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Evaluation ViewAttendees 1

Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders
Symposia

Symposium 128 - Community-partnered research to improve mental health assessment and treatment for autistic individuals

Sunday, November 17, 2024
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Location: Grand Ballroom I/J, Level 5, Downtown Marriott
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Treatment Development, Community-Based
Level of Familiarity: Moderate
Recommended Readings: Maddox, B. B., Crabbe, S., Beidas, R. S., Brookman-Frazee, L., Cannuscio, C. C., Miller, J. S., ... & Mandell, D. S. (2020). “I wouldn’t know where to start”: Perspectives from clinicians, agency leaders, and autistic adults on improving community mental health services for autistic adults. Autism, 24(4), 919-930.,   Roche, L., Adams, D., & Clark, M. (2021). Research priorities of the autism community: A systematic review of key stakeholder perspectives. Autism, 25(2), 336-348.,   Kerns, C. M., Roux, A. M., Connell, J. E., & Shattuck, P. T. (2016). Adapting cognitive behavioral techniques to address anxiety and depression in cognitively able emerging adults on the autism spectrum. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 23(3), 329-340.,   ,  

There is a growing movement to enhance community engagement and embrace a neurodiversity framework to research and clinical practice in autism. This perspective views autism as both a disability and a naturally occurring difference to be embraced. This shift has been largely driven by autistic self-advocates who pointed out how their exclusion from past research has led to instances of unhelpful or harmful treatments. Further, evidence-based treatments that do exist often do not reach autistic individuals in their communities, as research often ignores factors that lead to effective implementation. As such, there is a growing push to incorporate autistic people’s voices into treatment and assessment development, and to train providers in neurodiversity-affirming care. Similarly, clinical science in this domain has increased community engagement across diverse constituents, including frontline therapists, caregivers, teachers, and other stakeholders. A central goal of this work is to improve inclusivity of diverse populations who have often been excluded from clinical psychological science.
The goal of this symposium is to bring together clinical scientists who have sought to conduct research in this area. The work presented in this symposium incorporates community engagement in the assessment and treatment of mental health disorders and adaptive behaviors among autistic children and adults. Presentations will cross issues pertaining to multi-informant assessment, training of frontline mental health clinicians, as well as treatment development, modification and testing for autistic youth and adults.
The first presentation will describe multiple phases of feedback during the development of a digital cognitive behavioral therapy program for anxiety among autistic youth, presenting qualitative and quantitative data that were incorporated into revisions during development, pilot testing, and a randomized trial. The second will provide an overview of a motivational interviewing intervention designed to help transition-age autistic adults reach functional goals, as well as its iterative development in partnership with this population. The third will present adaptations to an evidence-based group behavioral activation treatment for autistic adults, and how these adaptations were identified via community-based participatory methods. The fourth presentation will examine teacher-parent agreement in the assessment of adaptative behaviors among a large cohort of autistic youth, which highlights the frequency of discrepancies across informants and the value of incorporating multiple perspectives in the assessment of this population. The final presentation will provide an overview of outcomes from a large study of therapist training in neurodiversity-affirming practices for autistic youth.
Together, these presentations will provide several examples of how community-partnered research can enhance the acceptability, efficacy, and reach of mental health services for autistic people. The symposium will conclude with a discussion led by an experienced implementation scientist with several past and ongoing projects investigating community-partnered intervention research for autistic children.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe community-based methods to adapt evidence-based practices for autistic individuals
  2. Discuss common adaptations to CBT for autistic individuals
  3. Describe the utility of including multiple perspectives in the study of autistic people
  4. Identify parent-teacher discrepancies in the assessment of adaptive behaviors in autistic youth
  5. At the session's end, describe a neurodiversity-affirming CBT training for therapists working with autistic people

Presentations:

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 128) Development and Testing of Internet-based, Parent-led Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Among Autistic Youth

    Speaker: Andrew G. Guzick, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Pennsylvania

    Co-author: Eric Storch, Ph.D. – Baylor College of Medicine

    Co-author: Sophie Schneider, PhD (she/her/hers) – Baylor College of Medicine

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 128) Profiles of Parent-teacher Agreement on Autistic Children's Adaptive Functioning

    Speaker: Rachel Lees, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Bath

    Co-author: Nicky Wright, PhD – Manchester Metropolitan University

    Co-author: Andres De Los Reyes, PhD – University of Maryland

    Co-author: Erik Duku, PhD – McMaster University

    Co-author: Teresa Bennett, Ph.D. – McMaster University

    Co-author: Stelios Georgiades, PhD – McMaster University

    Co-author: Pat Mirenda, PhD – UBC

    Co-author: Annie Richard, PhD, RPsych – Dalhousie University

    Co-author: Isabel Smith, PhD – Dalhousie University

    Co-author: Wendy Ungar, PhD – Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute

    Co-author: Tracy Vaillancourt, PhD – University of Ottowa

    Co-author: Anat Zaidman-Zait, PhD – Tel Aviv University

    Co-author: Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, PhD – University of Alberta

    Co-author: Peter Szatmari, MD – Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute

    Co-author: Mayada Elsabbagh, PhD – McGill University

    Co-author: Connor M. Kerns, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of British Columbia

    Co-author: Rachael Bedford, PhD – Queen Mary University of London

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 128) Adaptation of Group Behavioral Activation Treatment: A Multi-level Collaboration with Autistic Adults

    Speaker: Gentiana Kukaj, B.A. (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Erin J. Libsack, M.A. (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Jun Hong Chen, Psy.D. (he/him/his) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Sergio Corvera, BS (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Elizabeth Dicker, MEd (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Prince Wynn, MS (he/him/his) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Vanessa Bal, PhD (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Brian C. Chu, Ph.D. – Rutgers University

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 128) Engaging with the Autism Community to Develop a Novel Motivational Interviewing Intervention for Daily Living Skills in Transition-age Autistic Youth

    Speaker: Elizabeth Kaplan-Kahn, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Elizabeth Kaplan-Kahn, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Ariana Garagozzo, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Emily Kuschner, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Julie Gettings, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Diabetes Center for Children, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Benjamin Yerys, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  • 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST
    (SYM 128) Remote Training to Improve Confidence and Competence of Mental Health Practitioners to Treat Autistic Youth

    Speaker: Matthew Lerner, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Drexel University

    Co-author: Lauren Moskowitz, Ph.D. – St. John’s University

    Co-author: Rebecca Sachs, ABPP, Ph.D. – Private Practice

    Co-author: Dena Gassner, MSW – Towson University

    Co-author: Imad Zaheer, Ph.D. – St. John’s University

    Co-author: Allison S. Nahmias, Ph.D. – A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University

    Co-author: Nathalia Benitez, B.A. – St. John’s University

    Co-author: Jacquelyn A. Gates, M.A. (she/her/hers) – Stony Brook University

    Co-author: Britney Jeyanayagam, M.A. – St. John's University

    Co-author: Morgan L. McNair, M.A. – Stony Brook University

    Co-author: Ashley Smith, B.A. – St. John’s University