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What works and does not work for wandering and sleep

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This week a new study showed that kids with autism wander as early as toddlers, so parents keep a close eye on your kids no matter what their age.  Medications do not work, but behavioral interventions do seem to help.  This podcast gives some examples.   Also, another study shows the efficacy and safety of melatonin for helping kids with ASD fall asleep and stay asleep, even after 2 years.   Melatonin may not be the magic bullet we need for sleep problems, but it doesn’t seem to hurt either.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31977588

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30838492

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31982581

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#thisisanautismmentalhealthcrisis

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Mental health disorders are a serious problem across the lifespan in people with autism.  This has been shown by over 2 decades of research and further proven by a new meta analysis and a systematic review of the last 25 years of data.  What is the result of these mental health disorder co-morbidities?  Many times, these mental health disorders trigger a crisis situation: the police are called, someone goes to the hospital, may end up hospitalized, and family members are traumatized.  This week’s podcast summarizes the evidence and provides recommendations from scientists to help those with autism and possibly prevent crises from occurring.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31447415 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31652032

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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