Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders at AACAP Annual Meeting 2026

272 sessions on autism & neurodevelopmental disorders · October 26–31, 2026, Atlanta, GA. Compare autism & neurodevelopmental disorders at other meetings →

Monday, October 26

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Institute

    Neurobiological Underpinnings of Language Difficulties in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

    Jennifer Zuk

    Examines the neurobiological basis of language difficulties across neurodevelopmental disorders.

    Child & Adolescent · Neuroscience & Mechanisms

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Institute

    Special Education Law: An Intersection of Academics, Clinical Acumen, and Disabilities in Toddlers, Children, and Adolescents

    Tyler Whitney

    Looks at special education law and how it intersects with clinical practice and disabilities in young children and youth.

    Child & Adolescent · Practice, Policy & Workforce

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Institute

    Language Deficits in the ASD Population: What Are They and How Can We Treat Them?

    Gabrielle Blackman

    Describes the nature of language deficits in autism and approaches to treating them.

    Child & Adolescent

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Symposium

    Understanding the Natural Landscape of the Chronology of MDD and Mania in Youth: Findings From an ASD-Enriched Sample

    Mai Uchida

    Presents findings on the timing and sequence of major depression and mania in youth in an autism-enriched sample.

    Bipolar Disorder · Child & Adolescent · Depression

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Symposium

    MDD in Youth With and Without Autism: Psychiatric Comorbidity and Functional Outcomes

    Usman Ghumman

    Compares psychiatric comorbidity and functional outcomes of major depression in youth with and without autism.

    Child & Adolescent · Depression

  • 13:00–15:00 · Symposium

    The Complex Landscape of Depression in Neurodiverse and Gender-Variant Youth: From Chronology to Novel Interventions

    Usman Ghumman · Mohammad Ghaziuddin · Mai Uchida · Hagar Kandel · Rana Elmaghraby

    Symposium on how depression presents and is managed in neurodiverse and gender-variant youth, covering its course over time and newer intervention approaches.

    Child & Adolescent · Depression · Diverse & Underserved Populations

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture

    Accelerated Theta Burst Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression in ASD: From Open-Label Promise to Randomized Controlled Trial

    Rana Elmaghraby

    A talk within a symposium on depression in neurodiverse and gender-variant youth, covering accelerated theta burst stimulation for treatment-resistant depression in autistic youth, from open-label findings toward a randomized controlled trial.

    Child & Adolescent · Neuromodulation (ECT, TMS) · Treatment-Resistant Depression

  • 13:00–15:00 · Lecture · Institute

    Updates in Screening, Diagnosing, and Managing Language Deficits in Children and Adolescents Presenting With Problematic Social and Emotional Behavior

    Theodore A. Petti

    Updates on screening, diagnosis and management of language deficits in youth with social and emotional behavior problems.

    Child & Adolescent · Measurement-Based Care & Diagnosis

  • 13:30–15:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

    Psychopharmacological Management of Irritability, Impulsive Aggression, and Self-Injurious Behaviors in Youth With ASD

    Alice R. Mao

    Reviews medication strategies for irritability, aggression, and self-injury in youth with autism.

    Antipsychotic Prescribing · Child & Adolescent

  • 13:30–15:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

    Treating Anxiety and Depression in Autism: Are SSRIs Helpful?

    Roma Vasa

    Considers whether SSRIs help treat anxiety and depression in people with autism.

    Anxiety Disorders · Child & Adolescent · Depression

  • 13:30–15:30 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

    Managing Inattention in ADHD, Autism, and Intellectual Developmental Disorder

    Olivia Hindera

    Addresses managing inattention across ADHD, autism, and intellectual developmental disorder.

    ADHD · Child & Adolescent · Stimulants & ADHD Medications

  • 13:30–15:30 · Session · Clinical Perspectives

    Medication Maze: Navigating Comorbidities and Maladaptive Behaviors in ASD

    Alice R. Mao · Olivia Hindera · Bryan H. King · Roma Vasa

    Clinical perspectives session on medication approaches for children and adolescents with autism who have comorbid conditions and maladaptive behaviors.

    Child & Adolescent · Drug Interactions & Safety

  • 15:00–17:00 · Lecture · Clinical Perspectives

    Navigating the Spectrum: Specialized vs Integrated Residential Treatment Models for Youth With ASD

    Hassan M. Minhas

    Compares specialized and integrated residential treatment models for youth with autism spectrum disorder.

