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1600 Stress & Coping in Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Friday, July 15, 2005: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM

103 (Nashville Convention Center)

This conference program will review prior research relating to stress in ASD and discuss recent developments in assessing stress in this population, including use of telemetric measures of cardiovascular arousal. The program will end with a rationale and suggested strategies for teaching persons with ASD to cope with stress. The construct of stress has expanded, in a revolutionary way, our understanding of both typical and atypical human development. The following topics will be covered in this conference program to establish a framework for the usefulness of the stress construct in understanding, assessing and treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD):

Stress and anxiety in ASD

This segment of the presentation will review the literature suggesting that stress and anxiety can affect the cognitive, physiological and overt behavioral responses of individuals with ASD, and therefore make depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders more prevalent among people with pervasive developmental disabilities than in the general population.

Hypotheses about stress and ASD

This segment of the presentation will review clinical and research work suggesting that: (1) common characteristics (deficits in communication, socialization, executive function, etc.) of persons with ASD may make this population more vulnerable to the effects of stress and lack a repertoire of appropriate coping mechanisms, and (2) many of the maladaptive behaviors (aggression, self-injury, echolalia, rocking) typically labeled as autistic may be related to the experience of stress.

Measuring stress in ASD

This segment of the presentation will briefly review the various ways an individual's response to a stressor can be measured, including self-report, survey, and behavioral or physiological observations.

Functional analysis of stress in ASD

This segment of the presentation offers case examples illustrating a multimodal stress assessment model that integrates observational data, survey ratings, physiological assessment, and digital video into a functional analysis of behavior.

Teaching Coping in ASD

The final segment of the presentation details ways that persons with ASD can learn to make adaptive, self-controlling responses to stressors and presents illustrative single-case investigations. These strategies include the use of the relaxation response, imagery-based picture rehearsal, cognitive strategies, and social skills training to increase effective responding to stressors.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this conference program attendees should be able to:

(1) understand and discuss the role of stress in the lives of persons with autism;

(2) know various ways for measuring stressors and the stress response in persons with autism;

(3) describe various procedures that can be taught to persons with autism to help them cope with stress in their lives;

(4) understand and discuss the value of research on stress and coping in advancing both science and practice in autism.

Content Area: Behavior Issues and Supports

Presenters:

Grace Baron
Professor of Psychology
Wheaton College

Dr Grace Baron is a behavioral clinician who has worked in the assessment and treatment of autism since the mid 70s (at Providence, RI's Groden Center, Inc.). She is also Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College (Norton, MA). With Gerald Groden, she co-edited Autism: Strategies for Change (1988).

Matthew S. Goodwin
Research Coordinator
The Groden Center, Inc.

Matthew Goodwin is a Ph.D. candidate in Experimental Psychology at the University of Rhode Island and the Research Coordinator at the Groden Center. His research and clinical experience with children with autism focuses primarily on the assessment of stress responses using telemetric heart rate monitors and digital video/editing systems.

June Groden
Executive Director
The Groden Center, Inc.

Dr. June Groden, co-founder of the Groden Center, is considered a pioneer in autism and developmental disabilities. Her primary areas of interest are stress and anxiety and procedures to reduce stress. She has developed widely-used relaxation and imagery-based procedures for persons with autism and developmental disabilities.

Gerald Groden
Director
The Groden Center, Inc.

Prior to co-founding the Groden Center in 1976, Dr. Gerald Groden served as the Director of Psychology at Rhode Island Hospital developing a part of the first multi-agency cooperative early intervention program in Rhode Island. He has authored several books, numerous publications and video guides relating to autism and developmental disorders.

Lewis P. Lipsitt
Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Medical Science, and Human Development
Brown University

Dr. Lewis P. Lipsitt is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Medical Science, and Human Development at Brown University. Prof. Lipsitt is an internationally-known scholar in the field of child development and has published extensively on infant sensory and learning processes, children's discrimination learning, and the effects of stress on performance.

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