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27% of Adults with Autism Who Use State Disability Services Have No Work or Other Activities – 2017 National Autism Indicators Report
A quarter of adults with autism who use state developmental disability services are not working or participating in other structured activities during the day, with only 14 percent holding a paying job in the community, according to the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. Since 2015, the Institute has...
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Employing Theater Arts to Enhance the Lives of Individuals with ASD
The EPIC Players Inclusion Company is a theater based group in New York City, founded by Aubrie Therrien. EPIC’s goals include redefining the face of theater arts, creating employment opportunities for actors with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and providing the local community with an active theater...
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New Treatment Directions for Autism Spectrum Disorders – Neuromodulation
Much of our psychiatric and neurologic knowledge is based on a “lesion model.” When there is an intact nervous system and something happens, such as a stroke or bleed, some tissue is destroyed and deficits may remain. In autism and related developmental disorders, instead of one discreet area...
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Key Advances in Autism Research
Over the past decade, there has been a great deal of research dedicated to understanding the underlying etiology of Autism. There have been tremendous strides in the knowledge of the genetics, neuroanatomy, neurobiology and ultimately biochemical aberrations of this disorder. Additional research in...
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Supporting Employee Professional Development Activities: An Example from a Mid-Size Human-Service Organization
Individuals credentialed as Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) are required to obtain 32 hours of continuing education every two years. The purpose of the continuing education “is to ensure certificants engage in activities that will expand and maintain their behavior-analytic skills”...
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NIH Awards Nearly $100 Million for Autism Centers of Excellence Program
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards nine research grants totaling nearly $100 million over the next five years for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE), a program that supports large research projects aimed at understanding and developing interventions for autism spectrum disorder...
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Parental Age Ups Rate of New Mutations Passed to Children
Men and women both transmit an increasing number of new mutations to their children as they age, according to a study published recently in Nature (Jónsson H. et al., 2017). The finding is based on an analysis of whole genomes from nearly 5,000 people. The increase in these ‘de novo’ mutations...
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Research Steps in Establishing Music Therapy as an Effective Treatment for Children on the Spectrum
Music engages people. Autism advocates have recognized for years that engaging in music making can bring positive benefits to children with autism. The established profession of music therapy, which began in 1950 and currently has over 6,500 board certified music therapists throughout the United...
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Building the Skills for School Readiness
Parents get excited about school starting in the fall and all the new adventures their children will have. They also know starting school can be a shock for first-time students. Getting up early and out the door, a day of sitting still, lining up and switching activities on a schedule isn’t easy...
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Autism Science Foundation Announces Expansion of the Autism Sisters Project – 3 New Grants Awarded to Search for the Female Protective Effect
The Autism Science Foundation (ASF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing innovative autism research, announced the launch of three new multi-year research grants to expand the Autism Sisters Project at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and the Broad Institute in...