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An Interview with the New York State OASAS, OMH, and OPWDD Commissioners to Address Critical Healthcare Issues
In a rare opportunity, Mental Health News Education, publisher of Autism Spectrum News and Behavioral Health News, has brought together the Commissioners of the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH), The NYS Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), and The NYS Office for People with...
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CDC Launches COVID-19 Resources for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Care Providers
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unique challenges for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). To address them, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a COVID-19 toolkit with communication resources explaining in plain language how people with IDD...
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Study Finds Children with Autism Respond Well to Puppets
A new study by researchers at the Yale Child Study Center demonstrates that puppets can attract and hold the attention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), raising the potential for developing more engaging therapies that strengthen social engagement and facilitate learning. The...
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International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement Launches the First-Ever Global Standard Set to Enhance Care For Autism Spectrum Disorder
On September 7, 2021, the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) launched a standardized Autism Spectrum Disorder Standard Set (ASDSS). The rollout of this set marks an important, proactive step towards promoting data quality and availability across the industry. The ASDSS...
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My Life Is a Work in Progress
My goal in life is to keep facing my everyday challenges. My life is a work in progress. I want to talk about how I understand things and what is going on in my brain because I have autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I also have anxiety. My anxiety can be good because it helps me...
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Promoting Happiness in Autistic Individuals
The traditional approach to autism treatment and support is predominantly concerned with focusing on a person’s challenges, rather than building upon their strengths. Programs and services focus mainly upon eliminating or reducing socially inappropriate behavior, rather than developing practices...
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Antidotes to Autistic Burnout
Most people recall some chapter in their lives that they would look back on and identify as burnout. This term usually refers to the amount of energy someone has for their job or that they have taken on too many activities in general. In the autistic community, however, the word has taken on...
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The Benefits of Training Parents to Use Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence Charts
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder can exhibit many behaviors their families, teachers, and other supporters in their communities find challenging. Likewise, individuals on the spectrum see the world at large as a challenge, and the people in their lives find the challenging behaviors their...
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Balancing and Prioritizing Academic and Behavioral Goals in an Inclusive Classroom Setting
Before academics can be made a priority, a child’s behaviors must be addressed to set them up to be successful in an inclusive, general education setting. In an inclusive classroom setting, there are many behavioral demands placed upon a student. Target behaviors must be prioritized in order for...
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Crisis Management in Children with Autism and First Responders
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to engage in challenging behavior than their neurotypical peers. Severity of these behaviors range from mild to very severe and include topographies such as aggression, self-injury, destructive behavior, pica, and elopement...
