autism research

4 Comments Posted on November 4, 2015April 7, 2017 Autism

Gender and Autism – Autistic people what gender (or sex) are you? Or those of your autistic loved ones?

Gender and Autism – Autistic people what gender (or sex) are you? Or those o your autistic loved ones?

Autism Acceptance

Sorry an odd question but let me explain.

As some of my more regular readers know that I have a , now, nine year old autistic son and also I spend nearly a decade of my life working in healthcare survey research.

This has given me a huge distrust of any government supplied data. (For lots of reasons, in fact, but tardiness (by our governments) does come into it).

So one of the figures which interested me at the moment are that of gender and autistic diagnosis. The number thrown out a lot is that only 20% of people diagnosed with autism are female.

Is this true?

To find out I have decided to run my own poll on the subject which you can find below.

It would be great if you could take part either on your own behalf or those of a loved one.

Thanks very much in advance.

PS I am aware of the developments in the autistic transgender community and I have tried to cover to some extent in the possible answers. I appreciate such endeavours are quite good enough so I would be grateful if you could share any thoughts you many have regarding definitions of autistic transpeople in the comments section below! Again thanks.

Leave a comment Posted on August 2, 2015August 4, 2015 Autism

Faces of the F.A.C.E. Lab – the Importance of Autism Research

A guest post from Julia Mertens, FACE Lab Research Assistant

“Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley.”

“We have got to work on keeping these children engaged in the world.”

-Temple Grandin, Autism Advocate

These two quotes by Temple Grandin summarize why we at the F.A.C.E. Lab are

FACE Lab

so passionate about what we do, and why we hope families will participate in autism research. I’ve only been with the F.A.C.E. Lab for a month and a half now, and I have already been humbled by the intelligence and creativity of 10-16 year olds with and without autism. It has been centuries since the human who created the stone spear died, but I can see their legacy in the faces of these kids.

But sometimes our geniuses with autism have to struggle in order to be accepted by society. Research shows that social communication is directly related to success. When almost every job requires an in-person interview, social difficulties can conceal the unique talents and potential of someone with an autism spectrum disorder.

I work at the F.A.C.E. Lab so that I can help improve therapy, and so that those geniuses are in the best position to contribute to our society which desperately needs them.

F.A.C.E. Lab at Emerson College

Currently, our research needs children ages 10-16 with and without autism to participate in our studies. Our study takes place in two sessions, 2-3 hours each. Participants are compensated for their time, and parking is subsidized.

The tasks the child will complete include: standardized tests, watching videos of people talking, answering some questions about the videos, and having a conversation with one of the F.A.C.E. Lab researchers. During some parts of the study, the child will have small stickers on their face to track facial expressions and pain-free electrodes on their hands, clavicles and a rib in order to measure heart rate and skin conductance.

Please check out our website and Facebook for more information:

https://www.facebook.com/FACElabatEmersonCollege?ref=tn_tnmn

http://facelab.emerson.edu/

If you’d like to participate, have any ideas as to how we can reach out to families, or think of any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at facelab@emerson.edu or (617) 824-8710.

Leave a comment Posted on July 3, 2015 Autism

An Investigation of Early Indicators of Behavioural Difficulties in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder – Please help Trinity College Dublin with some research

No research study has examined the relationship between the presence/absence of early indicators of behavioural difficulties and the presence/absence of core preschool life skills ). Behavioural difficulties such as aggression towards self and others, temper tantrums, and noncompliance are often prevalent in older children with autism, yet little is known about how these manifest at a younger age. Preschool life skills include functional communication, instruction following, tolerance of delay/denials in accessing rewards, and pro-social skills. This study will examine factors related to (a) early indicators of behavioural difficulties (b) the presence/absence of the core preschool life skills in children below the age of 5 years. Absence of the preschool life skills as a risk marker/predictors of early indicators of behavioural difficulties will also be investigated.

