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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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What is autism? It’s changing.

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This week, the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Network, or ADDM, was used to look at the changes across time in co-occuring conditions in people with autism, like ADHD, depression, anxiety, language delay and other developmental delay.  They found the frequency of 8 year olds with autism with these co occurring conditions is increasing.  So is the percent of people with autism with intellectual disability.  The data continues to show that in many people, what was autism 20 years ago, is not the same autism seen today.  While depression and anxiety have already been established as co occurring issues, things like hoarding are just starting to be examined.   These results suggest that co-occurring conditions may be one of the features of autism that can separate people into different groups, to improve intervention and treatment opportunities.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30227350

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30178724

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Just listen to Nancy Reagan: say NO to MDMA

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This week’s podcast begins with a comment on the debate over ABA, helpful or harmful?  But the big news this week is an analysis of very early, but very published data, on the use of MDMA, or “ecstasy” or “Molly” in people with autism.  Called an “empathogen”, MDMA can elicit feelings of warmth, love and need to cuddle.  However, it has a dark side. MDMA is a neurotoxin.  It kills serotonergic brain cells.  There is no known safe dose.  Researchers studied and found weak evidence that it reduces social anxiety in people with autism.  Social anxiety isn’t a core symptom of autism and thank you to Larry Scahill at Emory University to provided an expert description of each.  While we will not comment on every negative study out there, this one is worth noting.  When someone offers you MDMA, JUST SAY NO.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30196397

 

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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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Supporting the support staff, at least a first step

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Paid support staff are critical to helping individuals at all ages with autism.  Unfortunately, they are mostly poorly paid, and exhibit high levels of burnout.  What psychological constructs are most important, and can they be targeted for services to help provide better services for those with ASD?  As it turns out, more important than preventing burnout is building up psychological capital, which helps deal with the effects of burnout.  In addition, a new important feature of autism has been identified: intolerance to uncertainty.  Previously linked to ASD through anxiety, now it is shown to have direct connections to ASD diagnosis and symptomatology.  Is this a new core feature?

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A message for MLK’s birthday and a better way diagnose anxiety

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Happy MLK day – a day when we recognize a man for his contribution in justice, tolerance, equality and service, I highlight a supreme court case which affects how those with special needs are fighting for justice and equality.   Also, over the holidays, Dr. Connor Kerns from Drexel University published how a new tool to diagnose anxiety in those with autism was validated, setting the stage for its use by physicians and clinicians who don’t have a lot of experience with autism to help better understand the symptoms of their patients.