F R Volkmar

..The convergence of diagnostic approach in DSM-IV and ICD-10 provided a shared system that fostered a tremendous body of research. The changes proposed in DSM-5 may impact both research comparability and service eligibility...

..Future research should build on the emerging synergy of different aspects of social neuroscience...

..The use of dimensional assessments has some advantages as do the insights from prospective studies. At this point it will be important to study not only causative factors but developmental processes disrupted in these disorders...

..We provide a summary of issues relevant to healthcare and health delivery in autism and related disorders, with a focus on work published in the past 5 years...

..New approaches to screening have lowered the age of initial diagnosis; this presents new challenges for early intervention. Directions for future research are highlighted...

..Significant challenges lie ahead in evaluating the growing number of treatments for autism and in integrating the results of research into treatment and educational settings...

..Early intervention with various techniques is helpful in many cases. Some pharmacological agents may help with certain problematic behaviours but do not address the underlying cause of the disorder...

..g., in social relatedness and communication) appear less responsive to medications. The development of new approaches to assessment, including integration of behavioral and pharmacological approaches, is an important research priority...

..Contrary to our expectation, children with PDDNOS did not show face recognition deficits...

..e., words over faces). Thus, children with AS may be utilizing compensatory strategies, such as verbal mediation, to process facial expressions of emotion...

..Positive relationships were found between IQ and Vineland Communication. Results stress the need for longitudinal studies on ability and disability in ASD and emphasize the importance of adaptive skills intervention...

..62 and 0.68); and in fair agreement on 3% (82 - 84%, with K(w) between .40 and .47). For the remaining 10% of ADI-R items, examiners showed poor agreement (50-81% with K(w )between -.67 and .37)...

..Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders of complex etiology, with a recognized substantial contribution of heterogeneous genetic factors; one of the core features of ASD is a lack of affiliative behaviors...

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..The implications of these findings for understanding prosodic deficits is speakers with autism spectrum disorders, and for future research in this area, are discussed...

..Recommendations for practice and areas of future research are provided...

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..These objectives are accomplished by applying criteria for estimating clinical significance, and related concepts, to a number of areas of autism research...

..Both processing style and organization (whether pieces of information were perceived as connected to one another in a meaningful way) contributed to structural recall in the ASD group...

..This would be evidenced by abnormalities in the major fibre tracts known to connect these structures, including the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus...

..Microscopic examination of placental tissue may provide a route to assessing risk and understanding underlying biology of autism...

..Using DTI to assess white matter abnormalities, this study implemented a voxelwise analysis and tract-labeling strategy to test for a structural neural phenotype in autism...

..However, because of changes in the design of the Leiter-R, there may be greater clinical success with the original Leiter for those children who are very low functioning and severely affected, particularly younger children...

..To explore the frequency, characteristics, and associated target symptoms of psychotropic drug use among subjects with higher-functioning pervasive developmental disorders (HFPDDs)...

..These results have important implications for our understanding of autism, cortical face specialization, and the possible role of the amygdala in the development of perceptual expertise...

..CONCLUSION: The increase in thalamic volume with increase in TBV was not seen in autism, suggesting underdeveloped connections between cortical and subcortical regions and indicating a need to examine this structure further...

..There was no evidence that onset of autistic symptoms or of regression was related to measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. The implications of these findings for the existence of a 'regressive phenotype' of ASD are discussed...

..Findings highlight the emphasis placed on certain child characteristics (e.g., cognitive ability), with far less emphasis on other areas (e.g., degree of social deficit), in educational placement and service provision...

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..Finally, we discuss the prognosis for individuals with autism, indicating the challenges faced by patients, families, and professionals aiming to optimize their outcome...

..89; 95% CI: 1.17, 3.10). The only specific autoimmune disorder found to be associated with regression was autoimmune thyroid disease (adjusted OR=2.09; 95% CI: 1.28, 3.41)...

..A significant minority of children with autism without word loss showed a very similar pattern of loss of social-communication skills, a pattern not observed in the children with developmental delays or typical development...

..This program project builds on the network of existing collaborations and makes use of important resources at each site. ..

..This work brings together, behavioral, biomedical, and clinical science investigators into a transdisciplinary program of research on autism. ..

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