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“The Lighter Side of the Spectrum – a Mom’s View” – A Vulnerable Child
When my son Jack was about four years old, I lost him in the mall. I was pulling a sweater on over my clothes to see if it would fit, and in the three seconds it took for me to poke my head through the fabric, he was gone. One minute, he was there, standing right in front of me with his overalls...
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What Kind of Research Can Guide the Growth of ASD Services?
Most of my 25-year career in ASD has centered on providing services. Throughout that time, I have tried to draw straight lines from research findings to practice, and show how science benefits children with ASD. On the way, I learned is that not all research is equally relevant to service...
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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...
