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Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have co‐occurring symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or anxiety. It is unclear whether these disorders arise from shared or distinct developmental pathways. We explored this question by testing the specificity of early‐life (infant and toddler) predictors of mid‐childhood ADHD and anxiety symptoms compared to ASD symptoms. Methods: Infants (n = 104) at high and low familial risk for ASD took part in research assessments at 7, 14, 24 and 38 months, and 7 years of age. Symptoms of ASD, ADHD and anxiety were measured by parent report at age 7. Activity levels and inhibitory control, also measured by parent report, in infancy and toddlerhood were used as early‐life predictors of ADHD symptoms. Fearfulness and shyness measured in infancy and toddlerhood were used as early‐life predictors of anxiety symptoms. Correlations and path analysis models tested associations between early‐life predictors and mid‐childhood ADHD and anxiety symptoms compared to mid‐childhood ASD symptoms, and the influence of controlling for ASD symptoms on those associations. Results: Increased activity levels and poor inhibitory control were correlated with ADHD symptoms and not ASD or anxiety; these associations were unchanged in path models controlling for risk‐group and ASD symptoms. Increased fearfulness and shyness were correlated with anxiety symptoms, but also ASD symptoms. When controlling for risk‐group in path analysis, the association between shyness and anxiety became nonsignificant, and when further controlling for ASD symptoms the association between fearfulness and anxiety became marginal. Conclusions: The specificity of early‐life predictors to ADHD symptoms suggests early developmental pathways to ADHD might be distinct from ASD. The overlap in early‐life predictors of anxiety and ASD suggests that these disorders are difficult to differentiate early in life, which could reflect the presence of common developmental pathways or convergence in early behavioural manifestations of these disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aim: To assess the frequency, pervasiveness, associated features, and persistence of emotional and behavioural problems in a community sample of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Method: Parents (n=277) and teachers (n=228) of 4- to 8-year-olds completed the Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC). Intellectual ability and autism symptomatology were also assessed. A subsample repeated the DBC.Results: Three-quarters of the cohort scored above the clinical cut-off on the Developmental Behaviour Checklist Primary Carer Version (DBC-P) questionnaire; almost two-thirds of these scored above cut-off on the Developmental Behaviour Checklist Teacher Version (DBC-T) questionnaire. In 81%, problems persisted above threshold 14 months later. Higher DBC-P scores were associated with greater autism symptomatology, higher deprivation index, parental unemployment, and more children in the home but not with parental education or ethnicity, or child's age or sex. Children with IQ>70 scored higher for disruptive behaviour, depression, and anxiety symptoms; those with IQ<70 scored higher for self-absorption and hyperactivity.Interpretation: The DBC identifies a range of additional behaviour problems that are common in ASD and which could be the focus for specific intervention. The results highlight the potential benefit of systematic screening for co-existing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spoken word recognition, during gating, appears intact in specific language impairment (SLI). This study used gating to investigate the process in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders plus language impairment (ALI). Adolescents with ALI, SLI, and typical language development (TLD), matched on nonverbal IQ listened to gated words that varied in frequency (low/high) and number of phonological onset neighbors (low/high density). Adolescents with ALI required more speech input to initially identify low-frequency words with low competitor density than those with SLI and those with TLD, who did not differ. These differences may be due to less well specified word form representations in ALI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response by Tony Charman and colleagues to a letter to the editor about their article "Validation of the Social Communication Questionnaire in a Population Cohort of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders," published in a previous issue of this periodical is presented.

Many autistic young people exhibit co-occurring behavior difficulties, characterized by conduct problems and oppositional behavior. However, the causes of these co-occurring difficulties are not well understood. Impairments in theory of mind (ToM) are often reported in autistic individuals and have been linked to conduct problems in nonautistic individuals. Whether an association between ToM ability and conduct problems exists in autistic populations, whether this association is similar between individuals who are autistic versus nonautistic, and whether these associations are specific to conduct problems (as opposed to other domains of psychopathology) remains unclear. ToM ability was assessed using the Frith-Happé Triangles task in a pooled sample of autistic (N = 128; mean age 14.78 years) and nonautistic youth (N = 50; mean age 15.48 years), along with parent-rated psychiatric symptoms of conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention and emotional problems. Analyses tested ToM ability between autistic versus nonautistic participants, and compared associations between ToM performance and conduct problems between the two groups. Where no significant group differences in associations were found, the pooled association between ToM and conduct problems was estimated in the combined sample. Results showed no evidence of moderation in associations by diagnostic status, and an association between poorer ToM ability and higher levels of conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention and emotional problems across the total sample. However, these associations became nonsignificant when adjusting for verbal IQ. Results provide support for theoretical models of co-occurring psychopathology in autistic populations, and suggest targets for intervention for conduct problems in autistic youth. LAY SUMMARY: Many young people with autism spectrum disorder show co-occurring behavior problems, but the causes of these are not well understood. This paper found an association between difficulties recognizing what others think and intend (so-called "theory of mind") in a simple animated task, and emotional and behavioral problems in autistic and nonautistic young people. However, a substantial part of this association was explained by individual differences in verbal ability. These findings may have implications for intervention efforts to improve young people's mental health., (© 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)