Dear Ms. Bouranova,
Thank you for your article titled Helping Autistic Adults Have Healthy Relationships. The article highlighted the HEARTS course, a creation of Professor Emily Rothman, chair of occupational therapy at the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences at Sargent College. HEARTS offers online classes to autistic adults, providing them with the tools to develop healthy friendships and romantic relationships. What sets this course apart is that all instructors have autism, offering students a unique and relatable perspective.
Creating and maintaining a healthy relationship is a desire shared by many individuals. We commend you for drawing attention to the lack of focus on healthy relationships and sexual violence prevention for adults with autism. Support for adults with autism is relatively under-researched, there has been little emphasis on helping adults with autism develop healthy relationships. As you explained, the HEARTS course is designed to teach individuals with autism who are at least 18 years old how to navigate the dating world and establish and maintain safe and caring interpersonal relationships.
We were pleased to read that Rothman and colleagues are currently conducting a three-year randomized control trial of HEARTS to demonstrate the impact and feasibility of the HEARTS curriculum. At the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT), we support evidence-based interventions and supports that are proven to be safe and effective for people with autism and their families. We believe that a genuine intervention option is one that is supported by scientific evidence. We invite your readers to visit our website for more information about evidence-based interventions for autism. ASAT provides a range of resources for autistic adults and their families, which may be of particular interest.
Sincerely,
Seirra Mitchell, B.S., RBT, SLPA
Dr Erin Leif, PhD, BCBA-D
