Troy Q. Boucher- Master of Arts
- Doctoral Student at Simon Fraser University
Troy Q. Boucher
- Master of Arts
- Doctoral Student at Simon Fraser University
About
38
Publications
6,692
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117
Citations
Introduction
I am an Indigenous PhD student in Clinical Psychology at Simon Fraser University. My research primarily explores the lived experiences of autistic youth and adults, particularly pertaining to mental health, identity, and stigma/inclusion.
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Education
September 2020 - December 2022
September 2014 - April 2019
Publications
Publications (38)
The current study examined whether social competence and autistic traits are related to anxiety and depression in autistic and non-autistic children. Parents of 340 children aged 6 to 12 years old, including 186 autistic and 154 non-autistic children completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) to assess their child’s autistic traits, the Multidimen...
Objectives
Physical activity involvement among autistic youth and youth with an intellectual disability is significantly lower than the general population. Few studies have included youth with comorbid diagnoses of ASD and intellectual disability. Fewer studies collect information from the youth themselves. This study examined barriers and facilita...
Decreased sound tolerance (DST) is the most common sensory difficulty experienced by autistic individuals. Parents of 88 autistic children and young adults between the ages of 3 and 30 described coping strategies and physical and emotional responses used to deal with distressing sounds, and their impact on daily activities. Loud, sudden, and high-p...
Introduction
Although autism inclusion and acceptance has increased in recent years, autistic people continue to face stigmatization, exclusion, and victimization. Based on brief 10-second videos, non-autistic adults rate autistic adults less favourably than they rate non-autistic adults in terms of traits and behavioural intentions. In the current...
Background:
Social communication difficulties are a clinical characteristic of autism, but social interactions are reciprocal in nature and autistic individuals' social abilities may not be the only factor influencing their social success. Nonautistic individuals' social perceptions and behavior also contribute to autistic individuals' social diff...
Background:
Many autistic individuals face social challenges which may partly stem from their interaction partners, especially when biases toward autistic people are present. Research has shown that non-autistic adults and adolescents often display strong implicit and explicit biases towards autistic children and adults. These biases can surface a...
Many autistic individuals face social challenges that may be due to the negative perceptions of their non-autistic peers. This study investigated school-aged children’s first impressions of autistic and non-autistic children. Thirty-seven children (ages 5-12 years) watched brief videos of autistic and non-autistic children discussing their interest...
Many autistic individuals face social challenges that may be due to the negative perceptions of their non-autistic peers. This study investigated school-aged children's first impressions of autistic and non-autistic children. Thirty-seven children (ages 5-12 years) watched brief videos of autistic and non-autistic children discussing their interest...
When evaluated in a social context, autistic people are consistently evaluated more negatively than non-autistic people. This negative bias has the potential to be particularly harmful if held by influential role models, such as teachers. Teachers play a pivotal role in shaping children's learning, mental health, and academic success. As such, this...
Background: Though autism is most often diagnosed during childhood, the number of adults pursuing autism assessments during adulthood has increased (Huang et al., 2020). Adults are often motivated to complete autism diagnostic assessments to help make sense of their life experiences (Hickey et al., 2018) and to seek support for the challenges that...
Purpose: Autistic individuals often face challenges perceiving and expressing emotions, potentially stemming from differences in speech prosody. Here we explore how autism diagnoses between groups, and measures of social competence within groups may be related to, first, children’s speech characteristics (both prosodic features and amount of sponta...
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that is characterized by difficulties in social communication and interaction, as well as repetitive and restrictive behaviours and interests which are often present from early development. Autistic individuals often encounter difficulties in expression and perception of prosody, which is the rhythm, intonat...
Autistic individuals have difficulty perceiving and expressing emotions. Since prosodic changes in speech (i.e. changes in intonation, stress, and rhythm, etc.) are crucial for extracting information about the emotional state of the speaker, differences in perceiving and interpreting these prosodic changes may lead to challenges in social communica...
Background
Decreased sound tolerance (DST) is an increased sensitivity to sound at levels that would not bother most people. DST is highly prevalent in autistic adults; however, the extent to which DST differs across autistic and non-autistic adults is uncertain. This study explores multiple domains of DST symptoms and the severity of DST symptoms,...
Negative judgements of autistic people relative to non-autistic people have been consistently reported. In order to develop methods for improving people’s perceptions of autistic people, it is important to understand what factors may influence these judgements. In this study, autistic adults, parents of autistic people, professionals who work with...
Introduction: Autistic children have difficulties forming positive social
relationships. Stigmatization of autism may influence the negative social
experiences of autistic children (Han et al., 2021). First impressions formed
from viewing 10-second video clips of autistic adults were less favourable
than those of non-autistic adults (DeBrabander et...
Alexithymia impacts an individual’s ability to recognize and understand emotions and frequently co-occurs with autism. This study investigated the relationship between children’s alexithymia, autistic traits, and caregiver reactions to their child’s negative emotions. Caregivers of 54 autistic and 51 non-autistic children between the ages of 7 and...
Background Social communication difficulties are a clinical characteristic of autism, but social interactions are reciprocal in nature and autistic individuals’ social abilities may not be the only factor influencing their social success. Non-autistic individuals’ social perceptions and behavior also contribute to autistic individuals’ social diffi...
Background: Camouflaging, defined as the use of strategies to compensate for or hide autistic traits, is associated with internalizing behaviour (i.e., anxiety and depression) in both autistic and non-autistic people. Non-autistic adults who have poorer social competence tend to engage in more camouflaging, thus it’s unclear whether the increase in...
Alexithymia impacts an individual’s ability to recognize and understand emotions and frequently co-occurs with autism. This study investigated the relationship between children’s alexithymia, autistic traits, and caregiver reactions to their child’s negative emotions. Caregivers of 54 autistic and 51 non-autistic children between the ages of 7 and...
This study examined involuntary capture of attention, overt attention, and stimulus valence and arousal ratings, all factors that can contribute to potential attentional biases to face and train objects in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the visual domain, faces are particularly captivating, and are thought to have a ‘s...
The present research investigated how alexithymia and autism influence caregivers’ reactions to their child’s negative emotional expressions. It was hypothesized that autistic children would exhibit higher alexithymia and autistic traits, and that caregivers of autistic children would report greater supportive, and less restrictive/controlling, par...
Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying and describing one's own emotions and the emotions of others. These challenges with understanding emotions in people with alexithymia may give rise to difficulties with social interactions. Given that alexithymia frequently co‐occurs with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and that both populati...
Background:
Autistic individuals often experience difficulties in social settings. Although autistic individuals may not intuitively know the "typical" way to behave in social settings, many autistic individuals have a desire to fit in so they develop techniques to "camouflage" their autistic traits. Although camouflaging may help individuals to n...
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by challenges in social communicative skills and repetitive and restricted behaviours and activities. In recent years there has been an increased integration of autistic students into mainstream classrooms in Canada alongside policy necessitating inclusive teaching practices....
