What is Autism? By Dr Michelle Garnett and Prof Tony Attwood
What is Autism? There are so many words out there for ASD, including autism, high functioning autism, Asperger’s Disorder, PDD-NOS just for a start. The most commonly used is autism…
Managing an Autistic Meltdown by Prof Tony Attwood and Dr Michelle Garnett
Why do meltdowns occur?Autistic people often have a different way of:sensing internal and external stimuliproblem-solvinglearning and organizing informationunderstanding and relating to others.The daily challenges inherent in these differences can lead…
Understanding Challenging Behaviour in Classic Autism by Tony Attwood & Michelle Garnett
Classic autism describes child or adult who has significant and conspicuous social, language, learning and behavioural impairments. Classic autism is a term we use to describe our original conception of…
Suppression of emotions in autism can lead to increased depression by Dr Michelle Garnett & Prof. Tony Attwood
Research and clinical experience have found that autistic adults are most likely to utilise the coping mechanisms of suppression and avoidance for anxiety and depression, rather than other coping strategies…
The Latest Research on Camouflaging
By Professor Tony Attwood Children who have autism will know at quite a young age that they are different to their peers with regard to the ability to read facial…
Mindfulness: Why is it So Important?
By Dr David Zimmerman, Clinical Psychologist Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or…
Encouraging the Positive in Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
By Sarah Ormond, Psychologist Pathological (extreme) demand avoidance (PDA) is a term applied to patterns of complex behaviours that may be seen in some children on the autism spectrum, who…
How Can We Support Gifted Children on the Spectrum?
By Dr Wesley Turner, Clinical Psychologist Often, ASD individuals who are also Gifted present with a combination of cognitive abilities and executive function difficulties that result in a ‘perfect storm’…
The Three Adaptations to Social Situations
By Professor Tony Attwood One of the central characteristics of autism in DSM 5 is a deficit in social communication and social interaction. The social and interpersonal aspects of life…
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and Autism
A research article review by Dr Michelle Garnett Since their separation as independent conditions, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) can be misconceptualised as mutually exclusive disorders. …