In this piece, Serena Shim, sister of someone on the spectrum, discusses the novel that caused so much controversy in the autism community. Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a detective story about fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone. It received many awards as well as criticism by the autism…
This blog post has been adapted from “Chapter 6: Life Skills” of OAR’s resource “A Guide for Transition to Adulthood”. Often, the discussion of life skills includes relatively vague, bigger-picture traits, like “focus” or “critical thinking”. While these are certainly important to leading a “successful life” — whatever that may look like for you –…
Autism is a condition with no medically known cause or cure. This leads some parents of children on the spectrum to search for unconventional methods to alleviate its traits, including most recently the false idea that the digestion of bleach and other harmful chemicals will “heal” autism. According to an NBC article on the topic,…
OAR is hosting a free webinar that addresses problem behavior using a successful team approach on Monday, August 12, 2019 at 1 p.m. ET, featuring Jane Barbin, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA. Register now to attend the live, hour-long event, which will include the presentation followed by a brief Q&A session. Parents, other caregivers, clinicians, therapists, and…
Summer is the perfect time to teach your child safety habits that will build a foundation for independent living. It is also an excellent time to revisit and update your family safety, school safety, and crisis plans. Autism presents a range of safety challenges across the lifespan, whether it’s wandering incidents in childhood, cyberbullying during…
In October, OAR’s Board of Directors authorized funding for eight new applied autism research studies in 2019. These new grants, totaling $228,036, bring OAR’s total research funding to over $3.7 million since 2002. This is the seventh of eight previews to be featured in The OARacle this year. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience…
Public safety organizations and agencies have taken note of and are responding to the rapid rise of autism spectrum diagnoses in the United States. Over the last decade, command-level police leaders, public safety executives, and legislators have expressed an ever-increasing interest in autism training for frontline professionals and positive partnerships within the autism community. For…
Family vacations that involve a road trip can often excite more anxiety than anticipation. And that may be particularly true for families with a child who has autism. An inability to adapt to change and new things can make road trips harder for children with autism, but it doesn’t have to be that way. These…
Kirsten Lindsmith, writer, developer, artist, and autism advocate, discusses the importance of the interpretation of physical touch, and how discrepancies in understanding — specifically for people on the spectrum — can lead to confusing and potentially unsafe situations. This piece was originally posted on Kirsten’s website on April 8. It is re-posted here with permission. It’s well documented that…
Rhi, a self-advocate, discusses caring for her mental health as someone on the spectrum. This piece was originally posted on Rhi’s website on May 14. It is re-posted here with permission. I take my mental health very seriously; I’m an autistic perfectionist whose favourite pastime is self-criticism, so I have to. I have the additional issue that…
