The Fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is set to be released May 18 during the APA's annual meeting in San Francisco. In the days leading up to the official announcement of the changes, controversy began brewing. ADVANCE has reported on the changes coming to ...

Has it really been thirteen years since the turn of the century? Young children who were diagnosed with autism in 2000 are now in their teens. Teens who were dealing with autism in 2000 are now adults. Perhaps you, as an SLP, were just worrying about how the new century was going to affect your computer at this time some thirteen years ago. Time ...

As an SLP you have the skills to teach children and adults on all levels of the autism spectrum social strategies they will need throughout their lives. As an SLP you have the responsibility to speak up at an IEP in the school or any setting when you hear that ''social skills do not impact education'' and state all the reasons why they do. As ...

One hundred percent of children and adults with ASD are bullied at sometime. One hundred percent of the time, it hurts. I hope they are not bullied on a daily basis. I hope the hurt does not leave scars-physically or emotionally. Perhaps, being bullied should be right up there on the new DSM criteria for Autistic Disorder as an indentifying ...

I wonder what Snow White would have searched on an iPad, or what she could have accomplished. Could she have made Dopey, less dopey? Was there a remedy for Sneezey or a medication for Sleepy and Grumpy? Perhaps Bashful could have been brought out of his shell with various applications. Doc and Happy, well, they were full of wit and joy already. ...

Autism Awareness Month began on Sunday, April 1. My son Doug's birthday is April 1. The fifth annual World Autism Awareness Day was April 2. World Autism Awareness Day ''aims to increase people's awareness about people, especially children, with autism. The day often features educational events for teachers, health care workers and parents, as ...

For those readers that are joining us new this week, PSHA is the Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The organization conducted a survey geared towards SLPs and audiologists in February 2012, and the results were recently released. In last week's post, I shared some of my own commentary regarding the survey and what I feel the ...

Dear Kathie: ''Chad is 5 years old and ‘very' autistic and non-verbal. He covers his ears with his hands when there is a loud noise, such as a fire alarm, or even when he anticipates a loud noise, like a balloon that he thinks may pop. How can I help him, his classroom teacher, and his parents? - Payton, speech-language pathologist My ...

Dear Kathie: What are your thoughts on using an iPad with the autistic population?'' - Mary, speech-language pathologist and parent of a child with autism Kathie's Response: I like it. I love it. I want some more of it. But, instead of calling it an iPad for the autistic population, I think we should rename it a wePad. That is because WE ...

To date, my graduate student extern (referred to as ''student teacher'' from here on out for the sake of convenience) has been with me for two weeks now. I'm hoping she has learned a lot so far, as I know I have learned things from her already. Having a student teacher really has caused me to do some self-reflecting on my own therapy and ...