DSM-5 Revisions to ASD definition
Two small wording changes for clarity have been made in the revision of the DSM-5 (DSM-5-TR) entry for ASD released March 2022.
Quoting from the spectrum news article from March 17, 2022 (https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/dsm-5-revision-tweaks-autism-entry-for-clarity/)
The DSM-5, released in 2013, indicated that an autism diagnosis requires “persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following”: deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, and in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships. The first text revision in the new DSM-5-TR adds two words to that description: “as manifested by all of the following.”
The second change swaps out a single word describing the “specifiers” that can accompany an autism diagnosis. Whereas the DSM-5 wording instructs clinicians to specify if a person’s autism is “associated with another neurodevelopmental, mental or behavioral disorder,” the DSM-5-TR version reads: “associated with a neurodevelopmental, mental, or behavioral problem.” It still instructs clinicians to use additional diagnostic codes whenever appropriate, but it no longer requires specifiers to be diagnosable conditions.
Changes have also been made to Intellectual Disability. The new terminology is “intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disability)”.
Please see the APA fact sheets for more information: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/dsm-5-fact-sheets
Can children with language impairments learn two languages?
Thank you to our SLP Professional Practice Leader Marilyn Noort for sharing this excellent summary of current research and easy read on language impairments and bilingual language learners.
Here’s the link: http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Can-children-with-language-impairments-learn-two-l
Protected: Webinar – Special summer research research on epidurals and ASD: the pitfalls of observational studies and how our clinical data is contributing to important research
Protected: Webinar – Highlights from ULCA Advances in Autism Symposium and INSAR
San’yas Core Indigenous Cultural Safety Training
We encourage all our clinicians to complete the San’yas Core Indigenous Cultural Safety Health Training, an 8-week, self-paced training program. If you are an employee of one the following health authorities, you may be able to access a pre-purchased training seat, free-of-charge: Provincial Health Services Authority, Northern Health Authority, Interior Health Authority, Fraser Health Authority, Vancouver Island Health Authority, Ministry of Health. Many of our clinicians have completed the training and have found it useful.
Autism & Neurodiversity in the Workplace – Free Professional Development Program
The UBC Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism (CIRCA) has launched a free, self-paced, online professional development program: Autism & Neurodiversity in the Workplace.
“The program is designed to assist human resource professionals, employers, supervisors, managers, co-workers, job coaches and counsellors, autistic employees, parents, students, and anyone interested in inclusive employment to learn practical strategies on how to support all employees to be successful on the job.”
Here is the link: https://circa.educ.ubc.ca/autism-in-the-workplace/
