Special training for teachers may mean big results for students with autism , according to Florida State University and Emory University researchers.

In a new study, children whose teachers received specialized training “were initiating more, participating more, having back-and-forth conversations more, and responding to their teachers and peers more frequently,” said researcher Lindee Morgan.

Morgan and FSU Autism Institute Director Amy Wetherby were co-principal investigators of a three-year, 60-school study that measured the effectiveness of a curriculum, called SCERTS, designed specifically for teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

SCERTS (pronounced “serts”) was developed in 2006. It targets the most significant challenges presented by ASD, spelled out in its acronym: “SC” for social communication, “ER” for emotional regulation, and “TS” for transactional support (developing a partnership of people at school and at home who can respond to the ASD child’s needs and interests and enhance learning).

The team reported its results this month in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Morgan, the lead author, worked at the Autism Institute when the study was conducted and now is at Emory’s School of Medicine. Co-author Wetherby was one of the developers of the SCERTS curriculum.

“There is now a solid body of research on treatments for preschool children with ASD,” Wetherby said. “However, this study is one of only a few demonstrating the efficacy of a treatment for school-age children. And the most impressive part is it was conducted in public school classrooms with a good mix of general and special education teachers.”
#

ASD refers to a group of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication and interaction.

The research team enlisted the participation of 60 schools in 10 districts: one in California, two in Georgia and seven in Florida (Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Okaloosa, Taylor, Volusia and Wakulla counties). They randomly matched pairs of schools for the study.

In each pair, one school was designated ATM, for “autism training modules.” Its students got regular classroom teaching supplemented only by a website where modules related to autism were available to teachers. The other school was designated CSI, for “classroom SCERTS intervention.” Its participating teachers received three days of SCERTS training — plus regular coaching, access to extra reference materials and videos of themselves in the classroom.

Morgan said the team was delighted with the results showing how CSI schools outperformed ATMs. One of the study’s strongest features, she said, was that teachers could watch the videos and see for themselves how the classroom had changed.

“Our primary outcome measure was a direct observation tool, which is basically unheard of in educational intervention research,” she said. “Video was a very tedious process. However, it’s such a great measure to see what both teachers and students are using in the classroom.”

In addition, she said, a parent report and several teacher measures also showed that the students in the CSI group outperformed the ATM group.

“There is a pressing need to change the landscape of education for school-age students with ASD,” the paper concluded. “This work has the potential to contribute to this change by providing a feasible, comprehensive model of intervention that can be implemented in a variety of educational placements and settings.”

Morgan said CSI could benefit teachers and all students, not just those on the autism spectrum.

“General education teachers in most states aren’t required to have autism training,” she said. “And yet they find themselves with kids with autism because that’s the law. These days, more than 70 percent of kids on the spectrum have no intellectual disabilities. Therefore, schools are moving more toward modifying and adapting the mainstream classroom in ways that are not only helpful for kids with autism but also good for all the students. I remember some of our kindergarten teachers saying afterward: ‘Putting this in place helped my whole class.'”

Know these symptoms to spot children with Aspergers. Helping people understand Autism from a person with Autism’s perspective.

In case you weren’t aware, Autism Spectrum Disorder (or ASD) affects 1 in every 68 children, and are much more commonly diagnosed in boys. Some studies show that boys are four times more likely than girls to have an ASD, but new research suggests that it may appear differently in girls, and therefore go undiagnosed or possibly be misdiagnosed as something entirely different.

The criteria for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—a developmental condition that is marked by social and communication difficulties and repetitive, inflexible patterns of behavior—are based on data derived almost entirely from studies of boys. This lack of data surrounding how ASD may affect a female has lead to years of misunderstanding and misdiagnosis, especially for those girls on the higher functioning end of the spectrum. Research has shown that females who received a diagnosis of ASD at a very young age were much more affected by the ASD than their male counterparts. They showed lower IQs and extreme behavioral problems, whereas the boys who were diagnosed did not have to be so severe to get proper treatment.

In a very recent study (2016) they found that even the way that the brain processes social information is different based on the sex of the child. Boys with ASD use certain portions of their brain to manage social situations, and those regions are different than boys without ASD, so seeing those parts of their brain light up during a social interaction was an easy way to diagnose. However, in girls with ASD it’s not like that. In a girl with ASDs brain, it lights up in the same way that a non ASD boy’s would.

Why is that? We don’t know, and they are doing follow up research on this interesting finding right now, but this has already been supported by a completely different study conducted in Australia on 25 boys with ASD and 25 girls with ASD. Researchers believe that this occurs because of our sex hormones. We already know that men and women are very different, but maybe we don’t fully understand just HOW different we are.
They also believe that girls as much better at noticing and mimicking behavior, and will work really hard to appear completely “normal.” Therefore in order to properly diagnose a girl with ASD you will need to not just observe them, but also talk with them about their personal experience with socializing or managing change.

They also find that boys with autism are not really interested in socializing and when asked will report that they don’t really care if they have any friends. Girls on the other hand, do care, and show a much greater desire to connect.
They also found that girls with ASD don’t tend to have as much repetitive behavior as the boys, and many of their pastimes and interests are similar to other girls without ASD.

Last, they share that girls with ASD tend to be viewed as too much. Meaning they are often too intense, too sensitive, or too rigid.
Many girls have been diagnosed with OCD, ADHD, and even anorexia instead of ASD like they should have been. Anorexia in the female ASD population is much higher than non ASD girls, and they believe that many of the symptoms and profiles of the 2 diagnosis work together. Meaning that the rigidity, focus, and detail oriented nature of both ASD and eating disorders can mean that EDs are the way that ASD can show itself in the female population.
They also find that females with ASD (since they tend to take things literally and are direct) they can more easily fall victim to sexual exploitation (such as assault, abusive relationships, etc). They say this especially for females because just as we discussed earlier, they want connection, and are aware of their their struggle to make friends and build relationships. So they may be with someone just because they show them a little attention, or even if that attention isn’t kind or loving. So be careful.

The police department in the central Missouri town of Moberly has launched a voluntary autism directory aimed at helping improve officers’ interactions with people on the autism spectrum.

Personal information on the form includes names, addresses, descriptions, special tics and more so police can identify and help people who have autism, the Columbia Missourian reports .

Police say the goal is to help responders understand what might make a person agitated and how to calm the person down in a stressful situation. Commander Tracey Whearty said gathered information will be for police and first responders only.

Moberly police reached out to several groups that deal with mental health issues while formulating the program. They also got help from parents like Nikki and Brett Soendker, who have three children on the autism spectrum. Nikki Soendker is founder of an autism charity and awareness group.

Read the rest of the article here.