Category: Autism News

As an OT, messy sensory play activities are some of my favorite to incorporate with my students! They can be a pain to clean up after, but the benefits outweigh the extra cleaning time for me. Now, before I go further with this post, I want to acknowledge that messy sensory play isn’t something that everyone…

I read the recent NY Times Op-Ed by Emma Camp, “Why I Am More and More Ambivalent About My Autism Diagnosis” with increasing fury. Ms. Camp’s political bent is perplexing, but the point that is most essential to me, because it could perpetuate ignorance and cause damage, is her bizarre assumption that neurological diagnoses are…

Ahmed and Hassan Abdullah are two brothers with autism. On May 13, during the latest Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip, their already challenging life was turned into a nightmare. At five in the morning, shrapnel from the Israeli Iron Dome System hit their house,  located in the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp, in the…

Growing evidence suggests that the immune system may play a role in the formation of developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and that using CBD for autism symptoms can be widely beneficial. The immune system plays a crucial role in maintaining our health. It’s a network of cells, tissues, and organs that provides…

Stories are powerful forces in the lives of young people; they help us connect, learn, heal, dream, and transform. Stories help us become who we most fully are when we see ourselves and our experiences reflected in them. For children and teens on the autism spectrum, the number and variety of books with autistic characters and written…

April is Autism Awareness Month, a time to take action to address the fact that there is inadequate healthcare and support services for individuals with autism across the U.S. Those with autism have poorer access to healthcare than non-autistic people and higher rates of chronic disease. Rural and low-income areas are particular service deserts for…

Seoul National University Hospital opens living lab to promote early autism diagnosis Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea has opened a living laboratory which aims to promote the early diagnosis and personalised treatment of autism spectrum disorder. The lab, which consists of four spaces: an interaction room, a gaze tracking room, an observation room,…

My husband and I have always been avid travelers, and traveling has become such an important part of us. We’d always wanted to share the experience of traveling with our family when we eventually had one, so we started taking our daughter on day trips when she was just weeks old, and as she grew,…

I’ve entered that phase of motherhood that most of us don’t prepare for – the parent of a young adult on the spectrum with low support needs. It is a tricky time when we see our young adults have the capacity to become independent, but they need some help, and we may not know as…

Matching skills are an essential pre-academic skill that helps early learners develop their cognitive abilities, language skills, and problem-solving skills. It is a fundamental skill that helps children recognize similarities and differences, classify objects, and make connections between objects, words, and ideas. Matching skills are important for children of all ages and can be scaffolded…