Much research has documented the elevated levels of stress experienced by families of autistic children. Yet remarkably little research has examined the types of support that these families perceive to be beneficial to their lives. This study, co-produced by researchers and school-based professionals, sought to establish these families' support needs from their own perspectives. In total, 139 parents of autistic children with additional intellectual disabilities and limited spoken communication, all attending an inner-city London school, participated in an initial survey examining parental wellbeing, self-efficacy and the extent to which they felt supported. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subgroup of parents ( n = 17), some of whom reported in the survey that they felt unsupported, in order to gain their in-depth perspectives. The results from both the survey and the interviews suggested that existing support (particularly from formal support services) was not meeting parents' needs, which ultimately made them feel isolated and alienated. Parents who were interviewed called for service provision that adopted a relational, family-centred approach - one that understands the specific needs of the whole family, builds a close working relationship with them and ensures that they are supported at times when the parents and families feel they need it most.

Difficulties with diet and mealtimes, often exacerbated by food selectivity have been highlighted as priority areas of support by parents of autistic children. There is a large body of evidence noting the significant relationship between sensory differences and greater food selectivity in individuals on the autism spectrum. In order to address the needs expressed by parents the present study examined the effect of a whole class, sensory based feeding intervention carried out in a special school setting that was integrated into part of the daily school routine. The intervention sought to become self-sustaining with minimal financial and time costs. In total 23 autistic pupils aged 4-10 took part in the Sensory Snack Time intervention. Results indicated that pupils ate a wider variety of foods and displayed significantly reduced food selectivity, distressed mealtime behaviors, and food refusal following the 12-week intervention. Furthermore, the intervention was successfully integrated into everyday practice and was successfully implemented by existing school staff. Further research is necessary to qualify the precise impact the intervention had on supporting pupils to manage sensory based aversions to foods and to examine the potential for the intervention to be generalized to main meals and different settings, such as pupils' homes.

This article concentrates on research that goes beyond traditional 'opportunities to see' approaches to measuring audience size and composition, such as peoplemeter systems for television, readership surveys of newspapers and magazines and radio listening diary studies. It answers two basic questions not addressed by these limited approaches:(1) How do we determine a better measure of who has actually looked at a specific advertisement placed within a medium? (2) How do we determine which people are in an appropriate frame of mind to respond to the advertisement?

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