Jonathan A. Weiss

Bullying Experiences among Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Few studies have investigated bullying experiences among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, preliminary research suggests that children with ASD are at greater risk for being bullied than typically developing peers. The aim of the current study was to build an understanding of bullying experiences among children with ASD based on parent reports by examining rates of various forms of bullying, exploring the association between victimization and mental health problems, and investigating individual and contextual variables as correlates of victimization. Victimization was related to child age, internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, communication difficulties, and number of friends at school, as well as parent mental health problems. Bullying prevention and intervention strategies are discussed.

Shedding light on a pervasive problem: a review of research on bullying experiences among children with autism spectrum disorders.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. As a result, individuals with ASD are at an increased risk of bullying victimization, compared to typically developing peers. This paper reviews the literature that has emerged over the past decade regarding prevalence of bullying involvement in the ASD population, as well as associated psychosocial factors. Directions for future research are suggested, including areas of research that are currently unexplored or underdeveloped. Methodological issues such as defining and measuring bullying, as well as informant validity and reliability, are considered. Implications for intervention are discussed.

The impact of child problem behaviors of children with ASD on parent mental health: The mediating role of acceptance and empowerment:

Raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often been associated with higher levels of parenting stress and psychological distress, and a number of studies have examined the role of psychological processes as mediators of the impact of child problem behavior on parent mental health. The current study examined the relations among child problem behavior, parent mental health, psychological acceptance, and parent empowerment. Participants included 228 parents of children diagnosed with ASD, 6–21 years of age. As expected, psychological acceptance and empowerment were negatively related to the severity of parent mental health problems. When acceptance and empowerment were compared with each other through a test of multiple mediation, only psychological acceptance emerged as a significant partial mediator of the path between child problem behavior and parent mental health problems. As child problem behavior increased, parent psychological acceptance decreased, resulting in an increase in parent mental health problems. These findings suggest that for problems that are chronic and difficult to address, psychological acceptance may be an important factor in coping for parents of young people with ASD, in line with the growing literature on positive coping as compared with problem-focused coping.

Sexual Knowledge and Victimization in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

There is a significant gap in understanding the risk of sexual victimization in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the variables that contribute to risk. Age appropriate sexual interest, limited sexual knowledge and experiences, and social deficits, may place adults with ASD at increased risk. Ninety-five adults with ASD and 117 adults without ASD completed questionnaires regarding sexual knowledge sources, actual knowledge, perceived knowledge, and sexual victimization. Individuals with ASD obtained less of their sexual knowledge from social sources, more sexual knowledge from non-social sources, had less perceived and actual knowledge, and experienced more sexual victimization than controls. The increased risk of victimization by individuals with ASD was partially mediated by their actual knowledge. The link between knowledge and victimization has important clinical implications for interventions.

Group cognitive behaviour therapy for adults with Asperger syndrome and anxiety or mood disorder: a case series

Individuals with Asperger syndrome are at increased risk for mental health problems compared with the general population, especially with regard to mood and anxiety disorders. Generic mental health services are often ill-equipped to offer psychotherapeutic treatments to this population, and specialized supports are difficult to find. This case series used a manualized cognitive behaviour therapy group programme (Mind Over Mood) with three adults diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, who were each unable to access psychotherapy through mainstream mental health services. This review highlights the benefits of a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) group approach for adults with Asperger syndrome and suggests some potential modifications to traditional CBT provision. 

