Staying up late Bubble Club describes itself as a “super fun and inclusive club night that is safe and hosts some of London’s most fantastic performers”. It has been running for 13 years, and provides an opportunity for people with a learning disability to enjoy a night out. The club is also inclusive for people with other disabilities, autism, and people without. More

More than autism More than half of people on the spectrum have four or more other conditions. The types of co-occurring conditions and how they manifest varies from one autistic person to the next. More

In a spin Multi-Sensory Rooms are expensive but any room can become a sensory room. Richard Hirstwood must be the World Champion of cheap sensory ideas. His salad spinner light show has to be the best idea yet. More

...and whild we are on the subject, Gatwick is the first UK airport to open sensory room for passengers More

Girls missing According to Professor Francesca Happe, director of the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at Kings’ College London, autistic girls aren’t being diagnosed. The professor claims that there are up to 200,000 undiagnosed autistic women in the UK, which may affect their mental health. More

Got concerns The UK has an array of bodies that safeguard the rights of vulnerable adults. Here's a handy guide More

Phone hero A youngster with autism who struggles to hold conversations has earned an award for bravery after he called 999 and guided paramedics to his house when his mother collapsed. More

Course Dates for Diary:

ADOS2 Administration and Coding 12th - 15th November 2018 - A course for professionals involved in diagnosis/research with children or adults with autism. More

Autism, Behaviour and Learning 14 November 2018 & 21st November 2018 More

Training for Autism Trainers 1st - 2nd April 2019 This exciting two day course aims to provide a solid platform of training skills and training ideas for new or existing trainers to enable them to deliver autism training that is engaging, imaginative, adult learning. More

Positively positive Debby Elley (one of the super-brains behind Aukids Magazine) looks at how we can help children with autism to feel good about themselves More

Reality please An autistic woman writes that the world of neurotypicals needs to listen to people on the spectrum and stop thinking of them in clichés. More

DIY advice Do you find that you have to remind your child over and over and over to calm down, slow down, use a quiet voice, listen, get something done from start to finish? then Heather Mackenzie has some advice More

Attention please Struggling to get and keep attention in students on the spectrum? Read 'The Science of Attention: How To Capture And Hold The Attention of Easily Distracted Students. More

Building success Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta is passionate about LEGO-based therapy and how this can help autistic children to improve social communication skills. More

Spectrum insights Autism: ‘If only I knew then what I know now’ Special school teacher Siobhan Barnett shares what working with autistic students has taught her about autism. More

No more scapegoats Schools attempting to exclude 'poorly-behaved' children with special educational needs will need to make adjustments to support pupils before they can exclude them, a court has ruled. The landmark judgment will make it harder for schools to exclude children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) because of their challenging behaviour, which could be a direct result of their disability. More

Wait no longer A new study on the effectiveness of ECHO Autism shows that the programme significantly reduces diagnostic wait times for young children at highest risk for autism. More

Who me? 'As she drove along listening to the radio, Katherine May couldn't believe her ears. At 37, after a lifetime suspecting she saw the world differently to everyone else, she finally realised why". More

Musically speaking 'When I work with the students in my ‘Autism All Star Choir’ (many of whom are completely non verbal) absolutely love Music. They may not be able to verbalize the words, but their eyes and hearts are singing and their Brains are being nourished as is their emotional well being.' More

How big? An increasing number of American children are being diagnosed with autism, according to new government figures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 1 in 59 children are on the spectrum. More

Help at hand Find out how the 'Emotional Robot' could help children with autism express themselves better. "The idea is that it's going to be something that follows them from their house all the way to school, so it's the one constant that they have," More

Unfair Children with autism may be at greater risk of bullying because they are more willing to accept unfair behavior, say psychologists at Lancaster University. More

Terms of engagement How to approach the difficult world of dating on the spectrum More

Make time make sense “First, then” is a technique used to help organize the day, or the session, or the next three minutes. More

Home is where it's at In a new guideline, NICE says children, young people and adults with learning disabilities, who have behaviour that challenges, should have the right support to live their lives in the community like everyone else. More

Also Adults "Autistic children become autistic adults and, as the first generation of mainstreamed students grow up, we need to start having 'an adult conversation' around autism." More

