Our Beginnings
The Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) SIRG was first introduced during the planning stages of the 2016 IASSIDD 15th World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, where there was a strong presence of autism research, with a robust and well-attended series of ASD papers on the programme. In addition, one of the conference keynote speakers, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, was chosen to reflect this growing interest of IASSIDD members in ASD research and spoke about environmental influences on ASD. The group also put together a panel of discussants following Irva’s well-attended talk.
The first meeting of the members of the new ASD SIRG also took place at the 15th World Congress in Melbourne. Professor Jan Blacher is the founder of the ASD SIRG and served as its Chair until the 2019 IASSIDD 16th World Congress in Glasgow, when a new Executive Committee was selected.
Founding Principles
The rationale for the ASD SIRG is simple. There has been much publicity about the increase in ASD prevalence, yet the focus of autism research community has been primarily on individuals who do not have co-occurring intellectual disabilities, particularly with respect to educational, employment and social outcomes.
For this reason, the ASD SIRG is focused exclusively on those individuals with ASD who have co-occuring intellectual disabilities and their families. Many of these individuals have unique and challenging needs that require targeted research and interventions. The ASD SIRG aims to fill that need by bringing together researchers from across the globe to identify and develop a research-to-practice agenda for the most pressing social, educational and policy challenges faced by this population.
Mission Statement
Bylaws
As per IASSIDD bylaws
Executive Committee:
Chair: Ewelina Rydzewska ewelina.rydzewska@glasgow.ac.uk
Co-chair: Yasamin Bolourian ybolo002@ucr.edu
Secretary: Caroline Richards C.R.Richards@bham.ac.uk
Treasurer: Yurgos Politis yurgos.politis@ucd.ie
Representative to council: Jan Blacher jan.blacher@ucr.edu
Communications officers: Yasamin Bolourian ybolo002@ucr.edu and Cormac Coyle ccoyle05@qub.ac.uk
JPPID Associate Editor: Dawn Adams dawn.adams@griffith.edu.au