Hi everyone, Tim here. I’ve been in Montreal last week at the International Society of Autism Researchers (INSAR) annual conference. This conference brings autism researchers from around the world together to discuss and share the leading research into the autism spectrum.

Highlights from Day 3:

Transitioning into adulthood

Are healthcare providers ready to transition ASD teens to adulthood:

Lisa Croen discussed research into clinical providers in California and their ability to support teens transitioning into adulthood.

Sex differences in health outcomes:

Julie Taylor discussed sex differences in ASD health outcomes, particularly in transition time points.

You can read more of Julie’s research here.

Take home message:

Services are often underfunded in supporting ASD teens transitioning to adulthood, and this group is often underserved. Ongoing research is required to provide input to governments and service providers on best practice for transitioning teens.

Also while at INSAR I have discovered so many other great resources, which we have listed below.

• Bostons Children’s Hospital
  • Wonderful stories on going into hospital and what to expect for those who need some preparation. We will be adding this to our resource page for Hospital and Emergency!
• Molehill Mountain
  • This was a new discovery for Look Hear from INSAR, we are yet to test it our selves but it looks awesome!
• Boston Medical Centre
  • This Centre has bucket loads of resources available, and are well thought out and visually pleasing. Also has information helpful for siblings too!
• Autism CRC
  • This is an Australian website that has loads of links to Universities throughout Australia and NZ, as well as lots of programs and resources available (we have done the Secret Agent Society Training and would recommend!!)

Hi everyone, Tim here. I’ve been in Montreal last week at the International Society of Autism Researchers (INSAR) annual conference. This conference brings autism researchers from around the world together to discuss and share the leading research into the autism spectrum.

Highlights from Day 2:

Multimodal Measurement of Sensory Processing

Measuring sensory reactivity reliably:

Teresa Tavassoli discussed the difficulties in accurately measuring sensory reactivity in autistic individuals.

I am part of Teresa’s team and you can find out more information here.

Lessons from psychophysical studies of somatic sensation in autism:

Carissa Cascio spoke about psychophysics, and in particular how tactile perception relates to ASD traits.

You can find our more about Carissa’s research here.

Neural habituation of sensory stimuli:

Shula Green described sensory over-responsivity and functional neuroimaging. She discussed differences in neural connectivity to touch and sound processing, particularly over time.

Relating abnormal tactile processing and cortical dysfunction in children with ASD:

Nick Puts continued the discussion on cortical differences in tactile processing in ASD individuals.

Take home message from these sessions:

The assessment of sensory reactivity in autistic individuals requires a multimodal approach that takes into consideration both questionnaire and observational methods. This should include measurement of perception (internal state) and not just reaction (external reaction).

Psychiatric Comorbidities

Adverse childhood experiences:

This talk by Amy Barrett highlighted the large percentage of ASD children who have adverse childhood experiences, including trauma, and how this is often overlooked in research and in clinical settings.

You can find out more about Amy’s research here.

ASD and suicidal behaviours:

Paul Lipkin advised on his research on suicide behaviours in children and adolescents with autism and their access to medication and interventions. In particular, he looked at exploring factors contributing to suicidal behaviours.

Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for suicide:

Caitlin Conner outlined her research and showed that increases in emotional dysregulation are correlated with higher reported suicidal ideation.

You can find out more here.

Depressed mood and interpretation of neuroscience data:

Katie Gotham spoke about how depressed mood in autism may obscure our interpretation of neuroscience research data. Analysing mood, anxiety and attention may help interpret research findings more accurately.

Group CBT for ASD and anxiety:

Audrey Blakeley-Smith presented on findings of a trial of group CBT for anxiety in a group of ASD teens with anxiety and intellectual disability.

Executive functioning:

Laura Anthony discussed an online executive functioning intervention – Unstuck. This online program allows for a self-paced, parent led intervention with tips and support.

Take home message:

Whilst research is making strides towards understanding psychopathology in autism, and in particular defining specific vulnerability profiles, there is still a lot to explore. Children with autism are also more likely to mask disorders like anxiety, or not be picked up by standard measures of psychopathology.

If you would like more information or resources, check out our pages on Mental Health or our HUGE Resource Library.

Hi everyone, Tim here. I’ve been in Montreal last week at the International Society of Autism Researchers (INSAR) annual conference. This conference brings autism researchers from around the world together to discuss and share the leading research into all aspects of the autism spectrum.

There were too many sessions and discussions to get to all of them, but I will be talking about the sessions that I was able to attend.

Highlights from Day 1

Autism and Mental Health

Autistic Burnout:

Discussion around Autistic people feeling overwhelmed by the sensory and social environment leading to burnout and meltdown. Christina Nicolaidis spoke about autistic burnout and its impact on adults. Currently there is little research into this area as a stand-alone phenomena in mental health.

You can find more about Christina’s research here.

ASD and Childhood Trauma:

This talk was about understanding specific indicators of traumatic reactions in autistic youth. Researchers (Connor Kerns et al.) are developing criteria to better understand and diagnose trauma, including PTSD, in children.

You can find more about Connor and her team here. 

Self-injury:

Dr Rachel Mosely spoke about self-injury without suicidality in autistic people. Her research looks at the why some autistic people injure without suicidal intent, and what predictors might help understand risk.

You can find out more about Dr Rachel and her research here.

Assessing suicidal behaviour:

Cecile Bardon spoke about how to engage people with ASD and intellectual disabilities to prevent suicide. In particular how to adapt services to meet those client’s needs.

You can find out more here. 

Safety Planning Intervention (SPI):

Brenna Maddox described how her and her colleagues are investigating how to mitigate suicide risk in autistic individuals, including how to inform future clinical guidelines.

You can find out more about Brenna’s research here.

Suicide and ASD:

Anne Kirby discussed suicide in the autistic community. In particular, her research looks at the extent to which co-occuring mental health difficulties influence suicidality.

More information about Anne and her research can be found here. 

Emotion regulation and therapeutic alliance in CBT:

Carly Aubaum spoke about how the therapeutic alliance can make CBT more accessible to autistic children, and enhance the therapy outcomes.

Emotion dysregulation in adolescents:

Virginia Carter Leno described research around the drivers of behaviours that challenge using physiological response measurements. She asked an important question; is it defiant behaviour or poor regulation strategies?

You can find out more about Virginia here.

Problem behaviours, GI problems and Internalising symptoms:

Brad Ferguson is currently completing research into the link between gastrointestinal problems, behaviour and internalising symptoms in autistic individuals.

If you would like more information about Brad’s research you can find more here.

Anxiety in ASD and ID:

Breanna Winder-Patel discussed her research around understanding anxiety in children with ASD and an intellectual disability. In particular developing specific anxiety measures within the ASD population.

You can find out more here about Breanna’s projects and articles.

Quality of life:

Bethany Oakley spoke about how individual differences in QoL impacts on the development of mental health in autistic people. 

Molehill Mountain:

Sophie Carruthers presented on a new app to support autistic children and adults understand and manage anxiety and worries. The app is called “Molehill Mountain”.

Sophie’s research and articles can be found here.

You can also find out more about the App itself here.

If you want to look more into some of our favourite apps and some of our reflections on research, take a look around our site!