The Success Spectrum David Hall  talks about  maximizing the potential of people with autism, the importance of advocacy by people that are actually on the spectrum, and how a third party can sometimes help discover interests. More

Harmful therapy? Applied Behavior Analysis has always provoked strong feelings in both it's supporters and critics. Aileen Herlinda Sandoval-Norton asks, 'How much compliance is too much compliance: Is long-term ABA therapy abuse?' More

Find out and be fair That's the message in Government-commissioned guidance for social workers in practice with autistic adults. Social workers must access specialist training and improve their practice. More

Food for thought A recent study has found Autistic children are 5 times as likely as those with other developmental conditions and 15 times as likely as their typical peers to have unusual food preferences. Why? More

Help for hidden disabilities Heathrow airport has introduced a new scheme to help passengers with hidden disabilities indicate that they may need assistance. More

Play safe Autcraft uses Minecraft to do four key things for autistic children: it gives them structure, creates a safe social space, lets them filter their experience in various ways, and helps them unleash their imaginations. More

Finding your own autism Paul Sandford was teaching students who have autism when he decided to carry out some research into how he could best support them. The more he delved into the subject, the more he thought the symptoms sounded strangely familiar - leading to Paul being diagnosed with autism at the age of 42. More

Keeping calm and carrying on Some autistic people find comfort in specific objects. What happens when they’re not available anymore? More

Capturing autism Winner of the Wellcome Photography Prize Erin Lefevre collaborated with her brother to produce a photographic series that documents the challenges and joys of his life with autism. More

Problem or not? The words 'problem behaviour' and autism often appear in the same sentence but are 'problems' always, well, problems? Check out a great new book for teachers More

Tough to talk about? Listen to Amy Gravino, autism advocate, on what parents can say about sex and relationships to autistic youngsters. More

B is for bullied A study has found autistic children are more likely to be victims of bullying. Researchers call for more resources to help parents deal with bullying behaviours in home and school. More

Rude! "A recent altercation I had with a flight attendant exemplified just how little most people understand about neurological diversity", Laura McKenna (Mum to Ian who has Aspergers). More

Touching The inability to tolerate light touch is a telltale feature of autism. What causes it? More

Design for life How can autism-friendly architecture change autistic children’s lives? How do we design/change schools for children with autism. More

Sad situation Autistic people are four times as likely to experience depression over the course of their lives as their neurotypical peers. Yet researchers know little about why, or how best to help. More

A big question Researchers are taking a multi-pronged approach to understanding a great mystery of autism: Why are four times more boys diagnosed with the condition than girls? The lack of information about autism in girls means many are never diagnosed and miss out on support. More

Right to work (without discrimination) A Wales Trade Union Congress survey showed only 16% of autistic adults were in full-time paid work. The organisation also said it was dealing with cases where staff were not getting reasonable adaptations in the workplace, required under the Equality Act. More

Teachers must train Parents of autistic children have protested at Stormont over the lack of mandatory training on autism for teachers in Northern Ireland. More than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling for improvements to be made in schools. More

Behaviour change Yep, it's time we changed the behaviour of bullies in school. Watch this wonderful video from Robbie. Self advocacy in action. More
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Safe house “A place where you don’t need to translate yourself” Inside Felicity House, a New York social club for women with autism. More

Romance is fine Autism self advocate Amy Gravino on what parents should know about spectrum dating More

That's funny “It’s a huge myth that people with A.S.D. don’t understand or are not interested in humor,” Yep, people with autism not only get jokes - they right them too! More

Wrong label It may be that children given the ‘high functioning autism’ label are not just presumed to have better functioning than they really do, but they actually have far greater challenges with everyday skills than the label would suggest More

Achieve with autism 'It's not a weakness or a liability' - the words of Callum Brazzo. Callum urges folk with autism to bring positive energy and say to everyone "we can do this", be sociable people, show our talents and, no matter what the challenges are, we can come out of the other side More

Can't wait to use this app This looks like a really good app to help youngsters master the art of waiting. Not easy for those on the spectrum (and those that aren't)! More

What's that like? Visit a new online platform where autistic people, family members and carers can share how sensory processing affects their daily life. More

Moving mail A mum whose son with autism failed his SATs exams was moved to tears by a letter from his teacher. Gail Twist, from Merseyside, uploaded a photo of the letter 11-year-old Ben received after his exam results. More

Timely book Robyn Steward's new book might well be timely for someone growing up on the spectrum. Changes during puberty, such as the onset of periods, are challenging for girls on the autism spectrum. Written from experience by an autistic woman, this straightforward guide to periods helps the reader to prepare in great detail, from hygiene to pain medication and sensory experiences to mood swings. More

Soccer and sensory Football mad Alex Manners, 22, from Solihull, in the West Midlands, has Asperger syndrome. He has completed a tour of 92 football league clubs as part of his Football for Autism campaign. More

Help getting hired If you are in education and wondering how to prepare for a job, check out this advice for autistic students looking for employment. More

Onboard with autism In an accident it could be very important that the emergency services recognise quickly that a special needs person may be involved in the accident. Check out these car stickers More

Different worlds "To be autistic is to live in a world where everything is too loud, too smelly and too bright, populated by people who say one thing and get angry when you fail to realise that they really meant something different."  Read this insightful piece by Charlie Hancock. More

Hospitals hold up Two-thirds of mental health trust leaders are concerned about the effectiveness of Transforming Care to help people with learning disabilities return to communities More

