Open Society

"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...

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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).

New robot therapies are based on the assumption that autistic behaviour is robotic. Critics argue that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the condition

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The male sex bias in autism may in large part be a product of how common diagnostic tools measure traits in boys versus girls at a single point in time, according to a new study.

Funding cuts and growing demand have left hundreds of thousands of Texans to struggle with mental illness without adequate support.

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Experts estimate that there are more than 500,000 Texans like Chase living with...

This article is a reflective account of a researcher’s journey whilst embarking on a study which was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Learning from feminist writing...

This article is a reflective account of a researcher’s journey whilst embarking on a study which was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Learning from feminist writing...

PDF | This article provides an overview of activist research and how it is used in various field including anthropology, social movements, and... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

It is estimated that nearly 90% of children on the autism spectrum exhibit sensory atypicalities. What aspects of sensory processing are affected in autism? Although sensory processing can be studied along multiple dimensions, two of the most basic ones involve examining instantaneous sensory respon …

News Written by: Panda Mery, Dinah Murray & Kabie Brook Last month, the Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials) was launched as the largest ever grant given to autism resear…

The state of Illinois paid for a $3,000 assistive device for speech apraxia. It was trash.

This is part 2 in a series about sensory sensitivities and atypical sensory processing. Read the other parts:    Part 1  |  Part 3  | Part 4 —— I don’t like pistachios. I have a s…

Imagine having no choice but to zoom in on life.  The trash dumpster whose rancid odors assault you from across the parking lot.  The (false) car alarms in that same parking lot.  The children scre…

Autistic meltdowns and temper tantrums are not the same thing. Autistic meltdowns typically occur as a response to being overwhelmed.

Elizabeth Bartmess elizabethbartmess.com This is a three-part series. Part II explores Diversity in Autistic Characteristics and Demographics. Part III explores Setting, Plot, and Character Growth. “A lot of writers and actors seem to be able to get their heads around what autism basically is, in terms of language, sensory, and social communication difficulties. But then it’s as if they don’t know, or can’t extrapolate to, the full range of experiences that autistic people actually live. That things have happened to us, and things have happened in certain ways for us all our lives, and those things have had consequences for who we become and who we are….[T]he autistic characters [readers and viewers] are used to seeing have no depth of experience. They are people without history.” —Chavisory, at Chavisory’s Notebook This series is about what autistic characters look like when they’re written well, when they have the depth of experience…