Asperger’s Syndrome & Sexuality, written by: Isabelle Henault (London, 2006).
The forward to Ms. Henault’s extraordinary manual is written by renowned asperger’s expert Tony Attwood. He unreservedly recommends the content to any person dealing with asperger’s disorder and those who specifically have questions about aspergers & sexuality. It is also helpful for caregivers who want to understand the specific issues related to sexuality within this population of adults with aspergers.
After reading Asperger’s Syndrome and Sexuality, this reviewer would concur, and add that any professional in the area of teaching or mental health, as well as an adult with aspergers would greatly benefit from it’s content.
Ms. Henault has a broad spectrum of expertise in both asperger’s syndrome (AS) and sexuality issues. Her integration of the two topics brings relevant information to the forefront. There is significantly little research pertaining to the concerns of adults with aspergers & sexuality brought forth by social deficits combined with naturally occurring sexual issues.
The book is extremely reader friendly and is split into two sections. The first section provides a comprehensive outline of factors ranging from puberty issues, problematic behaviors, intimacy and emotion, gender identities, and couple issues. The second section outlines a socio-sexual education program of 12 workshop sessions. It is detailed and practical, and can be incorporated into a variety of settings for adults with aspergers. The book concludes with a research study comparing the sexual profile of AS individuals and that of the general population.
This is a comprehensive look at aspergers & sexuality. It incorporates both issues and strategies for compensation facing those who deal with the complex social and emotional factors associated with AS. It could easily be used as model for psycho educational treatment by numerous professionals. Adults with aspergers, parents ,partners and friends in the AS community will all greatly benefit from the excellent delivery performed by Ms. Henault.
Purchase the book here on the website and explore the possibilities!
May 31, 2010 Autism Community
A recent article published in the journal Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, written by Susan W. White et al., discusses the intervention program she and her colleagues have developed to treat adolescents with autism and anxiety. The manual-based treatment program they’ve developed is a cognitive-behavioral treatment program designed to target anxiety symptoms as well as social skill deficits in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The intervention program is called MASSI (Multimodal Anxiety and Social Skills Intervention).
The program is comprised of three facets: individual therapy, group therapy, and parent involvement. There are nine components of the treatment program the authors call “essential elements”. They are:
(1) Parent and family involvement: parents learn about the intervention and are taught how to support the things being taught at home and in the community to help promote generalization of skills.
(2) Regular practice: children are taught skills in individual and group therapy and these skills are practiced with the therapist and with other members of the group. The parents are also encouraged to practice the strategies learned with their children out in the community.
(3) Immediate, direct and specific feedback: the children are given feedback in the moment to help them learn the skills more quickly and not practice the wrong way of doing things. Additionally, video feedback is used to illustrate specific skills or skill deficits.
(4) Emphasis on corrective, positive social learning experiences: especially in the group therapy component, time is spent with the group members building group cohesion and establishing group rules so help establish a sense of safety and comfort in the group environment. There is an emphasis placed on this upfront because many of the children have potentially had many negative social experiences and the developers want to ensure the stage is set for maximum productivity.
(5) Modeling new skills: the program utilizes modeling of skills by therapist and peer tutors to help the adolescents learn the skills being taught. In addition to the physical modeling, the models explicitly state what they’re doing and why to ensure they to teach the skill and the logic behind it.
(6) Psychoeducation and explicit teaching about ASD and anxiety: this element is pervasive throughout all treatment modalities and focuses on honest, candid explanations of how the teen’s behavior affects how other people treat him. The developers believe that this component of treatment can be very powerful.
(7) Structured delivery: the delivery of the material itself is not scripted, but there is a set agenda for each session and examples about how to deliver the material. This structured yet unstructured format allows for flexibility in delivering the material based on the needs of the teen but also takes into account the need for structure and predictability.
(8) Therapeutic rapport: this is an important component of any therapeutic intervention, but for some youth with ASD it may be difficult to achieve quickly. The developers of the program suggest that time be taken at the beginning of each session to build rapport with the teen and their family to help them feel safe and comfortable with the therapy process.
(9) Integration of creative, alternative and varied teaching strategies: the curriculum includes other teaching modalities in addition to the traditional verbal explanation and examples. These alternative teaching strategies include visual supports, writing and drawing activities, drama and tactile reminders.
The developers have just completed phase one (manual development) for this program and are now moving into the second phase of development which includes evaluation for efficacy via controlled clinical trials. The “essential components” listed above, therefore, have not been empirically validated but they are based on research on the cognitive and learning styles of people with ASD and theoretical explanations of social deficits seen in ASD.
It is very exciting to potentially have a comprehensive program available sometime in the near future to help treat teens with ASD and anxiety. This is a new area of development and exploration and will be exciting to see the results that come out of the clinical trials of this treatment protocol.
