A 9-year-old girl and her parents implemented self-management training so she (“Abby”) could learn to greet unfamiliar adults, not interrupt, and ask questions during conversation. One month after her parents faded out the self-management program, Abby maintained her new behaviors and generalized them to new settings. This style of intervention empowers families to improve their…
This is the first post in our Safety Miniseries. When I asked Beth Benevides, Hussman Institute Associate Director of Outreach, autism parent, and avid autism activist, what she would recommend parents do to keep their loved ones with special needs safe, she had a ready answer: Get in touch with your local 911 call center,…
This mini-series of blog posts will provide helpful information to help you keep your family member with special needs safe. We’ll cover how to “flag” your home address so first responders receive critical information about your home and family members before arriving at the scene of an emergency. We will lay out options for preventing…
Ample research has found that video modeling is an effective way to teach students—especially those with autism—new skills. As noted in the Hussman Institute for Autism’s guide to supporting individuals with autism, “In skills training for children with developmental delays, the passive observation of a model demonstrating the target skill is often more effective than…
People with autism often experience an utterly unfiltered world. They are constantly bombarded by sensory stimuli their brains aren’t wired to tune out. Light, sounds, and smells can be overwhelming, or even painful. Many individuals on the autism spectrum also have difficulty interpreting social cues and communicating effectively, and may engage in repetitive movements. A…
In their new review, Dr. David Hampson, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Toronto, and Dr. Gene Blatt, Director of Neuroscience at the Hussman Institute for Autism, integrate a broad range of research findings to convincingly portray the cerebellum as an important player in autism. Long believed to function primarily as a regulator of…
Instead of investigating the ability of individuals on the autism spectrum to identify emotions, a new study takes a different approach: how well can neurotypical adults interpret the behavior of adults with autism? Can neurotypicals determine what type of situation people are experiencing based on their reactions alone? A Dr. Elizabeth Sheppard and colleagues from…
The only significant predictor of self-reported life satisfaction in adults with autism spectrum condition (ASC) is whether or not they participate in society, a new study reports, indicating that more resources should be directed toward increasing community engagement for individuals with ASC. Researchers surveyed 43 adults with autism and 44 without about how much difficulty…
A recent study found that individuals with autism spectrum condition (ASC) demonstrate a tradeoff between speed and accuracy when faced with emotionally-charged situations with conflict. It is well established that individuals with ASC tend to pay less attention to social and emotional information, so one possible explanation for this finding is that individuals with ASC…
A 2010 study by Dr. Lynn Koegel and colleagues provided evidence that giving children choices related to their academic tasks improved several aspects of their performance. When given choices, the children initiated writing and math tasks more quickly, completed the tasks faster, decreased their disruptive behaviors, and demonstrated greater interest in the tasks. At the…
