Autism Supporting Difficulties

The aim of this book is to provide ideas and guidelines which will help parents, educators and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) themselves learn to manage their difficulties. Gaynor Jackson has worked in inclusive mainstream schools as an advisory teacher, working with young children with social communication difficulties and a range of special needs. Her most formative time has been working with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in schools and during the course of her studies, which specialised on children with ASD. Having worked with numerous parents of children with ASD Gaynor has found many common difficulties, especially for parents of children who have been recently diagnosed. She has penned Autism Supporting Difficulties: Handbook of ideas to reduce anxiety in everyday situations to provide ideas and re-enforcement as to how common some of these difficulties are, providing simple and informative tips about how children with ASD can be supported by their parents and professionals to manage their anxieties and difficulties. From her work and studies with parents and professionals, she has selected a range of strategies and interventions which she has used to help children with ASD. These techniques are designed to help children overcome the daily difficulties that they encounter and, in most of these cases, have helped them learn to manage more effectively. The book contains many vignettes to illustrate how the ideas and strategies can work in real-life situations, and aims to shed light on underlying fears so that parents can deal with them early on – before children reach the ‘meltdown stage’. “Children are individuals, no matter what they have in common. Autism is a spectrum of difficulties – and the degrees of difficulties and sensory issues are not uniform, but individual to each child. Sometimes we look too deeply, and sometimes not deeply enough,” comments Gaynor, underlining the importance of understanding each child’s personal needs and difficulties, rather than trying to apply the same techniques to everyone. There is no cure for autism, but Gaynor hopes that by learning to pre-empt some of the potential anxieties caused by the unfamiliar, parents, educators and the children themselves may be able to help manage their reactions and, in time, reduce some of their fears and anxieties.

This guidebook is designed to be used alongside the storybook The Man-Eating Sofa (for 8-12 year-olds). Written in an engaging and accessible style, chapters explore the educational, social and psychological impact of autism and social communication and interaction difficulties (SCID). Strategies are provided to help parents and practitioners recognise and support these issues in the school environment. A chapter-by-chapter exploration of The Man-Eating Sofa provides an opportunity to generate discussion and facilitate understanding of autism and SCID amongst young people and adults who might not have considered the impact of social communication difficulties upon day-to-day life. Key features include: an accessible introduction to autism and SCID discussion points for use with The Man-Eating Sofa, to accompany young people’s reading of the story strategies are provided to support the education, mental health and wellbeing of young people who find social communication, interaction, sensory processing and emotional regulation challenging in mainstream educational settings. This is an essential resource to help parents, teachers and professionals understand and support pupils who are autistic as well as those who find social communication a challenge in the mainstream classroom.

Autism spectrum disorders are developmental disorders. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders develop differently. These differences are usually present in social interaction, communication, and sensory processing, and become visible through a wide variety of behavioral responses that differ from individuals without autism spectrum disorders. Despite significant research efforts, the exact causes of autism spectrum disorders remain poorly understood; however, researchers have gained extensive insights into possible pathomechanisms, even at the molecular level of cells. Many diagnostic criteria have been developed, adapted, and improved. The eight chapters in this book highlight the current state-of-the-art in many areas of autism spectrum disorders. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders and the current knowledge of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. Chapter 2 summarizes the diagnostic criteria and procedures and highlights present and upcoming therapeutic strategies. Chapter 3 reviews the adverse events and trauma in people with autism spectrum disorders. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on atypical sensory processing, and Chapter 6 discusses the genetic overlap of autism spectrum disorders with other neuropsychiatric disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and schizophrenia. Chapter 7 focuses on the contribution of abnormalities in mitochondria, and chapter 8 discusses gut-brain interactions and a potential role for microbiota in autism spectrum disorders. This book is aimed primarily at clinicians and scientists, but many areas will also be of interest to the layperson.

