The latest autism research news stories with ASF Chief Science Officer Alycia Halladay
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This week’s podcast explores new evidence that exercise produces longer term improvements in coordination and motor skills. Parents can play a big role in how these skills are developed over time. Physical exercise also has different effects on the brain in typically developing people than those with a diagnosis.
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Two recent papers suggest that a childhood diagnosis of ASD is important for adulthood quality of life and well being. But another one points out that it isn’t the only thing, or even the primary factor, involved in improved quality of life and well-being as autistic adults age. There are others, like comorbid mental health problems, demographic factors like gender and current age. These studies were conducted by autistic researchers and did an amazing thing – one tried to replicate the other. The media got the point of these findings wrong (shocker) so today’s #ASFpodcast explains what they mean.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/13623613231173056
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The disparity in diagnosis between Black kids and white kids is narrowing, but not by luck or coincidence. Based on previous research, clinicians are altering their professional training and their outreach to make sure more Black families are diagnosed and receive interventions. On today’s podcast, we highlight a recent study that focused on different ways to lower the age of diagnosis and improve access to early intervention in Black families. This intervention improved cognitive outcomes in Black kids.
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Compared to other types of research, there are so few studies that look at three time points in the same person with autism over their live to better understand groups and predict outcomes. What is missing? What do families need? What’s there and what could be done differently to get at the answers that will help families? This week we talk to @StevenGentles from McMaster University who led a review of this research and what it will add to the science. You can read the article open access here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613231170280?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org
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Digital therapeutics may very helpful in helping families and individuals on the spectrum. What are they? How can they be used? This week’s #ASFpodcast talks to Lani Hessen from the Digital Therapeutics Alliance who is holding a summit this week in Washington DC. There is technology that is already used to help those on the spectrum, and those that can be easily adapted or implemented in those with a diagnosis or their families. We want to hear about YOUR experience with digital technologies. Tell us more in the comments.
www.dtalliance.org
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With just a few weeks to go until June, this week’s podcast is a short summary of the prevalence of transsexuality in the autism community and how many people are autistic in the trans community. More importantly, there are guidelines about the identification and care for those who have these co-occurring conditions. The references mentioned are below:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36996732/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36721890/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36358354/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15374416.2016.1228462
https://4w.pub/autism-puberty-gender-dysphoria-view-from-an-autistic-desisted-woman/amp/
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Last week in Stockholm, Sweden, 2200 researchers and scientists working to understand and help those on the spectrum, met to share their most recent findings and exchange ideas. What were the main takeaways as ASF saw them? We cover why some autistic people don’t want genetics to be studied, how to better engage families with IDD and who are non-speaking, females, adults, international studies and yes, diversity. The program book was released a day before the meeting and can be found here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.autism-insar.org/resource/resmgr/docs/annualmeeting/insar2023_program_book.pdf
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The title gets you, right? Well, on this week’s #ASFpodcast we report on a new study that examines epigenetic profiles of sperm and how they related to child outcomes. Do some of the marks on bio-dad’s sperm match to those found in kids with ASD? what about genes related to autism? Also, can parents be good proxies of their child’s intellectual ability? For the most part yes, but sometimes they tend to overestimate this ability. This means they are good, but not perfect reporters. How could they be if the child has a severe intellectual disability?
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Quick answer: 26.7%. But what is “profound autism” and why is this label necessary? Have the rates of profound autism changed over time? How many do not have profound autism and are their needs different and how? Listen to this week’s ASF podcast and read the paper here: https://autismsciencefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CDC-Profound-Autism-Statistics_ASF-Copy.pdf
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This week we conduct an interview with Michelle Hughes, PhD, epidemiologist with the CDC, who answers all of our questions about how many people have autism, how they are counted, what has changed since the last count and why the CDC are counting more kids than they were 10 years ago.
You can read more about her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellemergler/
Here is a link to the 8 year old counting study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36952288/
Here is the follow up to when they turned 16: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36849336/