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Is anxiety related to autism, and where is it in the brain?

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Anxiety is common in people with autism – but is is different than other types of anxiety or similar? Is it part of the autism phenotype? When does it start and what triggers it? Two new studies which use a longitudinal design and examine the links between autism features, anxiety symptoms and brain development are summarized this week. It shows that the amygdala is important, that some features of anxiety are core to ASD and some are separate, and it is related to autism features like insistence on sameness. This has implications for how anxiety is diagnosed and treated in those with ASD.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35871413/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9116934/?report=printable

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Parents! Parents! Parents!

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Parents are now used as intervention partners through a design called parent-mediated intervention. It started to be studied before the pandemic but has now become a necessity. Does it work? Should it always work for everything? How long should the intervention last and how often? These are all questions of interest, and while research is still early, parents can be amazing partners in intervention especially below age 5. The provide opportunities for learning and communication, and they can utilize more hours during the day at home than traditional in-clinic services can. Of course not every family is the same and may not have the same abilities to learn the intervention, and in the future more of these contextual factors need to be studied. But for now, three cheers for parents helping their kids!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34867556/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35037520/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35040001/

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Violent criminal behavior, screen time, and inter pregnancy interval – not all related to each other but all relevant to ASD

Many media reports have linked autism to violent criminal behavior, but statistically, autistic people are more likely to be the victims but not the perpetrators of violence. So what ELSE is going on in those with ASD who have committed a violent crime? A study in The Netherlands delves into this by collecting information on violent criminals with an ASD diagnosis. Also, families are always concerned about the time their kids spend on their screens, and COVID caused even more screen time – think about all the time spent in online school. But is it harmful? Are there benefits? And does it depend on the type of screen time? Listen to this week’s podcast to find out.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34500347/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34483995/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34423916/

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Gender difference update

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Girls and boys with autism generally show the same symptoms of ASD overall, but what about different aspects of features? What would happen if you studied girls and boys separately and examined detailed assessments of things like motor skills, repetitive behavior, communication or social interaction? These are where subtle signs of differences between genders is showing up. Girls show a higher age of diagnosis, but that depends on cognitive ability. Also, girls with ASD seem to have superior social interaction skills, which reflects normal gender differences. These differences are magnified over time. A new study also looks at Vitamin D levels during pregnancy and outcome in boys vs. girls…..the results are still unclear but interesting.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33137209/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33135392/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33136459/

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Mirror mirror on the wall, what is the fairest early predictor of adult language ability?

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Scientists study motor skills in early development not just because it is one of the first features to emerge, but because it is predictive of later social communication development, and as it turns out, later expressive language development.   A new study combining data from 2 countries shows that early motor deficits predict language abilities all the way up to age 19, so focusing on early motor skills is imperative for early intervention.  Also this week – a review on why those tiny details in genetics of ASD can be so helpful for people across the spectrum and families.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31429087

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31491383

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Autism spectrum disorders underneath a bigger umbrella: more data from the brain

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There is demonstrated genetic overlap between many neurodevelopment disorders including  ASD, ADHD, and schizophrenia, and now there is data showing similarities in the structure and size of the brains in people with autism and those with ADHD.  These differences depend on how severe social difficulties are, but the similarities are seen with ASD and ADHD, but not OCD.   In addition, this week there are new depressing results from the Interactive Autism Network on unemployment and females with ASD.  The results may not surprise you, but they will upset you.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361977/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30729799