Environment Scale. All families reported a number of difficulties, including social interactions and peer relationships, stress levels, and communication difficulties. Families also reported great concern for their child’s future. Brazil is a developing country, yet there are few national resources and studies related to ASD. The challenges continue from diagnosis through treatment. Our results emphasize the need to understand the family environment of children with autism and their parents’ apprehensions to develop effective coping programs.

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7. Friedman C. The Impact of Continuity and Security on Quality of Life. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(2): 101-12.

Continuity and security includes people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) not only having resources to meet their basic needs, but also includes the amount of change and disruption people have in their lives and the control they have over that change. We explored the impact of continuity and security on people with IDD’s (n = 325) quality of life by analyzing Personal Outcome Measures interviews. Continuity and security not only significantly increased overall quality of life, but it also positively impacted two thirds of the different outcomes, ranging from health to relationships to rights. A stronger community infrastructure is needed to promote the continuity and security, and, by extension, quality of life of people with IDD.

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8. Griffin ZAM, Boulton KA, Thapa R, DeMayo MM, Ambarchi Z, Thomas E, Pokorski I, Hickie IB, Guastella AJ. Atypical sensory processing features in children with autism, and their relationships with maladaptive behaviors and caregiver strain. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

Atypical sensory processing occurs in up to 97% of children on the autism spectrum. Children who are on the autism spectrum also commonly demonstrate challenging behaviors, and their caregivers report increased levels of strain in daily life. The aim of this study was to explore four sensory processing features; seeking, avoiding, sensitivity, and registration, and their relationships with maladaptive behaviors in children with autism, as well as with caregiver strain. Participants comprised 75 children with autism aged 7-12 years (M = 7.81). Caregivers completed three questionnaire measures examining child sensory processing, maladaptive behaviors, and perceptions of caregiver strain. We found avoiding significantly associated with irritability. Avoiding also displayed the strongest relationship with global caregiver strain. Avoiding and seeking were strongly related to hyperactivity/noncompliance (components of maladaptive behavior). A multiple regression was performed to explore how atypical sensory processing features and maladaptive behaviors together predicted caregiver strain. Together, maladaptive behaviors and sensory features accounted for 58% of the variance in total caregiver strain. The only significant individual predictor of total caregiver strain was sensory avoiding, which uniquely accounted for 5.76% of the variation. The findings suggest that atypical sensory processing is associated with overall caregiver strain, above that explained by maladaptive behaviors. Implications for targeted support for the benefit of the child, parents and family unit are discussed. LAY SUMMARY: Children who are on the autism spectrum often have differences in sensory processing. These children also tend to show challenging behaviors, and their caregivers can experience increased stress. This study looked at how sensory processing difficulties relate to such behaviors and caregiver stress. We found that both sensory processing and challenging behaviors were related to the amount of stress caregivers felt. This suggests that interventions may benefit from looking at sensory processing features when considering how to help reduce challenging behaviors and caregiver stress.

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9. Heselton GA, Rempel GR, Nicholas DB. « Realizing the problem wasn’t necessarily me »: the meaning of childhood adversity and resilience in the lives of autistic adults. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being. 2022; 17(1): 2051237.

PURPOSE: There is evidence that childhood adversity is correlated with poor health outcomes across the lifespan. Resilience results when internal and external protective factors in childhood mitigate this relationship. However, among children on the autism spectrum, these relationships are understudied, and little is known about the characteristics and role of adversity and resilience in their in their lives. This study interprets these phenomena as experienced by autistic young adults. METHODS: Initially, we conducted community engagement with five members of the autism community who advised on the research question, research design, and analysis. Subsequently, four autistic young adults, three women and one non-binary, aged 19-27, were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews via phone, video conference, and online chat. Credibility checking interviews followed data analysis. RESULTS: Through interpretative phenomenological analysis we identified themes related to the negative effects of adversity, including social disconnection, mental and emotional well-being, sense of self, and development into young adulthood. Resilience developed in places of refuge and identity and was evident in their transitions into young adulthood. CONCLUSION: These findings provide direction for decreasing adversity and fostering resilience in children and adolescents on the autism spectrum.

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10. Hours C, Recasens C, Baleyte JM. ASD and ADHD Comorbidity: What Are We Talking About?. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2022; 13: 837424.

