This special issue of Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits focuses on research related to assistive technology applications for children with autism.

Similar to a handbook in its comprehensive description of current theory and research, this interdisciplinary text shows how the existing knowledge base can explore promising new possibilities related to the field's many unanswered questions.

Rhetorical Accessability is the first text to bring the fields of technical communication and disability studies into conversation. The two fields also share a pragmatic foundation in their concern with accommodation and accessibility, that is, the material practice of making social and technical environments and texts as readily available, easy to use, and/or understandable as possible to as many people as possible, including those with disabilities. Through its concern with the pragmatic, theoretically grounded work of helping users interface effectively and seamlessly with technologies, the field of technical communication is perfectly poised to put the theoretical work of disability studies into practice. In other words, technical communication could ideally be seen as a bridge between disability theories and web accessibility practices. While technical communicators are ideally positioned to solve communication problems and to determine the best delivery method, those same issues are compounded when they are viewed through the dual lens of accessibility and disability. With the increasing use of wireless, expanding global marketplaces, increasing prevalence of technology in our daily lives, and ongoing changes of writing through and with technology, technical communicators need to be acutely aware of issues involved with accessibility and disability. This collection will advance the field of technical communication by expanding the conceptual apparatus for understanding the intersections among disability studies, technical communication, and accessibility and by offering new perspectives, theories, and features that can only emerge when different fields are brought into conversation with one another and is the first text to bring the fields of technical communication and disability studies into conversation with one another.

Prevention Science and Research in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Volume 61 highlights the WHOs emphasis on the importance of adopting a public health approach. Chapters in the book include A Prevention Science Approach to Promoting Health for Those with Developmental Disabilities, From Surviving to Thriving: A New Conceptual Model to Advance Interventions to Support People with FASD Across the Lifespan, Disability-related Abuse in People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Considerations Across the Lifespan, Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Qualitative Study of Multiple Stakeholder Perspectives on Factors Affecting Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices for Children with Autism in Elementary Schools, and more. Other topics discussed include Family-Focused Interventions as Prevention and Early Intervention of Behavioral Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Body weight improvements associated with nutritional intervention for adults with IDD living in group homes: A randomized controlled trial, Lifestyle Intervention Adaptation to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity of Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Cultural Adaptations of the Parents Taking Action Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and more. - Includes a framework for integrating a prevention science approach into IDD research - Provides examples of prevention science research with IDD populations - Illustrates how some are implementing and adapting preventive interventions for those with IDD

International interest in the use of assistive and ambient information and communication technologies to support people with a range of cognitive impairments is growing rapidly. Autism spectrum disorders ASDs, which affect social skills, communicative abilities and behavior, are of particular interest. The number of diagnosed cases has continued to grow in recent decades, and the impairments associated with ASDs mean individuals affected are at risk of social isolation and marginalization. Although helping people with autism to overcome their difficulties has always required the joint expertise of various fields, the widely shared

Autism is an emerging area of basic and clinical research, and has only recently been recognized as a major topic in biomedical research. Approximately 1 in 150 children are diagnosed as autistic, so it is also an intense growth area in behavioral and educational treatments. Financial resources have begun to be raised for more comprehensive research and an increasing number of scientists are becoming involved in autism research. In many respects, autism has become a model for conducting translational research on a psychiatric disorder. This text provides a comprehensive summary of all current knowledge related to the behavioral, experiential, and biomedical features of the autism spectrum disorders including major behavioral and cognitive syndromology, common co-morbid conditions, neuropathology, neuroimmunology, and other neurological correlates such as seizures, allergy and immunology, gastroenterology, infectious disease, and epidemiology. Edited by three leading researchers, this volume contains over 80 chapters and nine shorter commentaries by thought leaders in the field, making the book a virtual "who's who" of autism research. This carefully developed book is a comprehensive and authoritative reference for what we know in this area as well as a guidepost for the next several years in all areas of autism research.

This book contains a comprehensive overview of all current uses of robots in rehabilitation. The underlying principles in each application are provided. This is followed by a critical review of the technology available, of the utilization protocols, and of user studies, outcomes, and clinical evidence, if existing. Ethical and social implications of robot use are also discussed. The reader will have an in depth view of rehabilitation robots, from principles to practice.