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Facilitating Health Care Visits: How Can We Prepare for a Therapeutic Visit?
Health care visits can be challenging for individuals with autism and the delivering providers. It is critical that we prepare both the individual and the provider to increase the integrity of the visit and ensure a successful outcome. When I took on my role as Senior Director of Healthcare...
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Understanding Insurance Coverage for Autism and Co-Occurring Visual Impairment
According to Petretto et al. (2023), “…autism could currently be considered one of the most commonly reported co-existing developmental disorders in children with blindness or other severe visual impairment.” The etiology, or the biological cause of the blindness, was directly correlated with...
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Supporting Autistic Adults: Am I College Ready?
Am I college ready? Such a question drew the attention of high school senior students in college readiness sessions at AHRC New York City’s Middle/High School. College readiness encompasses academic, social, and emotional learning support for students with autism and intellectual disabilities to...
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We Are All on the Same Side: Unite the Spectrum
We are writing to explain why we do not need more labels to describe autism. We, the authors, became acquainted with each other in 1996 through a common mentor, Stanley Klein, the editor of Exceptional Parent Magazine, when we each published our first books: Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences...
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What I’d Like to See Change in the Disability World Over the Next 50 Years – Part 1: Let’s Change How We Define “Disability”
Note: Autism Spectrum News has allowed me to herein adapt an old piece of mine into a three-part series. I jumped at the chance as the piece needed an update. Frequent readers of mine know the following statement: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature….Life is...
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Addressing Mental Health Challenges for Neurodivergent Youth
Youth mental health is a critically important topic that seems to be having a much-needed moment in the spotlight - like here in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $1 billion investment in a plan that may well transform the future of mental health in this state. Even Hollywood is...
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Monica Carr, PhD, Joins the Autism Spectrum News Editorial Board
Mental Health News Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Autism Spectrum News, is proud to announce that Monica Carr, PhD, a Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Research Associate at The University of Waikato, New Zealand, has become the newest member of...
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Autistic Lived Experience: Unable to Be There for a Friend in Need
In hindsight, I view my sophomore year of college as being the most challenging year of my life. Up until then, I was living in the sweet bliss of unawareness. I had no concept of how compromised my self-esteem was or what self-esteem even meant, and I had a flawed sense of how my words and actions...
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Sensory Sensitivities, Accommodations, and Technological Solutions
Various organizations and venues have recently provided “autism-friendly” and “sensory-friendly” events. This is certainly a welcome trend because it not only addresses an issue that is nearly universal in the autism community but also helps promote autism awareness among the public. Much...
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The Role of Sensory-Focused Education in Inclusive Classrooms
In inclusive classrooms, all student learners have strategies, techniques, support, respect, and a welcoming environment to promote academic success (Webster, 2014). Inclusive classrooms require the integration of differentiated instruction tailored to the unique academic, mental, and physical...
