Delineation of cross-domain associations between everyday executive function and adaptive behaviour in Down syndrome and Williams syndrome.

In genetic syndromes such as Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS), difficulties with executive functioning (EF) are a commonly reported feature and a key correlate of long-term success in everyday life. Despite a robust literature in children with these syndromes, it remains unclear how cross-syndrome characteristics of everyday EF relate to adaptive functioning and intelligence among adults with DS and WS, and if these relationships differ between these groups. This study aimed to characterise the profile of strengths and weaknesses in everyday EF using the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Informant Version (BRIEF-A) in older adolescents and young adults with DS and WS.

An Examination of Perceived Stress and Emotion Regulation Challenges as Mediators of Associations Between Camouflaging and Internalizing Symptomatology.

Background: Camouflaging involves the masking of autism traits, potentially creating an outer impression of "non-autisticness." Although associations of camouflaging with anxiety and depression in autistic adults are widely reported, factors that mediate these associations are unclear. We examined two potential mediators of the association between camouflaging and anxiety/depression: perceived stress and emotion regulation (ER) challenges.

Academic learning challenges and links to vocational outcomes in young autistic adults.

Finding a job can be hard for autistic adults. No studies have been completed that look into whether having difficulties learning and troubles finding a job are related in this population. The current study did so by evaluating the Learning Needs Screening Tool, a measure of learning challenges used in vocational rehabilitation settings, or places meant to help people find work.

Gender, assigned sex at birth, and gender diversity: Windows into diagnostic timing disparities in autism.

Later autism diagnosis is associated with risk for mental health problems. Understanding factors related to later autism diagnosis may help reduce mental health risks for autistic people. One characteristic associated with later autism diagnosis is female sex.

Increased anticholinergic medication use in middle-aged and older autistic adults and its associations with self-reported memory difficulties and cognitive decline.

Many commonly used prescription and over-the-counter medicines have potent anticholinergic (AC) effects. Among older adults, AC medications are associated with cognitive impairment and risk for cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Collectively, the impact of AC medications is known as anticholinergic cognitive burden (ACB).

Self-reported Prospective and Retrospective Memory Among Middle Aged and Older Autistic and Non-autistic People.

Objective: Self-reported memory difficulties are common among older adults, but few studies have examined memory problems among autistic middle-aged and older people. The current study examines self-rated prospective (PM) and retrospective (RM) memory difficulties and their associations with age in middle-aged and older autistic and non-autistic people.

Methods: 350 autistic people (58% assigned-female-at-birth; age-range: 40-83 years) and 350 non-autistic adults matched on age, birth-sex and education level were included in the analysis.

Extended trajectory of spatial memory errors in typical and atypical development: The role of binding and precision.

Spatial reconstruction, a method for evaluating how individuals remember the placement of objects, has traditionally been evaluated through the aggregate estimation of placement errors. However, this approach may obscure the nature of task errors. Specifically, recent data has suggested the importance of examining the precision of responses, as well as absolute performance on item-context bindings.

Sexual Minority Identities in Autistic Adults: Diversity and Associations with Mental Health Symptoms and Subjective Quality of Life.

Background: Although disparities in mental health and subjective quality of life (QoL) have been reported for autistic adults, reasons for these disparities are poorly understood. A potential factor in these disparities is exposure to social stressors related to minority status (i.e.

Predictors of sleep quality for autistic people across adulthood.

Poor sleep can have a significant impact on physical health and well-being. Sleep problems are common among autistic children, but less is known about sleep across the autistic adult lifespan. Autistic adults (n = 730, aged 18-78 years) were recruited via Simons Powering Autism Research for Knowledge Research Match.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors in autistic adults: The impact of sleep quality and antipsychotic medication use.

Approximately 40% of American adults are affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (e.g., high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and overweight or obesity), and risk among autistic adults may be even higher.

Vocational Outcomes in ASD: An Examination of Work Readiness Skills as well as Barriers and Facilitators to Employment Identified by Autistic Adults.

Little is known about work readiness skills among autistic adults. This study sought to address this by examining work readiness skills and their relation to vocational outcomes among 281 autistic young adults. It also examined perceived barriers and facilitators to employment as articulated by a subset of autistic adults.

Co-occurring ADHD symptoms in autistic adults are associated with less independence in daily living activities and lower subjective quality of life.

Outcomes for autistic adults are generally poor, including activities of daily living and self-ratings of quality of life. Co-occurring psychiatric conditions contribute to these poor outcomes. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common co-occurring conditions in autistic individuals.

Increased perceived stress is negatively associated with activities of daily living and subjective quality of life in younger, middle, and older autistic adults.

Few studies have examined self-reported perceived stress in autistic adults. Existing studies have included relatively small, predominantly male samples and have not included older autistic adults. Using a large autistic sample (N = 713), enriched for individuals designated female at birth (59.

Youth with Down syndrome display widespread increased functional connectivity during rest.

