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Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 10 - A neurodiversity-affirmative approach to involving parents and caregivers in assessment of and support for autistic children and young people.

Friday, November 21, 2025
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST
Location: Empire C, Level 2
CE: 1

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders, CBT, Parenting
Level of Familiarity: Moderate
Recommended Readings: Cullingham, T., Rennard, U., Creswell, C., Milton, D., Buckle, K. L., Godber, L., ... & Green, J. (2024). The process of co‐design for a new anxiety intervention for autistic children. JCPP Advances, e12255. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12255,   Lebowitz ER, Marin C, Martino A, Shimshoni Y, Silverman WK. Parent-Based Treatment as Efficacious as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Childhood Anxiety: A Randomized Noninferiority Study of Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020;59(3):362-372. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2019.02.014,   Rozenblat, S., Shimshoni, Y., Lebowitz, E.R. et al. A Pilot Trial of SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) in Autism. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 56, 249–263 (2025). doi: 10.1007/s10578-023-01555-4,   Wood, J. J., Kendall, P. C., Wood, K. S., Kerns, C. M., Seltzer, M., Small, B. J., ... & Storch, E. A. (2020). Cognitive behavioral treatments for anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA psychiatry, 77(5), 474-483. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.4160,   Lei, J., Leigh, E., Charman, T., Russell, A., & Hollocks, M. J. (2024). Exploring the association between social camouflaging and self- versus caregiver-report discrepancies in anxiety and depressive symptoms in autistic and non-autistic socially anxious adolescents. Autism, 28(10), 2657-2674. doi: 10.1177/13623613241238251

‘Autism spectrum disorder’ (hereafter autism) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication and sensory differences and restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) that affects 1 in 54 children (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). This symposium presents novel insights into the role of parents and caregivers in assessment of and support for autistic children and young people.

The first presentation describes findings from a randomized controlled trial demonstrating that adapted, modular CBT, which tailors treatment to caregiver-defined goals, leads to faster reductions in anxiety symptoms compared to standard CBT and treatment-as-usual. The second presentation introduces a co-designed, neurodiversity-affirmative parent-led CBT program, developed in collaboration with autistic individuals and families, ensuring that interventions are flexible, individualized, and aligned with lived experiences. The third presentation explores emerging research on parental accommodation of core autism symptoms, examining when reducing accommodation may foster greater adaptive functioning and when it may pose risks. The fourth and final presentation examines how social camouflaging influences mental health, revealing that greater masking of autistic traits is linked to discrepancies between adolescent and caregiver reports of anxiety and depression.

Across all of these studies there has been a particular emphasis on working closely with people with lived experience to ensure a neuro-affirmative approach and we will describe our learning from this in each presentation.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Consider the role of parents in neurodiversity-affirmative assessments and support for autistic children.
  2. Understand how modular CBT tailored to caregiver goals benefits autistic youth with anxiety.
  3. Learn about the co-design process for a neurodiversity-affirmative parent-led CBT program.
  4. Recognise the effects of parental accommodation on autistic children's adaptive functioning.
  5. Have an awareness of how social camouflaging affects mental health and caregiver-child report discrepancies.

Presentations:

  • 3:04 PM - 3:18 PM CST
    (SYM 10) Addressing Idiographic, Stakeholder-defined Goals in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Autistic School-aged Children with Interfering Anxiety

    Speaker: Jeffrey J. Wood, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – UCLA

    Co-author: Kashia Rosenau, Ph.D. – UCLA

    Co-author: Kate Cooper, PhD – UCL

    Co-author: Philip C. Kendall, ABPP, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Temple University

    Co-author: Eric Storch, Ph.D. – Baylor College of Medicine

  • 3:18 PM - 3:32 PM CST
    (SYM 10) A Co-designed Neurodiversity-affirmative Intervention to Help Parents Help Their Autistic Children to Address Anxiety Problems

    Speaker: Cathy Creswell, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Oxford

  • 3:32 PM - 3:46 PM CST
    (SYM 10) A Collaborative Approach to Reducing Family Accommodation in Autism

    Speaker: Eli R. Lebowitz, Ph.D., Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Yale University

    Co-author: Judah Koller, PsyD – the hebrew university of jerusalem

    Co-author: Shir Rozenblat, M.A. (she/her/hers) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

  • 3:46 PM - 4:00 PM CST
    (SYM 10) Exploring the Association Between Social Camouflaging and Self- versus Caregiver-report Discrepancies in Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Autistic and Non-autistic Socially Anxious Adolescents

    Speaker: Eleanor Leigh, D. Phil., Ph.D., Psy.D. – University of Oxford