Do the rules apply in school?

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

 

DSM5 – where are we now?

Don’t be fooled, not all the studies on this week’s podcast focus on the DSM5.  But the first one, a review of a meta analysis and review of the dozens of publications that have emerged in the past 5 years around the DSM5 leads us off.  There are some people that weren’t captured by either DSM5 or Social Communication Disorder that need a diagnosis, and that should be the focus of future research.  A new topic of diagnosis is also explored by a large collaboration is addressed:  diagnosis in cousins.  They do show a higher probability of an autism diagnosis, but not as high as first degree siblings.  Finally, a new tool called JAKE in monitoring  treatment effectiveness is presented.  This could be used not just in the clinic but at home.  It includes monitoring of biological and behavioral features, and might be the next big thing in outcomes for treatment studies.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30852784

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30851399

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6402449/

What does and does not change the probability of an autism diagnosis

Once again, this week another study  came out dismissing the link between vaccines and autism.  Add this one to the list, but this is one of the largest and takes into account genetic and non-genetic risk factors.  It continues to discredit the vaccine-autism link.  However, in other science, more evidence that prenatal folic acid supplementation, something women should be doing anyway, does reduce the probability of having a second child with autism.  So take your folic acid – either by prescription or over the counter.  As Martha Stewart says, it’s a good thing to do.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30831578

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30810722