Guided by a recent theory that proposes fundamental differences in how autistic individuals deal with uncertainty, we investigated the extent to which the cognitive construct ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ and anxiety were related to parental reports of sensory sensitivities in 64 autistic and 85 typically developing children aged 6–14 years. Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety explained approximately half the variance in autistic children’s sensory sensitivities, but only around a fifth of the variance in typical children’s sensory sensitivities. In children with autism only, intolerance of uncertainty remained a significant predictor of children’s sensory sensitivities once the effects of anxiety were adjusted for. Our results suggest intolerance of uncertainty is a relevant construct to sensory sensitivities in children with and without autism.

Social Skills Group Training ("KONTAKT") for Children and Adolescent With High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT01854346.

Social skills group training (SSGT) is widely used for intellectually able children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies indicate small to moderate effects on social communication capacities. The duration of most available programs is relatively short, and extended training might lead to further improvement. This randomized controlled trial compared an extended 24-week version of the SSGT program KONTAKT with standard care. The weekly sessions gradually shifted in content from acquisition of new skills to real-world application of the acquired skills. A total of 50 participants with ASD (15 females; 35 males) aged 8-17 years were included. The study was conducted at two child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient units in Sweden. The primary outcome was the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition (SRS-2) rated by parents and blinded teachers. Secondary outcomes included parent- and teacher-rated adaptive behaviors, trainer-rated global functioning and clinical severity, and self-reported child and caregiver stress. Assessments were made at baseline, posttreatment, and at 3-months follow-up. Parent-rated SRS-2 scores indicated large effects posttreatment [- 19.2; 95% CI - 29.9 to - 8.5; p < .001, effect size (ES) = 0.76], which were maintained at follow-up (- 20.7; 95% CI - 31.7 to - 9.7; p < .0001, ES = 0.82). These estimates indicate substantially larger improvement than previously reported for shorter SSGT. However, the effects on teacher-rated SRS-2 and most secondary outcomes did not reach statistical significance. Our results suggest added benefits of extended SSGT training, implying that service providers might reach better results by optimizing the delivery of SSGT.