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Media advisory: Autism expert, Lancet Commission author can discuss international report calling for personalized, stepped-care approach
LAWRENCE — A major report will be made public today by the Lancet Commission on the future of care and clinical research on autism. One of its key authors, Brian Boyd, associate professor of applied behavioral science at the University of Kansas and director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at KU’s Life Span Institute, is available to answer questions from media about the Lancet Commission’s findings. Boyd also will present key findings and recommendations in a webinar at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, along with commission chairs Catherine Lord and Tony Charman.
KU author questions assumptions about Jesuits’ relationship with Spain
LAWRENCE – Pope Francis is the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church. That’s one rather large indication that, as scholar Patricia Manning sees it, the priestly Society of Jesus has overcome the forces that suppressed them during the 18th century. The period of suppression that culminated in the Jesuits being expelled from Spain in 1767 and disbanded by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 are the subject of Manning’s new book, “An Overview of the Pre-Suppression Society of Jesus in Spain” (Brill, 2021).
Full stories below.
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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Autism expert, Lancet Commission author can discuss international report calling for personalized, stepped-care approach
LAWRENCE — A major report will be made public today by the Lancet Commission on the future of care and clinical research on autism.
One of its key authors, Brian Boyd, associate professor of applied behavioral science at the University of Kansas and director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at KU’s Life Span Institute, is available to answer questions from media about the Lancet Commission’s findings.
Boyd’s research primarily focuses on development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions to promote positive outcomes for autistic children. Much of Boyd’s work aims to support autistic children in their homes and schools to ensure they can thrive in their environments.
Boyd also will present key findings and recommendations in a webinar at 10 a.m. CST Tuesday, Dec. 7, along with commission chairs Catherine Lord and Tony Charman. Attendance is free, and you can register for the webinar here.
According to the Lancet Commission, “At least 78 million people are living with autism worldwide, the majority of whom do not receive adequate support or care services, especially those living in low- and middle-income countries or other low-resource settings. Given the heterogeneous nature of autism, a new personalized, stepped-care approach is urgently needed.”
Reporters may use comments from the Q&A with Boyd below or contact the KU researcher at [email protected].
Q: What do you think are the most important findings of the commission’s report on autism? What should the takeaway message be?
Boyd: One of the takeaway messages is there’s always hope if we provide the right environmental supports that some autistic people may need to thrive and live fulfilling lives. Some of the other important points include recognizing that autism and developmental disability is global. More than 95% of children under the age of 5 with developmental disabilities live in low- and middle-income countries. In fact, there are more than 78 million autistic people worldwide. We also need to re-envision our services and intervention delivery models to be more responsive to the individual preferences and needs of families and autistic individuals, including considering the costs of interventions to families, both economic and timewise, and their burden. We also must do more to improve outcomes for families and autistic individuals from underserved and under-resourced communities in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries.
Q: Can you describe your work and experience on the Lancet Commission? What area of the commission’s research were you most involved in?
Boyd: The Lancet Commission was comprised of autism researchers, clinicians, parents of autistic children and autistic self-advocates. We all came together for a common purpose, which was to make recommendations about the future of care for autistic people across the globe. We wanted to make recommendations that could have an immediate impact on improving the lives and outcomes of autistic children, youth and adults. We had three productive meetings in Montreal, Los Angeles and London, and even though those are wonderful locations, we had a singular goal and focus in mind – make actionable recommendations that could be reasonably implemented and improve outcomes over the next five years. I primarily worked on the sections of the commission on interventions for autistic individuals and how we appropriately measure progress or outcomes when we do provide interventions to those who would benefit from them.
Q: The commission is introducing the idea of “profound autism.” How do you feel that new concept might change treatment and services for people with profound autism?
Boyd: It’s important to point out that this term is not meant to introduce or represent a new diagnostic category or label. It is also not meant to suggest that autistic people without a co-occurring intellectual disability cannot also have extensive support needs. This term is really meant to support clinical decision-making and to serve as a reminder that there is a group of autistic individuals with different needs that may require more specialized services and supports, and that we must not lose sight of this group in our research and our clinical practice and decision-making.
