Strategies for Research, Practice, and Policy for Autism in Later Life: A Report from a Think Tank on Aging and Autism

Edelson, Stephen M.; Nicholas, David; Stoddart, Kevin P.; Bauman, Margaret B.; Mawlam, Laurie; Lawson, Wenn; Jose, Caroline; Morris, Rae; Wright, Scott D.

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04514-3

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In the past decade, a growing body of literature investigated the cognitive performances of (older) adults with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) (Edelson et al, 2021;Wise, 2020). As children, adolescents, and young adults with ASC have a different developmental trajectory on some cognitive domains (e.g., Hill, 2004), a first thought on cognitive aging in ASC might be one of concern.…”

Section: Lay Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Torenvliet¹,

Groenman²,

Radhoe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Findings on age-related effects on cognition in autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in adulthood are ambiguous across studies. As these studies substantially differ in their methodology, replication studies are needed. In this replication study we used frequentist and Bayesian analyses to investigate the hypothesis that in autistic adults compared to non-autistic adults we see mostly parallel, but also protective age-related cognitive effects. Participants were 88 autistic adults, and 88 non-autistic matched comparisons (age range: 30-89 years). Cognitive measures were administered on the following six domains: verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, Theory of Mind (ToM), verbal fluency, and processing speed, and self-reported cognitive failures. We observed that non-autistic adults outperformed autistic adults on ToM, verbal fluency, and verbal memory, but only the first two were confirmed with Bayesian replication analyses. Also, more cognitive failures were reported by autistic adults. No interactions between group and age were observed, suggesting a parallel age-related effect on all cognitive domains. In sum, we replicated earlier observed difficulties in ToM and verbal fluency which seem to persist at older age. Also, we replicate the previously reported parallel age-related cognitive patterns, but found no evidence for protective age-related patterns.

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Section: Lay Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Torenvliet¹,

Groenman²,

Radhoe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the past decade, a growing body of literature investigated the cognitive performances of (older) adults with autism (Edelson et al, 2021;Wise, 2020). As children, adolescents, and young adults with autism have a different developmental trajectory on some cognitive domains (e.g., Hill, 2004), accelerated cognitive aging in autistic adults as compared to non-autistic adults could be a concern (Bowler, 2007;Geurts & Vissers, 2012), especially given the higher prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders in autistic adults (Croen et al, 2015;Geurts, McQuaid, et al, 2020a), and the first hints that the autistic brain might indeed decline faster (Koolschijn et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel age‐related cognitive effects in autism: A cross‐sectional replication study

et al. 2021

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Findings on age-related cognitive effects in autism in adulthood are inconsistent across studies. As these studies substantially differ in their methodology, replication studies are needed. In this replication study frequentist (i.e., nullhypothesis significance testing), and Bayesian statistics were used to investigate the hypothesis that in autistic adults compared to non-autistic adults mostly parallel, but also protective age-related cognitive effects can be observed. Participants were 88 autistic adults, and 88 non-autistic matched comparisons (age range: 30-89 years, mean age: 55 years). Cognitive measures were administered on the following six domains: verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, Theory of Mind (ToM), verbal fluency, and processing speed, and self-reported cognitive failures. Non-autistic adults outperformed autistic adults on ToM, verbal fluency, and verbal memory, but only the first two were confirmed with Bayesian replication analyses. Also, more cognitive failures were reported by autistic adults. No interactions between group and age were observed, suggesting a parallel age-related effect on all cognitive domains. In sum, previously observed difficulties in ToM and verbal fluency were replicated which seem to persist at older age. Previously reported parallel age-related cognitive patterns were replicated, yet no evidence for protective age-related patterns was found. Lay summaryWe investigated whether our previous findings on cognitive aging in autism could be confirmed in a new study measuring the cognitive effects of age in autistic and non-autistic adults. As expected, tasks that younger autistic adults had difficulties with (theory of mind, fluency) were also difficult for older autistic adults, and the effect of age itself was similar in autistic and non-autistic adults. Unexpectedly, we observed no protective effects (less cognitive aging) in autism.

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“…2 Since that study was published, there has been an increase in the number of studies including autistic adults as participants, 3,4 a new journal focusing only on autistic adults (Autism in Adulthood, established 2019), and even a think tank focused on autistic aging. 5 However, the overwhelming majority of autism research continues to focus on children. 6 Meanwhile, large numbers of autistic children diagnosed in the 1990s and 2000s have transitioned into adulthood, creating a pressing need for adult-focused research, services, advocacy, and policy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Still Infantilizing Autism? An Update and Extension of Stevenson et al. (2011)

Akhtar

Dinishak

Stevenson

2022

Autism in Adulthood

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Background: Stevenson et al. (2011) examined photographs and language used to represent autism on chapter websites for the Autism Society of America, autism charity websites, movies, television shows, fictional books, and U.S. new stories, and found that they overwhelmingly used children to represent autism.Methods: Using Stevenson et al.'s methods, we tested the hypothesis that, a decade on, these same sources would now include more representations of autistic adults. We statistically compared our findings to theirs. Results:On the chapter websites of the Autism Society of America and in fictional books, the hypothesis was supported in that there were more representations of adults (20%) than in the original study (5%), but there were still far more representations of children than of adults. In movies, television shows, and U.S. news stories, there were equal numbers of representations of autistic adults and autistic children. Conclusions:These findings suggest a move away from infantilizing autism in some domains, but they rely on a narrow construal of "infantilizing": the underrepresentation of autistic adults in media. However, even when autistic adults are represented, they may still be infantilized in various ways. Future research will need to examine the impact of infantilizing media on both autistic and non-autistic people, and other ways in which these representations are limited (e.g., gender and race/ethnicity).How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future? Knowing about representation of autistic adults is important because of the many potential benefits of accurate representation, such as access to accommodations and resources beyond childhood (e.g., jobs, healthcare). Positive media representations may also help reduce stigma and stereotypes.

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Strategies for Research, Practice, and Policy for Autism in Later Life: A Report from a Think Tank on Aging and Autism

Cited by 23 publications

References 32 publications

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Parallel age‐related cognitive effects in autism: A cross‐sectional replication study

Still Infantilizing Autism? An Update and Extension of Stevenson et al. (2011)

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