Last month OAR celebrated its 21st anniversary. For any nonprofit, this would be a special occasion in and of itself, but for OAR this celebration was especially memorable. In December, Mike Maloney, OAR’s executive director, stepped down from the role he had held since OAR’s founding. Under Mike’s leadership, OAR went from a small nonprofit…
Transition teams are critical to building effective plans for youth who are preparing to embark on their adult lives after high school. These teams are tasked with creating and implementing plans that best align with young adults’ goals, strengths, and interests. The transition process is meant to answer questions such as: What does the youth…
It ain’t over until it’s over. – Yogi Berra December 13 will be OAR’s 21st birthday, and my final day as OAR’s executive director. Kristen Essex, our deputy executive director, will take over and become OAR’s day-to-day leader. Last month I drew upon a quote from the late Yogi Berra in the annual letter to…
With multiple high-profile stories of negative interactions between autistic individuals and law enforcement, coupled with the fact that autism impacts individuals throughout their lives, there has been increasing attention to the need for better understanding of how to prevent adverse outcomes. Preliminary research has demonstrated that autistic individuals deal with the criminal justice system frequently,…
For this issue looking at safety and the criminal justice system, OAR sat down with Haley Moss to get her perspective on safety, criminal justice, and autism. Haley Moss is an attorney, author, advocate, artist, and consultant. Diagnosed with autism when she was 3 years old, Moss now uses her personal and professional experience to…
Like their peers, many autistic students attend college. Of the 50,000 teens on the spectrum graduating from high school annually in the United States, at least a third of them pursue higher education (Shattuck, et al., 2012; Wei, et al., 2015). However, their graduation and subsequent employment rates are substantially lower than those of neurotypical…
Inclusion is not a new concept to society or education. The belief that all students, regardless of their background or abilities, should be included in the general education setting and in our communities has roots dating back over 50 years. Early efforts that laid the foundation for inclusion include the civil rights and disability rights…
Because communication is integral to people’s ability to participate in their communities, the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities identifies it as a right. For autistic children and adults with significant communication needs who use less familiar forms of communication, such as sign language, gestures, and voice output communication…
One of the most significant characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a “delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that approximately 40% of autistic children are non-speaking and do not develop sufficient natural speech or writing to meet their daily communication…
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is driven by the communities for which the research is ultimately intended. The Gender and Autism Program at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., focuses on the intersection of gender identity diversity and autism. This is a field of research that requires deep community engagement in the design and execution of…
