This study examines the possibility of acquisition of the shared cooperative activities in a child with autism spectrum disorder through intervention. The child was taught by employing joint action routine procedure for the purpose of acquiring cooperative activities that include problem-solving and social games. Consequently, he enhanced his cooperative behaviors in two types of activities and developed re-engaging behaviors when his social partner ceased to participate at certain time intervals. He then generalized two types of cooperative activities at multiple scenes. Finally, he initiated joint attention at home and school simultaneously, as he was able to perform a limited problem-solving activity. Moreover, these results were discussed on the basis of the perspectives such as requirements of cooperative activities with shared intentionality, relationship between performing cooperative activities and initiating joint attention, and intervention method to facilitate the acquisition of cooperative activities.

In this study, the effects of two instructions, which suggested different levels of precision, namely, tell me roughly or exactly on recalling events were examined. The sample comprised 62 and 58 first-grade and fourth-grade children, respectively and 60 undergraduates. They were asked to recall a text describing a school sports day with one of the instructions that were given separately as a between-subject factor in study 1 and consecutively as a within-subject factor, which would enable the participants to compare the two instructions, in study 2. The results of study 1 revealed that the participants reported more coarse information for important units when employing exactly whereas they were more inclined to withhold unimportant information when employing roughly. In study 2, they provided verbatim information for important units when exactly was used and withheld relatively important information when roughly was used; however, children found this difficult. These results suggest that individuals regulate the level of precision depending on the context. The implications for forensic interviews are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine how the presentation of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Asperger Disorder (AS) diagnostic labels affects stigma toward ASD and its relationship to knowledge of ASD among university students. Questionnaire-based surveys were conducted on 346 university students. They rated their stigma on two vignettes that described students who met ASD symptom criteria (restriction of interest, difficulty in social interaction) and were asked to label as “ASD condition,” “AS condition,” or “No diagnostic condition.” Results showed no differences in scores on stigma across the three labels. Subsequently, we explored the influence of knowledge about ASD on the degree of stigma toward people with diagnosed and undiagnosed conditions. Findings showed that a lower score on stigma toward a diagnostic condition was associated with a higher knowledge of the condition in both cases. Based on these findings, it is suggested that stigma toward ASD was not influenced by diagnostic labels alone, but is more influenced by the relationship between the presence of diagnostic labels and level of knowledge about ASD.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at a greater risk for physical abuse by their parents than children without ASD. This study reviews the previous research on parental cognitive factors based on social information processing for physical abuse in children with ASD. Three child factors were associated with these parental cognitive factors: behavior type, degree of the behavior issue, and disability existence and type. The hypothesis was that potential mechanisms for this abuse are that the epidemiological characteristics of ASD, atypical behavior patterns, and severe behavior issues may affect the parental cognitive factors. Furthermore, high-functioning children with ASD may be exposed to higher risk because their disorders are not easily perceived as a “disorder” and thus adequate expectations for or appraisals of the child's behaviors are often difficult. These difficulties may result from discrepancies between and among the child's total IQ, abilities within each cognitive domain, and behavioral adjustment; in addition, these patterns may differ among individuals. Implications for future research are also discussed.