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Developmental theory and previous studies support the potential value of prodromal interventions for infants at elevated likelihood of developing autism. Past research has supported the efficacy of parent-mediated prodromal therapies with infants from as early as 7 months. We outline the rationale for implementing interventions following this model from even earlier in development and report on the feasibility of a novel intervention developed following this model of parent-mediated infant interventions.

Despite being highly prevalent among people with autism, restricted and unusual interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This article confirms that restricted interests are very frequent and varied among children and adolescents with autism. It also further extends current knowledge in this area by characterizing the relationship between the presence, number, and type of restricted interests with chronological age, sex, cognitive functioning, and social and communication symptoms.

The clinical process for being evaluated for an autism diagnosis is often time consuming and stressful for individuals and their caregivers. While experience of and satisfaction with the diagnostic process has been reviewed in the literature, few studies have directly investigated the viewpoints of individuals diagnosed with autism and caregivers of autistic individuals about what is important in the autism diagnostic process.

Birth order effects have been linked to variability in intelligence, educational attainment and sexual orientation. First- and later-born children have been linked to an increased likelihood of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, with a smaller body of evidence implicating decreases in cognitive functioning with increased birth order.

Cognitive and motor dysfunction are hallmark features of the psychosis continuum, and have been detected during late childhood and adolescence in youth who report psychotic experiences (PE). However, previous investigations have not explored infancy and early childhood development.

Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric syndromes, most affected children are born to unaffected parents. Recently, we reported an average increase of 3-5% over general population risk of ASD among offspring of adults who have first-degree relatives with ASD in a large epidemiologic family sample.

Intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically commences after diagnosis. No trial of an intervention administered to infants before diagnosis has shown an effect on diagnostic outcomes to date.

Greater facial asymmetry has been consistently found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children without ASD. There is substantial evidence that both facial structure and the recurrence of ASD diagnosis are highly heritable within a nuclear family. Furthermore, sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behavioural characteristics have also been reported in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD, commonly known as the 'broad autism phenotype'.

Sensory modulation symptoms form a diagnostic criterion for autism spectrum disorder and are associated with significant daily functional limitations. Utilizing caregiver report on Short Sensory Profile-2 (SSP-2) for 919 autistic children (3–14.11 years), we examined the expression of sensory modulation symptoms by age and sex and investigated the existence of specific sensory modulation subtypes.

Early identification and intervention are recognised as important elements of the clinical pathway for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be diagnosed at a different age than children who only have one of these diagnoses.