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Factors that may influence risk and/or vulnerability to radicalisation or involvement in terrorism by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are currently undetermined. The purpose of this rapid evidence assessment (REA) was to identify and review studies which consider the association between ASD and terrorism to explore potential risk or vulnerability factors and the implications for intervention.

The REA method was used to review the literature, with 16 papers meeting inclusion criteria.

Ten factors were identified as relevant to ASD and terrorism which were combined into four overarching themes: cognitive, social, psychological and ASD traits.

This REA presents a novel review of literature relating to ASD and terrorism. The findings are valuable to practitioners working with individuals with ASD who may present with the identified risk and/or vulnerability factors. The implications of these factors for intervention are discussed, along with directions for future research.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are complex disorders characterized by pervasive symptoms of rigidity, emotion dysregulation and social cognitive difficulties. Comorbid ASD and BPD are recognized emerging clinical problem that may be challenging to treat.

The authors present a case study of a young person in the authors’ assessment clinic diagnosed with BPD and ASD who had received standard dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with modest effects. The authors provide ASD-informed recommendations for continued DBT treatment.

The de-identified patient described in this case report met full criteria for ASD and BPD. The patient’s cognitive, behavioral, social and personality functioning are described in detail.

Other practitioners seeking to treat this complex comorbidity may make use of the authors’ treatment recommendations for their patients. The authors underscore the importance of individualized treatment planning and hope the authors’ exemplar will be useful to others.

Several evidence-based treatments exist for ASD and BPD symptom reduction. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no current treatments exist for comorbid ASD and BPD to target emotion dysregulation in individuals with restricted and repetitive interests and behaviors and disturbances in social and communication domains.

This study aims to explore the information needs of Chinese parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how these needs evolve as their children develop.

This study collated 17,122 questions regarding raising children with ASD via the Yi Lin website until November 2021.

The information needs of parents of children with ASD were classified into two categories: 1) Cognition-motivation: related to children with ASD; and 2) Affection-motivation: related to their parents. Child development causes the adaptation of information needs of these parents. Within the first three years, nine different topics of these parents' information needs were identified. Major information needs at this stage are as follows: intervention content, intervention methods and pre-diagnosis questions. During the ages of three to six years, there were 13 topics of information needs for parents, focusing on three areas: intervention content, intervention methods and diagnosis and examination. There are eight topics of information needs post six years. Parents are more concerned with the three topics of intervention content, life planning and intervention methods.

This novel study indicates the complex and changing information needs of parents of children with ASD in China. It may enhance the understanding of the information needs of these parents at theoretical and practical levels, provide support for them to understand their own information needs and provide a reference for relevant government and social organisations to provide targeted information services for them.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2022-0247

Identifying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children’s early years significantly impacts their academic performance and future life. It allows them to receive special support services and the required early intervention. Preschool teachers spend considerable time with their students, which allows them to observe their behaviors in different settings like classrooms and playgrounds. However, teachers need to be knowledgeable of ASD early assessment to detect them. Whereas, all well-known ASD assessment tools are designed for populations from different cultures than the Gulf Cooperation Councils' (GCC) culture. This study emphasizes the importance of preschool age, from 3 to 5, in indicating children's early signs of ASD. This paper aims to indicate the early signs of ASD in preschool children in the UAE as a model for other GCC countries.

A qualitative method consisting of interviews with preschool teachers and the ASD children’s parents was conducted to investigate the ASD early symptoms in children.

The findings of the study show that there is a direct connection between the opinions expressed by preschool teachers and the parents of children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). These results also highlight the presence of early indications of ASD among preschool-aged children in the United Arab Emirates, such as difficulties in communication, repetitive actions, delayed speech, excessive focus on tablets, trouble paying attention, hyperactivity, sleep problems, and aggressive behavior.

The outcomes suggest a strong connection between the feedback from preschool teachers and the parents of children with ASD. The study uncovers initial indications of ASD in preschool-aged children from the United Arab Emirates, such as difficulties in communication, repetitive actions, delayed speech, excessive fascination with tablets, problems with attention, hyperactivity, sleep disturbances, and aggressive behavior.

The prevalence of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is rising. As children with ASD become adults, the need for appropriate physical and mental health care becomes more evident. Lack of knowledge and inadequate training about adult ASD can lead to discomfort in management and service delivery to this population. This study aims to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of health-care providers for patients with adult ASD and to determine the needs of health-care staff to provide convenient care to adult patients with ASD.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019–2020 among health-care professionals in Iran using an online questionnaire.

In this study, 182 health-care professionals (67.6% mental health professionals) participated. A minority of participants mentioned having excellent or very good knowledge about autism (10%) or acceptable access to clinical tools and guidelines (27%). Around 67% of professionals believed that patients with ASD are not cooperative. The most preferred training was training on effective communication strategies with ASD patients (64.8%).

The authors found a gap in knowledge and training of adult ASD diagnosis and management among health-care providers.

This study highlights the significance of empowering professionals with better training to manage adult autism.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present challenges in their social and communication skills such as difficulties in developing interpersonal relationships and verbal and nonverbal communication; repetitive and restricted behaviors concerning resistance to environmental change, stereotyped movements and unusual reactions to sensory stimuli; and significant delays in motor development and performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a combined visual arts and exercise program on the communication and social behavior skills of people with ASD.