Studies of resting-state functional connectivity in young people with Down syndrome (DS) have yielded conflicting results. Some studies have found increased connectivity while others have found a mix of increased and decreased connectivity. No studies have examined whole-brain connectivity at the voxel level in youth with DS during an eyes-open resting-state design.

Variegation of autism related traits across seven neurogenetic disorders.

Gene dosage disorders (GDDs) constitute a major class of genetic risks for psychopathology, but there is considerable debate regarding the extent to which different GDDs induce different psychopathology profiles. The current research speaks to this debate by compiling and analyzing dimensional measures of several autism-related traits (ARTs) across seven diverse GDDs. The sample included 350 individuals with one of 7 GDDs, as well as reference idiopathic autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 74) and typically developing control (TD; n = 171) groups.

Patterns of psychopathology and cognition in sex chromosome aneuploidy.

Background: Sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs) are a collectively common family of genetic disorders that increase the risk for neuropsychiatric and cognitive impairment. Beyond being important medical disorders in their own right, SCAs also offer a unique naturally occurring model for studying X- and Y-chromosome influences on the human brain. However, it remains unclear if (i) different SCAs are associated with different profiles of psychopathology and (ii) the notable interindividual variation in psychopathology is related to co-occurring variation in cognitive ability.

Circadian Sleep-Activity Rhythm across Ages in Down Syndrome.

Across all ages, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) experience high rates of sleep problems as well as cognitive impairments. This study sought to investigate whether circadian rhythm disruption was also experienced by people with DS and whether this kind of sleep disorder may be correlated with cognitive performance. A cross-sectional study of 101 participants (58 with DS, 43 with typical development) included individuals in middle childhood (6-10 years old), adolescence (11-18 years old), and young adulthood (19-26 years old).

Camouflaging in autism spectrum disorder: Examining the roles of sex, gender identity, and diagnostic timing.

Camouflaging in autism spectrum disorder refers to behaviors and/or strategies that mask the presentation of autism spectrum disorder features in social contexts in order to appear "non-autistic" (Attwood, 2007). Camouflaging modifies the behavioral presentation of core autism spectrum disorder features (e.g.

Speech Impairments Explain Unique Variance in Adaptive Behavior Skills in Young People With Down Syndrome.

Background Down syndrome (DS) is a disorder characterized by impairments in global cognitive abilities and adaptive function. In addition, individuals with DS demonstrate pronounced speech and language deficits. However, little is known about the linguistic correlates of impaired adaptive functioning in DS.

Hypoplasia of cerebellar afferent networks in Down syndrome revealed by DTI-driven tensor based morphometry.

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigations of brain anatomy in children and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) are limited, with no diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies covering that age range. We used DTI-driven tensor based morphometry (DTBM), a novel technique that extracts morphometric information from diffusion data, to investigate brain anatomy in 15 participants with DS and 15 age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) controls, ages 6-24 years (mean age ~17 years). DTBM revealed marked hypoplasia of cerebellar afferent systems in DS, including fronto-pontine (middle cerebellar peduncle) and olivo-cerebellar (inferior cerebellar peduncle) connections.

A preliminary examination of brain morphometry in youth with Down syndrome with and without parent-reported sleep difficulties.

Background: Down syndrome is associated with poor sleep but little is known about its neural correlates.

Aims: The current research compared brain morphometry in youth with Down syndrome with parent-reported sleep problems (DS-S) to peers with Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD) without parent-reported sleep problems matched on age (M = 15.15) and sex ratio (62 % female).

A comprehensive examination of the memory profile of youth with Down syndrome in comparison to typically developing peers.

Down syndrome (DS) is associated with significant memory deficits beyond overall global cognitive impairment. Although a number of studies have examined memory abilities in adults and teens with DS, very few studies have examined memory abilities in children with DS. Additionally, research has yet to examine prospective memory (i.

Relations between Everyday Executive Functioning and Language in Youth with Down Syndrome and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Language and executive functioning are major impairments in many neurodevelopmental disorders, but little is known about the relations between these constructs, particularly using parent-report. Thus, the current research sought to examine relations between executive function and language in two groups - Down syndrome (DS; n=41; M = 11.2) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n=91; M = 7.

Sensory Processing and Maladaptive Behavior: Profiles Within the Down Syndrome Phenotype.

: Sensory processing impairments are well characterized in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism, and have been associated with maladaptive behaviors. However, little is known regarding sensory processing difficulties within Down syndrome, or how these difficulties may influence maladaptive behavior. This study aims to characterize sensory processing difficulties within the Down syndrome phenotype and determine the influence of processing difficulties on maladaptive behavior.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom profiles of children with comorbid Down syndrome (DS) and ASD: A comparison with children with DS-only and ASD-only.

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with increased rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized by social-communicative impairments (SOC-COM) and repetitive behaviors and interests (RBI). However, little is known about the ASD symptom presentation in children with DS + ASD.

Aims: The current study sought to describe parent-report of SOC-COM and RBI symptoms on the Autism Diagnostic Interview -Revised (ADI-R) in children with DS (n = 22), DS + ASD (n = 11), and ASD (n = 66).