    Child & Adolescent

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    Applying an Evidence-Based Framework to Assess Recent Controversies Related to Causation and Treatment of ASD

    Natasha Marrus

    Uses an evidence-based framework to evaluate current controversies about the causes and treatment of autism spectrum disorder.

    Child & Adolescent

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    Meeting the Psychiatric Needs of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Autistic Youth: Considerations for Assessment and Care

    Amandeep Jutla

    Addresses assessment and care considerations for transgender and gender-diverse autistic youth.

    Child & Adolescent · Diverse & Underserved Populations

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    From Diagnosis to Direction: How Autism Genetics is Reshaping Clinical Care

    Aaron D. Besterman

    Reviews how advances in autism genetics are changing clinical practice.

    Neuroscience & Mechanisms · Pharmacogenomics & Precision Psychiatry

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    When Intellectual Developmental Disorder and ASD Co-occur: Relevance to Assessment, Case Formulation, and Treatment

    Kathleen A. Koth

    Covers assessment, case formulation and treatment when intellectual developmental disorder and autism co-occur.

    Measurement-Based Care & Diagnosis

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    Depression and Suicide in Autism

    Roma Vasa

    Looks at depression and suicide risk in people with autism.

    Depression · Suicide & Self-Harm

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    Neuromodulation for Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence and Clinical Advances in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

    James Luccarelli

    Reviews the evidence and recent clinical advances for ECT and TMS in patients with autism spectrum disorder.

    Neuromodulation (ECT, TMS)

  • 16:00–18:00 · Lecture

    Treatment Frontiers in Autism and Associated Psychopathology: The Role of Glutamate Modulators

    Gagan Joshi

    Explores glutamate-modulating treatments for autism and associated psychiatric conditions.

    Ketamine & Esketamine · Drug Pipeline & Clinical Trials

  • Course · Institute

    Advances in Characterization and Therapeutics of Autism

    Gagan Joshi · Natasha Marrus · Amandeep Jutla · Aaron D. Besterman · Kathleen A. Koth · Roma Vasa · James Luccarelli

    Full-day institute giving clinicians an evidence-based update on autism assessment and management — current prevalence data, psychiatric comorbidity treatment, and emerging interventions — with emphasis on individualized multimodal treatment planning.

    Child & Adolescent

  • Course · Institute

    Understanding and Managing Language Deficits in Pediatric Clinical Populations: Updates and Advances

    Theodore A. Petti · Stacy S. Drury · Mayank Gupta · Anthony Joseph Deo · Jennifer Zuk · Tyler Whitney · Gabrielle Blackman

    Institute on the frequently missed problem of language deficits in children with emotional, behavioral, and psychotic disorders, covering screening, neurobiology, comorbidity with ASD/ADHD, and referral for special education services.

    ADHD · Child & Adolescent

Tuesday, October 27

Wednesday, October 28

Posters (22)

