Editorial

Citation

Chaplin, E. and McCarthy, J. (2015), "Editorial", Advances in Autism, Vol. 1 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-06-2015-0008

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Advances in Autism, Volume 1, Issue 1.

On behalf of the Editors and Emerald Publishing we would like to welcome readers, subscribers and contributors to the first edition of Advances in Autism.

The first paper from Ledingham and Mills reports on an emerging area of cybercrime and autism. Although individuals with autism have low rates of offending; they are still over represented in the criminal justice system. Although cybercrime is a relatively new phenomena, it has attracted a great deal of national and international attention due to a number of high profile cases.This paper is one of the first to report on cybercrime and autism is a welcome change from the sensationalized media accounts of real-life cases. The second paper from Sappok and colleagues examines a range of autism screening tools currently used in England and Germany and reports on their diagnostic validity. This is a timely piece given the push in a number of countries to provide better access to autism screening and diagnosis. The third paper by Levin is an extended paper that examines portraiture and social understanding, putting forward possible explanations for deficits in social understanding in individuals with autism spectrum conditions as well as potential intervention of viewing and drawing portraits to increase social understanding. The final paper by Povey offers an insight into what makes good autism services, and describes the key components and approaches required to ensure good autism services. This comes at a time when autism services are under scrutiny with large numbers inappropriately placed across the country in assessment and treatment units. This article will be of additional interest in the UK where people with autism residing in assessment and treatment units are having their cases reviewed with a view to providing community placements a appropriate. These individuals are currently having their cases reviewed with a view to providing appropriate community placements.

We would like to extend an invitation to subscribers and readers to submit articles to Advances in Autism for future editions. Advances in Autism provides an international focus on the health, education and social care aspects and outcomes for people with autism with a focus on:

• research-based articles; and

• developments in evidence-based practice.

These will include papers on such topics as:

• advances in service development;

• practice developments and innovation;

• people’s experience including inclusion and quality of life;

• advances in the assessment, treatment and understanding of autism spectrum conditions;

• population and epidemiological studies; and

• evidence-based reviews of key practice and policy issues.

The journal aims to become a key tool in building and disseminating evidence to change the way that professionals work with people with autism spectrum conditions, challenging traditional assumptions and ways of working.

For those wishing to submit articles to Advances in Autism, this can be done at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/aia

Eddie Chaplin and Jane McCarthy