Over the next decade, an estimated 500,000 teenagers with autism will enter adulthood, and potentially, the workforce. Many of these young adults will begin the job hunt, hoping to find work that can help them establish independence and gain more independence and personal fulfillment. But, unemployment remains a significant problem.  Unfortunately, as things stand now, more than …

When I first began working in the field, autism interventions were primarily offered in clinic and research-based settings. As those therapies and the scientific understanding of autism evolved and as the demand for services has grown, a market for home-based and community-based services emerged. Services are expanding and the availability of funding is increasing, resulting …

In today’s health care ecosystem, the availability and quality of a field of services are dependent on insurance coverage. In the world of autism services, the tableau of insurance coverage is decidedly mixed. Children with autism spectrum disorders are generally covered by health insurance for services they require, but not universally. All but two states …

Why do we Light It Up Blue? For years, prevalence data in the field of autism held that the condition primarily affects boys, by ratios described as four or five to one generally and up to 10-1 among those without intellectual handicaps. Indeed, in the early days of identifying autism and Asperger’s Syndrome,  autism was …

I’ve written previously about how we misunderstand the intelligence of people on the autism spectrum. We evaluate their intelligence with tests and observations that measure a narrow slice of the intelligence continuum and then judge them by their ability to socialize with us. Neurotypical vs. Autistic Culture Neurotypical people—a term for individuals without autism coined …

By Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D Donald Triplett was born in 1933 to Mary and Beamon Triplett in Forest, Mississippi. At that time, no one had ever identified the behaviors he exhibited as an infant and toddler. The Tripletts understood that their son was encyclopedic in certain areas but emotionally distant and violently opposed to minute …

If a perfectly intelligent American were to find themselves catapulted into a foreign world with its own traditions, customs, culture and language, all totally unfamiliar to the person transported there, it would not be surprising for the people of this world to consider their visitor unintelligent, viewing intellect through the narrow lens of their own …

By Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D Are there autistic individuals in your life? Or are they people with autism? This is a critical distinction and a topic of debate in the autism community, one which recognizes that words matter and shape how we think. Half a century ago, people with developmental disabilities were referred to using …

By Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D The landscape for investment opportunities in autism services is growing and changing at a dizzying pace. As the diagnosis rate of children identified with autism spectrum disorder approaches 2.5 percent—nearly tripling since 2002—the demand for services is mushrooming. The marketplace is also beginning to demand more sophisticated models of care …

One of the most persistent misconceptions about people with autism spectrum disorder is that they are automatons without emotion. This arises from the fact that autism is at its core a communication disorder. People on the spectrum often struggle to show emotion, which can give the impression that they are uncaring. Studies have shown that …

The field of autism services is experiencing considerable growth; a trend that looks to continue for some time. An increase in diagnostic prevalence, as well as an aging population of adults living with autism, will continue to increase the demand for services for the foreseeable future. As the demand for autism services continues to grow, …

Most of the intellectual, emotional, and physical energy devoted to people with autism spectrum disorders focuses on their behavior and their understanding of the world. There is another component. Our behavior and our understanding of them. Imagine you were just as intelligent as everyone around you but functioned differently. You lacked the ability to communicate, …