Designed by autism Every detail of the new Shrub Oak International School near NYC—from windows to wall colours—was crafted with autistic students in mind. More

Travel chaos Travelling on public transport can be pretty stressful at the best of times. However, for someone who is autistic, venturing on their everyday commute and facing the unknown can be an incredibly overwhelming experience. More

Ready or not? The number of individuals with ASC entering adulthood each year is expected to double over the next 6 years. What can they expect? Jobs, independence, somewhere of their own? More

Problem diagnosed Putting autism diagnostic services in the hands of a private provider hasn't worked in Kent and hundreds of children are still waiting. More

Help at hand Biometric technology could be the future of autism care. Wristband sensors can monitor tiny physiological signs and alert support workers and clinicians to an individual’s growing anxiety. More

Sensory Spectrum Satsuki Ayaya remembers finding it hard to play with other children when she was young, as if a screen separated her from them. Sometimes she felt numb, sometimes too sensitive; sometimes sounds were muted, sometimes too sharp. More

Adults too Although autism is predominantly diagnosed in childhood, increasing numbers of adults are finding out that they too have autism. This issue, of later life diagnosis, was brought to light recently after nature photographer and TV presenter, Chris Packham, went public with his experiences. More

It's all about the individual A person-centred approach can make a huge difference when helping people with autism to develop their personal skills. More

Winning words 'Communication is a basic human right': How this man with nonverbal autism found his voice. More

Sleep first  A world first first study will help determine if improving sleep habits of children with autism will result in better concentration and improved behaviour. More

A fair byte Microsoft has said that its ongoing drive to hire autistic talent and spearhead inclusive design is driving creativity and innovation across the business - "We have to ask ourselves, are we trying to get people in the organisation who are successful at interviews or are we trying to get people in with the best talent?" More

Depressing news Nearly half of adults with autism will experience clinical depression in their lifetime, according to  new research. More

All change "Hearing that your child has autism, or any neurological disorder, is so unbelievably scary. Maybe you knew deep down. Or maybe you were oblivious. It honestly doesn’t matter because in an instant everything is different". More

What's the hold up? That was the question that a team from the University of Edinburgh asked in terms of the NHS provision for autism diagnosis in one area of Scotland. More

Pig in a poke How an earth could anyone suggest that watching the TV cartoon Peppa Pig might cause autism? Life stranger than fiction. More

Writing autism “Being diagnosed turned my life the ‘right way up’” PJ Hughes lives in Sheffield, England. PJ speaks and writes about his experiences of having Asperger Syndrome. Read the Autism Europe interview. More

Without care A lack of training for health professionals could be contributing to 1,200 avoidable deaths of people with a learning disability in England each year, research has found. More

Two minute wonder Can something as diverse and complex as autism be revealed by a two minute test? Researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School claim to have developed a two-minute questionnaire. More

Where's our story? The limited and skewed portrayal of autism in chldrens literature means it is often misrepresented rather than represented in fiction. For an autistic child or young person this can be extremely isolating. More

Female voices Spectrumly Speaking is the podcast dedicated to women on the autism spectrum, produced by Different Brains®. More

Speaking without words David James “DJ” Savarese has accomplished far more than the average 25 year old. Not only did he graduate  in 2017 with a double major in Anthropology and Creative Writing, but Savarese also co-produced Deej, which highlights the obstacles he faced as a non-speaking student with autism. More

Autism independence 'Autism and Enablement' is a new, practical guide to enablement and  shows how to help adults with autism achieve greater independence and become more self-sufficient. More

Growing skills Unique agriculture project 'Lettuce Work' is helping young people with autism develop socially and acquire great work skills. More

We know what you mean Harry When Harry Redknapp was visiting Portfield School in Christchurch, Dorset, and learnt how overwhelming a football match can be for a child with the condition, he asked what could be done to make the game more accessible. More

Autism is in Africa Many African children with autism are hidden away at home. Efforts to bring the condition into the open are only just beginning. More

French revolution  France has a long  history of being out of step with modern theories of autism. After lagging behind other countries for decades, France is working on a new national plan for autism. More

Hearing voices Three- to five-year-old children with autism and delayed language development appear to process voices differently than typically developing children, according to a new study. More

Seen Rain Man? "There are no typical autistic people, despite the savant stereotypes. My son is just himself: he’s me, with a coating of autism". More

