Emotions play a role in the development of bullying for teenage boys with and without autism: Paper in press

September 17th, 2018

Today marks the first day of Anti Bullying Week 2018 in the Netherlands, which runs from September 17th – 21st 2018 - read more here (in Dutch). In keeping with this theme, a new longitudinal study by Sheida, Carolien and Evelien Broekhof has shed more light on the role of emotions in bullying in adolescent boys with and without autism. While boys from both groups show very similar patterns overall, boys with autism feel angrier than others after experiencing bullying, which actually makes them more likely targets for future bullying. 

As might be expected, youngsters who often felt angry and rarely experienced guilt were more likely culprits of bullying behaviour. But not only that, engaging in bullying actually increased their anger over time and further reduced their feelings of guilt. In other words, bullies seem to become more insensitive towards their victims and feel more justified regarding their actions.  

Interview with our new postdoc, Adva Eichengreen

August 9th, 2018

Adva started working at our lab on August 1st 2018, afer receiving a grant from the LeaDing Fellows postdocs program to conduct research on creating an inclusive school environment for deaf and hard of hearing children, with a focus on social inclusion. Read more about the research Adva is conducting here. Congratulations and welcome Adva!

How did you become interested in this area of research? 

“My interest in research with children with disabilities, and deaf and hard of hearing children in particular, has both professional and personal histories. I was born deaf and my whole life I have been integrated in regular educational settings. I use hearing aids and sometimes also FM microphones, which I give people in order to hear them better in one-on-one as well as in group interactions.”

Facilitating an inclusive school environment outside the classroom for adolescents with ASD: NWO grant awarded!

July 16th, 2018

Teenagers with autism are often socially isolated and thus have less access to a social learning environment. Yet, essential social and emotional skills are developed through interaction with peers; by trial and error young people learn how to behave in a group, negotiate, make up after an argument, among other skills. This is where youngsters with autism miss out, which contributes to their social and emotional difficulties throughout life.

The NWO has now awarded an LDE (Leiden-Delft-Erasmus) grant of € 500,000 to Carolien, Alexander Koutamanis (Delft University of Technology) and Els Blijd (Interpsy Groningen) to fund research aimed at facilitating social participation in adolescents with autism in high school settings. Read more on the NWO website here (in English) and on the Leiden University website here (in Dutch) and here (in English).