Healthy dating relationships are an important part of development. However, a significant number of high school students say that they have experienced dating violence. While there are not national statistics on how many young people with autism have had similar experiences, the fact that many people with autism have trouble with social skills is a…
The pronounced challenges that young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face in seeking and maintaining employment often stand in stark contrast to their abilities. Programs like the successful nonprofit Tech Kids Unlimited, which provides technological instruction for New York City students with ASD in one-week summer camp workshops, are needed to address this gap…
Executive functions are the set of thinking skills that allow us to successfully set goals, make plans, wait for what we want, organize information, and be flexible. These skills are critical to doing well in school, at work, and living on our own. People with autism, however, often have difficulty with executive functions, preventing them…
In 2017, three researchers, Collette Sosnowy, Ph.D., Paul Shattuck, Ph.D., and Chloe Silverman, Ph.D., at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute completed a one-year OAR-funded qualitative study, “Measuring What Matters.” The goal of the study was to develop a contemporary conceptual framework of stakeholder perspectives about outcomes for adult autism in order to inform better measures…
In this one-year study, “Examining Personal and Environmental Factors Associated with Community Participation for Adults with ASD,” investigators Dara Chan, Sc.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mark R. Klinger, Ph.D., director of research at the TEACCH Autism…
In 2016, OAR awarded $2,000 research grants to Shalini Sivathasan, a Ph.D. student in educational and counseling psychology at McGill University in Canada, and Andrea Trubanova, a graduate student in clinical psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Both planned to study interventions that held the promise of improving facial emotion recognition. Sivathasan’s study…
With thousands of teens with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) moving into adulthood each year, employment has become one of the biggest issues in the autism community. Meaningful work and wages are core components of a productive adulthood. As far back as 2007, a two-year OAR-funded study highlighted the critical importance of jobs and work skills.…
It is widely known that adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face obstacles that impede their quality of life. It is not as clear why so many become disconnected from services and educational or employment opportunities once they leave high school. In 2015, OAR awarded a two-year $30,000 grant to Connie Anderson, Ph.D., assistant professor…
In 2014, OAR awarded two research scientists, Nicole Matthews, Ph.D., and Christopher Smith, Ph.D., both from the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center, a two-year $30,000 grant for their study comparing the effectiveness of a peer-mediated social skills intervention to a traditional one. The intervention they used was the Program for the Education and Enrichment…
In 2016 OAR awarded an applied grant to researchers Anne Roux, M.P.H., M.A., and Paul Shattuck, Ph.D., both from the Life Course Outcomes Program at A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University. They used the grant to study state-level variation in vocational rehabilitation services and employment outcomes for transition-age youth with autism. Their goals were to:…
