Background The cries of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) contain atypical acoustic features. The cries of typically developing infants elicit automatic adult responses, but little is known about how the atypical cries of children with ASD affect the speed with which adults process them. Method We used a reaction time (RT) categorical task to analyze adults’ categorization of typically developing cries, atypical (ASD) cries, mammalian animal cries, and environmental noise control sounds. 40 nonparent women (M age = 27 years) were instructed to categorize acoustic stimuli as human infant cries or non-human sounds as quickly as possible. Results The RTs for correctly categorizing the cries of children with ASD (M = 831ms, SEM = 27) were slower than RTs for typically developing child cries (M = 680ms, SEM = 6) as well as mammalian animal cries (801ms, SEM = 11) and environmental noise control sounds (M = 692ms, SEM = 10). Conclusions This difference may reflect difficulties in adults’ perceiving and processing atypical cries of children with ASD, and the findings may have implications for the parent-child relationship and for the quality of care children with ASD receive.

Retrospective parental reports are common in the developmental science literature, but their validity has been questioned. We investigated the consistency of retrospective maternal recall by comparing original with retrospective maternal reports in three domains (maternal cognitions, mother-reported child and mother behaviors, and observed child and mother behaviors) at three retention intervals (12, 14, and 15 years) in two metrics (individual standing and group level). In a longitudinal study, European American mothers (N=46) provided data when their children were 5, 20, and 48 months of age and retrospective recall data for each age when their children were 16 years. Overall, mothers recalled similar average mean levels (49% of variables explored) or better mean levels (41% of variables) retrospectively; better levels indicating a positive recollection bias. At least moderate consistency in relative standing was evident for 52% of variables. Still, the findings varied somewhat by domain, child age, and person. Retrospective parental reports can provide accurate accounts of the past, but should be used with caution, as their consistency varies and is specific to moderating factors.