Center for Autism Research

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Browsing Center for Autism Research by Author "Dahiya, Angela V."

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    Access to Autism Spectrum Disorder Services for Rural Appalachian Citizens
    Scarpa, Angela; Jensen, Laura S.; Gracanin, Denis; Ramey, Sharon L.; Dahiya, Angela V.; Ingram, L. Maria; Albright, Jordan; Gatto, Alyssa J.; Scott, Jen Pollard; Ruble, Lisa (2020-01)
    Background: Low-resource rural communities face significant challenges regarding availability and adequacy of evidence-based services. Purposes: With respect to accessing evidence-based services for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this brief report summarizes needs of rural citizens in the South-Central Appalachian region, an area notable for persistent health disparities. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data during focus groups with 33 service providers and 15 caregivers of children with ASD in rural southwest Virginia. Results: Results supported the barriers of availability and affordability of ASD services in this region, especially relating to the need for more ASD-trained providers, better coordination and navigation of services, and addition of programs to assist with family financial and emotional stressors. Results also suggested cultural attitudes related to autonomy and trust towards outside professionals that may prevent families from engaging in treatment. Implications: Relevant policy recommendations are discussed related to provider incentives, insurance coverage, and telehealth. Integration of autism services into already existing systems and multicultural sensitivity of providers are also implicated.
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    Enhancing Flexibility: A Biosocial Model for Resilience to Adversity in Youth With Autism
    Scarpa, Angela; Swain, Deanna M.; Factor, Reina S.; Dahiya, Angela V.; Bertollo, Jennifer R. (SAGE, 2021)
    Flexibility is often associated with resilience from adversity. Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk of stress and trauma yet have inherent difficulties with flexibility, including rigid behaviors, routines, “insistence on sameness,” and lack of social reciprocity. This review highlights literature of physiological and psychological processes related to inflexibility in ASD and proposes a heuristic model to understand mechanisms of resilience in the aftermath of adversity. This article presents the Biosocial Model for Resilience, which posits that interventions that target changes in central, autonomic, and endocrine dysregulation may in turn enhance processes of psychological flexibility (i.e., executive cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal regulation) that increase the likelihood of resilient adjustment in response to stressful experiences. This model of resilience is optimistic in positing that, in addition to critical programs on the prevention of social adversity, future research on flexibility can inform intervention programs that target this specific mechanism to minimize harmful aftereffects in youngsters with ASD.