News

Scottish Autism announce new partnership with Good Autism Practice (GAP) Journal
Scottish Autism is delighted to announce a new partnership with the Good Autism Practice (GAP) Journal, a collaborative publication currently produced by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), the University of Birmingham and Autism West Midlands, published by BILD.

The GAP journal is dedicated to promoting good practice with children and adults living with autism. Initially launched in 2000, the GAP Journal is published bi-annually in May and October. The publication is edited by highly respected academics and practitioners specialising in autism and aimed at a wide audience including people who live with the condition and their families, as well as health, education and social services professionals. Scottish Autism will join the existing partners on the journal’s management group as a co-opted member. The charity will share its experiences as an autism service provider in order to encourage and promote the journal’s mission to publish work that reflects on, and informs good autism practice.

For more information, please visit the BILD website.

Cybercrime and autism
An original paper has been published in Advances in Autism concerning this fascinating and important topic, which came to the public attention via the case of a British man with Asperger’s Syndrome, Gary McKinnon, who was threatened with extradition to the USA for hacking into USA military establishments. The paper discusses research that was undertaken with law enforcement agencies worldwide to explore concerns of those agencies of an over-representation of autistic individuals in cybercrime.

Ledingham, R., & Mills, R. (2015). A preliminary study of autism and cybercrime in the context of international law enforcement. Advances in Autism, 1(1), 2-11.

Pet dogs and autism
A partnership between the University of Lincoln, the charity Dogs for the Disabled and the National Autistic Society, looked to explore the effects of pet dogs in families with a child on the autism spectrum.

Wright, H. F., Hall, S., Hames, A., Hardiman, J., Mills, R., Mills, D. S., & PAWS Team. (2015). Acquiring a pet dog significantly reduces stress of primary carers for children with autism spectrum disorder: a prospective case control study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-10.

www.link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-015-2418-5

Events

Knowledge Share Seminars
Scottish Autism’s Knowledge Share Seminars are taking place in Renfrewshire, Falkirk and the Borders. Topics for discussion include; Thinking about Independence and Relationships and Sexual Health.

For more information about Knowledge Share and other Scottish Autism events, please visit our events page.

Looking Forward, Looking Back: The Janus View of Autism
Research Autism will be holding this international conference, at Prince Philip House, London on 25-26 November 2015.

It will be the charity’s most significant conference to date, featuring several world-renowned speakers. The event will seek to review progress in the field of autism over the past decade, as well a tribute to Dr Lorna Wing, a founding trustee of Research Autism, who sadly died last year.

Lorna was a pioneer in autism research, and her original ideas have been critical to our understanding of autism. The conference title is derived from Janus the Roman god of doors who is depicted as looking back as well as forwards. The Janus view was a favourite concept of Lorna’s as it was her firm belief that in looking forward we should not forget the past to understand the essence of autism and to avoid repeating past errors.

Speakers include Thomas Bourgeron, Kabie Brook, Christopher Gillberg, Judith Gould, Francesca Happe, Declan Murphy, Digby Tantam and Peter Vermeulen. The conference will be chaired by Richard Mills and Jeremy Parr.

For more information, please visit the Research Autism website.

Autism Network Scotland
Autism Network Scotland provides reliable and impartial information that connects and communicates with individuals on the autistic spectrum, their families and carers, and practitioners working in the field of autism.

For forthcoming events across Scotland, please visit the Autism Network Scotland website.