@lauramaycrane
Professor of Autism Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. Passionate about participatory autism research that truly benefits autistic people. Research interests include education, healthcare, employment and criminal justice.
Congrats to Leoni Boyle for publishing the first paper from her PhD - Autism in Viet Nam: A systematic scoping review - in @journalautism.bsky.social. An extremely thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis of autism research in Vietnamese communities...
#autres
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
I love so much in this article: the summary of the importance
phenomenological autism research, its gender inclusivity, & the findings that flow state is essential for autistic well being & that environments have the ability to enable these states. #AutRes onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Huge congratulations to all my fantastic co-authors, especially the amazing Jo Halsall for instigating and leading the work 👏
Once again, you can access the paper here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
3. Ensure research and practice methods are accessible, inclusive, and capable of capturing the perspectives of young people with complex communication and learning needs.
2. Create safe, structured environments where adolescents can engage with peers and adults in ways that match their interests and communication styles.
Overall, our findings highlight the need to:
1. Design opportunities for physical play and emotionally engaging activities that support authentic connection, while offering space where needed.
Theme 2 - The context‑dependent nature of connection: Connections were often built through physical play, in spaces that supported such interaction. Yet the young people also noted the importance of space in structured settings.
Theme 1 cont - They also identified familiar adults as important 'friends', with whom they often experienced deep connections.
We identified two themes from our data...
Theme 1 - Reconceptualising friendship: The adolescents described friends as people who evoke strong emotions and connection, without distinguishing between 'positive' or 'negative' interactions or following typical friendship boundaries.
We examined the friendship experiences of 12 autistic adolescents with complex communication and learning needs attending a specialist school. Using creative and accessible methods, bespoke to them, we centred their own perspectives on this topic - something that rarely happens in autism research.
Delighted to have our new paper, “Eliciting the views of autistic adolescents attending specialist schools on what friendships mean to them”, published in @journalautism.bsky.social! 🧵
#autres #openaccess
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Finally, many congratulations to lead author @richpender.bsky.social on the first study published from his PhD, supervised by myself and Will Mandy 🥂 [8/8]
(4) Symptom pathways could be distinguished with greater confidence at the third session than at baseline, suggesting that this could be an opportune moment for collaborative review - to empower the individual receiving therapy to feed back on how adaptations are (or are not) working. [7/8]
(3) More difficulties with functioning in daily living - such as managing social leisure activities - were linked to poorer outcomes for severe anxiety and depression. [6/8]
(2) Being from an ethnically minoritized background was linked to a higher likelihood of worsening anxiety compared with White participants. [5/8]
What we found:
(1) Autistic people receiving routine psychological therapies for anxiety and depression followed different symptom pathways: several improved, others remained stable, whereas others experienced worsening symptoms. [4/8]
What we did: We used data from 7,175 autistic adults who accessed services in England between 2012 and 2019, linked with national healthcare records. We examined symptom change and risk factors related to the type of change. [3/8]
Why we did the study: Autistic people are less likely to benefit from currently recommended mental health treatments, but little is known about how outcomes vary across individuals. This gap makes it difficult to adapt therapies (or develop new ones) to meet diverse needs among autistic people [2/8]
Our new study, just published in Nature Mental Health: Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults... [1/8]
🧵⤵️
#autres #mentalhealth
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
A diverse group of people is depicted under a title 'What do neurodivergent people think about strengths and needs-led approaches to identifying support in schools?' The project was led by a team at the University of Birmingham: Charlotte Brooks, Nikki Smith, Prof. Laura Crane and Prof. Karen Guldberg
Why look beyond diagnosis? Diagnosis waits often delay meaningful help. Schools may recognise needs, but lack day-to-day strategies. Neurodivergent voices are often missing from system design.
What is a strengths and needs-led approach? Identifies a young person’s strengths and support needs. Does not require a diagnosis first Looks at the whole person, not just school attainment. This approach has already been implemented in different ways. In our study, we were interested in what people thought about the ideas behind the approach more generally.
Who took part in the survey? 38 neurodivergent participants took part in our survey. Mostly autistic and neurodivergent in multiple ways. Largest represented age group were young people (aged 16-24). Many were also parents or worked with neurodivergent young people.
Thanks to everyone who took part in this research I led for the Neurodivergent Task & Finish Group! We explored neurodivergent perspectives on a strengths & needs-led approach in schools—support that focuses on strengths and support needs, and can be used without waiting for a diagnosis.
Finally, SENCOs felt that they would benefit from peer learning (i.e. working with and/or observing more experienced practitioners) to increase their confidence in speaking with parents about the possibility of their child being autistic. [4/4]
SENCOs discussed a tension between the roles of education and healthcare professionals, and who was appropriately qualified to discuss autism with a family. Increasing opportunities for joint working, along with implementing clearer processes, are key. [3/4]
Our sample of SENCOs emphasised the importance of respecting that families are the experts on their children and will have different experiences of being on the journey of discovery and acceptance around autism. Moving into closer alignment with them was felt to be key. [2/4]
Key findings: SENCOs emphasised that adopting a personalised approach in identifying how and when to talk to a family about the possibility of their child being autistic was crucial for successful interactions. [1/4]
Delighted to share a new paper, led by the brilliant Hannah Cresswell, reflecting the views of school staff (specifically SENCOs) regarding how they broach initial interactions with parents when they think that their child might be autistic 🧵
nasenjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Extraordinarily proud to be on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list for 2025 🤩
Feeling particularly proud to be flying the flag for women in academia on a list that (by Clarivate’s own admission) is very “male-heavy” 💪🏻
www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/un...
I’m forever indebted to the committee and staff team for this amazing opportunity. Now, here’s hoping that the government takes the conclusions and recommendations from this report and delivers with the next autism strategy...!
[4/4 - end]
I’m really proud of the final report - not just for its crucially important conclusions and recommendations, but for the way it pushed the boundaries in terms of accessibility, inclusion and representation for a House of Lords committee (see pages 24-34 of the full report for details). [3/4]
As Specialist Adviser to the committee, I witnessed the incredible efforts put into understanding the perspectives and experiences of autistic people and those who support them, as well as the research evidence across areas such as healthcare, education, employment and criminal justice. [2/4]
Today, @hlautismactcom.parliament.uk published their report, 'Time to deliver: The Autism Act 2009 and the new autism strategy'.
Access the full report and recommendations (including easy read report, video from the Chair, and shorthand story) here: committees.parliament.uk/committee/77... [1/4]