Category Archives: Autism Videos at ACT

ACT’s News Round-Up: November 2018 Edition

This week:

Understanding Mental Health Problems and ASD – Evidence-Based Case Conceptualization to Inform Treatment Planning

Jonathan Weiss, PhD, CPsych

This presentation is part of a free training series developed for mental health clinicians experienced in CBT with an interest in adaptations relevant to neurodevelopmental disabilities (e.g., autism, ADHD, learning disability).

Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize common emotional and behavioual problems associated with ASD
  • Differentiate mental health problems from ASD symptoms
  • Conceptualize common case frameworks that can inform CBT planning
  • Consider ethical issues in working with individuals with ASD using a CBT framework – including a panel discussion

As part of ACT’s Online Mental Health and Autism Project, we are launching a dozen new online videos this Fall/Winter season at Autism Videos @ ACT.

Watch video

Dr. Weiss holds the Canadian Institute of Health Research Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment and Care Research. He is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto.

Dr. Weiss’ research focuses on the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in people with ASD and/or intellectual disabilities across the lifespan. He is interested in their health service needs, their emergency service use, and their experiences of psychiatric crisis. Among other research areas, Dr. Weiss is interested in cognitive-behavioural and social skill interventions to promote resilience and improve the mental health of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Watch Dr. Weiss speak on Thriving in Youth in ASD: What Does it Take? from October 2015.

Next week’s video: A panel discussion on the perspectives of Adults with ASD.

Diagnosing & Managing ASD in Adults

The University of British Columbia is responding to the chronic shortage of mental health professionals trained to work with adults with ASD with a two-day course from an international expert in autism, Dr. Anthony Bailey, MBBS, DCH, MRCPsych, FRCPC. Professor and Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UBC.

Registration has now opened for Diagnosing & Managing Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults
Feb 1-2 (Fri-Sat), 0900–1630
UBC Robson Square ,Vancouver – also available via web streaming.

Target audience: psychiatrists, family physicians, other mental health care professionals
Up to 10.5 Mainpro+/MOC Section 1
View course content details
Register here

ACT recently launched a 30 minute presentation by Dr. Bailey as part of the Online Mental Health and Autism Project on the Role of Medications in the Management of ASD

Pilot Project to Identify Best Treatments for Autism

The Laurel Foundation is requesting the help of the autism community in completing a short five-question Pilot Survey. The objective is to create a metadata analysis project with individualized web based therapy programs for children with ASD. The project will involve thousands of families anonymously inputting information about their child’s treatment and its effectiveness to find the most efficient strategies for her/his specific challenges. At this stage they are determining if families would like such a program to be set up and are willing to provide the data to form the information pool.

As a first step, they are asking five simple questions to shape the project with the goal of empowering families to identify and access the best treatments available.

Complete the survey here.

Autism in the News

Get the latest on ACT’s Facebook page

Vancouver teacher is schooling educators on the value of inclusive classrooms – The Globe and Mail

How history forgot the woman who defined autism – Spectrum News

Kelowna mom goes extra mile to help special needs son adjust to school life – Global News

Sensory issues in autism may have sex-specific roots – Spectrum News

Theatre class helping people with autism break out of their shells – CTV News

Dos and Don’ts of Classroom Decorations – Edutopia

Neighbor builds shelter for boy with autism to wait for school bus – Lincoln Journal Star

Dads open up about autism in new film – Community Care Review

Expecting autistic people to ‘fit in’ is cruel and unproductive; value us for our strengths – The Conversation

Small town unites to prevent autistic neighbor from becoming homeless – Yahoo

NDP government ‘open’ to alternative pay options for special needs educators – Global News

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Addressing Mental Health in Autism : Should We Treat the Person with ASD, the Family, or the Community?

In this fascinating keynote presentation, Dr. Jonathan Weiss, one of Canada’s leading autism researchers, describes the individual and contextual factors that increase the likelihood of mental health problems for individuals with autism. Drawing on the research, and his extensive clinical experience, Dr. Weiss offers important insights into the ways these problems can be  alleviated by working with individuals, families, and communities.

Learning Objectives
  • Recognize ways that mental health problems present in people with autism.
  • Identify individuals at risk and contextual risk factors for mental health problems.
  • Describe interventions to address mental health problems.
Jonathan Weiss, PhD, CPsych

Weiss_photoJonathan Weiss holds the Canadian Institute of Health Research Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment and Care Research. He is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto. Dr. Weiss’ research focuses on the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in people with ASD and/or intellectual disabilities across the lifespan. He is interested in their health service needs, their emergency service use, and their experiences of psychiatric crisis.

Families play a critical role in the health of people with developmental disabilities by providing them with care and enabling their access to health services, one of Dr. Weiss’ research interests is the experience of family caregivers. In addition, he is interested in program development and evaluation. Dr. Weiss has a specific interest in the impact of Special Olympics on the psychological well-being of participants, and of cognitive-behavioural and social skill interventions to promote resilience and improve the mental health of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Part 1: Introduction and overview

Topics covered:
  • Transdiagnostic approach
  • Multiple baseline design research
  • Correlational Study

Part 2: Individual-contextual approach to mental health problems

Part 3: The individual as the target

Part 4: The family as the target

Part 5: The community as the target

Part 6: Discussion period

Questions
  • What research is being done on the relationship between environmental factors and anxiety? (Start of video)
  • Mindfulness group strategies? (2:49)
  • Trauma-focused therapy? (4:35)
  • Self-reporting and research by autistic researchers? (5:30)
  • Is there a link between personality disorders and autism? (6:47)
  • How do you incorporate siblings into the bio-social approach of care? (10:32)
  • Parental mental health? (11:57)
  • What should be measured to document the impact of an intervention so as to demonstrate that it can have positive health implications?
References cited:
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Mental Health Challenges in ASD: Perspectives of adults with ASD and professionals who work with adults

Autism & Mental Health – Looking Beyond Autism
Panelists: Kenneth Binnie & Allixe Galloway – adults with autism providing their experiences on mental health and autism; David Worling. Moderated by Anthony Bailey.

ACT’s 13th Annual Focus on Research Conference provided a forum for community professionals, researchers, and families to learn how to address co-occurring mental health conditions and consider solutions to the complex realities facing individuals with autism with mental health conditions.

The goal of this conference is to build understanding and collaboration between researchers, clinicians, educators and families to improve equitable access to mental health services for people with ASD across the life-span.

Part 1: Allixe Galloway – Impact of mental health on career and personal life

Part 2: Kenneth Binnie

Part 3: David Worling

Part 4: Q&A

  • Gender identity (Start of video)
  • Rates, risk, and prevention of suicide (1:53)
  • Differences in mental health between individuals with ASD and the general population (3:14)
  • Perspective of adults with ASD: Useful tools and therapy (7:05)
  • What would you have liked your family or peers to better understand about you when you were younger? (12:08)
  • What do you think is required to be an expert so that individuals with autism can become more involved? (14:09)
  • First Nations communities living with ASD and the impact of inter-generational trauma (18;35)
  • Thoughts on being an observer (21:34)
  • Suggestions for assisting people with anxiety to engage in treatment (26:19)
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