Predictors of distress and well-being in parents of young children with developmental delays and disabilities: the importance of parent perceptions

BACKGROUND Moving from family-centred to child-centred models of service delivery can be stressful for parents as their young children with developmental delays and disabilities transition into school. The purpose of this paper was to explore and compare predictors of both distress and well-being in parents during this transition period. METHODS A sample of 155 mothers of 113 boys and 42 girls participated in the study. The mean age of the children was 4.9 years and their diagnoses included autism spectrum disorder (52%); unspecified intellectual disability/developmental delay (26%); Down syndrome (12%); other genetic conditions (4%) and other diagnoses (6%). Participants completed surveys primarily online focusing on child characteristics, family resources, parent coping strategies, parental distress and positive gain. RESULTS Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine predictors of parent reported distress and positive gain. Parent coping variables were the strongest predictors of both positive gain and parental distress, with reframing emerging as a predictor of positive gain and parent empowerment emerging as a predictor of both greater positive gain and lower parental distress. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study highlight not only the importance of including positive as well as negative outcomes in research with parents but also the importance of including parent characteristics such as coping strategies (e.g. reframing and empowerment/self-efficacy) as potential predictors of outcome in such studies.

A systematic literature review of emotion regulation measurement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are a potential common factor underlying the presentation of multiple emotional and behavioral problems in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To provide an overview of how ER has been studied in individuals with ASD, we conducted a systematic review of the past 20 years of ER research in the ASD population, using established keywords from the most comprehensive ER literature review of the typically developing population to date. Out of an initial sampling of 305 studies, 32 were eligible for review. We examined the types of methods (self‐report, informant report, naturalistic observation/ behavior coding, physiological, and open‐ended) and the ER constructs based on Gross and Thompsons modal model (situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation). Studies most often assessed ER using one type of method and from a unidimensional perspective. Across the 32 studies, we documented the types of measures used and found that 38% of studies used self‐report, 44% included an informant report measure, 31% included at least one naturalistic observation/behavior coding measure, 13% included at least one physiological measure, and 13% included at least one open‐ended measure. Only 25% of studies used more than one method of measurement. The findings of the current review provide the field with an in‐depth analysis of various ER measures and how each measure taps into an ER framework. Future research can use this model to examine ER in a multicomponent way and through multiple methods. Autism Res 2014, 7: 629–648.

The McGurk Effect in Children With Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Children with autism may have difficulties in audiovisual speech perception, which has been linked to speech perception and language development. However, little has been done to examine children with Asperger syndrome as a group on tasks assessing audiovisual speech perception, despite this groups often greater language skills. Samples of children with autism, Asperger syndrome, and Down syndrome, as well as a typically developing sample, were presented with an auditory‐only condition, a speech‐reading condition, and an audiovisual condition designed to elicit the McGurk effect. Children with autism demonstrated unimodal performance at the same level as the other groups, yet showed a lower rate of the McGurk effect compared with the Asperger, Down and typical samples. These results suggest that children with autism may have unique intermodal speech perception difficulties linked to their representations of speech sounds. Autism Res 2014, 7: 50–59.

Family wellbeing of individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A scoping review

Families play an important role in supporting individuals with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan. Indicators of family wellbeing can help to establish benchmarks for service provision and evaluation; however, a critical first step is a clear understanding of the construct in question. The purpose of the current scoping review was to (a) summarize current conceptualizations and measurements of family wellbeing, (b) synthesize key findings, and (c) highlight gaps and limitations in the extant literature. A final review of 86 articles highlighted the difficulty of synthesizing findings of family wellbeing in the autism spectrum disorder literature due to varied measurement techniques and the limited use of a common theoretical direction. Considerations for future research are presented with an eye toward policy relevance.

Transdiagnostic Case Conceptualization of Emotional Problems in Youth with ASD: An Emotion Regulation Approach

Youth with autism spectrum disorder often struggle to cope with co-occurring anxiety, depression, or anger, and having both internalizing and externalizing symptoms is a common clinical presentation. A number of authors have designed cognitive-behavioral interventions to address transdiagnostic factors related to multiple emotional problems, although none have applied this focus to youth with ASD. The current review article describes how a transdiagnostic emotion regulation framework may inform cognitive-behavioral interventions for youth with ASD, which until now have focused almost exclusively on anxiety. Research is needed to empirically test how a transdiagnostic intervention can address the processes of emotion regulation and assist youth with ASD to cope with their emotional disorders.