This community-based study examined the influence of early teaching interventions on children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and the dynamics between the time intensity of the interventions and parenting stress, on child outcomes. Intellectual, educational, and adaptive behavior and social functioning were all measured. Sixty-five children were divided into four groups, based on the levels of time intensity of their intervention, and on their parents' stress levels. There were gains in intellectual, educational, and adaptive behavioral and social skills, and there was a positive relationship between the time intensity of the early teaching interventions and child outcome gains. More importantly, however, high levels of parenting stress counteracted the effectiveness of the early teaching interventions.

In order to obtain the views of parents concerning their perceptions of the process of getting a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) for their child, 15 focus groups were conducted across a range of locations in England. These groups were split into parents of preschool-, primary- and secondary-aged children who had recently received an ASD diagnosis. At the time of diagnosis, most of the parents wished for a quicker and easier process. In particular, they would prefer the procedure to have a more coherent structure and content. They also requested greater professional training about ASD, in particular, regarding the information that professionals possess, and the interpersonal skills of some professionals. The idea of broad information sheets to be provided to parents at the time of diagnosis would be of value, especially to combat negative information provided from other sources.

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Despite this uncertainty, individual differences in PR are clearly present in autism, suggesting additional research is needed to determine the variables relating to PR among those with ASD and to examine the possible existence of physiological subtype responders in the population.

The study explored the immediate impact of internet exposure on the mood and psychological states of internet addicts and low internet-users. Participants were given a battery of psychological tests to explore levels of internet addiction, mood, anxiety, depression, schizotypy, and autism traits. They were then given exposure to the internet for 15 min, and re-tested for mood and current anxiety. Internet addiction was associated with long-standing depression, impulsive nonconformity, and autism traits. High internet-users also showed a pronounced decrease in mood following internet use compared to the low internet-users. The immediate negative impact of exposure to the internet on the mood of internet addicts may contribute to increased usage by those individuals attempting to reduce their low mood by re-engaging rapidly in internet use.

Three experiments explored a novel approach to analyzing the different components of response rate that are produced by exposure to free-operant schedules of reinforcement. It has been suggested that overall response rate comprises a tendency to initiate responding, and to continue to respond once the bout is initiated. Previous post hoc analyses of interresponse times (IRT) data have suggested several features of these different aspects of responding that the current experimental procedure broadly confirmed. Increasing the size of a variable interval (VI) schedule decreases the number of "burst-initiation" responses, but has less effect on responding once the burst has been initiated (Experiment 1); that the major difference between a variable ratio (VR) schedule and a VI schedule, is not in the number of "burst-initiation" responses, but in the number of "within-burst" responses, with shorter interresponse times that are emitted, with greater numbers of such "within-burst" responses being emitted on a VR schedule (Experiments 2 and 3).

The effectiveness of home-based early behavioral interventions for children (2:6-4:0 years old) with autistic spectrum disorders was studied over 9-10 months. Measures of autistic severity, intellectual, educational, and adaptive behavioral functioning were taken. There was no evidence of recovery from autism. High-intensity behavioral approaches (mean 30 h/week) produced greater gains than low-intensity programs (mean 12 h/week). Lovaas- and complete application of behavior analysis to schools approach-type interventions produced largest gains [similar to gains produced by longer-term clinic-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) programs]. Within the high-intensity groups, increased temporal input on the program was not associated with increased gains in the children. The results from clinic-based ABA trials were partially replicated on a home-based sample, using children with greater autistic and intellectual impairments.

Stimulus over-selectivity is a phenomenon displayed by individuals with autism, and has been implicated as a basis for many autistic-spectrum symptoms. In four experiments, non-autistic adult participants were required to learn a simple discrimination using picture cards, and then were tested for the emergence of stimulus over-selectivity, both with and without a concurrent task. Greater stimulus over-selectivity was noted when participants completed the concurrent task. The results are discussed in relation to the implications for the development of a model of memory deficits in autism.