Posted on

The good and evil sides of technology use by autistics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

 

Posted on

Do the rules apply in school?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week is focused on what happens in schools, including classification, service receipt and new interventions.  How an educational classification translates to a clinical diagnosis, how and what factors are important in receiving services, what teachers think about repetitive behaviors and finally, a new intervention that can be delivered by therapists in school or mental health settings.  They all have real-life consequences for kids who are receiving services in school.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30892948

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30848681

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30889547

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2727134

 

Posted on

A topic for discussion on President’s Day: violence and victimization

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Happy President’s Day!  This week’s podcast is focuses on a topic that has been on the mind of families affected by autism:  autism and violence and victimization.  The studies reinforce 1) the lack of an association between autism and criminality, 2) the association of an autism diagnosis with being the victim of abuse.  This includes self report data, database analyses and assessment of people who cannot report their abuse.  This sobering podcast was posted today because gun violence is an issue at the forefront of this president’s administration.  While this podcast is not focused on gun violence, hopefully this data will reduce the misconceptions and stereotypes around autism and violence.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30655190

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28593599

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28545754

Posted on

The average age of diagnosis depends on where, when, and how you ask

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

While autism can be diagnosed reliably by 2 years of age, some people with autism don’t receive a formal diagnosis until much later.  Why not?  Racial and ethnic disparities as well as access to care issues are known factors.  This week, data from Denmark suggested that the diagnostic criteria has played a large role in prevalence in people with autism since 1980.  Many people who have autism may have been missed until they were older.  It suggests that older prevalence estimates were missing a proportion of autistic adolescents and adults.  Take away access and diagnostic barriers to a diagnosis, some kids followed from months of age in the baby siblings research consortium don’t receive a diagnosis at age 2, but do at age 5.  They always had autism, but their symptoms were sub-threshold for a formal diagnosis until age 5.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30398592 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30392626

Posted on

From cells to anxiety

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Thanks to brain tissue research, scientists now know how cells in the amygdala form, connect, and how this changes with age.  But does that explain behavioral or neurological features in autism?  Last week, Dr. Inna Fishman from SDSU examined connections in and out of the amygdala in children and adolescents in autism, in a different study but the same age range as when cellular changes in the amygdala are seen.  Strikingly, the brain connections to regions outside the amygdala follow a similar pattern at a similar time, which may explain functioning, autism severity and anxiety in adolescents with autism.   Also this week, while autism is a spectrum, it’s on a spectrum with other neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD.  Just like in autism, there are individuals who are not diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood.  But these adults show signs of autism as children.  This is similar to autism, where symptoms are there but may not manifest until later in life.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30274651

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30338854

Posted on

Children are not small adults

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Cathy Lord and her colleagues have been studying a group of people with autism from age 2, all the way through adulthood, at age 19.  Her colleague and first author Vanessa Hus-Bal who is leading the efforts to study adults at a new institute at Rutgers University, talks about the findings and what they mean for people with autism as they get older, and points out the implications on intervention.  Also, the stress response is different in autistic people, but is it different in adolescents and adults, and does it change as people get older?  A social stressor is used to identify how they are different and what it means for treatment.

Posted on

The ASF Day of Learning mini-recap

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Did you miss the ASF Day of Learning in NYC but want to hear some teasers before they are available online?  Listen to this week’s podcast, and you’ll hear the 12 minute talks distilled to 2 minutes, leaving out a lot of details and eliminating the video part but giving you a quick recap of each.  Topics this year included:  1) What have we learned this last year?  2) Are Boys and Girls with Autism Different? 3) Does diet make a difference in autism?  4) Is medical marijuana a treatment option? 5) Why won’t my child sleep and 6) How can we improve adult outcomes in people with autism?  ASF also announced 8 new pre and post-doctoral fellowships on Wednesday, filling out an already amazingly active autism awareness month.   Stay tuned for the complete presentations to appear on the ASF homepage.

Posted on

Through the years

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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 

 

 

 

Posted on

Here’s to understanding why people with autism have anxiety in adolescence

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Using resources from the Autism BrainNet, researchers from UC Davis show specific brain changes in an area called the amygdala in autism.  The amygdala is associated with fear, emotion and anxiety in people with autism.  But because they can look at the brain directly,  the actual number of neurons in the amygdala can be counted not just in one individual, but in over 50 individuals across ages 2 to 50.  This remarkable study showed that too much activity in the amygdala early may lead to impaired function later on.  This could be caused by too many neurons which are present early on in life in people with ASD, and reflected by fewer neurons later on in life.  These difference can only be detected through looking directly at brain tissue.  To learn more, register for the Autism BrainNet at www.takesbrains.org/signup.

Here is a link to the paper:  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/03/19/1801912115.long

Dr. Avino will be answering questions about this paper on a Q&A on April 9, 2018 – please register here:  https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7051754498195523073

Posted on

SLEEP: it’s what’s important for autism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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