Little is known about peer attitudes toward college students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes toward vignette characters displaying behaviors characteristic of ASD were examined among 224 four-year university students who were randomly assigned to one of three labeling conditions for the primary vignette characters: high functioning autism (HFA), typical college student, or no label. Students in the HFA label condition reported more positive behavioral and cognitive attitudes toward the vignette characters than students in the no label condition. Male students and students with lower scores on the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire reported more positive attitudes across study conditions. These experimental results suggest that knowledge of a diagnosis might improve attitudes toward college students with ASD.

Research indicates a substantial amount of time between parents’ first concerns about their child’s development and a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Telehealth presents an opportunity to expedite the diagnostic process. This project compared a novel telehealth diagnostic approach that utilizes clinically-guided in-home video recordings to the gold standard in-person diagnostic assessment. Participants included 40 families seeking an ASD evaluation for their child and 11 families of typically developing children. Children were between the ages of 18 months and 6 years, 11 months; mean adaptive behavior composite = 75.47 (SD = 15.94). All parent participants spoke English fluently. Families completed the Naturalistic Observation Diagnostic Assessment (NODA) for ASD, which was compared to an in-person assessment (IPA). Agreement between the two methods, as well as sensitivity, specificity, and interrater reliability were calculated for the full sample and the subsample of families seeking an ASD evaluation. Diagnostic agreement between NODA and the IPA in the full sample was 88.2% (kappa = 0.75), and 85% (kappa = 0.58) in the subsample. Sensitivity was 84.9% in both, while specificity was 94.4% in the full sample and 85.7% in the subsample. Kappa coefficients for interrater reliability indicated 85 to 90% accuracy between raters. NODA utilizes telehealth technology for families to share information with professionals, and provides a method to inform clinical judgment for a diagnosis of ASD. Due to the high level of agreement with the IPA in this sample, NODA has potential to improve the efficiency of the diagnostic process for ASD.

This study compared immediate and 4-month outcomes among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder randomly assigned to the PEERS curriculum (n = 10), a peer mediated PEERS curriculum (n = 12), or a delayed treatment control group (n = 12). Findings suggest a modest advantage in social skills knowledge and social functioning for participants in the peer-mediated PEERS curriculum relative to Traditional PEERS, and gains in social skills knowledge, social functioning, and reductions in loneliness were maintained in one or both treatment groups at a 4-month follow-up. Typically developing peer mentors (n = 16) showed improvements in social skills knowledge and marginal improvements in autism knowledge and loneliness. Future research with a larger sample and objective outcome measures is needed.

There is a dearth of research regarding adaptive functioning during the transition to adulthood in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Profiles on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition were examined by age and intellectual ability in 75 participants with ASD (16-58 years). Results extend previous reports of a cognitive advantage over adaptive functioning in children by demonstrating a similar pattern in an older sample. Daily living skills were a relative strength compared to communication and socialization in adults, but not adolescents. In general, highest subdomain scores were observed in writing skills and lowest scores were observed in interpersonal skills. Regardless of cognitive ability, all standard scores were well below average, indicating a need for lifelong intervention that targets adaptive functioning.