The research was conducted in a Creative Employment Center of People with Disabilities, and the sample consisted of 18 participants with ASD divided randomly into a control group (CG) (n = 8) and an experiment group (EG) (n = 10). The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was used prior and after the implementation of the intervention program. EG participants attended an intervention program, whereas CG individuals followed their daily routine activities, and they only completed the SCQ prior and after the program.

EG demonstrated statically significant improvements in communication skills and social behavior, compared to the results of the CG. Furthermore, participants with Asperger’s syndrome showed a higher improvement rate compared to participants with autism, while no statistically significant differences were noticed concerning gender and age of the participants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the effect of a combined visual arts and adapted physical activity program on the social and communication skills of people with ASD.

The purpose of this paper is to educate forensic interviewers about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and tools for interviewing youth with ASD when there are concerns of child sexual abuse (CSA).

Research is reviewed to discuss risk factors for CSA in youth with ASD, why CSA is often not recognized and research-based strategies for forensically interviewing youth with ASD.

Youth with ASD are at increased risk of CSA compared to neurotypical peers, but recognition of CSA in youth with ASD can be difficult. Forensic interviewing strategies can help interviewers obtain reports of CSA from youth with ASD.

Given the increase in prevalence of ASD and the increased risk of CSA, forensic interviewers need to have information about ASD, about why CSA may not be recognized, about risk factors for CSA and, especially, about how to accommodate for ASD when conducting forensic interviews.

This paper provides a novel framework for considering evidence-based practices for forensically interviewing youth with ASD when there are concerns of CSA. Specifically, this paper includes multiple, but related areas, in one article including research related to ASD, risk factors for CSA in those with ASD, obstacles to identifying CSA and the implications of this research for specific strategies regarding how to forensically interview youth with ASD when there are concerns of CSA.

This study aims to investigate the differences in participation patterns between children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with typical development (TD) in Jordan.

The study used a cross-sectional comparative design and convenient and snowball sampling. The sample consisted of 60 children (30 ASD and 30 TD), mean age (nine years), who completed the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment and the Preferences for Activities of Children (CAPE/PAC) via interview. Analyses consisted of descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests.

Children with ASD had significantly lower participation Diversity (U = 24.00, p < 0.000) and Intensity (U = 110.00, p < 0.000) than children with TD. In addition, children with ASD had significantly lower participation preference in Physical (U = 145.50, p < 0.000), Self-Improvement (U = 163.50, p < 0.000), Skill-Based (U = 281.00, p = 0.01), Social activities (U = 307.50, p = 0.03) and total PAC scale score (U = 246.50, p = 0.003). However, children with ASD had significantly higher Enjoyment (U = 274, p < 0.000) than children with TD.

Children with ASD have restricted participation patterns due to certain ASD features like extreme sensory processing patterns. However, limited research compared participation patterns between school-aged children with ASD and children with TD. This study concluded that participation patterns in children with ASD are different from children with TD.

During the last few years the prevalence of autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased greatly. A recurring issue is the overlap and boundaries between Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD), ASD and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD). In clinical practice with people with IDD, the alternative or adjunctive diagnosis of ASD or SSD is particularly challenging. The purpose of this paper is to define the boundaries and overlapping clinical characteristics of IDD, ASD and SSD; highlight the most relevant differences in clinical presentation; and provide a clinical framework within which to recognize the impact of IDD and ASD in the diagnosis of SSD.

A systematic mapping of the international literature was conducted on the basis of the following questions: first, what are considered to be core and overlapping aspects of IDD, ASD and SSD; second, what are the main issues in clinical practice; and third, can key diagnostic flags be identified to assist in differentiating between the three diagnostic categories?

Crucial clinical aspects for the differentiation resulted to be age of onset, interest towards others, main positive symptoms, and anatomical anomalies of the central nervous system. More robust diagnostic criteria and semeiological references are desirable.

The present literature mapping provides a comprehensive description of the most relevant differences in the clinical presentation of ASD and SSD in persons with IDD.

Despite an increasing number of studies that examine sexual offending behaviour in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individuals, there has been a lack of research investigating stalking and ASD. This study aims to carry out a scoping review following PRISMA guidelines to identify studies which have been carried out exploring stalking behaviour in individuals with threshold or subthreshold ASD.

A total of five bibliographic databases were searched to identify studies which explored ASD in relation to stalking and harassment (including case studies as well as empirical studies).

A total of five relevant articles were identified in the present review. One article contained a case study. In a short report, the authors discussed stalking and ASD. One paper explored ASD and stalking behaviour in employment settings and specific interventions that could be used in such environments. Another paper focused on stalking behaviour in those with ASD in school settings. The final paper examined stalking and social and romantic functioning in individuals with ASD. This final paper contained only the empirical study identified in this search.

The studies identified in this review clearly highlight the need for intensive socio-sexual interventions to improve social interaction skills and romantic functioning in individuals with ASD. There is also a need for schools to provide sex education programs for individuals with ASD.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first review looking at ASD and stalking.