In October 2025, OAR’s Board of Directors authorized funding for eight applied autism research grants. These new research grants, totaling $397,372, bring OAR’s total research funding to $5.8 million since 2002. This article is the fourth of the previews in The OARacle this year.
Autistic individuals in the United States are roughly four times more likely to suffer from a mental health condition compared to the general population, with up to 87% of autistic people diagnosed with at least one. Mental health issues exacerbate pre-existing challenges faced by autistic people, impacting quality of life, education, employment, and community participation.
However, getting the therapy needed to address their mental health is often difficult. Many therapists are not knowledgeable about how to treat autistic people and will not take them on as clients. In a 2015 survey of multidisciplinary providers, 70% rated their ability to provide services to autistic clients as poor to fair.
While a few resources are available to educate therapists about autism and how to work with autistic clients, most include consultation and supervision, limiting the ability of therapists to use them because of time, cost, and shortages of autism experts. Additionally, existing resources generally focus on tailoring interventions to autistic clients but do not include psychoeducation about autism.
An 18-month OAR-funded study, A Transdiagnostic Therapist Toolkit to Improve Mental Health Treatment for Autistic Adults, led by Yael Dai, Ph.D, will develop and test an online, self-directed toolkit for therapists. The toolkit will reflect input from autistic clients and therapists, as well as guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Dr. Dai will assess whether the toolkit will:
As a licensed clinician with extensive experience working with autistic adolescents and their families, Dr. Dai possesses a deep understanding of the unique therapeutic needs within this population. Her lab at Florida International University focuses on improving access to evidence-based interventions for autistic people.
The study is split into two phases: toolkit development, followed by a pilot test and evaluation. The research team will recruit 48 participants—21 therapists and 27 autistic people—to participate.
Dr. Dai plans to create brief and flexible toolkit modules that can be used with clients regardless of their mental health condition. A change model will map how each module is expected to improve treatment outcomes. For example, a module on autism psychoeducation is expected to make clients feel more understood, which will help therapists establish rapport with their clients and increase their confidence in working with autistic clients. That confidence may, in turn, increase therapists’ willingness to accept autistic clients. Three clinical consultants will review the toolkit for clarity, clinical relevance, and feasibility and make suggestions for revisions.
She expects that therapists will be able to complete the toolkit in about five hours.
Simple text, narration, brief video demonstrations, worksheets, and visual aids will make the toolkit easy for therapists to understand and use in their practices. Sample modules planned for the toolkit include:
In the first phase, the research team will recruit 15 therapists and 15 autistic people (age 15 and older) who have been in therapy to participate in online focus groups. They will provide feedback on the toolkit’s planned content and format and identify additional content.
Discussions with therapists will center on what would help them feel more equipped to treat this population and priorities for toolkit components.
For the autistic individuals, the focus will be on questions about what would help them feel more comfortable in and benefit from therapy. Examples questions include:
Both focus group guides will be pilot-tested with a group of students and research assistants in the lab, including neurodivergent students, to ensure readability, accessibility, and response depth.
In the second phase, the toolkit will be pilot tested in a large outpatient youth mental health center with six full-time licensed clinicians who do not have specialized training in autism. Three clinicians will treat clients as usual while the other three will review the toolkit before treating clients. The clinicians will each be assigned two autistic adolescents, ages 13-17. Because the center provides evidence-based short-term treatment, typically for three to four months, post-treatment data will be collected at 12 weeks.
The research team will use an autism spectrum knowledge scale to compare changes in therapists’ knowledge and confidence after the completion of phase two. The team will also compare treatment outcomes between the two groups and therapists will rate the acceptability of the toolkit.
The autistic clients will complete a questionnaire that measures their satisfaction after completion of their therapy. Using the goals set by the therapists and their clients, Dr. Dai will measure individual progress toward therapeutic goals.
Autistic adolescents face unique and complex mental health challenges that are often misunderstood or ineffectively treated in traditional therapy. Therapists frequently report uncertainty in adapting interventions to meet autistic clients’ cognitive, sensory, and communication needs. This project directly addresses that gap by developing a self-directed toolkit created with input from autistic individuals and practicing therapists.
By prioritizing lived experience and clinical insight, the toolkit will offer practical, adaptable strategies that therapists can use to improve engagement, build trust, and deliver more personalized, effective care. Dr. Dai expects this project to be the first step in producing an accessible, real-world solution to empower both therapists and autistic adolescents, supporting meaningful progress in mental health care equity.
Sherri Alms is the freelance editor of The OARacle, a role she took on in 2007. She has been a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years.
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