Dr. Olive Healy:

I will provide a brief overview of my research, the primary aims of which are to address individual, family and societal challenges that are experienced by autistic people and their families, echoing some of the many submissions made to Creating our Future. The theme that emerges involves science communication whereby knowledge and effective solutions from research are made more understandable and accessible for uptake and use. I am committed to actionable research, engaging with the public and involving families to improve certain person-centred and socially important outcomes.

A research-to-practice gap exists in health and education in Ireland in regard to strategies for autistic people to ensure that living a fruitful and satisfying life is a given. Embracing these solutions is a welcome development to inform what will work for real lives. While my research streams cover a wide variety of topics, all have an overarching focus on promoting self-determination, empowerment and enabling greater choices. My research team examines for example telecoaching parents of toddlers waiting for an autism assessment and provision in very early behavioural intervention in order to give children the best start. We are investigating differential persistence of primary reflexes for autistic children as a novel precursor or biomarker in order to identify those who would benefit from supports and to provide these critically important supports at the earliest possible age. We have developed assistive technology platforms to support the dissemination of effective and empirically supported practices to address the issues that arise for many autistic people in particular related to stress and anxiety. Together with my colleague, Dr. Rhona Dempsey, we have founded Interact, Accomplish and Thrive, funded by Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland within the world leading ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin. This technology aims to empower individuals and families by putting currently distant solutions online and in their hands. We are also designing and disseminating evidence-based practices and prevention protocols for the emergence or escalation of distressed behaviours that often limit an autistic person’s life experiences and happiness. We are empowering educators, parents and autistic individuals with highly effective strategies in order to meet communication and developmental needs. Literacy is a lifelong essential skill which is critical for all children. In order to enable and expand their learning and learning opportunities, we are focused on high-quality instructional reading strategies that improve outcomes for autistic children who can be under-served in terms of achieving literacy. Our overall research goals are to build skills, minimise barriers and optimise person-environment fit for supports.