Associations between autistic traits, depression, social anxiety and social rejection in autistic and non-autistic adults.

Autistic people frequently experience negative judgements from non-autistic people, often fuelled by misconceptions that autistic people lack empathy. Understanding responses to negative social judgement among autistic people is crucial because of the potential negative impact on wellbeing and future interactions. We investigated the role of autistic traits, social anxiety, and depression on behavioural indices of social rejection in 20 autistic (AUT; 11 males) and 40 non-autistic (N-AUT; 21 males) university students.

No transfer of arousal from other's eyes in Williams syndrome.

Typically developing humans automatically synchronize their arousal levels, resulting in pupillary contagion, or spontaneous adaptation of pupil size to that of others. This phenomenon emerges in infancy and is believed to facilitate social interaction. Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic condition characterized by a hyper-social personality and social interaction challenges.

Anxiety, concerns and COVID-19: Cross-country perspectives from families and individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health and well-being of children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and of their families worldwide. However, there is insufficient evidence to understand how different factors (e.g.

Social feedback enhances learning in Williams syndrome.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic condition characterized by high social interest and approach motivation as well as intellectual disability and anxiety. Despite the fact that social stimuli are believed to have an increased intrinsic reward value in WS, it is not known whether this translates to learning and decision making. Genes homozygously deleted in WS are linked to sociability in the general population, making it a potential model condition for understanding the social brain.

Friendships in Children with Williams Syndrome: Parent and Child Perspectives.

Although children with Williams syndrome (WS) are strongly socially motivated, many have friendship difficulties. The parents of 21 children with WS and 20 of the children themselves participated in a semi-structured interview about the children's friendships. Parents reported that their child had difficulties sustaining friendships and low levels of interaction with peers.

The Quality of Everyday Eye Contact in Williams Syndrome: Insights From Cross-Syndrome Comparisons.

Past research shows that individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have heightened and prolonged eye contact. Using parent report measures, we examined not only the presence of eye contact but also its qualitative features. Study 1 included individuals with WS (n = 22, ages 6.

Williams syndrome: reduced orienting to other's eyes in a hypersocial phenotype.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic condition associated with high sociability, intellectual disability, and social cognitive challenges. Attention to others' eyes is crucial for social understanding. Orienting to, and from other's eyes was studied in WS (n = 37, mean age = 23, age range 9-53).

Williams syndrome: on the role of intellectual abilities in anxiety.

Background: Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have an elevated risk for anxiety disorders throughout the life span, making it a research priority to identify the individual factors associated with anxiety. Most of the existing literature is based on questionnaire data and suggests that impaired executive functions (EF) increase the risk for anxiety in WS. The aim of this study was to use direct measures by trained clinicians to investigate the effects of general intelligence, inhibition, sustained attention, and working memory on anxiety in WS, to further elucidate potential underlying mechanisms.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Anxiety and Worries for Families of Individuals with Special Education Needs and Disabilities in the UK.

COVID-19 has affected people across the world. The current study examined anxiety and worries during the first UK national lockdown in March 2020. Parents (n = 402) reported on their own anxiety and worries as well as that of their son/daughter with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and typically developing (TD) child (n = 186) at three time points.

"Intolerance of uncertainty" mediates the relationship between social profile and anxiety in both Williams syndrome and autism.

Anxiety is the most significant mental health concern for both Williams syndrome (WS) and autism. Whilst WS and autism are characterized by some syndrome-specific social differences, less is known about cross-syndrome profiles of anxiety symptoms. Previous research has shown that Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a core mechanism of anxiety maintenance for clinically anxious populations and for autistic children, adolescents, and adults.

An EEG investigation of alpha and beta activity during resting states in adults with Williams syndrome.

Background: Williams syndrome (WS) is neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by executive deficits of attention and inhibitory processing. The current study examined the neural mechanisms during resting states in adults with WS in order to investigate how this subserves the attention and inhibitory deficits associated with the syndrome.

Method: Adopting electroencephalography (EEG) methodology, cortical electrical activity was recorded from eleven adults with WS aged 35 + years during Eyes Closed (EC) and Eyes Open (EO) resting states, and compared to that of thirteen typically developing adults matched for chronological age (CA) and ten typically developing children matched for verbal mental ability (MA).

A clinical and cost-effectiveness trial of a parent group intervention to manage challenging restricted and repetitive behaviours in young children with autism spectrum disorder: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Restricted and repetitive behaviours vary greatly across the autism spectrum, and although not all are problematic some can cause distress and interfere with learning and social opportunities. We have, alongside parents, developed a parent group based intervention for families of young children with autism, which aims to offer support to parents and carers; helping them to recognise, understand and learn how to respond to their child's challenging restricted repetitive behaviours.

Methods: The study is a clinical and cost-effectiveness, multi-site randomised controlled trial of the Managing Repetitive Behaviours (MRB) parent group intervention versus a psychoeducation parent group Learning About Autism (LAA) (n = 250; 125 intervention/125 psychoeducation; ~ 83/site) for parents of young children aged 3-9 years 11 months with a diagnosis of autism.

Profiles of academic achievement and attention in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Academic outcomes for autistic individuals are heterogeneous, but the reasons for this are unknown. Attention is known to predict learning in typical development, but there is less evidence about this relationship in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), even though attention is reported as atypical in this group.

Aims: To investigate reading and maths achievement profiles for children with and without an ASD, focusing on the role of attention in these profiles and to enable a better understanding of individual differences.

