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The current study examined whether both parents and therapists perceived changes in adaptive social behaviors in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) following a summer treatment camp. Participants included 12 children (11 male, 1 female; 83% Caucasian; aged 3-7 years) diagnosed with an ASD who attended a 4-week summer camp designed to promote social skills building and peer interaction in the context of sensory-motor and language-based play. Analyses of data collected using a measure developed for the current study (the Adaptive Social Skills Measure; ASSM) to examine children's improvements in the context of peer interactions revealed that both parents and therapists reported positive changes from pre-to post-treatment based on the total scale. Findings from pre-to post-treatment revealed that therapists perceived significant improvement in children for all four subscales (verbal communication, social interaction, attention to task, and transitions), and parents perceived significant improvement in children's verbal communication and social interaction skills. Finally, the overall ratings from pre-to post-treatment did not differ between therapist and parent ratings, suggesting that the improvements perceived at camp were perceived concurrently in the home environment. Overall, the current study provides preliminary evidence of the positive role that summer treatment camps may play in building social skills for children with ASDs.

Variability within the literature investigating typically-developing siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder suggests that the quality of sibling outcomes may depend on specific factors. For this study, 42 parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder and a typically- developing sibling provided data via online questionnaires. Birth order rank of the child with an autism spectrum disorder significantly moderated the relation between externalizing behaviors in children with an autism spectrum disorder and externalizing behaviors in their typically-developing siblings. Children with an autism spectrum disorder and higher levels of behavior problems had typically-developing siblings with higher levels of behavior problems only when the child with an autism spectrum disorder was older. These results provide a hint of clarification about the complex nature of sibling relations, but a great deal more research is needed to further examine outcomes of typically-developing siblings of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

The current study explored the longitudinal relation between parental expressed emotion, a well-established predictor of symptom relapse in various other disorders (e.g., schizophrenia) with externalizing behaviors in 84 children, ages 8-18 (at Time 2), with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was found that parental expressed emotion, specifically criticism/hostility at Time 1, significantly related to a change in externalizing behaviors from Time 1 to Time 2, even after controlling for Time 1 family income, ASD symptom severity, parental distress, and parenting practices. That is, higher levels of parental criticism/hostility at Time 1 predicted higher levels of child externalizing behaviors at Time 2. However, the reverse was not found. This finding of a unidirectional relation has important clinical implications.