Among the disabilities covered at the state and federal levels, autism and related conditions are a sharply growing diagnostic category among children and young adults. In education, administrators and practitioners working with affected learners are continually faced with confronting difficult problems such as getting adequate personnel training and choosing appropriate tools and techniques that best fit the specific needs of their students while at the same time satisfying their budget, technical resources, curriculum, and profile of the ASD population they serve. The choice of appropriate tools is especially complex due to the intrinsic connection between technical specifications, educational/therapeutic methods, and the wide variety of ASDs and related conditions. In this respect, tools chosen to support children may need to target those diagnosed not only with ASD but also with such co-morbidity conditions as attention deficit disorder. The instructional strategies and use of technology currently have room for improvement for online, hybrid, and face-to-face counseling settings. Also, an effective evaluation of educational technologies and tools would be fundamentally incomplete without a thorough understanding and assessment of the related special education practices as well as psychological and neurological issues specific for ASD and learning disabilities. Education and Technology Support for Children and Young Adults With ASD and Learning Disabilities provides an in-depth analysis on the use of available technology solutions, instructional design methods, and assessment techniques in the context of standards and regulations in classroom or counseling settings. The chapters contain theoretical analyses, vital practical information, and case studies that can function as guidelines for those involved in helping children and young adults with ASD or learning disabilities in online, hybrid, or face-to-face environments. While highlighting topics such as inclusive education, online gaming environments, assistive technologies, and cognitive development, this book is ideally intended for administrators, instructional technology specialists, special education faculty, counselors, instructional designers, course developers, social workers, and psychologists along with practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, and academicians interested in education and technology support for children and young adults with ASD and learning disabilities.

In 1987, The Swedish Medical Research Council's Group for Evaluation of Medical Technology approached me on the subject of organizing a conference on Autism - Diagnosis and Treatment. The original idea for this conference had come from a Stockholm politician, Leni Bjorklund, who had felt that, at least in Sweden, autism appeared to be an area in which conflicting views on etiology and treatment had led to children and parents not always receiving adequate help. Professors Agne Larsson, MD, Tore Schersten, MD and Bjorn Smedby, MD in particular showed a keen interest and it was decided to hold a State-of-the-Art-Conference on autism in Gothenburg. The State-of-the-Art-Conference on Autism -Diagnosis and Treatment was held in Gothenburg May 8 -10, 1989. A panel of international experts was selected because of outstanding research or clinical activity in the field and in order to represent a wide variety of professional and theoretical approaches ranging from epidemiology, neurobiology and cognitive psychology to psychiatry, neurology, education, behavioural treatment and psychoanalysis. A group of professional observers involved in the field of autism was chosen so as to cover Sweden in a representative fashion. This group consisted of administrators, child psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, pediatricians, nurses and teachers.

This practical guide is written to help assistants in supporting children who have behavior difficulties. The author provides a description of the role of the assistant in working with the class teacher to enable children to learn good behavior in schools, a clear description of the range of behavior difficulties, and information on strategies that work in managing behavior. The book is relevant and useful for any assistant working directly with children, as all assistants in the course of their work need to develop a repertoire of effective strategies for managing behavior. It is particularly helpful for assistants who work routinely with children who present behavior problems as it guides understanding and provides a helpful framework for knowing where to start, what to do and how to do it. The book is also an invaluable resource in the training of assistants.

The North Carolina State Legislature's mandate to Division TEACCH has three major components. First, to provide the most up-to-date and cost effective services possible for families with autistic or similar language impaired children; second, to conduct research aimed toward the better under standing of such devastating disorders; and third, to provide training for the professionals needed to pursue these goals. One element in achieving these aims is to hold annual conferences on topics of special importance to the under standing and treatment of autism and similar disorders. In addition to training professionals and parents on the most recent de velopments in each conference topic, we are publishing a series, Current Issues in Autism, based on these conferences. These books are not, however, simply the published proceedings of the conference papers. Instead, some chapters are expanded conference presentations, whereas others come from national and in ternational experts whose work is beyond the scope of the conference, but es sential in our attempt at comprehensive coverage of the conference theme. These volumes are intended to provide the most current knowledge and profes sional practice available to us at the time.