Editorial Preface

Excerpt

This issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders has 11 fine contributions including a cluster of 4 papers that share a concern with the affective/emotional experiences of people on the autism spectrum. The first, by Konstantareas and Stewart from the University of Guelph in Canada, concerns affect regulation and temperament in children on the autism spectrum. For typically developing children, age is a major factor in how well one regulates emotional. Most of us progress from the intense emotional expression of infancy and toddlerhood to the well regulated expression that characterizes most adults. Young children learn, with the help of their parents to “say it in words” when they are distressed and to control how they convey their emotional communication. By contrast among their many findings Konstantareas and Stewart found children on the autism spectrum used less effective methods for regulating affect than did the typically developing child in their sample. …