  • Developmental Visual Spatial Disorder: Initial Evaluation of Criteria for a New Disorder Using Vignettes — Hillary D. Litwin et al.
  • Psychopharmacological Management of Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors in Adolescents With ASD and/or Intellectual Disabilities: Systematic Review and Ethical Analysis — Sofia Andreevna Quiroza et al.
  • Rigidity and Control in Anorexia Nervosa: The Role of OCD, OCPD, and ASD — Noa Cohen-Kim et al.
  • Clozapine in Complex Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Behavioral Stabilization, Seizure Burden, and Safety Monitoring — Geetha Ravindranathan et al.
  • Medication Experience and Adherence to Methylphenidate in Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study — Michel Spodenkiewicz
  • The Safety and Effect of Ecopipam During the First 8 Weeks of Tourette’s Disorder Treatment: A Post-Hoc Analysis — Kinga K. Tomczak et al.
  • Beyond Comorbidity: Analyzing the Cumulative Burden of Co-Occurring Pediatric OCD and Tic Disorders, Insights From a Large, Tertiary Care Sample — Lilian Ebner et al.
  • Long-Term Safety and Effect of Ecopipam, a Selective Dopamine D1 Receptor Antagonist, in Children, Adolescents, and Adults With Tourette's Disorder — Donald L. Gilbert et al.
  • Longitudinal Evaluation of Tic Severity and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Young Adults Who Received Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics as Children — Kieran Suntha et al.
  • The Presence of Common Psychiatric Diagnoses Did Not Impact the Efficacy or Safety of Ecopipam in Individuals With Tourette’s Disorder — Joseph F. McGuire et al.
  • Cortical Thickness and White Matter Surface Morphology in Tourette's Disorder: A Cohort Study — Sahar Delavari
  • Developmental Visual Spatial Disorder: Clinical Utility, Comorbidity, and Accommodations and Service Use/Needs — Prudence W. Fisher et al.
  • Beyond Diagnosis: Autism-Associated Symptom Domains and Restrictive Eating Disorder Phenotypes in Youth — Nikhil P. Rao et al.
  • Evaluating the Effect of an Evidence-Based CBT Program on Autistic Youth Anxiety Symptoms — Sarah Myers et al.
  • Social Work Interventions and Their Impact on Mental Health Outcomes for Autistic Youth — Amber Green et al.
  • Integrating Objective and Subjective Sleep Measures for Autism Prediction and Phenotyping: Cross-Study Machine Learning Validation — Jinhee Lee et al.
  • Observed and Reported Behavior Problems in Preschool-Aged Children With Tuberous Sclerosis Complex — Kate (Katie) N. Friedman et al.
  • Serious Neuropsychiatric Illness in Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Includes Symptoms of Affective Disorder, Psychosis, and Catatonia — Teresa M. Kohlenberg et al.
  • Perinatal Exposures and Domain-Specific Behavioral Profiles in Clinically Complex Youth — Sydney Reynders et al.
  • Neurodevelopmental and Psychiatric Phenotype in Neurofibromatosis Type 1 — Aneta Krakowski et al.
  • Understanding the Use of Propranolol as a Pharmacotherapy for Sensory Over-Responsivity in Autistic Youth — Apurva Chaturvedi et al.
  • Early Social-Emotional Symptoms Among Infants and Toddlers With Caregiver-Reported Intellectual Disability or Development Delay in the United States, 2019-2024 — Shamamah Khan et al.

Thursday, October 29

Posters (41)

