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The Link Between Autism and Suicide Risk
Mr. A, a middle-aged chemist, came to a Baltimore emergency room after a suicide attempt. He said he was “thoroughly depressed.” He had been fired after throwing a chair at his boss, not his first outburst at work. Doctors admitted him to the hospital, where they became suspicious of his...
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Bullying and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Needs
Children with disabilities—such as physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities—are at an increased risk of being bullied. Any number of factors— physical vulnerability, social skill challenges, or intolerant environments—may increase the risk. Research...
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A Parent’s Plea for Reform of School Safety and Mental Health Programming
With an estimated 17.1 million children and adolescents presenting with or having received treatment for a psychiatric disorder including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), and Anxiety, school systems across the nation are being thrust into the front...
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The Face of Grief Before and After the Autism Spectrum
My husband Cedric and I used to joke we should have known from the beginning our extremely introverted daughter preferred not to be bothered with the rest of the world. Despite trying to arrive early at 35 weeks, at 42 weeks labor was induced and Jordan arrived. I remember the nurse saying,...
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The Dangers of Social Media for Individuals with Autism
The Disability and Abuse Project publishes a weekly news feed of all articles that have been published in the past week on abuse of people with disabilities. These focus on intellectual and developmental disabilities. Recently there has been an increase of articles describing solicitation by...
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Study Demonstrates That Children with Autism Can Learn to Stand Up to Bullies
The Autism Research Group, along with the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, published a study in the current issue of the journal “Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders” on teaching children with autism to detect and respond to lies told by others attempting to bully them. A research...
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Evidence-Based Interventions for Students on the Autism Spectrum
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation both demand that schools utilize scientifically supported, evidence based methods. Yet, outside of applied behavior analysis there are few well-designed studies supporting interventions for our students on the...
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The Impact of Bullying on Individuals with High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome
Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and high functioning autism (HFA) often report being bullied at some point in their lives. Many describe in great detail the experience of being bullied, and some appear traumatized by the experience. In my clinical experience, individuals with AS and HFA...
