Objective: To examine the impact of COVID-19 restrictions among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: Parents of 213 Australian children (5–17 years) with ADHD completed a survey in May 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place (i.e., requiring citizens to stay at home except for essential reasons). Results: Compared to pre-pandemic, children had less exercise (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.4; 95% CI 0.3–0.6), less outdoor time (OR = 0.4; 95% 0.3–0.6), and less enjoyment in activities (OR = 6.5; 95% CI 4.0–10.4), while television (OR = 4.0; 95% CI 2.5–6.5), social media (OR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.3–4.5), gaming (OR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.3–3.0), sad/depressed mood (OR = 1.8; 95% CI 1.2–2.8), and loneliness (OR = 3.6; 95% CI 2.3–5.5) were increased. Child stress about COVID-19 restrictions was associated with poorer functioning across most domains. Most parents (64%) reported positive changes for their child including more family time. Conclusions: COVID-19 restrictions were associated with both negative and positive impacts among children with ADHD.

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Over the past two decades, there have been increasing discussions around which terms should be used to talk about autism. Whilst these discussions have largely revolved around the suitability of identity‐first language and person‐first language, more recently this debate has broadened to encompass other autism‐related terminology (e.g., ‘high‐functioning’). To date, academic studies have not investigated the language preferences of autistic individuals outside of the United Kingdom or Australia, nor have they compared levels of endorsement across countries. Hence, the current study adopted a mixed‐methods approach, employing both quantitative and qualitative techniques, to explore the linguistic preferences of 654 English‐speaking autistic adults across the globe. Despite variation in levels of endorsement between countries, we found that the most popular terms were similar—the terms ‘Autism’, ‘Autistic person’, ‘Is autistic’, ‘Neurological/Brain Difference’, ‘Differences’, ‘Challenges’, ‘Difficulties’, ‘Neurotypical people’, and ‘Neurotypicals’ were consistently favored across countries. Despite relative consensus across groups, both our quantitative and qualitative data demonstrate that there is no universally accepted way to talk about autism. Our thematic analysis revealed the reasons underlying participants’ preferences, generating six core themes, and illuminated an important guiding principle—to respect personal preferences. These findings have significant implications for informing practice, research and language policy worldwide.

Background Biomarker and neuroimaging findings implicate the serotonin (5-HT) system in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recent findings in mice indicate that the maternal 5-HT system influences embryonic neurodevelopment. Methods Whole blood serotonin (WB5-HT) levels were obtained from 181 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, 99 of their fathers and 119 of their mothers. Standardized assessments were used to evaluate cognitive, behavioral, and language phenotypes. Results Linear regression demonstrated a significant positive relationship between maternal WB5-HT and nonverbal IQ (F1,115 = 3.977, p = .049), and a significant negative relationship with ADI-R Domain B- Nonverbal Communication Algorithm scores, (F1,117 = 7.762, p = .006), indicating that higher maternal WB5-HT levels tended to be associated with less deficit in these domains. After correcting for proband age, there was also a significant relationship between maternal WB5-HT and overall adaptive function on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II (F2,112 = 6.536, p = .002). Latent class analysis identified a three-class structure in the assessment data, describing children with low, intermediate, and high severity across measures of behavior, cognition, and adaptive function. Mean maternal WB5-HT differed across classes with the lowest maternal WB5-HT levels seen in the highest severity group, (Welch’s F(2, 46.048) = 17.394, p < .00001). Conclusion These findings suggest that the maternal serotonin system may affect neurodevelopment in humans, as it does in mice. Further studies in animal models may be able to reveal the mechanisms underlying these findings.