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Transition to Adulthood: Many Difficult Yet Essential Challenges for Autistics
As a group, autistics are well-known for having difficulty with many kinds of changes in their lives. The transition to adulthood constitutes one of the most difficult and, at the same time, one of the most important that most people ever make. This transition usually presents challenges for...
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Social and Emotional Learning: Transitioning to Adulthood
Social and emotional learning is a complex process in which children and adults acquire and utilize skills that are necessary to interact with oneself and others in a positive manner. Core competencies for individuals to learn include managing one’s emotions, setting and achieving positive life...
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The Failure to Accurately Diagnose Girls with Asperger’s Syndrome
The work of Dr. William Mandy has explored the traditionally accepted gender ratio regarding the prevalence of Asperger’s Syndrome in and girls; most studies cite a higher ratio of boys as having Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The research of Dr. Mandy and his associates show that girls with...
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Building the Skills for School Readiness
Parents get excited about school starting in the fall and all the new adventures their children will have. They also know starting school can be a shock for first-time students. Getting up early and out the door, a day of sitting still, lining up and switching activities on a schedule isn’t easy...
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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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Three Expert Tips for Realizing Your Wellness Goals
When we don’t feel well, it seeps into every aspect of our lives. Lethargy, a poor attitude, inertia, and even maladaptive coping mechanisms can be common signs that we aren’t operating optimally. Although social skills and career skills hog much of the limelight as important areas of function...
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Walking the Tightrope: Promoting Success in the Adolescent with ASD
It is tough being an adolescent. Adolescence is a time fraught with changes at many levels. Physically, the body is growing and changing, evolving from the body of a child to an adult, and becoming physiologically capable of bearing children. There is a tremendous surge of hormones that allow for...
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Parent and Adolescent Outcomes Following Participation in the PEERS© Program
As youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) navigate the complex social world of adolescence, they frequently have difficulty forming and maintaining friendships. Past research indicates that adolescents with ASD report lower quality friendships than their typically-developing peers (Bauminger...
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The Intermingling of Tech and Therapy
The iPhone and iPad is commonly touted as today’s go-to tech therapy tool, specifically when dealing with children. With monitored screen time, it enables the development of learning, literacy, and physical and fine motor skills. Apple even has research speaking to this fact, proving that the...
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Adults on the Autism Spectrum: An Unidentified and Forgotten Population
Among all those on the autism spectrum, adults get the least media attention and receive the fewest services, supports, and resources of any kind. This is ironic when one considers that adulthood constitutes most of the human lifespan, so that the vast majority of individuals with autism clearly...
