Rehabilitative and habilitative therapies can help children with disabilities increase independence and overall wellbeing. However, children and their caregivers face many barriers to accessing these therapies and often rely on the school for therapy access. Given the limited resources available within the special education system, increasing…

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between social skills and sensory features, emotion regulation, and empathy in adolescents on the autism spectrum. One hundred and twenty-three adolescents were included in the study (50 autistic, 73 typically developing-TD adolescents). The participants filled out the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile…

Parents of children with disabilities are an important part of their child's special education team. However, parents often have limited involvement in school-based therapies that are provided as part of a child's Individualized Education Program. The field lacks tools to assess the domain and extent of parent needs for optimal engagement in their…

Autistic young adults experience challenges participating in the workforce, post-secondary schooling, and living in the community. We examined how participation outcomes have been measured in autistic young adults. Articles (n = 113) were identified through database searches and citation tracking. Guided by current models in the literature, data…

Many technology designers strive to involve end users in the design process, aiming to produce better outcomes. However, designers may struggle to engage autistic users effectively due to a lack of understanding of autistic characteristics and preferences. This systematic literature review aimed to identify how autistic adolescents and adults can…

Limited interventions exist that support student's school participation. This paper describes a theoretical model of school participation and the iterative process that led to the development of an intervention that aims to improve the school participation of students on the autism spectrum and their typically developing peers. Literature on…

This study aiming to compare the effectiveness of Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) and Conductive Education (CE) approaches on motor skills, activity limitation and participation restrictions in children with Down Syndrome (DS). Twelve children were randomly assigned into two groups. Twelve-week CO-OP or CE…

We examined parent activation in families with autistic children over time. Activation is one's belief, knowledge, and persistence in obtaining and managing one's care (e.g., patient activation) and others (e.g., parent activation) and is associated with better outcomes. Four aims were examined: the associations between baseline parent activation…

Evidence supports early intervention for toddlers with ASD, but barriers to access remain, including system costs, workforce constraints, and a range of family socio-demographic factors. An urgent need exists for innovative models that maximize resource efficiency and promote widespread timely access. We examined uptake and outcomes from 82…

"Purpose:" ASD is associated with relative strengths in the visuospatial domain but varying abilities in the linguistic domain. Previous studies suggest parallels between spatial language and spatial cognition in older autistic individuals, but no research to date has examined this relationship in young autistic children. Therefore, the…

Parental involvement in traditional autism therapy is key to the effective treatment of children with ASD. Little is known about parental involvement in robot-assisted autism therapy (RAAT)--novel therapeutic support for children with ASD. Our study investigates the effect of parental presence on multiple-session RAAT conducted with 16 children…

Parent engagement in early behavioral intervention is essential to achieving meaningful intervention outcomes. However, parents may experience multiple barriers to engagement. The Parent-coaching Assessment, Individualization, and Response to Stressors (PAIRS) was developed to help practitioners assess families' barriers and facilitators,…

Transportation and mobility for community participation is difficult for persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) under normal circumstances, but the impact of COVID-19 made access even more challenging. Researchers used a single-subject design to examine patterns of change from before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in community mobility and…

The purpose of the current study was to explore the lived experiences among parent leaders and a program coordinator who participated in a parent-directed training program to support other Latine parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. We used qualitative methods to explore 4 Latine parent leaders' and 1 program coordinator's…

Participation in Organised Extracurricular Social Activities (OESA) can provide positive outcomes for children. This study investigated whether children aged 4 to 12 years diagnosed with autism differ in their OESA participation and experience compared to neurotypical peers. Parents of autistic children (n = 35) and those of neurotypical peers (n…