By Dr Michelle Garnett and Professor Tony AttwoodWhat is Compensation?Compensation is one of the many coping mechanisms that has been discovered by autistic individuals to try to cope with being…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle Garnett Autistic children appear vulnerable to feeling anxious for much of their school day, often experiencing extreme anxiety in anticipation of, or in response…

By Dr Michelle Garnett and Professor Tony AttwoodIntroductionIn our blog last week, we discussed the role of avoidance in increasing and maintaining high levels of anxiety in young children. This…

By Dr Michelle Garnett and Professor Tony AttwoodIntroductionOverwhelming anxiety is a daily occurrence for many autistic people. Why do autistic individuals experience high levels of anxiety, and how are these…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle GarnettEmpathyWe know that there are three forms of empathy, cognitive, affective, and behavioural, and that the expression of each is underpinned by similar…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle GarnettMany autistic women* deliberate about whether or not they should seek a formal diagnosis of autism, weighing up the potential costs and benefits.…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle GarnettAs clinicians, we work with families that have one or several autistic children and we have increasingly been able to recognise the subtle…

By Dr Michelle Garnett and Professor Tony AttwoodWhat do we know about the interplay between hormonal changes and autism for females*?Our current understanding of how hormonal changes impact autistic individuals,…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle GarnettBeing autistic brings both gifts and challenges. For example, we have often noticed that a dash of genius is within autism, manifesting as…

By Professor Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle GarnettThe value of an explanationOur clinical experience indicates that it is extremely important that autism is explained to a child or adolescent as…