Train JAM Virgin Trains has become the first travel company outside of Northern Ireland to introduce a ground-breaking initiative for people with communication barriers. The JAM card More

Is it autism? The UK's leading autism charity claims that as many as one in five people with eating disorders could be autistic. More

Stretching autism A project taking yoga classes into schools has helped children with social and emotional challenges, according to a head teacher. More

Essential learning Up to 2.8m social care and health staff will have to undertake mandatory learning disability and autism training, teaching them to 'challenge attitudes and unconscious bias', under new government proposals. More

OCD or Aautism? Autism and OCD frequently accompany each other; scientists are studying both to understand how they differ. More

Driving discrimination Seems like the DVLA have their seat-belts in a twist over autism! More

Pull the other one! So do autistic people even have a sense of humour? A new BBC podcast, 1800 Seconds on Autism, aims to dispel that no-humour myth, among other assumptions - with razor-sharp wit running through it. More

Big plan NHS England’s Long Term Plan was published in January 2019 and outlined proposals to improve the health and wellbeing of autistic people - Robyn Steward considers what the plan means for people on the autism spectrum and offers some simple tips for NHS staff and services. More

Under pressure "I was born autistic and I will die autistic. As I grow, the pressure to act “less autistic” grows, but guess what — I can’t do that." More

Excluded A Sheffield mum is calling for more support and awareness about a form of autism called Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) after her seven-year-old son has been excluded from school four times in the past year. More

Online and safe When Stuart Duncan started Autcraft, a private Minecraft server for people on the autism spectrum, he had no idea it would become the community it is today. With more than 8,200 members, Autcraft lets children and adults on the autism spectrum play Minecraft in a judgment- and troll-free space. More

Brother to brother Many autistic children in Turkey can't get a place in school and struggle to get an education.
So when Zafer Elcik realised his autistic brother, Alper, wasn't getting the support he needed, he created some games on his smartphone to help him learn. Now thousands of autistic children are using their app. More

Waiting no game A Gwynedd mum says she has had to wait almost a decade so far for an autism diagnosis for her son.Helen Whitney, from Llanbedrog, started the process in 2009, when son Adda was just two years old. More

Making sense of sensory Experts once considered sensory and motor problems, such as hypersensitivity to sound or an unusual gait, to be only secondary traits of autism. But mounting evidence suggests that such traits play a central role in the condition. More

Sleepless on the spectrum Sleep problems can impact daytime behaviour, quality of life, and overall health. Reserachers have compared sleep habits in young children with autism with children from the general population. More

Care concerns The Care Quality Commission(CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, says there is a problem with the profile of learning disability and autism services. More

Stop (motion) success Students who have spent months crafting stop motion films have seen them make it to the big screen at a special premiere. More

Spotting solutions "When Calum's in a meltdown, it's like a whirlwind going off in his head - you can't speak to him or reason with him". Read how plane spotting helps one Scottish youngster keep negative feelings off the radar. More

One to watch Films that focus on disability, autism, intelectual impairment etc are sadly few and far between. Excellent ones are even rarer! Watch Keep the Change - you won't be disappointed more

Demands explained The PDA Society has developed a new resource: Keys to Care for PDA. It provides a brief summary of top tips and key points about the demand avoidance profile of autism in an easy to digest format. More

Help with Tech help How can technology help with autism? Here's a nice overview of the kind of apps that ight help a person on the spectrum More

Autism explained A 12-year-old girl from Crawley has been inspired by her brother to write a book about autism. Sienna Manuel's nine-year-old brother Cruzie has autism, and she wants to protect him from being bullied. More

Forgotten females For many females, diagnosis doesn't come until they are well into adulthood. That can mean decades of social rejection, depression, anxiety, and unrelenting confusion. More

Connection! A Canadian firm gets tech contracts, then supplies its clients with workers, who happen to be people with autism. “They’re exceptionally good at what they do,” Meticulon’s Garth Johnson said. “Precise, diligent, accurate beyond anybody else.” More

Girl friends It's often said that girls with autism are harder to identify (and diagnose) because they 'fit -in' more easily than boys. However, researchers from Macquarie University have found that girls with autism  struggle with friendships to a greater extent than their male peers. More

Numbers right? One in every 40 children in the United States could have autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a new article published in the journal Pediatrics. How does that compare to other research? More

Autism plays a part Actress and playwright Anna Kyle talks about how realising she had Asperger Syndrome has helped her understand and cope with life More

Art of autism At the age of 15, Niam Jain has achieved a level of respect and recognition in North American art circles typically reserved for much older artists. More

Seeking social My brother Michael leaves the best voicemails, is a great traveling companion and does a spot-on impression of our late grandmother. Michael is also on the autism spectrum, and has been my life’s best reference for loving someone who is neuroatypical. More

Crisis? this crisis "We had to fight for even a basic assessment. Now we’ve been told the school setting he needs is not available" More

Not helping A survey of Scottish autistic people has found that over half have had negative experiences while trying to access mental health services. More

'Getting' autismThree golden rules for supporting autistic pupils - we need to move beyond generalisations and bust some of the myths around autism, says Luke Beardon. More

That's part of it Mounting evidence supports the idea that motor and sensory differences are notable features of autism. More

I declare If you have autism should you disclose that fact when you're trying for a job? If you've been hired without sharing your spectrum condition with your boss, should you tell him or her about it? More

Inside story Disproportionately higher numbers of people with learning disabilities are in prison. Around 7% of people in the criminal justice system have a learning disability, compared with around 2% of the population. More

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