Adults

A client's mother recently emailed me and asked if I would help her daughter learn how to tolerate and stay present at family gatherings more. Her daughter is an autistic woman in her 20's. She is financially dependent on her parents as she makes her way through education toward a career. Intrusive parents were constantly evaluating if therapy was "Working" and telling me what needed to be improved about their kids. So it is a bit ironic to me that I am in a similar situation again, but this time with an adult client. What the parent doesn't understand is that her request may not be what is best for the client. This is the second problem with intrusive parents - they are not my client. Her mother may measure her progress by different standards, but I can let my client measure her progress by what feels good to her.

This summary was generated by Smmry

A report highlights gaps in services for adults with autism in Utah. SALT LAKE CITY - Public schools provide a variety of necessary services to children and teens with autism, but there is a lack of adequate support for adults who have aged out of the system, according to a new report. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services, Utah Parent Center and the Utah State University Institute for Disability, Research, Policy and Practice recently partnered with the Madison House Autism Foundation and the Columbus Community Center on a pilot program to highlight the gaps in services for autistic adults and promote solutions. Sumiko Martinez, director of the Autism After 21 Utah Project through the Madison House Autism Foundation, said the report focuses on the everyday obstacles adults with autism can face in the state. Martinez said there are services for adults with autism in Utah, but most are clustered along the Wasatch Front, putting them out of reach for many people who live in the rural parts of the state. "There aren't as many services as there need to be, so this crisis is really something that is building and building, but it's happening outside of the public view for the most part. It's really an invisible crisis in a lot of ways," she said. Martinez is the director of the Autism After 21 Utah Project through the Madison House Autism Foundation.

This summary was generated by Smmry

Findings

Of 4 200 887 older adults (2 063 718 women [49·1%] and 2 137 169 men [50·9%]) in the study cohort, 5291 (0·1%) had a diagnosis of autism recorded in the National Patient Register. Older autistic adults (median follow-up 8·4 years [IQR 4·2–14·6]) had higher cumulative incidence and HRs of various physical conditions and injuries than their non-autistic counterparts (median follow-up 16·4 years [8·2–24·4]). In autistic individuals, the highest cumulative incidence was observed for bodily injuries (50·0% [95% CI 47·6–52·4]). Conditions that autistic adults were at higher risk of than were non-autistic adults included heart failure (HR 1·89 [95% CI 1·61–2·22]), cystitis (2·03 [1·66–2·49]), glucose dysregulation (2·96 [2·04–4·29]), iron deficiency anaemia (3·12 [2·65–3·68]), poisoning (4·63 [4·13–5·18]), and self-harm (7·08 [6·24–8·03]). These increased risks mainly persisted regardless of intellectual disability or sex.