Parents/teachers/staff members who are interested in participating will complete an online questionnaire. The questions will be used to identify early indicators of behavioural difficulties (and the type of difficulties present), to evaluate communication skills and social functioning, and to identify the presence/absence of the 13 preschool life skills.

Link to access questionnaire:

http://goo.gl/forms/HGpjDZIwwG

If you would like additional information please contact:

Carolyn Ritchey

Email: ritcheyc@tcd.ie

Phone: +353 89 452 5331

Leave a comment Posted on June 26, 2015June 25, 2015 Autism

A survey for adults with autism about relationships. Please take part

Claremont McKenna – Autism Research

We are a team of researchers from Claremont McKenna College (Department of Psychology), UCLA (Department of Psychiatry), and California State University Long Beach (Department of Psychology). We are very much interested in better understanding the lives of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In particular, we are interested in learning more about romantic relationships in adulthood and how they affect other aspects of adults’ lives. For this study, we have created a questionnaire that will take approximately 30-45 minutes to complete. We are greatly appreciative of any volunteers on the autism spectrum willing to complete the questionnaire.

There is little existing research investigating romantic relationships among adults with ASD and we hope that by conducting this questionnaire we will learn more about this important part of life in adults with ASD. This could help us understand the role of romantic relationships and their impact on daily lives.

Here is a link to the questionnaire: https://claremontmckenna.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8vjRZZ3gyCKlQTX

For specific questions, please feel free to email us at: Lindsey.Sterling@csulb.edu

Thank you for your time!
Lindsey Sterling, Siena Whitham, and LillyBelle Deer

Leave a comment Posted on June 22, 2015June 22, 2015 Autism

OT Research Study: Parent Wanted! Parent Strategies for Increasing Eye Contact in Children with ASD – Please help 3 OT graduates with a survey.

Autism and Eye Contact

As occupational therapy graduate students we hope to find ways to improve the quality of life of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) as well as their families. The goal of our research study is to identify methods parents have found to be the most successful for increasing their child’s eye contact and decreasing the amount of time their child spends visually perseverating (fixating on an object for an inappropriate period of time). Deficits in social communication are common in the ASD community, which can result in decreased social competence; thus, impacting the individual’s ability to use effective social strategies to interact with others, including initiating interactions, responding appropriately to others, solving conflicts, and maintaining sustained engagement in social interaction.

Children with ASD commonly have characteristic deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication such as facial expression, gestures, eye contact, joint attention tasks, and rote and imaginative play, which can negatively impact their ability to orient and attend to social tasks, and engage in socializing. For many, eye contact skills are an important skill necessary for the development of social, cognitive, and language skills.

Several strategies have been found to be effective for increasing eye contact in children with ASD. Researchers have found that interventions during play, such as withholding items until the child requests them while making eye contact, reinforced the child’s behavior toward making eye contact. Strategies during play have also been used to increases eye contact in a child with ASD. These strategies include placing one’s face by a toy the child is interested in, imitating the child’s actions, or putting a preferred item out of reach and waiting for the child to make eye contact. Research has found that parents who imitated their child’s actions and used a preferred activity to engage the child, such as singing to them or wrapping them in a blanket, improved eye contact throughout the length of the parents’ interactions with their children. Other parental strategies include the use positive affect such as laughing, clapping, playful tones, and physical affection.
Through this study it is hoped that there will be a better understanding of the type of strategies (e.g., language, touch, auditory, visual-technology, object, exaggerated body placements, or other strategies) that improve eye gaze and eye contact. A benefit of this study will be to provide occupational therapists and other professionals, working with families of children with ASD, the ability to develop treatment plans according to what caregivers have found to be successful for decreasing visual perseveration and increasing eye contact.

If you or anyone you know are interested in participating in this study, please follow the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ASDparentstrategies

Thank you for your time.

Laura Perez, Macy Rhea Crenshaw, Divya Sakaria

Patient Talk