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Social engagement by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in unstructured school settings generally occurs at very low levels, if at all. Although many interventions improve peer socialization, generalization and maintenance of such gains when interventions are faded is typically low. The present study employed a multiple baseline design across participants to target generalization in the absence of interventionists in elementary school children with ASD at recess. Teaching initiations has been suggested as one method to increase generalization. The results of the present study showed that when initiations were targeted during intervention for social play, the participants demonstrated generalized peer social engagement, increases in unprompted peer-directed initiations, and more positive affect during peer interactions. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and applied implications of incorporating initiations training into social interventions.

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are psychiatrically hospitalized at high rates. Though specialized psychiatric units are effective, few specialized units exist. The ASD Care Pathway (ASD-CP) was developed as a scalable approach to improving care in general psychiatric units through staff training and a package of autism-specific intervention strategies. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the ASD-CP in a public hospital child psychiatric service compared 18 months (n = 17) versus 18 months (n = 20) post implementation. Average length of hospital stay decreased 40% (22.4-13.4 days) and use of crisis interventions decreased 77% (holds/restraints; 0.65/day to 0.15/day), though each result only approached statistical significance (p = 0.07; 0.057). This study provides preliminary evidence for improved outcomes after implementation of an ASD-CP.

Cognitive assessments are used for a variety of research and clinical purposes in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study establishes concurrent validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children–fourth edition (WISC-IV) and Differential Ability Scales–second edition (DAS-II) in a sample of children with ASD with a broad range of cognitive abilities. Participants achieved significantly higher overall scores on the DAS-II and nearly half the sample achieved a higher classification label on the DAS-II. The difference between overall scores is suggested to be attributable to a relative weakness in processing speed, which is assessed on the WISC-IV but not the DAS-II. Autistic symptomatology was not associated with cognitive scores, while adaptive behavior was positively associated. Neither was associated with the magnitude of difference between overall scores. Choice of assessment should be considered carefully given the systematic differences in overall scores produced in this population.

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