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Advancements in Assistive Technology – Using Robots for Therapeutic Interventions
Assistive Technology (AT) is an advancing field that helps individuals with special needs learn, grow, and participate in the community. These devices can take many forms and work at many levels. Robot-Assisted Intervention (RAI) is an advanced form of assisted technology. These tools can help the...
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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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Assessment and Treatment of Challenging Behavior Maintained by Social Reinforcers
About 1 in 54 school-age children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Maenner et al., 2020). The core symptoms of ASD include impairments in social interaction, difficulties communicating, and restricted and repetitive interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although not a...
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Enhancing Communication to Reduce Challenging Behaviors
The most recent report from the CDC found the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to be one in 54 children in the US (Maenner et al., 2020). Because the diagnostic criteria for ASD includes persistent deficits in communication and deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors, many...
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Designing Environments to Reduce Challenging Behaviors
Challenging behaviors - defined as abnormal behaviors that deviate from one’s culture in frequency, intensity, or duration - are common among autistics, and have the potential to cause hardships for the autistic and others (Jang, Healy, & Mannion, 2011; Matson & Minshawi, 2007; Myers...
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Self-Advocacy and Successful Onboarding and Maintenance of Employment
The topic of employment struggles for those on the Autism Spectrum tends to focus on gaining meaningful work opportunities, while the conversation needs to continue by looking at sustaining employment. In a 2018 study, only 14.3% of the sample sustained employment for a period longer than 18 months...
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A Clinician’s Perspective on Robot-Assisted Instruction for Autistic Children
I’ve been licensed in California as a Marriage and Family Therapist for over 18 years and my career passion and good fortune has allowed me to treat children with developmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), as well as high functioning adults. Therapy is a profound...
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Robot-Assisted Instruction for Children with Autism: How Can Robots Be Used in Special Education?
In today’s high-tech world, quality teaching in special education is an essential factor that many specialists need to fulfill. Special education teachers are well-trained and often receive the latest skills and resources to provide effective intervention for children with autism. However, high...
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Improving Interactions Between Police and People with Autism
A man stands among an aisle at a store. He doesn’t talk with anyone or interfere with their shopping, but he’s making the store’s employees uncomfortable, nonetheless. He picks up a product from the shelf, examines it closely, and returns it to its original place. He repeats the process again...
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An Interdisciplinary Model for Supporting Children with Autism and Their Families
An autistic child’s family is structured no different than that of neurotypical children. Families generally include parents and siblings with their own perspectives and issues. In the wake of substantial empirical support for the effectiveness of applied behavior analysis (ABA) interventions for...
