Author: Autism Today News.
A Florida pastor is facing backlash from some parents after he canceled Autism Awareness Week events at a Christian school. Matt Baker emailed families at Trinity Christian Academy in Lake Worth Beach on March 30, just days before the observation was scheduled to begin. The advertised dress-up days wouldn’t be happening, the pastor said, “because anything that exalts itself above the name of Christ should be brought down.” RELATED: Meet ‘The Autism Pastor’ Lamar Hardwick: Preacher, Author, Cancer Warrior According to the Palm Beach Post, the school-wide email labeled the autism observance activities as “idolatry and demonic.” In his email,…
Approximately 100 participants – including pediatricians, researchers, trainees, students, and other clinicians and service providers – came together on Thursday, April 18, 2024, for the fifth annual early autism conference at Yale. The event is hosted by the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) Social and Affective Neuroscience of Autism (SANA) Program, directed by Emily Fraser Beedy Professor Kasia Chawarska. Titled “Advances in Research and Clinical Practice,” this year’s conference was held in-person at 100 College Street in New Haven and consisted of a series of presentations focused on motor stereotypies and other repetitive behaviors in autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions…
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) has reaffirmed its dedication to fostering an inclusive society and a healthy lifestyle for people with autism. This is even as it has announced the 2024 GTCO Autism program, a flagship project under the Orange Ribbon Initiative, which has established itself as a beacon of hope and a reference point for autism advocacy and intervention in Africa. The program is scheduled to hold on July 15 and 16, 2024, at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, whilst the free one-on-one clinic consultations will open from July 16 to 20 at the Chapel of Light, Alausa, Ikeja,…
Booking now open for the first of three events being held in 2024 for people living in Coventry and Warwickshire with an interest in Autism. Residents across Coventry and Warwickshire with an interest in autism and support available are invited to join one of three upcoming ‘Together with Autism’ conferences being held this year. These free events aim to create opportunities for people to meet and build networks with others who share experience or an interest in Autism. As well as featuring inspiring speakers, including autistic people, there will be a number of pre-bookable workshops on different topics, examples include: Navigating the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system Sensory support Reasonable adjustments…
Moai Capital, one of the new autism venture capital funds, is named for the Moai statutes on Easter … [+] Island. For Moai founder, Brian Jacobs, the statutes, carved and erected by the Rapa Nui people, represent the intense determination needed by any entrepreneur, especially one in the autism space.Brian Jacobs Can venture capital drive innovation in the autism field, as it has in other fields? Can the dynamism of capital markets be applied to autism’s stubborn challenges of diagnosis, therapies, services and employment? In the past few years, several autism-focused venture capital funds have been launched, including Moai Capital,…
Technology and consulting companies have discovered the talents of high-functioning workers with autism spectrum disorder. But there are others with this condition who also have much to contribute. They are the missing middle, the pool of talent between autistic individuals with few support needs and highly specialized technical skills and those unable to work. Accounting clerk, data management associate, inventory management clerk, and digital marketing specialist are all examples of roles suited to many of these people. In our roles as business leaders and diversity advocates, we’ve observed corporate hiring practices evolve over the years towards companies seeking out, integrating,…
More startups are seeking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for autism spectrum disorders interventions beyond behavior therapies. While widely varied in type and approach, these companies seek to bring the scientific rigor and scrutiny that is more of a type with medical devices. The FDA clearance process provides something tantamount to a permission slip to bring new services to bear on health conditions. In so doing, these device companies seek to help address some of the most difficult issues facing the industry, namely the subjectivity of autism diagnosis and treatment, the time it takes to conduct diagnoses and even…
Millions of people around the world are affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both as kids and later in life, these individuals and their families need better detection, treatment and support solutions that will help them live with autism. But until recently, that wasn’t a space that startups and investors ventured into. Autism Impact Fund (AIF) was a pioneer when it emerged in 2021, three years after the son of its co-founder and managing partner, Chris Male, was diagnosed with ASD. A joint effort of Male and others, AIF strove to become “the investment and innovation arm of the autism…
Employees of VenturesATL, one of the autism-focused tech firms that is growing, even in the … [+] increasingly competitive tech environment.VenturesATL In the early 2010s, a wave of tech start-ups arose with the goal of employing adults with autism, building on the claimed skills of these adults in software testing and quality control. Most of these tech start-ups failed to survive: casualties of the offshoring and competitive price pressures of the software testing and quality control jobs they focused on, as well as an overhyping of the tech skills of most adults with autism. But a few of these start-ups…
Live motion: Cameras track angles formed by the hips, knees and ankles as a person walks, to create a three-dimensional image of the body. A three-dimensional motion-capture system developed for film animation has found subtle differences in hip and ankle movement in children with autism compared with typically developing controls. Researchers compared 12 children with autism with 22 typically developing children, all between 5 and 9 years of age, measuring cadence — number of steps per minute — and other variables. The study, published in Clinical Biomechanics in October, is the first to use the technology to measure gait patterns…