According to the scientific literature, 50 to 70% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) also present with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). From a clinical perspective, this high rate of comorbidity is intriguing. What is the real significance of this dual diagnosis? Is ADHD in fact always present in such cases? Might the attentional impairment reported among our ASD patients actually be a distinct trait of their ASD-namely, impaired joint attention-rather than an ADHD attention deficit? Could their agitation be the consequence of this joint attention impairment or related to a physical restlessness etiologically very different from the agitation typical of ADHD? The neurobiological reality of ASD-ADHD comorbidity is a subject of debate, and amphetamine-based treatment can have paradoxical or undesirable effects in the ASD population. Consequently, does a dual diagnosis, notwithstanding its currency in the literature, prevent us from shedding sufficient light on major physiopathologic questions raised by the clinical picture of ASD?

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11. Losada-Puente L, Baña M, Asorey MJF. Family quality of life and autism spectrum disorder: Comparative diagnosis of needs and impact on family life. Research in developmental disabilities. 2022; 124: 104211.

BACKGROUND: Families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face ongoing challenges that can affect their family life. Helping those families cope with the impact of ASD and promote more positive family and child outcomes requires research to better understand the differential aspects of quality of life for those families. AIM: This article examined the quality of life of 77 families (n = 45 families with children with ASD aged 0-12 years old, and n = 32 families with other developmental disabilities). METHODS AND PROCEDURE: The Family Quality of Life Scale (FQOL) was applied. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The relationships between importance and satisfaction were analyzed, contrasting differences between families, and studying the influence of age. Results show the presence of common needs, as the higher ratings in importance versus satisfaction evidenced, but also specific and more evident needs in families of children with ASD, motivated by the differential characteristics of the disorder and their environment. Age was relevant to focus support on priority areas. CONCLUSION: The need to adapt to family individualities to promote their quality of life was concluded. IMPLICATIONS: Those findings reinforce the importance of bringing together theoretical knowledge and evaluation of professional practice as a framework for converting the latter into good practices and quality actions.

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12. Mohammadzaheri F, Koegel LK, Soleymani Z, Khosrowabadi R, Bakhshi E. Neural correlates of enhancing question asking and initiations in children with autism spectrum disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Social neuroscience. 2022; 17(2): 181-92.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate challenges in various areas of social communication. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) targeting question-asking on brain activity in twenty 6-12-year-old autistic boys, using a Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) design. Verbal children, diagnosed with autism, who lacked question asking in their communication were matched based on age and mean length utterance (MLU) and were randomly placed in either PRT intervention or treatment as usual (TAU) groups. Sessions were individually administered, lasting for 60 minutes 3 days a week for a two-month period. All children were tested before and after intervention to assess behavioral areas (questions, general communicative skills, and MLU) and both groups underwent electroencephalography for 10 minutes in open and closed eye resting-state conditions to assess neural correlates. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis and post-hoc using Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon methods. Significant behavioral improvements in the PRT group were observed after intervention that correlated with changes in electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations at several brain regions compared to the TAU group. The results of this study support other studies suggesting collateral neural changes following the PRT.

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13. Nisar S, Bhat AA, Masoodi T, Hashem S, Akhtar S, Ali TA, Amjad S, Chawla S, Bagga P, Frenneaux MP, Reddy R, Fakhro K, Haris M. Genetics of glutamate and its receptors in autism spectrum disorder. Molecular psychiatry. 2022.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental impairment characterized by deficits in social interaction skills, impaired communication, and repetitive and restricted behaviors that are thought to be due to altered neurotransmission processes. The amino acid glutamate is an essential excitatory neurotransmitter in the human brain that regulates cognitive functions such as learning and memory, which are usually impaired in ASD. Over the last several years, increasing evidence from genetics, neuroimaging, protein expression, and animal model studies supporting the notion of altered glutamate metabolism has heightened the interest in evaluating glutamatergic dysfunction in ASD. Numerous pharmacological, behavioral, and imaging studies have demonstrated the imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, thus revealing the involvement of the glutamatergic system in ASD pathology. Here, we review the effects of genetic alterations on glutamate and its receptors in ASD and the role of non-invasive imaging modalities in detecting these changes. We also highlight the potential therapeutic targets associated with impaired glutamatergic pathways.

