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What is the focus this week? The unsung heroes of grandparents and clinicians

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Scientists have studied males compared to females with autism, but rarely has there been studies about what clinicians see as differences in these two groups.  Given that they provide insight on diagnosis, needs and access to services, it is kind of important to talk to them, and a study out this week in the journal Autism did just that.  You can find the full text here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/V5p3isSVAKDbdQf2jH4Q/full

Also, scientists are starting to understand the role of exposures in parents and how they affect diagnosis of autism in their children, but this week a new wrench was thrown into the wheel:  researchers in the UK found that grandparental exposures play a role in autism diagnosis too.  Luckily, this too is open access and you can read it for yourself.  It was covered in the media and we have perspective from a parent included.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46179

I discuss this second project with Jill Escher, founder of the Escher Fund for Autism and co-funder of the study.

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Managing real life autism situations.

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Compared to researchers, community clinicians don’t have time for the same rigorous training on the standard autism diagnostic instrument called the ADOS, so can they still do it as well?  Or does this group not have the resources they need to use it properly?  Also, because psychiatric hospitals don’t see as many people with autism as they used to, a group of child psychiatrists got together and wrote guidelines for what to do if a child with autism showed up at the general inpatient ward.  These are things that face families in the real word, and we thought you should hear about new science around them.