Q: What are KU’s strengths in autism research as you see them? How is Juniper Gardens working with the public in Kansas City to address autism or help people with autism?
Boyd: KU has a long history of autism research, and the Kansas Center for Autism Research (KCART), led by Matthew Mosconi, has been heavily engaged in this work. The wonderful thing about autism research at KU is its breadth – we’re involved in many aspects of autism research from brain-imaging studies to very applied research that’s happening in communities directly with families and children. Juniper Gardens has a long history of conducting research in public schools serving autistic children to improve their educational outcomes and ensure they can be successful in a school environment. School-based research, including training providers to deliver high-quality instruction, is a unique aspect of the work we do at Juniper Gardens.
For access to the Commission please see http://www.thelancet-press.com/embargo/AutismCommission.pdf.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
KU author questions assumptions about Jesuits’ relationship with Spain
LAWRENCE – Pope Francis is the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church. That’s one rather large indication that, as scholar Patricia Manning sees it, the priestly Society of Jesus has overcome the forces that suppressed them during the 18th century.
The period of suppression that culminated in the Jesuits being expelled from Spain in 1767 and disbanded by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 are the subject of Manning’s new book, “An Overview of the Pre-Suppression Society of Jesus in Spain” (Brill, 2021).
Manning is an associate professor in the University of Kansas Department of Spanish & Portuguese. In addition to the Inquisition and the Jesuits, she has a wide range of research interests in early modern Spanish literature, including 16th- and 17th-century poetry, prose and drama.
She was invited to contribute to Brill’s series titled Research Perspectives in Jesuit Studies by its editor, Robert Maryks.
“The overall thesis, in many ways, is questioning a lot of the fundamental assumptions about the Society of Jesus in this time period,” Manning said. “I think there are a lot of folks who … have not had a very differentiated idea of Catholic religious orders during this time period. I think the series that it is part of speaks to a really wide-ranging scholarly interest in the Jesuits right now, because they are such a global order … in a time period where we are thinking a lot about global institutions.”
As Manning wrote in the book, “a detailed analysis of the Spanish society defies the facile characterization of Spain as the nurturing birthplace of the order.”
Rather, she wrote, “In lieu of this maternal image, the relationship vis-a-vis Spain and the order also encompassed initial suspicions about (founder) Ignatius of Loyola’s orthodoxy, rivalries between other religious orders, and tensions between the Jesuits and the king and the nobles who served as administrators in royal governance structures.”
Although the Jesuits contended with the Dominican and Franciscan religious orders over such theological issues as immaculate conception and free will, not to mention threatening their positions within the Inquisition, Manning wrote that “it would be overly simplistic to understand the order’s expulsion from Spain as solely the result of jealousies over the community’s power.”
The Jesuits also got crossways of the royal household and its noble backers, Manning said.
“There were probably also some political motives,” she said. “We know a little bit less about those … simply because there was a cover story that worked very, very well in that the Jesuits were blamed for a popular uprising, the Motín de Esquilache, in 1766 in Madrid.”
The bottom line, Manning said, is that “absolute monarchs are absolute for reason. And if you are looking to consolidate your own power to the maximum degree possible, anyone or anything who gets in your way becomes a rival who has to be eliminated. So I think that certainly the Jesuits were part of that.”
Manning wrote that it soon “became evident in the wake of the expulsion (that) the Society’s role in pedagogy — both in terms of teaching and producing materials for the teaching of Latin — was difficult to replace.”
Thus, in the end, the banishment lasted just 47 years. The order’s restoration in 1814 by Pope Pius VII is the subject for another book, but Manning takes note of it, as well as the Jesuits’ subsequent worldwide flourishing.
“Whereas some deemed the Jesuits’ theatrical religious displays to be excessive,” she wrote, “the continued circulation of devotional images associated with the order — like the sacred heart — after the expulsion demonstrates the public’s continued interest in these devotions.”
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