What characterizes autism is a complex collection of manifestations, namely, repetitive behaviors, social communication difficulties, and sensory hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). While the etiology of autism remains unknown, a combination of genetic and environmental factors have been hypothesized to play a role in its development (Chaste & Leboyer, 2012; Sylvie et al., 2014).

Autism is often accompanied by single or multiple co-occurring conditions that may develop during different life stages (Doshi-Velez, Ge, & Kohane, 2014; Lai et al., 2019). This can include intellectual disability, language delay, medical conditions (e.g., epilepsy, gastrointestinal problems) and psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder). The current worldwide prevalence is estimated to be 1/132 (Baxter et al., 2015), with males being more frequently diagnosed than females (Loomes, Hull, & Mandy, 2017).