Publications
Validity of the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale for youth with autism spectrum disorders
High rates of anxiety and depression are reported among youth with autism spectrum disorders. These conditions are generally assessed using measures validated for typically developing youth. Few studies have investigated their validity for autism spectrum disorders,...
Daily living skills in school-age children with and without anxiety disorders
Anxiety may interfere with school-age children’s independent behaviour and hence, their daily living skills (DLS). Nonetheless, this has not been tested in previous studies of children with clinical anxiety. [button...
Evidence for Latent Classes of IQ In Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism is currently viewed as a spectrum condition including strikingly different severity levels. IQ is consistently described as one of the primary aspects of the heterogeneity in autism. To investigate the possibility of more than one distinct subtype of autism...
Abnormal functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders during face processing
Abnormalities in the interactions between functionally linked brain regions have been suggested to be asso- ciated with the clinical impairments observed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We investigated functional connectivity within the limbic system during face...
Loneliness and Social Isolation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of developmental disorders (autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) characterized by impairments in communication and social interaction and restricted repetitive and...
Level of Intellectual Functioning Predicts Patterns of Associated Symptoms in School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
The relation between level of intellectual functioning and risk for associated symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was investigated. Cognitive ability and associated symptoms were assessed directly and/or via parent report in 74 children with ASD...
Examining the Validity of the Columbia Impairment Scale for Assessing Level of Functioning in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Background: Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit impairment in numerous areas of functioning, most notably in the areas related to social interactions, communication, and behavior at school and at home. Understanding the severity of the impairment in each...
Characteristics Associated with Presence of Depressive Symptoms in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit associated psychiatric symptoms, particularly related to depression. The current study investigated whether individual characteristics, specifically, severity of ASD symptoms, level...
Fear-Potentiated Startle Response Is Unrelated to Social or Emotional Functioning in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders
It has been suggested that atypical amygdala function contributes to the social impairments characteristic of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Previous research has demonstrated that adolescents and adults with ASD generate normal response during a fear-potentiated...
The Role of Face Familiarity in Eye Tracking of Faces by Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
It has been shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate normal activation in the fusiform gyrus when viewing familiar, but not unfamiliar faces. The current study utilized eye tracking to investigate patterns of attention underlying...
The Relationship Between Early Neural Responses to Emotional Faces at Age 3 and Later Autism and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents with Autism
Abstract Both autism spectrum (ASD) and anxiety disorders are associated with atypical neural and attentional responses to emotional faces, differing in affective face processing from typically developing peers. Within a longitudinal study of children with ASD (23...