Working with Children with Autism Undergoing Health-Care Assessments in a Day Hospital Setting: A Perspective from the Health-Care Professionals.

Background: Hospitals can be especially stressful for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to the communication and social skills deficits, lower capacity to adapt to disruption, and sensory hypersensitivity that are typical of these patients.

Purpose: This study investigated how health-care professionals (HPs) experienced the clinical care and management of children with ASD undergoing medical testing in a day hospital setting, and assessed the rate of successful completion of laboratory tests and instrumental examinations.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 45 HPs, inquiring about their experience in obtaining blood and urine tests, ECG, audiometry, and EEG from children with ASD.

Sleep disturbances and emotional dysregulation in young children with autism spectrum, intellectual disability, or global developmental delay.

Objective: Sleep disturbance and emotional dysregulation (ED) are common and often functionally impairing in young children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). This study investigated the relationship between sleep disturbance and ED in a sample of preschoolers with ASD, intellectual disability, or global developmental delay, and examined possible predictors of their persistence over time.

Methods: All children under 6 years of age clinically referred between July 2018 and May 2022 to two neuropsychiatric specialized centers for NDD received a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, including the Child Behavior Checklist 1.

Emotional Dysregulation and Adaptive Functioning in Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder or Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

Aim: Emotional dysregulation (ED), defined by deficits in the ability to monitor and modulate the valence, intensity, and expression of emotions, is typically expressed with irritability, tantrums, mood fluctuations, and self-harm in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although ED does not represent a diagnostic feature of ASD, its manifestations are an important contributor to functional impairment and clinical referral. This study aims to examine the relationship between ED and adaptive functioning in preschoolers clinically referred for ASD or other neurodevelopmental disorders.