Brief report: Changes in quality of life and social functioning during vocational program - a pilot study of autistic adults.

Background: Quality of life (QoL), social-emotional and occupational functioning are often diminished in young autistic adults. Measuring these constructs as vocational training outcomes may inform future programming and relevancy of measures.

Methods: This pilot study analyzed changes in social-emotional functioning and QoL during the involvement at a vocational program for autistic adults using the WHOQOL-BREF, a modified version of the Birchwood- Social Functioning Scale (SFS-m) and a piloted measure.

An investigation of reasoning by analogy in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder.

Relational reasoning ability relies upon by both cognitive and social factors. We compared analogical reasoning performance in healthy controls (HC) to performance in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and individuals with schizophrenia (SZ). The experimental task required participants to find correspondences between drawings of scenes.

Virtual reality social cognition training for young adults with high-functioning autism.

Few evidence-based social interventions exist for young adults with high-functioning autism, many of whom encounter significant challenges during the transition into adulthood. The current study investigated the feasibility of an engaging Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training intervention focused on enhancing social skills, social cognition, and social functioning. Eight young adults diagnosed with high-functioning autism completed 10 sessions across 5 weeks.

Brief report: Insight into illness and social attributional style in Asperger's syndrome.

A number of psychiatric illnesses have been recognized to have some level of insight deficits, including developmental disorders, such as Asperger's Syndrome (ASP). However insight into illness has not been empirically investigated in ASP and little research has examined how individuals with ASP view their deficits. This is the first study to assess insight and the relationship between insight and externalizing bias (EB) in ASP.