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14. Pettingell SL, Houseworth J, Tichá R, Kramme JED, Hewitt AS. Incentives, Wages, and Retention Among Direct Support Professionals: National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(2): 113-27.

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who count on these supports to live, work, and contribute in their communities. Despite this, high annual DSP turnover rates are problematic. DSP turnover is disruptive to people who receive supports as the lack of stable, reliable supports can negatively impact their important day-to-day outcomes (e.g., safety, community participation, and choice). Turnover also comes at a cost to provider organization in the hiring and training of new employees. To retain DSPs, organizations offer incentives (e.g., bonuses, retirement plans, health insurance). This study utilized National Core Indicators® (NCI®) Staff Stability Survey 2018 data to examine the relationships between wages, different types of incentives, including benefits (e.g., paid time off, access to health insurance, disability insurance, wage bonuses, health incentives programs, etc.) to annual turnover in participating states in the United States. Results indicated that incentives were not positively associated with DSP retention. Staff wages were the most notable factor associated with differences in DSP retention rates, along with the state in which the organization was located as well as organization vacancy rates.

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15. Rapanelli M, Williams JB, Ma K, Yang F, Zhong P, Patel R, Kumar M, Qin L, Rein B, Wang ZJ, Kassim B, Javidfar B, Couto L, Akbarian S, Yan Z. Targeting histone demethylase LSD1 for treatment of deficits in autism mouse models. Molecular psychiatry. 2022.

Large-scale genetic studies have revealed that the most prominent genes disrupted in autism are chromatin regulators mediating histone methylation/demethylation, suggesting the central role of epigenetic dysfunction in this disorder. Here, we show that histone lysine 4 dimethylation (H3K4me2), a histone mark linked to gene activation, is significantly decreased in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of autistic human patients and mutant mice with the deficiency of top-ranking autism risk factor Shank3 or Cul3. A brief treatment of the autism models with highly potent and selective inhibitors of the H3K4me2 demethylase LSD1 (KDM1A) leads to the robust rescue of core symptoms of autism, including social deficits and repetitive behaviors. Concomitantly, LSD1 inhibition restores NMDA receptor function in PFC and AMPA receptor-mediated currents in striatum of Shank3-deficient mice. Genome-wide RNAseq and ChIPseq reveal that treatment of Shank3-deficient mice with the LSD1 inhibitor restores the expression and H3K4me2 occupancy of downregulated genes enriched in synaptic signaling and developmental processes. The immediate early gene tightly linked to neuronal plasticity, Egr1, is on the top list of rescued genes. The diminished transcription of Egr1 is recapitulated in PFC of autistic human patients. Overexpression of Egr1 in PFC of Shank3-deficient mice ameliorates social preference deficits. These results have for the first time revealed an important role of H3K4me2 abnormality in ASD pathophysiology, and the therapeutic potential of targeting H3K4me2 demethylase LSD1 or the downstream molecule Egr1 for ASD.

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16. Reynolds MC, Caldwell D, Boonchaisri N, Ragon KE, Palmer SB. The Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Intellectual and developmental disabilities. 2022; 60(2): 85-100.

It is important to continuously support families to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their family members. Using a life course approach to address strengths and needs of families, a National Community of Practice, infused with the Charting the LifeCourse framework, focused on systems change to improve policy and practices to enhance the lives of families. A qualitative analysis used the Value Creation framework to evaluate both process and product outcomes of 16 state communities of practice as to changes in knowledge and practices. Results emphasize the relative effectiveness of aspects of policy and overarching practices designed to support people with disabilities and their families in participating states.

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17. Ribolsi M, Fiori Nastro F, Pelle M, Medici C, Sacchetto S, Lisi G, Riccioni A, Siracusano M, Mazzone L, Di Lorenzo G. Recognizing Psychosis in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2022; 13: 768586.

There is strong evidence for the existence of a high comorbidity between autism and psychosis with percentages reaching up to 34. 8% and several significant implications for treatment and prognosis of these patients. However, the identification of comorbid psychosis in patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder represents a complex challenge from a psychopathological point of view, in particular in patients with greater deficits in verbal communication. Intercepting the onset of a psychotic breakdown in autism may be very difficult, both disorders in fact occur along a phenotypic continuum of clinical severity and in many cases, psychotic symptoms are present in an attenuated form. In this paper, we reviewed the available scientific literature about comorbidity between psychosis and autism, focusing our attention on four specific dimensions: delusions, hallucinations, negative symptoms, and clinical course. The aim of this paper is to provide clinical tools to identify these psychotic phenomena in autistic patients, even when they occur in their attenuated form.

