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This news websites contains science-based information about ASD for community members who want to learn about the latest in scientific research, best practices, family issues, advocacy, and vital community resources related to autism.

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Strategies to Teach Key Foundation Skills to Young Children with Autism

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Children with autism have both strong and weak points when it comes to learning - like all children. A significant tendency to progress at different rates across developmental domains is generally the case. Further, there can exist an uneven performance within a single area.

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This resource is a Matrix for Evidence Based Practices based on age and outcome.

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This is an article related to the purpose of occupational therapy for individuals with autism. This article takes you through the environment of OT and the specific interventions completed during their time.

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Autism Speaks provides a short guide to learning the beginning signs of autism including limited eye contact, few or no words, and restricted interest. This guide is helpful in knowing several signs you can look for in young children.

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Learn the Signs of Autism | Autism Speaks

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What are the signs of autism? Learn the early asd symptoms and ask your child's provider for an evaluation.

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After watching this presentation, I chose to include it because of the rich information related to collaboration with families. As educators we have to understand the importance of having clear communication with families to support our students.

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I wanted to include another resource related to the issue of the role of the female gender in autism. As educators I believe it's very important that we aware that women experience autism differently than men.

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I wanted to include the presentation I created on Sensory. This presentation includes a lot of information about the sensory needs that individuals with autism have, and the reasons behind this. I also provide interventions you can use in your own classroom.

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Our text book, written by Laura J. Hall is a great resource for understanding elements related to autism. There are 10 chapters related to supporting individuals with autism in aspects such as transitioning, communication, and building relationships.

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The organization for autism research provides a guide to safety written by parents,  educator, first responders, and community members to address safety threats that may be presented. This can also be helpful for parents and educators who need help with topics such as
-Elopement
-Relationships
-Bullying

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A necessary resource for understanding the autism diagnosis is being aware of the criteria that goes into autism. Autism at its core is a social disorder, with other observations of behavior they must meet. This resource lays out the criteria exactly.

https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-diagnosis-criteria-dsm-5

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What are the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for autism?

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

The DSM-5 is now the standard reference that healthcare providers use to diagnose mental and behavioral conditions, including autism.

By special permission of the American Psychiatric Association, you can read the full-text of the new diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder and the related diagnosis of social communication disorder below.
Also see: Answers to frequently asked questions about DSM-5 criteria for autism A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text):
DSM-5 Autism Diagnostic Criteria

1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):
Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior. (See table below.)

1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).

2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day).

3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest).

4. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities or may be masked by learned strategies in later life). D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level.
Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. (See table below.)

Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

Specify if:

With or without accompanying intellectual impairment

With or without accompanying language impairment
(Coding note: Use additional code to identify the associated medical or genetic condition.)

Associated with another neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral disorder
(Coding note: Use additional code[s] to identify the associated neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral disorder[s].)

With catatonia

Associated with a known medical or genetic condition or environmental factor

Table: Severity levels for autism spectrum disorder

Level 3
"Requiring very substantial support"

Severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills cause severe impairments in functioning, very limited initiation of social interactions, and minimal response to social overtures from others. For example, a person with few words of intelligible speech who rarely initiates interaction and, when he or she does, makes unusual approaches to meet needs only and responds to only very direct social approaches

Inflexibility of behavior, extreme difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors markedly interfere with functioning in all spheres. Great distress/difficulty changing focus or action.

Level 2
"Requiring substantial support"

Marked deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills; social impairments apparent even with supports in place; limited initiation of social interactions; and reduced or abnormal responses to social overtures from others. For example, a person who speaks simple sentences, whose interaction is limited to narrow special interests, and how has markedly odd nonverbal communication.

Inflexibility of behavior, difficulty coping with change, or other restricted/repetitive behaviors appear frequently enough to be obvious to the casual observer and interfere with functioning in a variety of contexts. Distress and/or difficulty changing focus or action.

Level 1
"Requiring support"

Without supports in place, deficits in social communication cause noticeable impairments. Difficulty initiating social interactions, and clear examples of atypical or unsuccessful response to social overtures of others. May appear to have decreased interest in social interactions. For example, a person who is able to speak in full sentences and engages in communication but whose to- and-fro conversation with others fails, and whose attempts to make friends are odd and typically unsuccessful.

Inflexibility of behavior causes significant interference with functioning in one or more contexts. Difficulty switching between activities. Problems of organization and planning hamper inde

Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder
A. Persistent difficulties in the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication as manifested by all of the following:
Diagnostic Criteria
B. The deficits result in functional limitations in effective communication, social participation, social relationships, academic achievement, or occupational performance, individually or in combination. C. The onset of the symptoms is in the early developmental period (but deficits may not become fully manifest until social communication demands exceed limited capacities). D. The symptoms are not attributable to another medical or neurological condition or to low abilities in the domains or word structure and grammar, and are not better explained by autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder), global developmental delay, or another mental disorder.

1. Deficits in using communication for social purposes, such as greeting and sharing information, in a manner that is appropriate for the social context.

2. Impairment of the ability to change communication to match context or the needs of the listener, such as speaking differently in a classroom than on the playground, talking differently to a child than to an adult, and avoiding use of overly formal language.

3. Difficulties following rules for conversation and storytelling, such as taking turns in conversation, rephrasing when misunderstood, and knowing how to use verbal and nonverbal signals to regulate interaction.

4. Difficulties understanding what is not explicitly stated (e.g., making inferences) and nonliteral or ambiguous meanings of language (e.g., idioms, humor, metaphors, multiple meanings that depend on the context for interpretation).

