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The good and evil sides of technology use by autistics

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This year’s Day of Learning included two presentations on the use of technology among people with autism.  As it turns out, technology can be great.  In fact, a new study using Google Glass shows promise in improving socialization.  On the other hand, sometimes technology can have a downside.  People with autism spend more time than typical peers on their iPads, iPhones and other devices.  What could be wrong with that?  Well, problematic internet use is linked to autistic traits and to suicidality.  This link is NOT a clear line and obviously causes of suicide are multifactorial.  However, new data demonstrate that obsessive internet use is not making things better for people with ASD.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30934756

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30908423

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30907929

 

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Super siblings!

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This podcast is dedicated to siblings of people with autism who are typically developing.  They play an important and beneficial role in development of socialization of those with ASD.  But sadly, they also have issues of their own, such as a high rate of issues like anxiety and depression.  Those siblings may be genetic carries of a specific mutation and not have an autism diagnosis, but have increased risk for schizophrenia and cognitive disability.  Finally, just because they are considered “typically developing” doesn’t mean they don’t have challenges with adaptive behavior.  However, they have a very special relationship with their brothers and sisters, and the world needs these strong advocates for the community.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30280363

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30248583

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.12985

Click to access s41436-018-0266-3.pdf

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Quality vs. Quantity in an autism diagnosis

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In the fight to ensure everyone with autism is detected and diagnosed as early as possible, community providers are sometimes pushed to the limit in what they can do.  They have a huge caseload and there are long waitlists.  So how accurate are autism diagnoses given by these providers with little time and little resources for training?  As it turns out, they are just okay.  Approximately 23% of those diagnosed by community providers were not diagnosed using standardized and validated autism tools.  How can we weigh this potential over and mis-diagnosis with the potential for missing individuals with autism and depriving them of interventions and services?  That’s a topic for another discussion.  However, one question on the cause of autism was addressed and a theory debunked:  autism is not caused by caesarean section deliveries altering the microbiome, and then leading to ASD.  The microbiome may be involved, but not because of method of delivery and use of antibiotic medications.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30270970

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30273187

 

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Autism diagnosed in school age, and does early intervention make a difference?

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Thanks to a Facebook follower, this week’s podcast highlights a new systematic review on Early Intense Behavioral Intervention. This systematic review, however, is not different from one published 5 years ago, because the nature of early interventions have changed so much that they no longer fit into the same criteria. While the rankings are disappointing, the findings do not reflect the ways in which newer interventions are being selected, delivered and studied. Also, we always hear about early diagnosis helping with early intervention. But what about kids who are not diagnosed until they reach school age? They have a different profile of ASD and may be a different subgroup of autism altogether.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29742275

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29852752

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Through the years

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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 

 

 

 

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SLEEP: it’s what’s important for autism

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Sleep disturbances affect up to 80% of people with autism, and as it turns out, these sleep problems translate to daytime problems like probability of hospitalization, severity of symptoms and even employment.  This week’s podcast focuses on three new studies that examine the relationship between sleep problems and function in people with autism across the spectrum, and provides new insights on how to study sleep.  Dr. Ashura Buckley from the NIH will be speaking about sleep in autism at the Day of Learning on April 11th – if you have’t registered yet, there is still time:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-autism-science-foundation-ted-style-autism-science-conference-registration-39878706284

Articles used in this podcast:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29500758

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5660229/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29455555

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What is the can do vs. the will do of autism?

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Often overlooked in intervention studies, it is becoming increasingly clearer that adaptive behavior, the “will do” vs. the “can do” of functioning, should receive more focus.  In people with autism and high IQ, cognitive ability, the “can do” is higher than adaptive behavior, the “will do”.  Why?  The key in new research from the National Institutes of Health may be social abilities.  Another study this week from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in adult  with high IQ demonstrates that social motivation may be the key to improving social skills and socialization in people with ASD.

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The good, the bad and the ugly about medication use in ASD

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This week’s podcast summarizes recent evidence on why there is good and bad in treating autism with medication, but there is also lots of ugly.  While new medications are being developed and researchers are looking into new ways of measuring change across time time, medications are not effective in treating the core symptoms of autism and they have pretty harsh side effects which, you guessed it, are dealt with by prescribing more medications.  There are a lot of reasons to be hopeful about the future of medication use in autism, but lots of reasons to feel frustrated too.

 

Here are some of the articles that were cited:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23101743

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25885012

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5520775/

 

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What does Labor Day mean for people with ASD?

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Labor Day is a time to appreciate and honor all those people who work to make this world a better place.  People with autism do that, but they also want to get paid and be employed just like anyone else.  This Labor Day, the podcast summarizes challenges to studying employment in people with ASD, what we know, and what is being done in a collaboration between ASF, Curtin University in Australia, the Karolinska Institute and Stony Brook University in Long Island. This is the INSAR supported policy brief project that will be completed next year, but you will all be receiving a request to fill out a survey about employment in the coming weeks.  In addition, what does employment mean for people with autism?  A NY Times article recently highlighted the journey from childhood to adulthood and what having a job means.

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The ASF Day of Learning Recap

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On Thursday, March 30th the Autism Science Foundation held their 4th Annual Day of Learning in NYC.  If you were not able to attend and can’t wait for the videos of the talks, this week’s podcast attempts to summarize what was presented.

A list of the talks are:

  • Autism Research: Where Are We Now? – Dr. Wendy Chung (Simons Foundation)
  • Housing Options for Adults with Autism – Amy Lutz (EASI Foundation)
  • Improving Communication Between Parents of Children with Autism and Teachers – Dr. David Mandell (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Developing Clinical Biomarkers – Dr. James McPartland – (Yale University)
  • Understanding Modifiable Autism Risk Factors – Dr. Craig Newschaffer (Drexel University)
  • Helping People with Autism Develop Practical Skills – Dr. Celine Saulnier (Emory University)
  • New Technologies to Improve Autism Diagnosis – Dr. Robert Schultz (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
  • Understanding the Female Protective Effect – Dr. Donna Werling (University of California, San Francisco)

David Mandell’s presentation on parent/teacher communication was based, in part, on this publication:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4676744/