Tag: autism

  • The Emergence of Autism Symptoms Prior to 18 Months of Age: A Systematic Literature Review

    Amy Tanner & Katerina Dounavi Although various Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) signs can be detected between 6 and 18 months of age, the majority of children who later on receive an ASD diagnosis do so at the age of 4 years old or older (Centre for Disease Control, 2019). The identification of very early symptoms…

  • Feeding Disorders: Treatment of Selective and Inadequate Food Intake in Children

    The purpose of this article is to offer a practical guide for professionals and parents who implement behavioural interventions to treat feeding disorders in children. Feeding problems appear more frequently among children with developmental disorders (33-88%) but are also common in typically developing children, 2% to 35% of whom also exhibit them (percentages vary depending…

  • Autism and school inclusion: 10 steps towards success

    Mainstream settings offer more opportunities for social interactions to children with autism and other special needs than special settings, therefore lead to more space for social growth. However, simply “placing” a student in a mainstream classroom does not guarantee meaningful inclusion and skills development. Inclusion is about adjusting the educational environment to meet each individual…

  • Autism Diagnosis and now what? 7 steps on how to start an ABA programme

    1. Supervisor: A successful ABA programme starts with the identification of the specialised clinician that will design and supervise it, will train parents and the therapeutic team, will be in contact with school and ultimately will be the person responsible for the overall student’s progress. The quality of the intervention based on Applied Behaviour Analysis…

  • Towards true multidisciplinarity

    Read our article published by the Centre for Education Research and Practice entitled “Towards true multidisciplinarity: How behaviour analysis can feed multidisciplinary work.”

  • Teach me how to talk: 10 Tips for teaching language to children with Autism

    1. Motivation: Identify reinforcers, i.e., the student’s preferences, and make sure these vary as often as possible. 2. Create opportunities for the students to ask for access to things or activities they like, make comments, respond to other people’s questions. 3. Use a variety of antecedent stimuli (e.g., pictures, objects, questions) so that the acquired…

  • Evidence-based therapy for Autism

    In the last years, due to the significant increase in the number of children who receive a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (recent estimates in the USA point to a prevalence of Autism of 1 in every 68 children), a high number of therapies have been developed promising improvement in the symptoms of the disorder,…

  • Autism: Signs and Diagnosis

    Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of disorders that share the following common elements: difficulties in social interactions, impaired communication skills and presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviours. The severity of ASD is classified in three levels and indicates the level of support required for the individual to overcome or counterbalance developmental difficulties, with Level 3…

  • Research & Training

    2019 Dounavi, K., & Tsoumani, O. (2019). Mobile Health Applications in Weight Management: A Systematic Literature Review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 56(6), 894-903. Read it here. Ferguson, J., Craig, E. A., & Dounavi, K. (2019). Telehealth as a Model for Providing Behaviour Analytic Interventions to Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review. Journal of Autism and Developmental…