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18. Vuijk R, de Nijs P, Arntz A, Geurts HM. An Explorative Study of Atypical Social Interaction Styles in Adult Men with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Men with Personality Disorders and Men from the General Population. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2022.

Different atypical social interaction styles (SISs) were defined and tested in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Whether these styles can also be distinguished in adults with ASD has not yet been explored. In men with ASD, men with personality disorder (PD), and men from the general population (N = 90), aged 18-65 years, we tested which SISs can be distinguished and how they relate to the presence of PD traits. We found a significant distinction in allocation to atypical SISs between the three groups. This study shows the presence of atypical SISs in adults with ASD, and complements previous SIS findings in children and adolescents with ASD.Trial registration The Netherlands National Trial Register NTR6391. Registered 04 May 2017.

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19. Wang L, Xie T, Ma H, Xu M, Xie X. Subject-performed task effect on working memory performance in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. 2022.

A previous study found that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have better recall when they perform instructions (subject-performed task [SPT]) than when they passively hear instructions (verbal task [VT]) in a working memory task for instructions, an effect that is called the SPT effect. This study explored whether the SPT effect exhibited by ASD children is caused by the movement component or by processing materials twice. More importantly, this study explored whether intelligence influences the SPT effect exhibited by ASD children. ASD children with three levels of intelligence (N = 56) and a control group, children with intellectual disability (ID) who had low intelligence but did not have ASD (N = 21), were asked to perform working memory tasks for instructions under VT, SPT and repeated (hearing the instruction twice) conditions. No significant difference in performance was observed between the VT and repeated conditions, regardless of the child’s level of intelligence. ASD children with lower-middle intelligence exhibited a smaller SPT effect than ASD children with upper-middle intelligence. Critically, while ASD children with low intelligence did not exhibit the SPT effect, an ID group with equivalent low intelligence did show this effect. Therefore, these results show that the SPT effect for ASD children is caused by the movement component and is uniquely associated with a certain level of intelligence, namely, lower middle and higher levels of intelligence. LAY SUMMARY: In ASD children, the benefit of physically performing instructions for working memory performance is uniquely associated with a certain level of intelligence. Only ASD children with lower-middle intelligence (and higher) benefit from physically performing instructions, and higher intelligence increases this benefit; ASD children with low intelligence do not show this benefit. This benefit in ASD children is attributed to the additional motoric code generated by physical performance.

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20. Wilson AC, Bishop DVM. Stage 2 registered report: investigating a preference for certainty in conversation among autistic adults. PeerJ. 2022; 10: e13110.

Social communication difficulties are a diagnostic feature in autism. These difficulties are sometimes attributed, at least in part, to impaired ability in making inferences about what other people mean. In this registered report, we tested a competing hypothesis that the communication profile of adults on the autism spectrum can be more strongly characterised by reduced confidence in making inferences in the face of uncertain information. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the performance of 102 autistic and 109 non-autistic adults on a test of implied meaning, using a test of grammaticality judgements as a control task. We hypothesised that autistic adults would report substantially lower confidence, allowing for differences in accuracy, than non-autistic adults on the test of implied meaning compared to the grammaticality test. However, our results did not suggest this. Instead, we found that accuracy and confidence were both reduced to a similar extent on the test of implied meaning in the autistic group compared to the control group, although these were only subtle differences. This pattern of results was specific to inference-making, as the autistic and non-autistic groups did not differ on the grammar test. This supports the idea that specific differences in pragmatic language processing can exist in autism in the absence of core language problems. Importantly, this pattern of results (differences on the test of implied meaning and no differences on the grammar test) was reversed in a group with self-reported reading difficulties, indicating that the differences in inference-making were specific to the autistic group. Lastly, we found relationships between Intolerance of Uncertainty, performance on the test of implied meaning, and self-reported social communication challenges. This supports the idea that discomfort with uncertainty plays a role in the pragmatic language and communication challenges in autism.

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