Through the years

Rarely can individuals with autism be studied more than once – but a new study tracks how cognitive and adaptive behavior changes over time.  What researchers in the British Autism of Infant Siblings, or BASIS found, was that family history of autism meant as much to cognitive and adaptive behavior than an actual autism diagnosis.  This calls for close monitoring of siblings of those with autism, regardless of whether or not they had a diagnosis.  Also, investigating psychiatric issues in children may underestimate their prevalence because many psychiatric issues do not emerge until the teenage years, so Kaiser Permanente looked at medical and health records of those with autism at 14-25 years to see what other issues they were facing, and the findings are both sobering yet maybe a little comforting.

Please watch the UN WAAD event here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyhm7p8Gr2A&t=7943s 

The two studies mentioned in the podcast are:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29616486

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29610415 

 

 

 

Help for symptoms of anxiety in autism and understanding very early signs of autism in girls

About 40% of individuals with autism experience symptoms of anxiety. Despite this, clinicians still treat anxiety in autism the same way they treat anxiety in people without autism because there has not been enough research.  However, this week a new study was published which reviews and summarizes almost a dozen studies on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in autism, showing that it is effective when given in group and individual sessions.  Also, I talk to Dr. Clare Harrop from UCLA about why it isn’t enough to study people with autism at just younger ages or at older ages, and what types of research is needed.