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Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, the importance of telehealth has rapidly increased, in particular as many in‐person clinics have closed. Early intervention is crucial for improving outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As such, the need for timely assessments and diagnoses remains despite COVID‐19‐related closures. This study offers preliminary data collected from 23 children assessed through a no‐cost autism clinic in Southern California using a novel telehealth model. This includes an overview of an adapted, telehealth version of in‐person observational assessment techniques for diagnosing autism. In addition, preliminary data on social validity assessed at two points are presented. Findings suggest that caregivers found the telehealth assessment procedures acceptable and convenient, and overall were satisfied with both the assessment and the written report/verbal feedback. Implications for future uses of telehealth are discussed, including how telehealth can assist with decision‐making around school‐based services and/or placement. KEY POINTS: Validation of telehealth assessments for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is important to increase accessibility and timely diagnosis for families.Preliminary data on social validity suggests that caregivers found telehealth procedures to be helpful, convenient, and useful.A majority of caregivers planned to share the clinical report with their teacher or school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Social Motivation Hypothesis proposes that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience social interactions as less rewarding than their neurotypical (TD) peers, which may lead to reduced social initiation. Existing studies of the brain's reward system in individuals with ASD report varied findings for anticipation of and response to social rewards. Given discrepant findings, the anticipation of and response to social rewards should be further evaluated, particularly in the context of intervention outcome. We hypothesized that individual characteristics may help predict neural changes from pre- to post-intervention. Methods: Thirteen adolescents with ASD received the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) intervention for 16 weeks; reward-related EEG was collected before and after intervention. Fourteen TD adolescents were tested at two timepoints but did not receive intervention. Event-related potentials were calculated to measure anticipation of (stimulus-preceding negativity; SPN) and response to (reward-related positivity; RewP) social and non-social rewards. Additionally, measures of social responsiveness, social skills, and intervention-engagement were collected. Group differences were analyzed as well as individual differences using prediction models. Result: Parent-reported social responsiveness and social skills improved in adolescents with ASD after participation in PEERS. ASD adolescents displayed marginally decreased anticipation of social rewards at post-intervention compared to pre-intervention. Regression models demonstrated that older adolescents and those with lower parent-reported social motivation prior to participation in PEERS displayed marginally increased social reward anticipation (more robust SPN) from pre- to post-intervention. Participants who displayed more parent-reported social motivation before intervention and were more actively engaged in the PEERS intervention evidenced increased social reward processing (more robust RewP) from pre- to post-intervention. Conclusion: Findings suggest that there may be differences in saliency between wanting/anticipating social rewards vs. liking/responding to social rewards in individuals with ASD. Our findings support the hypothesis that identification of individual differences may predict which adolescents are poised to benefit the most from particular interventions. As such, reported findings set the stage for the advancement of "precision medicine." This investigation is a critical step forward in our ability to understand and predict individual response to interventions in individuals with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience substantial difficulties with socialization and independence, and college campuses often lack appropriate support services in these areas. Residential advisors (RAs), who are trained to support all students living on campus, could be uniquely prepared to positively contribute to the college experience for students with ASD. The aim of this work was to provide a workshop to RAs at a four-year university and to explore their level of knowledge, awareness, and preparedness in supporting students with ASD who live on campus. While over a third of RAs suspected that they had a student with ASD in their residence hall, many RAs expressed not knowing about ASD or understanding the role of student disability services on campus. Most respondents felt that they had a responsibility to support these students and agreed that training in ASD would be useful, suggesting that more extensive training is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Teenage youth with co-morbid intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could be at higher risk for behavioral and social difficulties than youth with ID only. Methods: Youth aged 13 years were diagnosed with ID (n = 37), ID/ASD (n = 26), or typical development (TD, n = 98). Mothers and teachers completed measures of youth behavior problems, mental health, social skills, friendships, and their own well-being. Results: ID/ASD youth were at heightened risk across almost all measures when compared with TD youth. On 14 of the 38 domains assessed, ID/ASD youth had significantly more difficulties than youth with ID only. Most notably, they scored higher on internalizing problems and lower on friendships and peer acceptance. Their mothers reported lower well-being for themselves. Conclusion: Compared to families of youth with ID only, youth with combined ID/ASD experienced greater psychological and social difficulties and their mothers experienced lower-well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the association between exposure to environmental risks in early childhood and the prevalence and persistence of conduct difficulties (CD) in children with intellectual disability (ID) who did not have autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children. Results indicated that: (1) exposure to risk was associated with elevated prevalence of CD at age three and, for TD children and children with ID, increased risk of CD persisting to ages five and seven; (2) at all levels of risk, children with ASD were more likely to show persistent CD than other children; (3) children with ID were no more likely to show persistent CD than TD children at low levels of exposure to environmental risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the extent to which child syndromes and observation context related to mothers' parenting behaviors. Longitudinal observations were conducted of parenting behavior across ages 3, 4, and 5 years during structured and unstructured activities. The 183 participants included mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, undifferentiated developmental delay, or typical cognitive development. Negative parenting behaviors were higher in structured activities and higher in mothers of children in all developmentally delayed groups. Positive parenting was higher in unstructured activities and especially high for mothers of children with Down syndrome. Despite differences found through direct observation of parenting children in different diagnostic groups, they are not as strong as syndrome-group differences found through more commonly used self-report questionnaires assessing domains like parenting stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]