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Background: Autistic individuals encounter numerous barriers in accessing healthcare, including communication difficulties, sensory sensitivities, and a lack of appropriate adjustments. These issues are particularly acute during MRI scans, which involve confined spaces, loud noises, and the necessity to remain still. There remains no unified approach to preparing autistic individuals for MRI procedures., Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with parents and carers of autistic individuals in the UK to explore their experiences, barriers, and recommendations concerning MRI scans. The survey collected demographic information and experiential accounts of previous MRI procedures. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, while key themes were identified within the qualitative data through inductive thematic analysis., Results: Sixteen parents/carers participated. The majority reported difficulties with communication, inadequate pre-scan preparation, and insufficient adjustments during MRI scans for their autistic children. Key barriers included an overwhelming sensory environment, radiographers' limited understanding of autism, and anxiety stemming from uncertainties about the procedure. Recommended improvements encompassed accessible communication, pre-visit familiarisation, noise-reduction and sensory adaptations, staff training on autism, and greater flexibility to meet individual needs., Conclusions: There is an urgent need to enhance MRI experiences for autistic individuals. This can be achieved through improved staff knowledge, effective communication strategies, thorough pre-scan preparation, and tailored reasonable adjustments. Co-producing clear MRI guidelines with the autism community could standardise sensitive practices. An individualised approach is crucial for reducing anxiety and facilitating participation. Empowering radiographers through autism-specific education and incorporating insights from autistic individuals and their families could transform MRI experiences and outcomes., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Previous research has indicated that autistic adults experience higher rates of co-occurring mental health difficulties and poorer quality of life (QoL) than their non-autistic peers. Little is known, however, about these aspects in older age or whether younger and older autistic adults experience similar patterns This cross-sectional study investigated potential age-related effects on autism symptoms, self-reported mental health, and QoL in younger and older autistic adults (n = 79, aged 19-71 years) compared to a non-autistic control group (n = 57) matched for gender, age and IQ. Results showed that autistic adults had higher levels of self-reported autism symptoms and poorer QoL than controls. There were no significant age effects on autism symptoms or on most self-rated mental health symptoms. However, significantly more autistic adults in the younger versus older group scored above the clinical threshold for anxiety, somatoform disorders and eating disorders. Older autistic adults rated social QoL as significantly better than younger autistic adults; there was no significant age difference in the control group. Self-reported QoL was best predicted by self-ratings of severity of depressive symptoms in both groups. Further research is needed to track autism and co-occurring mental health symptomatology across the lifespan, so that service provision can be tailored accordingly. LAY SUMMARY: Young autistic adults have reported more psychological difficulties and poorer quality of life (QoL) than the general population. We investigated whether these difficulties continue into older age. Autism symptoms and mental health problems were common in autistic adults, with no difference between age groups, except for anxiety, physical and eating problems. Although QoL was poorer in both younger and older autistic compared to non-autistic adults, older autistic adults reported better social QoL than those who were younger., (© 2022 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Previous studies have indicated that a pictorial representation of a prior belief can help 3-year-old children (Mitchell & Lacohee, 1991) as well as children with autism (Charman & Lynggaard, 1998) to pass false belief tasks that used the deceptive box or "Smarties" paradigm. The studies reported here attempted to replicate these findings using the unexpected transfer or "Sally-Anne" paradigm, which requires children to predict the actions of a protagonist on the basis of a false belief. Results showed no facilitative effect on "Sally-Anne" task performance for the children with autism or for comparison children of either representational or nonrepresentational cues. This effect was found even in children who benefited from the intervention with the deceptive box paradigm. The findings raise issues regarding the way false belief tasks are conceptualized by experimenters and the demands different false belief paradigms make on children.

Nine people from the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum and eight non-handicapped controls matched on verbal IQ were given two tests of second-order false belief understanding. On the basis of previous research, it was hypothesised that the subjects with autism used different mechanisms to process mental state and non-mental state questions and that this difference would be reflected in a significant group by question type interaction in the reaction times to the two types of question. Although the results showed that the autistic subjects had longer reaction times to questions than controls, there was no evidence for differential reaction times for mental state and non mental state questions for either group.

Two experiments are described in which the memory of adults with Asperger's syndrome is compared with that of verbal IQ controls. The results of the first experiment showed that the Asperger subjects resembled autistic adults and children in their failure to use category information to aid their free recall. In the second experiment, both groups of subjects showed similar priming effects in an implicit stem completion task and similar performance on an explicit cued recall task. Moreover, both groups also showed more priming for items that they had read at study and better recall for items that they had to generate at study, suggesting that the cued recall of the Asperger subjects did not result from contamination by automatic or involuntary processes.

Asch's line judgement task was used to compare the susceptibility to social influence of adults with Asperger's syndrome with that of two groups of controls one of which was matched on verbal IQ. There was no overall difference between the three groups' mean rate of conformity but in contrast to both groups of controls, the subjects with Asperger's syndrome were significantly more likely to adopt a consistently conforming or nonconforming strategy. There were also significant differences between the groups in their interaction with the other participants. The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of current theories of autistic social dysfunction.

Two studies are reported in which the ability of people with Asperger's syndrome to understand problems of the type "Peter thinks that Jane thinks that ..." tested. The results showed that in contrast to younger or more handicapped autistic individuals, Asperger subjects were able to solve problems of the type just outlined, i.e. that they possessed a second-order theory of mind. When asked to explain their solutions however, they typically did not use mental state terms but did not differ in this respect either from non-handicapped or socially impaired, chronic schizophrenic controls. The implications of the results for current cognitive theories of autistic impairment are discussed.

The literature on children with language disorders that are characterized by semantic and pragmatic impairments is reviewed and the conclusion is drawn that some of these conditions may stem from the same fundamental cognitive and interpersonal difficulties that are found in early childhood autism. A summary is presented of recent relevant research and theory in the field of autism and suggestions are offered on how these ideas might be applied to children showing semantic and pragmatic difficulties.