Supports and practices for daily living
ASDetect identifies the early signs of Autism, to help reduce the age at which Autistic children are identified. The younger a child is accurately identified the sooner intervention can begin allowing children’s full learning potential to be realised.
Read more “Seven Essential Tips for Parents Evaluating Autism Interventions”
Ask an Autism Researcher
Read more “Echolalia and Autism”Does echolalia always indicate Autism, even when functional and age appropriate speech is present?
Transition
Read more “Teens in Transition”My son completed high school last year but was only recently been assessed with ASD. He has absolutely no idea what to do next. University does not seem an option. Any suggestions?
Health and wellbeing
Emma Baker, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, OTARC Alumni, on the types and causes of sleep problems in Autistic adults
Read more “The nature of sleep difficulties in Autistic adults”
Supports and practices for daily living
Is it possible to teach adults with autism to speak?
Unfortunately, the simple answer is that we don’t know because there is no research evidence that tells us one way or the other. There are reports of individuals which indicate that it may be possible (see for example, Helping to unlock the secrets of autism), but what works for one individual may not work for another. Because of that we cannot make any predictions about particular individuals. However, it is important not to assume anything. Experiences through work, reading of the research literature, and listening to the personal stories of Autistic people and their families lead us to think that we can’t predict what individual Autistic people can or cannot learn, and we shouldn’t give up trying to help them to learn skills. We shouldn’t be surprised by surprises.
Read more “Teaching Autistic adults to speak”
Autism supports
A new research study at the Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre (ASELCC) based at La Trobe University’s Children’s Centre, in collaboration with the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC), has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Read more “New Autism research demonstrates positive impact of early suports”
Autism perspectives
Has any research been done to investigate the inner voice (internal monologue) in people with Asperger’s Syndrome?
There has been quite a bit of research on inner speech with a brief summary of findings provided below, including links to some of the research publications.
Read more “The inner voice”
Supports and practices for daily living
Copying others is important for development. It provides a way to learn about the physical world, and a context for children to practice and develop their skills for interacting with others. There is evidence to suggest that children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Autism) imitate less often and less accurately than non-autistic children. While several explanatory theories have been put forward for these findings, the specific reasons for imitation difficulties remain unclear.
Read more “Imitation Difficulties Among Children with a Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Social Motivation or Motor-Execution Problem?”
Health and wellbeing
Read more “When to tell a child”My four year-old child has just been diagnosed with high functioning autism. She knows that something is happening (doctor visits, tests, etc). How and when should she be told about her ASD?
Autism perspectives
A key question for science to explore in the twenty-first century concerns the mechanisms that underlie social behaviour. How do we understand other people’s thoughts, beliefs and intentions? To what extent can our mental states and feelings be shared with other people? And how do we incorporate other people’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs into our mental world?
Read more “Using an eye tracker in Autism Research”