Attachment is a biological evolutionary system contributing to infant survival. In neurotypical children, secure attachment is critical to healthy brain and organ-system development. Attachment patterns in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) have not been extensively explored. The purpose of this review is to appraise and summarize the literature examining attachment in children with NDDs. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID) or developmental language disorder (DLD) displayed behavior indicative of secure attachments. Approximately 42–50% of children with NDDs were deemed securely attached compared with 62% in neurotypical children. Factors influencing attachment patterns were autistic symptoms, developmental level, maternal sensitivity, and maternal insightfulness/resolve. Many children with NDDs can form secure attachments; however, this is based on limited data, primarily focusing on children with ASD. Specific challenges were identified in assessing attachment patterns in children with NDDs. This demonstrates the need for research investigating attachment in children with various NDDs and co-occurring disorders.

Tourette’s syndrome (TS), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent motor and vocal tics, is understood to be a genetic disorder with a complex pattern of inheritance and a high degree of heritability. Nonetheless, adversity during pregnancy and early life has been associated with the onset of TS. Understanding these associations may reveal more about the pathogenesis and disease processes of TS. All of the studies included in the review found at least one association between a peri-/prenatal risk factor and TS, although inconsistencies were present. Maternal prenatal smoking, low birth weight, and nulliparity were the only risk factors found in multiple studies. Nulliparity has emerged as a novel risk factor for TS. Prenatal maternal smoking was found to be associated with TS with comorbid ADHD, rather than pure TS. Additional evidence was found to support the relationship between lower birth weight and TS.

The need to develop novel pharmacological approaches for TS is balanced by the necessity for interventions to be safe and tolerable. This review provides an overview of studies of medications for TS over the last 3 years. Four studies of deutetrabenazine and valbenazine in TS failed in their primary outcomes. Ecopipam was more effective than placebo in reducing tics in children. Preliminary evidence suggests that a new endocannabinoid modulator (ABX-1431) has an acute effect on tics in adults. Intravenous valproic acid was more effective than oral aripiprazole in children with severe tics. Taurine added to tiapride was superior to placebo added to tiapride in decreasing tics in children. The clonidine patch and vitamin D decreased tics in children compared with baseline assessment. Behavioral therapy was as effective as pharmacotherapy in decreasing tics in children. There is emerging evidence for new treatments for tics, but more methodologically rigorous studies are needed to inform practice recommendations.

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is a micro-deletion disorder with a heterogenous complex presentation including significant communication difficulties. This brief review discusses the communication profile and potential approaches to enhancing communication skills for these learners. The communication profile of 22q11.2DS has been described in several studies identifying early assessment, monitoring, and on-going language interventions as best practice for those with 22q11.2DS. However, few studies have reported on empirical findings of specific interventions to enhance the communicative skills of learners with 22q11.2DS. The distinct communication profile of individuals with 22q11.2DS offers researchers and practitioners an opportunity to develop tailored interventions to support effective communication skills for learners with 22q11.2DS. This review recommends that, in addition to existing interventions, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) should be evaluated to (a) support early expressive communication for children and (b) support socio-communication strategies for older learners with 22q11.2DS.

Emotion regulation is recognized as a core underlying dimension common across psychiatric disorders and could be conceptualized as a transdiagnostic feature (i.e., mechanism underlying comorbidity). This review highlights recent research examining emotion regulation in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Difficulties with emotion regulation are increasingly recognized as common deficits in children with ADHD and ASD. Research indicates that emotion regulation transmits risk for co-occurring disorders within a diagnostic grouping (i.e., neurodevelopment disorders; homotypic comorbidity) and across different diagnostic groupings (i.e., neurodevelopmental disorder–mood disorder; heterotypic comorbidity) in children with ADHD and ASD. While this review provides support for the conceptualization of emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic feature in ADHD and ASD, further research examining emotion regulation in children with other neurodevelopmental disorders is needed. The field of neurodevelopmental disorders should examine emotion regulation from a developmental perspective and needs to develop valid assessments of emotion regulation.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by inattention, impulsivity, diminished executive functions, and hyperactivity. Objective criteria can be used to assess the diagnosis and response of the disease to medications. Several biomarkers belonging to electrophysiological, genetic, peripheral, and miRNA-based biomarkers have shown promise in studies to be an objective aid to clinical diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of ADHD. This review article focuses on summarizing the existing evidence for different biomarkers that have been studied in the past for diagnosing ADHD.