  • Atypical Effective Connectivity Within the Interoception Network in ASD — Jeewook Choi et al.
  • Efficacy of Photobiomodulation in Children and Adults With ASD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Lauren Hourani et al.
  • Subclinical EEG Abnormalities in Autism: An Underutilized Precision Medicine Tool to Target Neuroelectric Dysfunction and Improve Functional Outcomes in Children — Muhammad Yusuf et al.
  • Efficacy of a Guided Internet-Based Mental Health Program for Parents of Children With ASD: A Randomized Controlled Trial — Bengi Basar et al.
  • Evaluating Factors That Predict the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Appropriateness of Two School-Based CBT Programs for Autistic Students: A Mixed-Methods Study — Michelle F. Pu et al.
  • Assessing Psychosis in Youth With Autism: A Retrospective Chart Review — Chin Kuo et al.
  • Self-Report of Irritability in Autistic Children and Adolescents: Reliability and Validity — Edmund B. Fanslau III et al.
  • Attention! Attention! Is Attention More of a Problem in Autism Than ADHD? — Barry R. Bryant et al.
  • Clinical Implications of Relational Language Structure in Children With ASD — Ashley Kenney et al.
  • Double Burden of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and Autism: Elevated Psychiatric Morbidity and Suicide Risk in a Large Electronic Health Record Cohort — Usman Ghumman et al.
  • Infant and Toddler Sleep Measures as Candidate Markers of ASD Liability — Holly C. Baer et al.
  • Analyzing Specialized Neurodevelopmental Inpatient Unit Outcomes Based on Diagnosis and Percent Reduction in Problematic Behavior — Eric Huynh et al.
  • Fronto-Cerebellar Structural Correlates of Daily Inhibitory Control in Male Youths With ASD: A Pilot Voxel-Based Morphometry Study — Chun-Yi Lin et al.
  • Gender Variance and Psychiatric Comorbidity Among Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults With Autism: A Large Electronic Health Record Study — Hagar Kandel et al.
  • Improving Timely Lab Monitoring for Metabolic Syndrome in Children With ASD — Sharmin Kamrun et al.
  • Eating Disorders in Transition-Age Youth With Autism: Insights From the Healthy Minds Study — Sarah A. Sherman et al.
  • Association of Irritability With Adaptive Functioning in Autistic Children — Caroline G. Lloyd et al.
  • Determinants of Autism Evidence-Based Practices Implementation in High Schools Across 3 US States — Jocelyn L. Kuhn et al.
  • Missed Opportunities: Metabolic Monitoring in Hospitalized Youth With ASD Receiving Atypical Antipsychotics — Zara Kanwal et al.
  • Evaluating Anxiety Outcomes in Early Childhood Autism Following Behavioral Treatment: Intake to Discharge — Eunsu Lee et al.
  • Brain and Gut: Randomized Evidence for Stem Cell and Microbiome Interventions in Pediatric Autism — Mona Salehi et al.
  • Primary Care Implications of Psychiatric Polypharmacy in Adolescents With ASD — Nandini Sarkar et al.
  • Developmental Stability of Mullen Scales of Early Learning Scores and Their Relationship to Autism Diagnosis — Cheryl Klaiman et al.
  • Increased Rates of Anxiety and Depression in College Students With Diagnosed ASD and ADHD — Aubrey A. Welburn et al.
  • Behavioral Outcomes and Safety of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine in Children and Adolescents With ASD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Mona Salehi et al.
  • The Importance of Metabolic Monitoring in Medication Management of Behaviors in Autistic Youth — Amber Green et al.
  • Shifts in ADHD and Autism Co-Occurrence Following the DSM-5 ’s Release: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis — Maura O'Sullivan et al.
  • Lyme Disease and Its Association With Neurodiversity — Mohammad J. Rana et al.
  • Dietary Patterns and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Deficiencies in Children With ASD: A Case-Control Study — Xiaoqian Li et al.
  • Underutilization of Genetic Testing in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Caregiver Survey of Referral Patterns, Attitudes, and Barriers to Care — Sugapradha Saravanan et al.
  • Distinct Clinical Profiles of Adolescents With ASD and Social Communication Disorder — Seong Hee Park et al.
  • Inpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes in Youth With ASD — Geetha Ravindranathan et al.
  • Who Gets Diagnosed With Autism Later? Demographic and Psychiatric Correlates of Age at Autism Diagnosis in a Nationwide, Population-Based Cohort — Hadar Sadeh et al.
  • Quantification of Selenoprotein Levels in Patients With ASD — Sunil Q. Mehta
  • Case Series: Autistic Patients’ Care Within a Clinic for Autism and Suicide Prevention — Morganne Reid et al.
  • Clinical Presentation and Functional Impairment Associated With Comorbid Psychosis and ASD in Children and Adolescents — Meredith O'Connor et al.
  • Understanding Child Psychiatry Access Program Utilization Based on ASD/Intellectual Disability Disorder/Developmental Delay Status — Elizabeth Margolis et al.
  • Clinical Drivers of High Inpatient Utilization Among Youth With ASD — Aderonke Oyetunji et al.
  • Hypothalamic Neuron Subtypes Predict Social Motivation and Identify Targets for Social Deficits — Simona Sarafinovska et al.
  • Clinical- and Systems-Level Predictors of Behavioral Escalation Among Autistic Youth Presenting to a Psychiatric Emergency Room — Larayeb Wazir et al.
  • Plasma Metabolomic Signatures and Their Association With Behavioral Phenotypes in Pediatric Autism — Yi-An Hung et al.

Friday, October 30

Posters (3)

  • Psychotropic Treatments for Developmental Stuttering: A 20‑Year Systematic Review Across 3 Databases — Ryan J. Elliott et al.
  • Filling the Screening Gap: Preliminary Findings on the Communication Perception Estimate Scale-Pragmatic for Identifying Communication Disorders in School-Age Youth — Miette Ogg et al.
  • Bridging Early Identification and Timely Diagnosis: The Early Childhood Autism Diagnosis Project — Hallie I. Geller

Saturday, October 31

Posters (2)

  • Reduction in Mechanical Restraint Use Following Implementation of an Integrated Behavioral Emergency Program in a Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Specialty Hospital — Hailey Bennion et al.
  • Associations Between Social Determinants of Health and Self-Harm Among Youth With ASD — Kelly Lin et al.

Other topics at this meeting

Child & Adolescent 1361Diverse & Underserved Populations 231Practice, Policy & Workforce 171Psychotherapy 166Education & Training 156Digital Psychiatry & AI 149Measurement-Based Care & Diagnosis 145ADHD 135Neuroscience & Mechanisms 124PTSD & Trauma 114Suicide & Self-Harm 110Collaborative & Integrated Care 102

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