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.

Several explanations are offered for this apparently autism-specific, language-specific pattern of responding to temporal synchrony, and potential developmental sequelae are discussed.

It has been recently theorized that atypical sensory processing in autism relates to difficulties in social communication. Through a series of tasks concurrently assessing multisensory temporal processes, multisensory integration and speech perception in 76 children with and without autism, we provide the first behavioral evidence of such a link. Temporal processing abilities in children with autism contributed to impairments in speech perception. This relationship was significantly mediated by their abilities to integrate social information across auditory and visual modalities. These data describe the cascading impact of sensory abilities in autism, whereby temporal processing impacts multisensory information of social information, which, in turn, contributes to deficits in speech perception. These relationships were found to be specific to autism, specific to multisensory but not unisensory integration, and specific to the processing of social information.

This study assessed the impact of various individual symptoms of autism on mothers and fathers, and professionals' accuracy in estimating parents' perceived stress levels. Mothers and fathers of 20 autistic children, and 20 therapists working with those children, independently rated the severity of common symptoms of autism in their child, and how stressful they found each symptom; therapists estimated parental stress. The autistic child's language and cognitive impairment were judged by all raters as most severe and stressful. In contrast with other studies, individual parents agreed on both symptom severity and degree of stress. Parents of older children judged symptom severity to be lower, but fathers reported a continued high level of stress. Professionals judged families as more stressed by the child symptoms than did families themselves. Implications for intervention and casework are discussed.

The number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) pursuing postsecondary education is increasing. A mentorship program was developed to help students with ASD navigate the social and academic framework of postsecondary campus life. The present study (a) provides information about a sample of university students with ASD and (b) evaluates satisfaction with the support provided. This is the first study in Canada to report on the experience of students with ASD and to evaluate this novel approach. Students (N = 23) provided demographic information in the fall and completed surveys evaluating their satisfaction at the end of each academic year. Since beginning the program, the number of students has increased by 200%. High levels of satisfaction were reported. The majority of students reported success in achieving personal goals in part due to their participation in the program. Results better inform the development of supports for students with ASD.