Open Society

Cambridge Core - Health and Clinical Psychology - Mental Health and Attendance at School

A mini-guide and checklist for parents, to help both them and their autistic kids live the Best Lives Possible.

Today I wanted to write about something which will probably be unpopular with most Autism “experts”.I want to talk about the potential benefits of less therapies.  I want to talk about …

One of the most frequent and difficult parental concerns that we see in the autism community is that of aggressive behavior on the part of ...

We are so pleased to have connected with  Deanne Shoyer from Small But Kinda Mighty and even happier that she is our guest blogger today.  Deanne is a mom of twin boys who both are on the autism sp…

I am autistic. I can talk; I talked to myself for a long time before I would talk to anyone else. My sensory system is a painful mess, my grasp on language isn’t always the best, and it takes…

Image © Gioia de Antoniis  | Flickr / Creative Commons [image: Black and white photo of a person with long dark hair holding their arms straight out towards the camera, with palms facing outward protectively.] Mel Baggs withasmoothroundstone.tumblr.com Too often people define self-advocacy in narrow terms. They define it in terms of formal groups like People First or Autism Network International. They define it in terms of the ability to use standard language in a specific set of ways. They define it in terms of a specific method of going through the legal system, or other usual channels, to get specific kinds of things done. These are all valid kinds of self-advocacy, but they set people up to believe that only certain kinds of people could ever become self-advocates. When one inmate in an institution fights back against the staff in defense of another inmate who is being brutalized, this…

These adults can warn parents about avoidable mistakes, and they can counter our assumptions about what it means to live a good life — even when that life is complicated.

At Therapist Neurodiversity Collective, we presume competence and support non-ABA evidence based frameworks and respecting sensory differences.

Thanks to the success of Steve Silberman’s ‘Neurotribes,’ therapists and service providers have become aware of neurodiversity. On one hand, this is wonderful. A concept Autistic self-advocates hav…

Why parents of autistic kids need to be cautious and thoughtful about the therapies they consider for their children.

You probably have some questions.

Communication is a human right.

Not all people conform to what is socially construed as the norm and divergences should be expected. Neurodiversity is fundamental to the understanding of human behaviour and cognition. However, neurodivergent individuals are often stigmatised, devalued, and objectified. This position statement presents the perspectives of neurodivergent authors, the majority of whom have personal lived experiences of neurodivergence(s), and discusses how research and academia can and should be improved in terms of research integrity, inclusivity and diversity. The authors describe future directions that relate to lived experience and systematic barriers, disclosure, directions on prevalence, stigma, intersection of neurodiversity and open scholarship, and provide recommendations that can lead to personal and systematic changes to improve acceptance of neurodivergent individuals’ lived experiences within academia.

sharing spoons | 9.4K people have watched this. Watch short videos about #sharingspoons on TikTok.

What are we working on now? 🥄 #onefreeapp #sharingspoons #communitysolutions #mutualaid (feat. @lindsaymakesvideos)

"Who better to mobilize the community than people who are already in the community?”

By the Longmore Institute Staff Each year, the Longmore Lecture in Disability Studies hosts a speaker who continues Paul Longmore’s legacy of scholar-activism. On April 11, 2017, we were plea…

The crisis of care is not new for low-income parents. The pandemic just spread the pain—and created new audiences for old solutions.

My remarks from the 2017 Paul K. Longmore Lecture on Disability Studies at San Francisco State University delivered on April 11, 2017.   To watch and listen to the video of my talk, click here…

How our communities can move beyond access to wholeness (Written for the RESIST Newsletter, November, 2010.  Initially posted on the RESIST website.) In my time doing social justice work, I have fo…

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - This study explored whether high autistic traits, high attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits and their interaction were associated...

Alt text is essential for an accessible timeline

Increasing mental health problems among adolescents have been have reported in several countries over the last decades. Yet, little is known regarding…

Background Preventing mental health problems in early adolescence is a priority. School-based mindfulness training (SBMT) is an approach with mixed evidence. Objectives To explore for whom SBMT does/does not work and what influences outcomes. Methods The My Resilience in Adolescence was a parallel-group, cluster randomised controlled trial (K=84 secondary schools; n=8376 students, age: 11–13) recruiting schools that provided standard social–emotional learning. Schools were randomised 1:1 to continue this provision (control/teaching as usual (TAU)), and/or to offer SBMT (‘.b’ (intervention)). Risk of depression, social–emotional–behavioural functioning and well-being were measured at baseline, preintervention, post intervention and 1 year follow-up. Hypothesised moderators, implementation factors and mediators were analysed using mixed effects linear regressions, instrumental variable methods and path analysis. Findings SBMT versus TAU resulted in worse scores on risk of depression and well-being in students at risk of mental health problems both at post intervention and 1-year follow-up, but differences were small and not clinically relevant. Higher dose and reach were associated with worse social–emotional–behavioural functioning at postintervention. No implementation factors were associated with outcomes at 1-year follow-up. Pregains−postgains in mindfulness skills and executive function predicted better outcomes at 1-year follow-up, but the SBMT was unsuccessful to teach these skills with clinical relevance. SBMT as delivered in this trial is not indicated as a universal intervention. Moreover, it may be contraindicated for students with existing/emerging mental health symptoms. Clinical implications Universal SBMT is not recommended in this format in early adolescence. Future research should explore social−emotional learning programmes adapted to the unique needs of young people. Data are available upon reasonable request. The data and codebook from the MYRIAD Trial are available from Prof Kuyken (willem.kuyken@psych.ox.ac.uk) upon request (release of data is subject to an approved proposal and a signed data access agreement).