Psychological distress and positive gain in mothers of children with autism, with or without other children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Although a wealth of literature has focused on the parenting experiences of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is a lack of research about mothers who are parenting a child with ASD, and who have other children with neurodevelopmental disorders. In this matched-comparison study, 10 mothers of a child with ASD and other typically developing children (ASD-TD) were compared to 10 mothers of a child with ASD who also had other children with neurodevelopmental disorders (ASD-NDD). Mothers completed self-report measures of mental health and positive gain.

Downstaging with Radioembolization or Chemotherapy for Initially Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the outcomes of patients resected for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) with upfront surgery or after downstaging treatment.

Methods: All consecutive patients with ICC between January 1997 and November 2017 were included in a single-center database and retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: upfront resection or resection after downstaging using either chemotherapy alone or selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) combined with chemotherapy.

Hearing the feeling: Auditory emotion perception in Williams syndrome.

Background: Studies investigating recognition of facial expressions of emotions in Williams syndrome (WS) have reported difficulties in recognising negative expressions of emotion and a reliance on atypically developing underlying processes during task performance.

Aim: The aim of the study was to extend these findings to the recognition of emotions in auditory domains.

Method And Procedures: Children and adolescents with WS, together with chronological (CA) and verbal mental age matched (VMA) typically developing (TD) comparison groups, were asked to judge expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in vocal and musical conditions.

Sensory processing profiles and autistic symptoms as predictive factors in autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome.

Background: Unusual sensory responses were included in the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet they are also common among individuals with other neurodevelopmental disorders, including Williams syndrome (WS). Cross-syndrome comparisons of sensory atypicalities and the evaluation of their syndrome specificity however have rarely been undertaken. We aimed to (1) examine and compare the sensory profiles in ASD and WS groups and (2) investigate whether autistic symptoms, including sensory processing scores, can predict a group membership.

Peer Relationships in Children with Williams Syndrome: Parent and Teacher Insights.

Although children with Williams syndrome (WS) are reported to show a strong motivation towards social interaction, evidence suggests many experience difficulties with peer relations. Less is known regarding the characteristics of such difficulties. Parents and teachers of 21 children with WS (7- to 16 years) completed questionnaires measuring aspects of social functioning and peer interactions.

A cross-syndrome approach to the social phenotype of neurodevelopmental disorders: Focusing on social vulnerability and social interaction style.

Background: Following Annette Karmiloff-Smith's approach to cognitive research, this study applied a cross-syndrome approach to the social phenotype, focusing on social vulnerability (SV) and the factors that contribute to it.

Aims: To (i) identify syndrome-specific differences in SV across four neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) groups, (ii) determine the contribution of intellectual disability (ID), age or gender to SV, and (iii) explore its relationship with social interaction style (SIS).

Methods And Procedures: 262 parents of children: Autism (n = 29), Williams syndrome (n = 29), Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (n = 36), Fragile X syndrome (n = 18), and Neurotypical (n = 150) reported on their child's SV, quality of SIS and other factors (ID, age, gender).

Does culture shape face perception in autism? Cross-cultural evidence of the own-race advantage from the UK and Japan.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with face perception atypicalities, and atypical experience with faces has been proposed as an underlying explanation. Studying the own-race advantage (ORA) for face recognition can reveal the effect of experience on face perception in ASD, although the small number of studies in the area present mixed findings. This study probed the ORA in ASD by comparing two cultural groups simultaneously for the first time.

Siblings of children with Williams syndrome: Correlates of psychosocial adjustment and sibling relationship quality.

Background: Previous research has examined adjustment in parents of children with Williams syndrome (WS), but little is known about sibling outcomes.

Aims: To explore sibling adjustment and relationship quality, and their demographic, psychological and behavioural phenotypic correlates from the perspective of caregivers and siblings in families of children with WS.

Methods And Procedures: Forty-one caregivers of children with WS participated in this questionnaire study on the adjustment and relationship quality of the siblings.

Short report: Relationships between sensory processing, repetitive behaviors, anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty in autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) share psychopathology relating to sensory processing and repetitive behaviors. The relationships between the sensory features and repetitive behaviors in both disorders, and the mechanisms underlying these relationships are not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between sensory processing, repetitive behaviors, anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty in children with ASD and those with WS to better understand the complexity of psychopathology in these disorders.

Implications of capacity in the classroom: Simplifying tasks for autistic children may not be the answer.

Background: Research has demonstrated evidence for increased perceptual capacity in autism: autistic people can process more information at any given time than neurotypical individuals. The implications of this for educating autistic pupils have not been investigated. For example, this ability to process more information at any given time may explain why autistic children sometimes process more peripheral task-irrelevant information than neurotypical individuals (e.

University Students with Autism: The Social and Academic Experiences of University in the UK.

The number of university students with autism is increasing, and it is crucial that these students can access adequate support. An online questionnaire was completed by 26 autistic students and 158 non-autistic students enrolled at UK universities to investigate social and academic experiences. Autistic students self-reported significant challenges and more mental health difficulties than non-autistic students.

Anxiety in Williams Syndrome: The Role of Social Behaviour, Executive Functions and Change Over Time.

Anxiety is a prevalent mental health issue for individuals with Williams syndrome (WS). Relatively little is known about the developmental course of anxiety, or how it links with core features of WS, namely social and executive functioning (EF). In this study, parent-reports of anxiety were compared across a 4-year period (N = 17), and links between anxiety, social and EF were explored from concurrent parent-reports (N = 26).