Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a collection of developmental disorders that occur before 3 years of age and include autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified. Children with ASD show signs of delays in communication and social interaction along with repetitive behaviors and interests. Today, diagnosis is performed by clinical assessmen...

With publication of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV), standardized criteria for Asperger Disorder, a putative subtype of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, are now available. This paper examines the four cases Asperger originally presented in his seminal paper (1991/1994), using DSM-IV criteria to determine whether a diagnosis of Autistic o...

Maternal mental disorders are known risk factors for child mistreatment. However, little is known about the involvement of maternal developmental disorder traits. The aim of this study was to examine maternal traits related to Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and their possible association with child mistreatment. Maternal PDD and ADHD ...

 54% of referrals were initiated by medical services, 30% by parents directly, 8% from schools, and 6% by a parent’s psychiatrist.  The most frequent problem behaviors reported were: children being difficult to manage/control (43%), temper tantrums (23%), overactive/hyperactive (19%), aggressive or destructive (19), and depression/unhappy mood (16%).  Depression or unhappy mood were more lik...

This study investigated if developmental dyscalculia (DD) in children with different profiles of mathematical deficits has the same or different cognitive origins. The defective approximate number system hypothesis and the access deficit hypothesis were tested using two different groups of children with DD (11-13 years old): a group with arithmetic fact dyscalculia (AFD) and a group with genera...

Autism encompasses a broad range of brain disorders that, by conservative estimates, affects 1 in 500 children. Autism-Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) include Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Rett Syndrome (which affects only girls) and Autism. Autism Spectrum Disorders impair three main areas of human development: speech, communication and soci...