DSM-5 and Autism: Frequently Asked Questions
For more information

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Autism Diagnosis Criteria: DSM-5 | Autism Speaks

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In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The DSM-5 is now the standard reference that healthcare providers use to diagnose mental and behavioral conditions, including autism.

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This is the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction provides resources for working with individuals with autism in your classroom, including EBPs, online learning resources, policies, and more.

https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/classroom-resources/exceptional-children/resources-unique-needs/autism-spectrum-disorder

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This program serves as a resource to Public School Units (PSUs), including charter schools. The goal is to help ensure that students with ASD develop intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and vocationally. NCDPI Consultants for Autism accomplish this by providing universal, tailored, and customized support through professional learning and technical assistance to PSUs throughout the state.

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This resource is a mother of a child with autism who makes videos about their daily life experience. This mother is extremely honest and vulnerable in her stories, and provides REAL information about parenting someone with autism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCZmSEOynVo

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The Last Time We Believe This Is Going To Be Okay

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This is a specific article I'm sharing about the gender imbalance that individuals with autism often feel. So much research about people with autism is about cisgender males, excluding the experience of women and non binary people.

https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/righting-gender-imbalance-autism-studies/

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For the first 42 years of her life, Sharon daVanport assumed that everyone finds the lights at the grocery store overwhelming. As a child, she knew it was unusual that she rocked back and forth and banged her head on her bedroom wall after school, but she didn't worry about it. Even after her youngest son, J.D., was diagnosed with autism at age 5, she did not draw any parallels between his behavior, which also included rocking, and her own - although her mother did notice some similarities between them.

Then, 12 years ago, when her autistic son was 12, daVanport learned she too has autism. And then she understood all sorts of things - including why she had trouble relating to the other parents in the online communities she sought out after J.D.'s diagnosis. She began searching for a new kind of support network, one for autistic adults.

Her quest quickly snowballed into a new life. After befriending several women online, daVanport helped create a website and discussion forum that evolved into a nonprofit, the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. She became its executive director.

Bolstered by that community, daVanport realized why it had taken her so long to find her tribe: She and other women with autism were being ignored - not just by society but by science. When the group reviewed studies about autism, she says, it was typical to see mostly male participants. "Here we are, like hundreds and hundreds of women talking online who are autistic, and we're finding each other, but researchers don't know about us," she says.

Evidence that clinicians are missing girls with autism has been building for years. Because autistic girls tend to exhibit different traits than autistic boys do, they are frequently overlooked by teachers, doctors and standard diagnostic tools. Those omissions carry over into the research literature, where studies typically include three to six males for every female, says William Mandy, a clinical psychologist at University College London.

As a result, researchers don't yet know enough about gender differences in autism - and so they miss girls whose traits differ from those of boys. It's a vicious cycle, Mandy says: "You are inheriting any diagnostic bias that is built into the system."

To break the cycle, some researchers, including Mandy, are making it a priority to recruit female and nonbinary participants into their studies. And some are turning to women like daVanport and gender-nonconforming autistic people for guidance on how to design better studies and cast a wider net when recruiting participants. DaVanport has been an adviser on one study for more than a year. She and an autistic colleague solicit feedback from a group of about 20 autistic people, and she attends weekly meetings to share their thoughts with researchers on what it is like to be autistic beyond the typical definition.

Improving the sex and gender balance in autism studies could transform our understanding of the condition, just as it did for heart disease in women. Without that balance, says Lauren Kenworthy, who leads the team, "we certainly miss opportunities to provide effective treatment or to understand what effective treatment might be."

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Righting the gender imbalance in autism studies

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For the first 42 years of her life, Sharon daVanport assumed that everyone finds the lights at the grocery store overwhelming. As a child, she knew it was unusual that she rocked back and forth and banged her head on her bedroom wall after school, but she didn't worry about it.

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This study provides information about transitional services for individuals in special education and the quality of this. This study considers family and youth participation in the transition, and what skills were focused on.

https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/3236589/mod_resource/content/2/Autism%20Transition%20Study%202018%20Drexel.pdf

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National Center on Intensive Intervention 

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National Center on Intensive Intervention 

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The National Center on Intensive Intervention is a resource for educators, that provides tools for intensive academic and behavioral needs. Their specific approach is a DBI (data based individualization) that uses research/assessment data to support students who need intense interventions.

https://intensiveintervention.org/

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Explore all

Educators

Find tools and resources to support general and special education teachers, interventionists, school psychologists, school counselors, and other school-based personnel working with students with intensive academic and behavioral needs.

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Explore all Find tools and resources to support general and special education teachers, interventionists, school psychologists, school counselors, and other school-based personnel working with students with intensive academic and behavioral needs.

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AFIRM is a wonderful website that allows educators to deep dive into intervention techniques when working with students who have disabilities. Through this website you can learn about Task Analysis, Video Modeling, Functional Communication, and more.

https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/afirm-modules

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This is an amazing resource that provides evidence-based practices for a variety of subjects including literacy, mathematics, science, and behavior. Their website has a statement that concludes : We review the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings. We focus on high-quality research to answer the question “what works in education?”.

https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

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As an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was created in 2002 to be a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education.

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A resource for evidence-based practices that highlights strategies that have been shown to be effective in teaching appropriate behaviors and skills in individuals with autism.

https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/asd2/#content

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An incredible book written by Barry Prizant about supporting individuals with autism and their families. This book allowed me to further understand the experience of autism and how I can become a better educator for students with autism.

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Spectrum news is a wonderful resource to read articles pertaining to the professional world of education and autism.