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We report the case of a man with Asperger's syndrome and borderline intelligence, atypical eating disorder (food faddiness/refusal due to fear of choking) and XYY syndrome. We consider multi‐modal management and inter‐agency service provision issues in meeting his complex mental health and social needs.

Housing Options is an independent advisory service for people with learning disabilities, their relatives and housing and care providers. Housing Options wanted to promote the development of opportunities for those with autism, to help those growing up and wanting their own home. A two‐year project has begun with help from the Shirley Foundation, to review need, demand and the range of existing services, look at what services local authorities, providers and families want and provide information and guidance to help with service development.

This paper aims to describe the way in which autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is identified, defined and diagnosed; and how changes in the conceptualisation and understanding of autism have impacted on clinical practice and research findings. Specific issues relating to the nature of Asperger syndrome and the profile of females with ASD are discussed. Finally, the apparent increase over time in the incidence of autism is considered.

The paper is a non‐systematic review of the current literature relating to the diagnosis and epidemiology of autism.

Despite its diverse presentation and complex aetiology, the autism spectrum is increasingly well understood amongst professionals and the general public. Diagnostic criteria are revised periodically and new versions of the formal definitions are due to be published soon. The prevalence of ASD appears to be in the region of 1 per cent. There is a clear perception that the true incidence of autism is on the increase and, despite several well‐conducted epidemiological studies, it remains impossible to confirm or refute this notion.

Diagnosis in clinical practice should involve some reference to the formal criteria, the use of standardised diagnostic instruments and should ideally take place within a multi‐disciplinary team setting.

This paper provides an up‐to‐date review of current diagnostic practice for all professionals working with children and adults with ASD.

The purpose of this paper is to address a significant gap in the line manager, HRM and the diversity management literature, that of exploring the role and significance of emotional labour (EL) in relation to the lived experienced of line managing neurodiversity.

A qualitative approach was used to explore lived experiences of line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees. Interviews were conducted with line managers employed in the UK transport industry.

The findings provide rich insights into line managing neurodiversity. A key overall finding is reasonable adjustments deemed essential to support neurodiverse employees require a myriad of hidden, complex, time consuming and often emotionally draining interactions with disabled employees, the employee’s wider team, and HRM and occupational health (OH) practitioners.

This is an exploratory study and therefore limited by nature of the research design, industry focus, scope of study and sample size.

The findings have the potential to inform HRM and OH practitioner support for line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees.

The study contributes to wider societal attempts to make employment more inclusive to a range of historically disadvantaged groups.

The study fills an important gap in the HRM literature on line managing neurodiverse employees. The study makes a specific and unique contribution to extensive literatures on line management, disability and EL.

Relatively little is known about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in later life, though the available evidence indicates that it is as prevalent as in childhood and youth. The current study was an on‐line questionnaire (of basic biographical information, general health, quality of life and score on the Autism Quotient [AQ] measure) of UK‐resident adults in their forties who had been diagnosed with ASD or suspected they had ASD. The findings indicated health and quality of life problems very significantly greater than the population norms, with strong indications that prototypical problems of younger people with ASD (such as social isolation and anxiety) persist throughout adult life, even in individuals in high‐income professions. Respondents who thought they had ASD were qualitatively identical to respondents with a formal diagnosis ‐ only the strength of symptoms differed. Scores on the AQ measure did not correlate with other symptoms. Although the study is of a relatively small number (N = 29) of people and there are limitations imposed by the study's design, the findings are robust, and indicate an urgent need to examine ASD in the older population using a larger, more demographically representative study.

Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with specific assessment, specific difficulties, needs and therapeutic issues and therefore are a challenging group for forensic services. Given the challenge that individuals with ASD present to forensic services, the suggested increase in the number of this group within this setting and the relatively little amount of research which suggests they face a number of difficulties within the prison environment, the purpose of this paper is to identify and review all the studies which have been carried out investigating any aspect of ASD in relation to secure hospital settings.

Seven internet-based bibliographic databases were used for the present review. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

A total of 12 studies were included in this review; 3 looked at the prevalence of ASD in secure psychiatric hospitals. One study evaluated the clinical utility of the AQ screening tool to assess self-reported autistic traits in secure psychiatric settings. Three explored any type of characteristics of patients with ASD detained in secure psychiatric hospitals. One study investigated the experiences or quality of life of patients with an ASD detained in secure psychiatric care. Two studies investigated awareness, knowledge and/or views regarding patients with ASD held by staff working within secure psychiatric hospitals. Lastly, three studies (one of which was also included in the prevalence category above) looked at the effectiveness of interventions or treatment of patients with ASD in secure psychiatric hospitals. Clinical recommendations and future research directions are discussed.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first review to explore what research has been carried out looking specifically at patients with ASD in relation to secure forensic settings.

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.

There remains a lack of knowledge surrounding paraphilic or deviant arousal sexual behaviours in individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Kellaher, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature for any empirical study, case study or discussion/review paper surrounding individuals with ASD and zoophilia or bestiality.

A systematic PRISMA review was conducted.

This systematic review highlighted only a small number of papers, which have looked at zoophilia or bestiality in individuals with ASD. Only one article was identified as being relevant in the present review, three further articles included a description of a case involving someone with ASD who engaged in zoophilia or bestiality and another paper, although not the focus of the study, found one person with Asperger’s disorder who had several paraphilias including olfactophilia, podophilia and zoophilia in a sample of 20 institutionalised, male adolescents and young adults with Autistic disorder and borderline/mild mental retardation. All the case studies clearly highlight some of the ASD symptomology that can contribute to engaging in bestiality or zoophilia.

It is important that individuals with ASD have access to appropriate and timely sex education and that parents are supported by healthcare professionals to engage with their children with ASD in such interactions across the autism spectrum irrespective of the parent’s expectations.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first review of ASD in relation to bestiality and zoophilia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the association of cybercrime, autistic spectrum conditions and international law enforcement, the past decade having seen a significant growth in reported cybercrimes involving autistic individuals.

Interest in the profile of autism and cybercrime and the pathways whereby such offences are committed is shared by key law-enforcement agencies worldwide. This was explored by literature review and survey.

The authors identified a presence of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders but no empirical evidence to suggest a prevalence or an over representation of autistic individuals committing cybercrime offences. At present profiling, pathways, and recording is under developed.

Paucity of literature on cybercrime and autism. Awareness of autism within law-enforcement agencies and the absence of key diagnostic and other data from the cross-section of agencies surveyed.

Improve detection, diversion, profiling, risk and pathways into cybercrime.

Better prediction of risk of cybercrime and improved responses.

Original paper believed to be the first to look at cybercrime and ASD in the context of international law enforcement.