Through Glass Once ridiculed as a failed innovation, Google Glass is emerging as an important tool to help with educational and behavioral needs of children with autism. More

Right at the museum Things are getting sensory at the Museum. Many museums are now offering early entry and sensory-friendly activities to those on the spectrum of any age. More

Our stories We must never stop listening to real experiences of autism. Here, four men and women speak about how autism touches their lives. More

Family complications Older men and women are more likely than young ones to have a child with autism but as with virtually everything related to the spectrum the picture is a complicated one! More
...and while we are talking family links, just how genetic is atism? A lot as it turns out. More

Fit on the spectrum Take a look at this innovative fitness programme that aims to tackle fitness of young people with autism and other disabilities. More

Acceptance is key  New research that shows a lack of acceptance can significantly impact on the mental health of autistic adults. More

Help for parents "I have learned so much in my two decades of being a mother. My children have been my best teachers." More

Health equality please A lack of clear mental health support for people with Autism spectrum conditions is leaving vulnerable people at risk and costing lives, campaigners have warned. More

Sensory spectrum Differences in sensory sensitivity, processing and perception have always been part of our understanding of autism, but maybe it's a bigger part than we ever thought. More

Making friends making music "Nat’s now 28, and I have looked into so much that eventually I stopped looking. Nothing worked. I didn’t even know what “worked” meant. By the time Nat was a teen, all I wanted was to find something he liked to do. More

Fixing education figures Children's Commissioner for Wales, Sally Holland, said she was concerned some schools wanted autistic children removed to improve their results. More

The 'A' Word Anxiety exacerbates social communication problems in children with autism — and not the other way around, a new study suggests More

Sensory does it Hospitals are using a cart full of tricks to calm patients with ASD and allow them to get the care they need. More

Painting with the spectrum "My art is the easiest part of my life. Everything else is the hard part." Read this great interview with Rebecca Ann Reed, an artist with Aspergers. More

Game for it Brad Hennessey made one of the toughest decisions he'd ever had to make. He took the game he'd spent two years of his life on and he trashed it. He wanted to make something different. Something that mattered. He wanted to make a game that reflected his life experience as a young man living with Autism. More

Take a seat for autism A teenager with autism has found a unique way to help others “see the light” when it comes to autism awareness. Tory Ridgeway gave Windy Hill Elementary School in Owings—where he was once a student a special gift: a bright blue bench. But it’s not just any bench. It’s a buddy bench. More

Teachers help Two great resouces for teachers from TES: A podcast by Uta Frith and Gemma Corby tells us her best strategies for teaching students with autism More

A landscape for autism Was Alfred Wainwright the fell walker and author of intricate Lakeland guidebooks on the autism spectrum? More

A class for autism Has socio-economics got anything to do with prevalence of autism diagnoses? Turns out it probably has. More

What's in a name? 'Autistic person' or 'person with autism? Read this interesting article that looks at the pros and cons of these different ways of expressing that a person is on the autism spectrum? More

You've got a date When you get your 2018 diary, put a note on May 10th. We are pleased to anounce a conference on early years and the autism spectrum entitled, "Great Starts with Autism"
More
If you are a parent of a child with autism or a professional working in an ealry years setting, we need your help with a short survey

Think differently work differently Neurodiversity can be a huge advantage for companies, yet people on the spectrum have often been marginalised. Now some firms are specifically seeking them out. Is this a crucial turning point? More

No Label at the Table Take a seat at the bakery specializing in dairy-free, gluten-free food that only employs adults with autism. More

That's the reality Everyday situations can be stressful for those on the autism spectrum. Step into the shoes of 16-year-old Layla as she attends a birthday party. Hear her inner thoughts and experience how overwhelming an occasion like this can be. The Guardian has made use of Google Cardboard to help us step inside the world of autism. More

Wait too long Experts in the NHS cite several reasons for the long waiting times for diagnosis, including a lack of coordination between professionals throughout the assessment, as well as a lack of resources. More

Mind the Socio-economic Gap Children living in neighbourhoods where incomes are low and fewer adults have University degrees are less likely to be diagnosed with autism compared to kids from more affluent neighbourhoods. More

Bust those Myths! Five myths about autism we need to banish from teaching More