Resilience and strengths in the Black autism community in the United States: A scoping review.

Gaps in research knowledge pertaining to resiliency factors and strengths among the Black autism community, inclusive of autistic persons and their support system exist. A scoping review was conducted to further explore quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies that investigate resiliency factors and related strengths in the Black autism community in the United States. A total of 436 articles were identified, with 28 studies included in the final review.

Non-autistic observers both detect and demonstrate the double empathy problem when evaluating interactions between autistic and non-autistic adults.

The "double empathy problem" refers to breakdowns in communication and understanding that frequently occur between autistic and non-autistic people. Previous studies have shown that autistic people often establish better rapport and connection when interacting with other autistic people compared to when interacting with non-autistic people, but it is unclear whether this is noticeable to non-autistic observers. In this study, 102 non-autistic undergraduate students viewed and rated video recordings of "get to know you" conversations between pairs of autistic and non-autistic adults.

A mixed method comparison of stigma toward autism and schizophrenia and effects of person-first versus identity-first language.

Introduction: While stigma toward autistic individuals has been well documented, less is known about how autism is perceived relative to other stigmatized disabilities. As a highly stigmatized condition with similar social cognitive features to autism, schizophrenia may offer a useful comparison for stigma. Previous studies have found that autistic people may be perceived more favorably than those with schizophrenia, but little is known about the underlying volitional thoughts that contribute to differences in how these conditions are perceived.

Mindshift in autism: a call to professionals in research, clinical, and educational settings.

Autistic people often have poor outcomes over the life course, including in health, education, employment, and community inclusion. Many professionals working with Autistic adults in research, clinical, and educational settings devote their careers to trying to improve such outcomes. However, we maintain that real progress cannot happen without a fundamental mindshift.

Brief report: replication of the psychometric characteristics of the behavioral inflexibility scale in an independent sample.

The Behavioral Inflexibility Scale (BIS) is a recently developed measure of behavioral inflexibility, defined as rigid patterns of behavior that contrast with the need to be flexible when the situation calls for it. In this study, we sought to replicate previous findings on the psychometric properties of the BIS in a community sample. Data for this study were collected using in-person assessments of 163 autistic and 95 non-autistic children ages 3-17 and included the BIS, measures of social-communication ability and repetitive behaviors, and an assessment of cognitive ability.

Experiences of student and trainee autism researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in significant personal and professional adjustments. Students and trainees, including those in autism research, face unique challenges to accomplishing their training and career goals during this unprecedented time. In this commentary, we, as members of the International Society for Autism Research Student and Trainee Committee, describe our personal experiences, which may or may not align with those of other students and trainees.

Greater Social Interest Between Autistic and Non-autistic Conversation Partners Following Autism Acceptance Training for Non-autistic People.

Bi-directional differences in social communication and behavior can contribute to poor interactions between autistic and non-autistic (NA) people, which in turn may reduce social opportunities for autistic adults and contribute to poor outcomes. Historically, interventions to improve social interaction in autism have focused on altering the behaviors of autistic people and have ignored the role of NA people. Recent efforts to improve autism understanding among NA adults via training have resulted in more favorable views toward autistic people, yet it remains unknown whether these benefits extend to real-world interactions between autistic and NA people.

Evaluating the Feasibility of The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery for Autistic Children and Adolescents.

This study evaluates the feasibility of the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIH-TCB) for use in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 116 autistic children and adolescents and 80 typically developing (TD) controls, ages 3-17 years, completed four NIH-TCB tasks related to inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and episodic memory. While the majority of autistic and TD children completed all four tasks, autistic children experienced greater difficulties with task completion.

Effects of autism acceptance training on explicit and implicit biases toward autism.

Autistic adults face prejudice from non-autistic people. They are often judged unfairly and left out of social activities because of their differences. This can make it difficult for autistic people to make friends and find jobs.

Social Cognition, Social Skill, and Social Motivation Minimally Predict Social Interaction Outcomes for Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.

Social cognition, social skill, and social motivation have been extensively researched and characterized as atypical in autistic people, with the assumption that each mechanistically contributes to the broader social interaction difficulties that diagnostically define the condition. Despite this assumption, research has not directly assessed whether or how these three social domains contribute to actual real-world social interaction outcomes for autistic people. The current study administered standardized measures of social cognition, social skill, and social motivation to 67 autistic and 58 non-autistic (NA) adults and assessed whether performance on these measures, both individually and relationally between dyadic partners, predicted outcomes for autistic and NA adults interacting with unfamiliar autistic and NA partners in a 5 minute unstructured "get to know you" conversation.

Cognitive and Social Cognitive Self-assessment in Autistic Adults.

An aspect of metacognition associated with broader functional abilities in several clinical conditions, but previously unexamined in autism, is self-assessment (i.e., the ability to accurately self-evaluate one's own performance).

Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners.

Differences in social communication and interaction styles between autistic and typically developing have been studied in isolation and not in the context of real-world social interaction. The current study addresses this "blind spot" by examining whether real-world social interaction quality for autistic adults differs when interacting with typically developing relative to autistic partners. Participants (67 autism spectrum disorder, 58 typically developing) were assigned to one of three dyadic partnerships (autism-autism:  = 22; typically developing-typically developing:  = 23; autism-typically developing:  = 25; 55 complete dyads, 15 partial dyads) in which they completed a 5-min unstructured conversation with an unfamiliar person and then assessed the quality of the interaction and their impressions of their partner.

Social and Object Attention Is Influenced by Biological Sex and Toy Gender-Congruence in Children With and Without Autism.

Emerging research suggests social attention in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) girls is enhanced relative to ASD boys but may also be affected by the type of social and nonsocial content presented. This study examined how biological sex and gender norms interact to influence visual attention in 79 school-aged children observing scenes that included gender-associated toys and actors of both sexes. Attention to social (faces) and object activity (hands with toys) stimuli was measured.

Do First Impressions of Autistic Adults Differ Between Autistic and Nonautistic Observers?

Background: Autistic adults receive unfavorable first impressions from typically developing (TD) adults, but these impressions improve when TD adults are made aware of their diagnosis. It remains unclear, however, how autistic adults form first impressions of other autistic adults, and whether their impressions are similarly affected by diagnostic awareness.

Methods: In this study, 32 autistic and 32 TD adults viewed brief videos of 20 TD and 20 autistic adults presented either with or without their diagnostic status and rated them on character traits and their interest in interacting with them in the future.