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Are Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions controversial?

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While NDBIs are generally considered beneficial, they still face controversies – do they actually work and does that translate to an improved quality of life for the family? This week’s #ASF podcast interviews Molly Reilly and Jinwei Song of @UConn to dive into these issues, as well as the role of the caregiver in the intervention and how their influence affects the outcome. References below.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38719439

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/13623613241227516

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-023-06198-x

Websites: PRT, ESDM, JASPER, EMT, SocialABCs, and Pathways
Books/Manuals: ESDM, PRT, JASPER, EMT

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What’s the latest on minocycline for autism?

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This week’s podcast re-explores a question about a potential therapy for autism – minocycline. Minocycline is an antibiotic used to treat a number of different infections and some anecdotal reports have linked it to an improvement of autism. This has led to some experimental trials on minocycline, with inconclusive results. This week, a multisite study showed NO effects of minocycline for autism features or outcomes, but that doesn’t mean it is NOT a great antibotic. If you need it, use it! Also, do autistic people spend too much time on their screens? Well, they seem to spend more time on devices and screens, but it might all be bad. Listen to the podcast for more information on this.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-023-06132-1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10709772/?report=printable

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Following our trajectory

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Compared to other types of research, there are so few studies that look at three time points in the same person with autism over their live to better understand groups and predict outcomes. What is missing? What do families need? What’s there and what could be done differently to get at the answers that will help families? This week we talk to @StevenGentles from McMaster University who led a review of this research and what it will add to the science. You can read the article open access here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613231170280?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org

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Happy Pride 2023

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With just a few weeks to go until June, this week’s podcast is a short summary of the prevalence of transsexuality in the autism community and how many people are autistic in the trans community. More importantly, there are guidelines about the identification and care for those who have these co-occurring conditions. The references mentioned are below:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36996732/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36721890/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36358354/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15374416.2016.1228462

https://4w.pub/autism-puberty-gender-dysphoria-view-from-an-autistic-desisted-woman/amp/

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The Science of Screeners for ASD

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Screening for autism is meant to cast a broad net to gather those who show enough features to be included for a full diagnostic evaluation. The most common of these tools is the MCHAT – the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. An author of the MCHAT, Diana Robins, and a colleague, Andrea Wieckowski and others gathered over 50 studies (English and other languages) in different types of samples (high likelihood and low likelihood) to determine how the MCHAT was doing in terms of finding infants with autism as well as excluding those without autism. It also touched on how well primary care doctors were doing in administering this tool. If you want to see the MCHAT for yourself or take it for your child, there is a FREE website, click here: https://mchatscreen.com

To read the paper, click here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36804771/