Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions are promising approaches for young children with, or suspected of having, autism spectrum disorder. Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement and regulation intervention (JASPER) is a well-researched naturalistic developmental behavioural intervention but, to date, no reviews have specifically evaluated its effects. This systematic literature review examined the effects of JASPER intervention and its components on child, parent and educator outcomes. Of the 96 articles screened, 19 were eligible for inclusion in the review. Most studies found that children who received JASPER intervention showed significantly greater improvements in at least one outcome related to child joint attention, joint engagement, play skills and language skills compared to the comparison group. Implementation outcomes for parents and educators were generally positive. There were no consistent predictors or mediators of treatment effects. None of the studies met all of the quality indicators outlined by the Council of Exceptional Children, and the majority of outcome measures were classified as proximal. Overall, JASPER intervention appears promising in improving child outcomes directly targeted during treatment. More research is needed to determine whether it is also effective in improving a wider range of outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder. Lay abstract Interventions which are delivered in natural contexts and use both developmental and behavioural techniques may be helpful for children with, or suspected of having, autism spectrum disorder. Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement and regulation (JASPER) is a type of intervention, which falls under this category. Although several studies have examined the effects of JASPER, this has not yet been summarised in a review. This systematic literature review examined the effects of JASPER intervention, and the techniques that make up JASPER, on child, parent and educator outcomes. We screened 96 articles and, of these, 19 were included in the review. Most studies found that children who received JASPER intervention showed significantly greater improvements in at least one outcome related to child joint attention, joint engagement, play skills, and language skills compared to children who did not receive JASPER intervention. Parents and educators were mostly able to use the JASPER techniques. There were no consistent child, parent, teacher or treatment characteristics that influenced the effects of the JASPER intervention. None of the studies met all of the indicators of being a good quality study outlined by the Council of Exceptional Children. Overall, JASPER intervention appears promising in improving child outcomes directly targeted during treatment. More research is needed to determine whether it is also effective in improving a wider range of outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder.

This study examined whether parent-reported atypical development in their child’s first year was associated with age of diagnosis and age when parents first needed to consult a specialist about their child’s development. It involved 423 children who participated in the Australian Autism Biobank. Most parents retrospectively identified ≥ 1 domain of atypical child development. Atypical development in most domains was associated with an earlier age when parents felt specialist consultation was needed. Atypical development in the “gaze abnormalities”, “lack of response to social stimuli”, and “no social communication” subdomains within the social domain was associated with an earlier age of diagnosis, as was atypical development in the “hypo/hypersensitivity” and “preoccupation with parts of objects” subdomains within the stereotyped/restricted behavior domain.

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<p>Face recognition is a fundamental cognitive function that is essential for social interaction – yet not everyone has it. Developmental prosopagnosia is a lifelong condition in which people have severe difficulty recognising faces but have normal intellect and no brain damage. Despite much research, the component processes of face recognition that are impaired in developmental prosopagnosia are not well understood. Two core processes are face perception, being the formation of visual representations of a currently seen face, and face memory, being the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of those representations. Most studies of developmental prosopagnosia focus on face memory deficits, but a few recent studies indicate that face perception deficits might also be important. Characterising face perception in developmental prosopagnosia is crucial for a better understanding of the condition. In this thesis, I addressed this issue in a large-scale experiment with 108 developmental prosopagnosics and 136 matched controls. I assessed face perception abilities with multiple measures and ran a broad range of analyses to establish the severity, scope, and nature of face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia. Three major results stand out. First, face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia were severe, and could be comparable in size to face memory deficits. Second, the face perception deficits were widespread, affecting the whole sample rather than a subset of individuals. Third, the deficits were mainly driven by impairments to mechanisms specialised for processing upright faces. Further analyses revealed several other features of the deficits, including the use of atypical and inconsistent strategies for perceiving faces, difficulties matching the same face across different pictures, equivalent impact of lighting and viewpoint variations in face images, and atypical perceptual and non-perceptual components of test performance. Overall, my thesis shows that face perception deficits are more central to developmental prosopagnosia than previously thought and motivates further research on the issue.</p>