The doll, which was created with input from the autistic community, comes with several accessories that "represent common ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate about the world around them," Mattel's press release states. These accessories include a pink finger-clip fidget spinner to reduce stress and improve focus, noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload, and an electronic tablet with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) apps to help non-verbal autistic people interact with others.
I remember the moment this photo was taken: five years ago, on my partner Claire's birthday, in a National Trust for Scotland garden six miles east of Edinburgh. We were standing on a wooden deck, an ideal spot for pond-dipping with the kids and a lesser-known viewing platform for trainspotters. This is where my autistic son, then six, loved (and still loves) to jump in tandem with the ScotRail trains toggling back and forth in the middle distance.
Diagnosed with autism at 14 months, Aubreigh Osborne started this year struggling to control outbursts and sometimes hurting herself. Her trouble with social interactions made her family reluctant to go out in public. But this summer, they started applied behavior analysis therapy, commonly called ABA, which often is used to help people diagnosed with autism improve social interactions and communication.
Maybe you've even enrolled in one of these programs-only to watch your emerging adult withdraw further or completely shut down. I've worked with families who invested significant time and money in conventional programs with devastating results. In one recent case, after 18 months with no progress, the program recommended dropping their autistic son at a homeless shelter to motivate him. This would have been a disaster because it completely missed what was actually happening.
A single mother to two autistic children, who had to leave her home in Bray at the end of November, has been placed in emergency accommodation over 100 kilometres away in County Wexford, despite both of her children attending primary school in the town.
The increase in reported mental health problems and neurodevelopmental diagnoses, and services not keeping pace, reflect what many clinicians see every day people are in more distress and unable to access support. The suffering is not fake, nor is it a case of gen Z malingering. Patients are struggling with what were once ordinary demands of life: school, work, relationships and family, complicated by the aftermath of Covid, with blurred boundaries between home and work, and life lived increasingly on screens.
Now her organisation works with more than 90 artists each week, providing studio space, materials and tuition. Some of their works have been exhibited, commissioned and sold, with artist Shruti designing the advent calendar for beauty brand Lush, and Seatton painting the cover art for Irish music artist CMAT's second studio album, Crazymad, for Me. Meanwhile, Richard's painting called SHIP was featured in last month's edition of the House and Garden magazine.
As the weeks near towards Christmas Day, one young Wexford child is preparing to give the greatest gift of all; inspiration that anything can be overcome with hard work and passion. Nine-year-old Poppie Davies Messett from Gorey, was born with a brain injury to parents Hollie Davies and Gary Messett. Having spent days in the ICU and been just recently diagnosed with autism and dyspraxia, Hollie never imagined that she would be bringing her daughter to rehearsals after being offered a spot on the Late Late Toy Show.
As a mum, it was heartbreaking to see. The impact has left him emotionally distant, unable to trust, and a shadow of the vibrant person he once was. For years, we pleaded with the council to do more to help our son, only to feel ignored, dismissed, and gaslit. Only once we consulted lawyers did we realise just how poorly the local authority's conduct and inaction had been.
All people have strengths and resources. Assess for, and focus on, these strengths and resources, and not on weaknesses and deficits. Utilize and leverage them when designing interventions. Each person is a unique individual. Each person has their own goals, values, and ways of experiencing and being in the world, along with their own unique sets of strengths and resources. Individualizing interventions is key.
Gidziela, A. et al. A meta-analysis of genetic effects associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and co-occurring conditions. Nat. Hum. Behav. 7, 642656 (2023). PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Buescher, A. V. S., Cidav, Z., Knapp, M. & Mandell, D. S. Costs of autism spectrum disorders in the United Kingdom and the United States. JAMA Pediatr. 168, 721728 (2014). PubMed Google Scholar
