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This one’s for the girls

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In this week’s podcast, I semi-plagiarize from a recent summary of sex differences in ASD, written by Drs. Meng-Chuan Lai and Peter Szatmari from the University of Toronto.  They delve into why more males are diagnosed with females, and differences in the presentation of those features of ASD that differ between males and females.  These include camouflaging, differences in language style, differences based on behaviors determined by sex, and associated features like anxiety and internalizing behaviors.  Thank you to the authors for putting together the information in a way that makes sense.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31815760

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30962869

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CBT and ADDM – two acronyms in the autism news

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Two studies missed last year (sorry) but are of importance to the autism community include a modified version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat anxiety, which was adapted and updated for people with ASD.  It also works better than traditional CBT, which is good news for  the 80% of people with ASD that also suffer from anxiety.  Also, in recognition of MLK day today, the CDC released information last year that shows that 1/4 of those that they counted in their prevalence numbers were missed by schools or other health care providers.  Unfortunately, those who were black or hispanic were more likely to be those that were missed but still met criteria.  This just shows that educators have to do better in helping those with ASD from all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31868321

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31755906

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#thisisanautismmentalhealthcrisis

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Mental health disorders are a serious problem across the lifespan in people with autism.  This has been shown by over 2 decades of research and further proven by a new meta analysis and a systematic review of the last 25 years of data.  What is the result of these mental health disorder co-morbidities?  Many times, these mental health disorders trigger a crisis situation: the police are called, someone goes to the hospital, may end up hospitalized, and family members are traumatized.  This week’s podcast summarizes the evidence and provides recommendations from scientists to help those with autism and possibly prevent crises from occurring.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31447415 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31652032