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The Hatching Hope Foundation brings advocacy and support to Dallas-Fort Worth families… triplets, was diagnosed with autism in 2012 at age 2.5, she struggled to find much-needed information, services and social supports in her area. This struggle motivated Sabrina to commit her life to helping underserved families in Ft. Worth, Texas … she founded the Hatching Hope Foundation, an organization that provides parent training about autism, individual and family support services, and special education advocacy. In 2019, Keshawn tragically passed away from Osteosarcoma, a rare form of … someone who really understands what it’s like to be a parent living with a child with severe autism. Our Facebook support group, Autism Mocha Moms , has been another great way to connect with parents in the community. The group was created to …
Can brain scans help personalize autism therapies and supports? … Institute at George Washington University. An Autism Speaks Meixner Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Research supported the research Dr. Yang describes here. Autism brain scans I’m glad to tell you about the promising findings of the … he or she would benefit from a given behavioral therapy or social training program. We did this with two very different groups of people affected by autism: young children and young adults. And each group completed a very different intervention … – at least at the current time. In theory, this might suggest that the person would do better with a treatment that supports and enhances key brain responses to social information. Already, various research teams are exploring ways to do …
Clinician Guide: Program Development and Best Practices for Treating Severe Behaviors in Autism … of life for autistic people and their families.  To improve systems of care for this population, Autism Speaks convened a group of multi-disciplinary experts to develop the Clinician Guide: Program Development and Best Practices for Treating … The goal of this guide is to help providers:  Expand their understanding of intense challenging behaviors in autism  Support individuals experiencing significant behavior challenges who may harm themselves or those around them  Develop …
CST information for professionals… with lack of access to quality care and interventions. In response to this need, the World Health Organization (WHO), with support from Autism Speaks, developed the Caregiver Skills Training (CST) for Families of Children with Developmental Delays … and teachers to deliver parent training with supervision from skilled trainers. Consisting of 12 sessions, including nine group training sessions and three home visits, the CST program aims to help parents and caregivers of children with autism …
Autism and ‘optimal outcomes’… to rethink what we mean by “optimal outcomes” For years, we’ve been using this term to describe a relatively small group of people with autism who, with therapy and support, experience such a marked decrease in autism symptoms that they no longer meet the criteria we use to diagnose the … re-defining “optimal outcome” as the best possible outcome based on each child’s personal characteristics and available supports . We find this as a much more suitable concept for developing autism services and setting goals for each child, …
Small study finds B12 injections ease autism symptoms in some children… in some children who have the disorder. The researchers found that the behavior improvement occurred primarily in a subgroup of children who showed particular blood chemistry changes after the methyl B12 injections . In these children, the … time. Some earlier research has suggested that the process is impaired in some people with autism . The new study, supported by a grant from Autism Speaks , appears online in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology . It is … metabolic abnormality – impaired methylation capacity – holds the potential to improve [autism] symptoms.” They call for support of a larger controlled trial to check and clarify their results. For related news and blog posts, also see: Grandma …
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)… at home, at school, and in the community Teaches skills that are useful in everyday life Can involve one-to-one teaching or group instruction Positive reinforcement Positive reinforcement is one of the main strategies used in ABA. When a behavior … and others are directed by the person with autism. Parents, family members and caregivers receive training so they can support learning and skill practice throughout the day. The person with autism will have many opportunities to learn and …