Autism

A Southampton University project has concluded that intensive tutoring can raise the IQ levels of autistic children; the study, which was carried out over 2 years, involved children receiving home education from a personal tutor for 25 hours per week.

Anyone with an interest in this area has a number of internet sources and reports to choose from. Research Autism is a newly-launched website which aims to present authoritative research in a clear, user-friendly manner. The site has links with the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University and the National Autistic Society.

For an in-depth look at what is known about the condition, this Literature Review of Autism from 2005 is well worth reading, while Reaching Out, Reaching In is a report which looks at how autistic children can be successfully integrated into a mainstream school. Users of Athens may also be interested to know that issues of the Autism journal can be accessed via Sage Online back to 1999.