Article | July 11, 2023Beyond Goal Attainment Historically, measuring outcomes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focused specific behaviors. More than a dozen scales and measures exist to gauge these outward behaviors: examples include the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) rating scale. Almost none of these, however, provide a good tool for assessing … Read article
Article | June 29, 2023Tips for Summer Trips Summer is a season of change. The established routines of the school year have come to an end and new patterns take their place. For many families, summer vacations are the ultimate change in their routine. If you have a child with autism, this can be both an opportunity and a challenge. With the Covid-19 … Read article
Article | June 21, 2023The Power of Parent-Mediated Today, more families face the challenges of seeking support and care for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as diagnoses increase and the shortage of qualified applied behavioral analysis (ABA) paraprofessionals continues. Finding treatment in itself can present hurdles. Finding the right type of treatment—one that works for the child and caregivers—adds another layer of complexity. Practitioner-Led … Read article
Article | June 16, 2023Awareness For All Every parent worries about their children. How will they do in school, how do I keep them healthy, how do I help ensure they have a better life? Today, 1 in 36 families will discover they also must learn about how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will affect their child’s life. And of that group, between … Read article
Article | May 23, 2023Catalight on the World Stage For the first time since 2019, the world’s premier autism research conference was back in person, this year in Stockholm, and I attended with my colleagues Dr. Linsey Sneed and our CEO Susan Armiger. We were reminded of how important it is – both for us as researchers and clinicians and for Catalight as a … Read article
Article | May 23, 2023One Size Doesn’t Fit All A diverse array of needs requires new thinking and new treatment options to better support people with developmental disabilities. Given the expanding autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and the introduction of parity laws to better support people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I/DDs), we are seeing a wide range of needs and an opportunity to … Read article
Article | May 22, 2023How Technology Solutions Support people with Intellectual and Developmental disabilities (I/DD) The prevalence of intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) is on the rise1 and so is our interest in using technology as a way to improve the quality of life of people with I/DD. Today approximately 6.5 million people in the United States have an intellectual disability. Technology solutions vary from ‘low tech’ (paper calendar) to ‘high … Read article
Article | May 3, 2023Catalight Selected to Deliver Two Presentations at International Society for Autism Research Discover groundbreaking research on autism at INSAR 2023 by Catalight. Learn about tailored treatment approaches and measuring wellbeing for autistic individuals and families. Read article
Article | April 24, 2023Paraprofessional-Mediated ABA: Do Hours Matter Anyway? Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is an evidence-based intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). With the rates of ASD continuing to rise (Maenner et al., 2023) and all 50 states requiring behavioral health treatment for people with ASD (Straub et al., 2022) the demand for evidence-based intervention options for families continues to rise, … Read article
Article | April 24, 2023Does My Young Child Need ABA Every Day? Applied behavior analysis or ABA is an intensive behavioral treatment for autism and related developmental disabilities. ABA has been shown to improve the communication and social skills of young children and decrease challenging behaviors. The fact that ABA is considered intensive is often interpreted as meaning very high ABA hours or daily ABA. If you … Read article
