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Nobody puts babies in a corner

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Nobody can dispute that research to better understand autistic adolescents and adults is lacking.  However, scientists continue to make important scientific discoveries in infants and toddlers with autism.  These infants and toddlers eventually become adolescents and adults, so identifying critical periods of brain development that influences behavior, what to say to parents and when, and how to  engage the entire community to better serve infants and toddlers is still needed.  This week is an update on the activities of the Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC), including a paper that ties in activity of different brain regions at 1 year olds, to stereotyped behaviors and insistence on sameness in 2 year olds.  The research of the BSRC is directly applicable to families affected by autism at all ages.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30446435

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Rare vs. common genetic variation in autism? They are both right.

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This week’s podcast summarizes a new study which finds that in some people with autism, it takes just a few small mutations in a few key autism genes to lead to a diagnosis.  This is called the ‘rare variation theory’, but while it has been pretty well established, researchers still don’t know where these gene mutations come from.  A new joint ASF/AS/Escher Fund online symposium on October 1st from 1-3PM EST explores this issue.  Register here:

http://www.autismsciencefoundation.org/news/free-webinar-interaction-enviornment-and-genetics-autism-october-1st

Also, detecting early signs and symptoms is the key to intervening at a key critical time in brain development.  These early signs include stereotypy and sensory symptoms and patterns of these behaviors are different in people with autism.  How?  Listen to the ASF podcast to hear more.