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Breaking down aggression in autism

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You asked – our summer intern Priyanka Shah delivered!  This week’s podcast is one on a topic suggested by listeners.  She describes the risk factors and treatments for aggressive behaviors in autism.  Priyanka looked at research and listened to clinicians who have experience treating aggressive behaviors in autism.   In this podcast, description of Functional Behavioral Analysis plus pharmacological treatments are provided.

Here are some additional resources:

Aggression Study by Kanne & Mazurek (2011): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20960041
More information about behavior assessments: http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.fba.jordan.pdf
Simple FBA Chart Example:
fba
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Lessons from the Autism Society meeting

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Last week, the Autism Society (www.autism-society.org) held it’s 48th annual meeting in it’s 50th year of existence.  In addition to hearing an update on how people with autism and their families have benefited from autism research over the past decade, participants contributed to panels on experiences of adults, behavioral techniques, technology, the the history of autism.  On this week’s podcast, hear about two of the sessions – how to teach social interaction on the iPad and how to be an effective advocate.

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IGF-1 might be the next big thing in autism treatment

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This week’s podcast summarizes a new neural stem cell study and a recent review article on IGF-1 treatment in developmental disorders. IGF stands for Insulin Growth Factor and is essential for generation of new neurons, and shaping and health of existing neurons.  Patients with autism spectrum disorder are already starting to be treated with IGF-1, and now there is even more evidence validating it as a target.  If you are interested in participating in a research trial at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine using IGF-1, call the Seaver Center at  212-241-0961.

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Making sense of toxic chemicals and risk of autism

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On Monday the 1st, a consensus statement from over 50 expert scientists was published that collectively emphasized the link between toxic chemicals and neurodevelopment disorders like autism, learning disabilities and ADHD.  In this podcast, we want to help you understand why this is relevant for autism.  If you want to learn more about this statement and read about specific actions that can be taken to minimize exposures to these chemicals, go to www.projecttendr.com.  We will also be having a live chat about it on July 11th at 2PM EST.