The Lancet's 1998 publication of "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children" by Andrew Wakefield, et. al., positing a causal relationship between MMR vaccine and autism in children, set off a media storm and galvanized the anti-vaccine movement. In this paper, centuries-old fears of vaccination and the history of autism as a medic...

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that is characterized by social and communicative impairments. Social robots recognize and respond to human social cues with appropriate behaviors. Social robots, and the technology used in their construction, can be unique tools in the study of autism. Based on three years of integration and immersion with a clinical research group, this paper discu...

This study characterized early language abilities in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (n = 257) using multiple measures of language development, compared to toddlers with non-spectrum developmental delay (DD, n = 69). Findings indicated moderate to high degrees of agreement among three assessment measures (one parent report and two direct assessment measures). Performance on two of the t...

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and 12 of his colleagues[1] published a case series in the Lancet, which suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may predispose to behavioral regression and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Despite the small sample size (n=12), the uncontrolled design, and the speculative nature of the conclusions, the paper received wide publicity, an...

The present study investigated the effects of differential negative reinforcement of other behavior (DNRO) on problem behavior evoked by music in a 7-year-old child with pervasive developmental disorder. Following an auditory stimulus assessment, DNRO was used to reduce problem behavior to near-zero levels. Results are discussed in terms of identifying establishing operations to govern treatmen...

A 7-year-old boy with Tourette's disorder, atypical pervasive developmental disorder, borderline mental retardation, and a history of self-injurious behavior was treated for 21 months with clonidine transdermal patches at doses ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mg weekly. When withdrawn from clonidine over 4 weeks to assess the need for continued therapy, the patient developed multiple self-destructive b...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by impaired social interaction as well as impaired language and communication accompanied by stereotyped/heartbreaking behavioral traits and increased restricted repetitive behaviors [2]. ASD describes a range of conditions (e.g. autism, social and communication deficits, Asperger disorder, childhood disintegrative disorders, pervasive developmental dis...