Dual Cognitive and Biological Correlates of Anxiety in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The team looked at boys with autism. They gave two quick tests. One tracked where the boys looked when scary faces popped up. The other measured heart rate and sweat while the boys heard loud sounds.

The goal was to see if these two signals together could tell us who felt the most anxiety.

Both signals mattered, but they did not overlap. Kids who stared longer at threat had higher anxiety scores. Kids whose bodies jumped more during noise also had higher anxiety scores.

Using both tests caught more anxious kids than either test alone.

Boulter et al. (2014) already showed that “I can’t stand not knowing” thoughts link autism and anxiety. Faso et al. (2016) add two new, separate markers: eye gaze and body stress.

Perihan et al. (2020) pooled 23 CBT studies and found the therapy cuts anxiety by a moderate amount. Their work shows we can treat the worry once we spot it; the 2016 paper shows us how to spot it better.

Channell et al. (2022) took the next step. They watched anxious behaviors like hand-flap and escape, then used DRA plus fading to bring those behaviors down. Their single-case design proves you can turn assessment data into a real intervention plan.

Next time you write an anxiety goal, add a one-minute eye-tracking task and a simple heart-rate clip. If either score is high, teach coping skills before problem behavior starts. This quick dual check gives you numbers for the baseline and a clear sign when the coping plan is working.