Routine vaccine uptake in school-aged autistic and non-autistic youth: A linked database study.

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine whether school-aged autistic youth received routine vaccines at a lower rate than their non-autistic peers.

Methods: In Nova Scotia (NS), Canada, vaccines routinely delivered in early adolescence are administered to Grade 7 students through a school-based Public Health vaccination program. NS youth eligible to receive Grade 7 vaccinations between 2011 and 2017 were included in this study.

Participación de los pacientes en una intervención de coaching en línea para padres de niños con retraso en el desarrollo.

Objetivo: Evaluar los procesos de participación de los pacientes en el desarrollo de una nueva intervención de coaching de salud para padres de niños con problemas de desarrollo emergentes. MÉTODO: Se utilizó un diseño de estudio transversal de método mixto. Los investigadores (n=18) y los padres-asesores (n=9) fueron encuestados utilizando la Herramienta de Evaluación del Compromiso Público y del Paciente (PPEET) en áreas de comunicación/apoyos para la participación, compartiendo puntos de vista/perspectivas, impactos/influencia de la iniciativa de compromiso, y pensamientos finales/satisfacción.

Patient engagement in an online coaching intervention for parents of children with suspected developmental delays.

Aim: To evaluate patient engagement processes in the development of a new health coaching intervention for parents of children with suspected developmental delays.

Method: A cross-sectional mixed-method study design was used. Researchers (n=18) and patient-partners (n=9) were surveyed using the Public and Patient Engagement Evaluation Tool (PPEET) in areas of: (1) communication/supports for participation; (2) sharing views/perspectives; (3) impacts/influence of engagement initiative; and (4) final thoughts/satisfaction.

BRIGHT Coaching: A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of a Developmental Coach System to Empower Families of Children With Emerging Developmental Delay.

In preschool-aged children with, or at elevated risk for, developmental disabilities, challenges and needs arise from vulnerabilities linked to critical and newly emerging cognitive, speech, motor, behavioral, and social skills. For families, this can be a stressful period as they witness the gradual unfolding of their child's differences and await to receive care. Nationally and internationally, service delivery models during this critical period are not standardized nor are they nimble or sufficient enough, leading to long wait times, service gaps and duplications.

The next vaccine-autism question: Are school-aged youth with autism spectrum disorder undervaccinated and, if so, why?

Over the past two decades, the words 'autism' and 'vaccination' have often been linked and mired in controversy. In this commentary, we raise a different question about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and vaccines: Are school-aged youth with ASD undervaccinated and, if so, why? There are several reasons why youth with ASD might be undervaccinated, including: belief in a vaccine-ASD link, challenges faced by youth with ASD when seeking health care and vaccine hesitancy factors that affect the general population. Possible undervaccination in this group is concerning given the prevalence of ASD and the key role of vaccinations in preventing infectious diseases.

The DalHouses: 100 new photographs of houses with ratings of typicality, familiarity, and degree of similarity to faces.

Houses have often been used as comparison stimuli in face-processing studies because of the many attributes they share with faces (e.g., distinct members of a basic category, consistent internal features, mono-orientation, and relative familiarity).

Positive affect in infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Research on the expression of positive affect in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suggests that differences in this domain emerge late in the first year or early in the second year. However, many previous studies in this area employed retrospective research methods and global rating schemes. In the current study, the expression of positive affect was examined prospectively at ages 6, 12, and 18 months in three groups: infant siblings with ASD, infant siblings without ASD, and low-risk comparison infants.

Self-reported and parent-reported pain for common painful events in high-functioning children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Objectives: Previous research suggests that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at a higher risk for painful experiences, but there is limited research examining pain in children with ASD.

Methods: The current study examined self-reported and parent-reported pain in 20 high-functioning youth with ASD (17 boys; 3 girls) and 20 typically developing controls (16 boys; 4 girls) ranging in age from 9 to 18 years and matched on age and IQ. Participants with and without ASD rated their hypothetical pain in a series of pictures depicting common childhood situations.

Brief report: memory performance on the California verbal learning test - children's version in Autism spectrum disorder.

According to the Task Support Hypothesis (TSH; Bowler et al. in Neuropsychologia 35:65-70, 1997) individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perform more similarly to their typically developing peers on learning and memory tasks when provided with external support at retrieval. We administered the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version to 15 high-functioning youths with ASD and 15 matched comparison participants.

Discrepancies between self- and parent-perceptions of autistic traits and empathy in high functioning children and adolescents on the autism spectrum.

Self-perception in high-functioning children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was examined by comparing parent- and self-reports on the Autism Spectrum, Empathy, and Systemizing Quotients (AQ, EQ and SQ). Participants were 20 youths with ASD and 22 typically developing controls. Both parents and participants in the ASD group reported more autistic traits (higher AQ) and less empathy (lower EQ) than the control group.

Manipulability and living/non-living category effects on object identification.

Object naming studies have generally observed that both normal and brain damaged individuals are faster and more accurate at identifying non-living objects than living objects (). However, a potential confounding variable, manipulability, has been present in past studies that may mediate this effect. Previous studies that have observed a non-living advantage have often used manipulable and non-manipulable exemplars to represent the non-living and living groups, respectively.