The goal of this paper is to provide an update on recent findings relating to sexuality and gender in autism. The following questions were posed in the review of recent literature: What are the key emerging trends in sexuality and gender within autism, and how might these issues have clinical significance? After many years of misinformation, it is now recognised that most autistic people are interested in romance and sexuality. There is growing awareness of reduced heterosexuality and increased diversity and dysphoria in gender identity in autistic people, and initial clinical guidelines for the potential co-occurrence of autism and gender dysphoria are emerging. There is a heightened risk of inappropriate sexual behaviours and victimisation in autism, and autistic women appear to be more vulnerable in having unwanted sexual experiences than autistic males and typically developing females. Sexuality and gender are importance topics for most autistic people. Experience and expression of sexuality and gender may differ in the autistic population compared with typically developing people, which underlies the importance of identifying, understanding and supporting the development and maintenance of intimate relationships in autistic people. We suggest a biopsychosocial and developmental framework be used to tailor individual support for sexuality and gender-related issues for autistic youth.

We highlight the nature of dyslexia across Chinese societies. The review includes an overview of some main differences across societies that may influence the nature of dyslexia (including script, language, and educational variations), the social context of Chinese learning, and the cognitive-linguistic aspects of learning Chinese. We also list some basic criteria for the diagnosis of dyslexia and point out some promising remediation techniques. Focusing on the cognitive-linguistic skills of phonological sensitivity, morphological awareness, visual-orthographic processing, and fluency for identifying and remediating dyslexia is key. Those with dyslexia tend to have difficulties with one or more of these constructs. Thus, training studies focused on improving these skills have led to improvements in character and word-reading overall. The underlying mechanisms of dyslexia in Chinese are increasingly better understood. A focus on improving cognitive-linguistic skills is essential for ameliorating severe reading problems in Chinese.

Emerging adulthood is usually considered to be the period of life between the ages of 16 and 25 years and described as the stage of life bridging between adolescence and adulthood. The emergence into adulthood provides young people with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) with new challenges. The purpose of this review is to understand in depth how people with DCD present at this age, along with their strength, weaknesses, and challenges and how this may relate to the development of potential service models. The ICF framework was used in this review to consider the interacting biopsychosocial consequences of DCD among young adults. This review indicated DCD as a chronic neurodevelopment disorder across the lifespan. DCD impacts on a variety of body functions, emotional and behavioral status, which result in reduced participation in many areas of life as well as lower feelings of satisfaction and quality of life. We propose the need for the development of interdisciplinary services based on biopsychosocial and ecological approaches.

There is general agreement that alongside the core diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), motor abnormalities and delays in motor development are common features despite the likely presence of multiple etiologies and subtypes of ASD. Whether and to what extent these motor impairments show an ASD-specific profile that can be differentiated from general vulnerability associated with atypical neurodevelopment remains equivocal and a hot topic of debate. This review will critically evaluate the growing body of evidence on motor impairments from prospective studies of infants at high familial risk for ASD, studies of family members with intermediate phenotypes, cross-syndrome and comorbidity studies, and motor-based interventions in ASD. It is argued that a more nuanced view of the pervasiveness of ASD-specific motor abnormalities is needed, and there are a number of significant methodological issues, including comorbidity, small sample sizes, lack of meaningful subtyping, exclusion of cognitively impaired individuals, and lack of longitudinal cross-syndrome designs. To overcome these methodological challenges will require a concerted effort across multiple sites with advances in analytical approaches in neuroimaging and analysis of micro-movements holding a great deal of promise for early diagnosis, development of unified models of pathophysiology, and personalized treatments that are inclusive of the wider spectrum of cognitive abilities in ASD.