Autism Spectrum Disorder: Ten Tips Guidance Article

Washington D.C., November 4, 2014 /3BL Media/ – A Clinical Perspectives article published in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry proposes a tool to empower stakeholders, guide caregivers, and provide a rationale for advocates, when considering the systems of support offered to people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Organizations such as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, and Autism Europe have long stressed the need for an effective evidence-based support approach, which not only promotes the active participation of the ASD individual, but also includes his or her family, and community.

With the hope of providing a framework for clinical practice and global advocacy, Dr. Joaquin Fuentes, of Policlínica Gipuzkoa, San Sebastián, Spain, has developed a set of brief ‘tips’ to  guide such an approach and which he anticipates will  be accepted in many countries.

Dr. Fuentes said of his article, “We see in our nations a radical evolution in the development of services to people with ASD. We consider them full citizens, who must receive personalized support in within their communities. We must pay attention to their hopes and dreams when planning for their futures, to empower them and their legal representatives to make decisions, and to favor their pursuit of self-determination, satisfying relationships, and full inclusion, in their search for quality of life.”

Pointing to a growing movement in Europe for making information easily understandable as an essential mechanism to protect individual human rights and foster citizen participation, Dr. Fuentes wrote the ‘tips’ in straightforward, first-person language In order to ensure representation, early drafts were reviewed by a self-support group of young persons with ASD, and the Board of Families from the Gipuzkoa Autism Society, the largest publicly supported autism community program in southern Europe, where Dr. Fuentes serves as a Research Consultant.

Those consulted discussed and strongly endorsed the document, adding a few points and valuing that the Ten Tips were to be facilitated to a multilingual community. Towards this end, the ten points outlined in the article are made available as online-only supplemental material in Basque, French, and Spanish.

Dr. Fuentes directs the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Policlínica Gipuzkoa, in Donostia / San Sebastián and is a member of the Steering Committee of Dr. Paramjit Joshi’s AACAP Presidential Initiative.

The article “Autism Spectrum Disorders: Ten Tips to Support Me” by Joaquin Fuentes, MD, (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2014.07.017) appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 53, Issue 11 (November 2014), published by Elsevier.

This article was endorsed by the Gipuzkoa Autism Society in Donostia / San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain on June 20, 2014.

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Notes for editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Mary Billingsley at +1 202 587 9672 or mbillingsley@jaacap.org. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Joaquin Fuentes, MD, at fuentes.j@telefonica.net

All articles published in JAACAP are embargoed until the day they are published as in press corrected proofs online at http://jaacap.org/inpress. Articles cannot be publicized as in press accepted manuscripts. Contents of the publication should not be released to or by the media or government agencies prior to the embargo date.

About JAACAP
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) is the official publication of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. JAACAP is the leading journal focusing exclusively on today's psychiatric research and treatment of the child and adolescent. Published twelve times per year, each issue is committed to its mission of advancing the science of pediatric mental health and promoting the care of youth and their families.

The journal's purpose is to advance research, clinical practice, and theory in child and adolescent psychiatry. It is interested in manuscripts from diverse viewpoints, including genetic, epidemiological, neurobiological, cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, social, cultural, and economic. Studies of diagnostic reliability and validity, psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment efficacy, and mental health services effectiveness are encouraged. The journal also seeks to promote the well-being of children and families by publishing scholarly papers on such subjects as health policy, legislation, advocacy, culture and society, and service provision as they pertain to the mental health of children and families.

About Elsevier
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Media contact

Mary Billingsley
JAACAP Editorial Office
+1 202 587 9672
mbillingsley@jaacap.org