Vanderbilt University researchers studying interventions for adolescents and young adults with autism are reporting today that there is insufficient evidence to support findings, good or bad, for the therapies currently used.
A new study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers found that 31 percent of children identified as at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at 12 months received a confirmed diagnosis of ASD by age 3 years.
University of Kansas researchers have found potential biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that include pupil size and a salivary enzyme. These findings have the potential to significantly impact screening and detection of ASD, as they can be non-invasively measured in infancy, and may hold key to neural pathology of the disorder within the autonomic nervous system.
If scientists can find distinctive patterns of chemicals in the urine of children with autism, a diagnostic test based on biology -- so far elusive -- could be within reach.
Autism is diagnosed in one out of every 88 children in the United States and almost one in 54 boys. Having a child diagnosed with autism can be an overwhelming experience that leaves parents unsure of how to proceed. There are a variety of approaches to treatment but it is important to match a child’s specific needs with treatments or strategies that are likely to be effective in moving him/her closer to established goals.
CHAPEL HILL, NC – New research led by a medical geneticist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine points to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) among individuals whose parents or siblings have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
A team of researchers have found that schizophrenia or bipolar disorder seen in parents or siblings was associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study was published online by Archives of General Psychiatry on Monday, July 2.
The hormone oxytocin - often referred to as the "trust" hormone or "love hormone" for its role in stimulating emotional responses - plays an important role in Williams syndrome (WS), according to a study published June 12, 2012, in PLoS One.
UCLA researchers have combined two tools – gene expression and the use of peripheral blood -- to expand scientists’ arsenal of methods for pinpointing genes that play a role in autism. The findings could help scientists zero in on genes that offer future therapeutic targets for the disorder.
Fish cannot display symptoms of autism, schizophrenia, or other human brain disorders. However, a team of Whitehead Institute and MIT scientists has shown that zebrafish can be a useful tool for studying the genes that contribute to such disorders.
As the number of children identified nationwide with an Autism Spectrum Disorder trends upward, it’s evident, said the director of a college transition program for students with an ASD, universities will see an increasing number of students who could potentially benefit from transition services.
Kennedy Krieger researchers reveal new findings on earliest signs of motor delay in infants.
Compared with youth with other disabilities, young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face a disproportionately difficult time navigating work and educational opportunities after high school, finds a new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Thirty-five percent of the youth with ASDs had no engagement with employment or education in the first six years after high school,” Shattuck says. “Rates of involvement in all employment and education were lower for those with lower income.”
Kansas State University researchers in landscape architecture are creating a schoolyard that can become a therapeutic landscape for children with autism. They have designed a place where elementary school children with autism can feel comfortable and included.
Women who smoke in pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger’s Disorder, according to preliminary findings from a study published online by the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study is one of several the journal published April 25 on possible environmental links to autism.
An editorial published today in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for increased research to identify possible environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in America's children and presents a list of ten target chemicals including which are considered highly likely to contribute to these conditions.
Q & A with Laura Schreibman, PhD.
In an important test of one of the first drugs to target core symptoms of autism, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine are undertaking a pilot clinical trial to evaluate insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in children who have SHANK3 deficiency (also known as 22q13 Deletion Syndrome or Phelan-McDermid Syndrome), a known cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
A Mississippi State University who struggled with social anxiety and loneliness associated with having Asperger's syndrome helped create a student organization to raise awareness of people living with autism spectrum disorders.
One of the largest studies of its kind to date found disturbed levels of cytokines in the plasma of children with autism disorder: in particular, five related to the T-helper cell immune system and three involved in hematopoiesis.
Mutations in three new genes have been linked to autism, according to new studies including one with investigators at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The findings, in a trio of papers revealing new genetic targets in autism, are published in the April 4th online issue of the journal Nature. The studies provide new insights into important genetic changes and the many biological pathways that lead to autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Mutations in hundreds of genes involved in wiring the brain may contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). That is one of the rather daunting conclusions of a paper published in the current issue of the journal Nature by a multi-institutional team that included researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, along with its affiliated medical schools Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, today celebrated the start of construction on the new Center for Autism and the Developing Brain at the Hospital's Westchester campus in White Plains. Developed in collaboration with the New York Center for Autism, the 11,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is slated to open in early 2013. The Center's mission is to provide cutting-edge research, education, and comprehensive services to people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at every stage of life, from infancy through adulthood.
ProMedica Toledo Children's Hospital develops new program in consultation with Cleveland Clinic Autism Development Solutions.
Even though World Autism Day is over, researchers at The Ohio State University push forward an ongoing study, trying to determine which is more effective for helping children with autism disorder: training parents or taking medication typically given to kids with ADHD. The study will enable researchers to establish the greatest possible impact on children with autism. Plus, a new research registry looks to connect families in the autism community with autism researchers around the nation.
Vanderbilt autism experts available for World Autism Day, National Autism Awareness Month
Experts from Drexel University are available to comment on a new study on autism prevalence released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Craig J. Newschaffer in the School of Public Health, a nationally prominent epidemiologist studying the causes of autism spectrum disorders, was an investigator with the Maryland site. Dr. Ellen Giarelli in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, was the principal investigator for the Pennsylvania study site.
New statistics issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders found among 8-year-old children in a sample area of New Jersey is significantly higher than in most other states surveyed. However, Walter Zahorodny, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, who led the New Jersey component of the research, says he believes the numbers in New Jersey are higher than elsewhere because schools and health providers in the state are better equipped to detect cases of autism than elsewhere in the country – and that the numbers show no evidence that New Jersey children are at higher risk for autism.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that the prevalence of children in the United States with autism has increased. The newly-released statistics suggest one in 88 children have an Autism Spectrum Disorder, up from one in 110 released in 2009. Zachary Warren, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Vanderbilt University, says effective early identification and treatment of autism is a public health emergency.
Kennedy Krieger Expert Advises Parents on What to Look for During Playtime
The Interactive Autism Network reports 63 percent of children with autism have been bullied.
A new measurement tool for researchers and clinicians to measure the status and response to intervention of people with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities who communicate with gestures, body movements and vocalizations.
A study led by Eric Courchesne, PhD, director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has, for the first time, identified in young autism patients genetic mechanisms involved in abnormal early brain development and overgrowth that occurs in the disorder. The findings suggest novel genetic and molecular targets that could lead to discoveries of new prevention strategies and treatment for the disorder
Drexel University has received a gift of $1.5 million from the Charles and Barbara Close Foundation to help establish the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. The Institute is the nation’s first autism center focused on public health science.
Experts at Drexel University are available to comment about autism. Drexel recently established the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, the nation’s first autism center focused on public health science. Topics include: environmental exposures and autism risk,, nursing for autism spectrum disorders, care across the lifespan, autism in college students, history of autism, risk communication and ethics.
Research focuses on the social dysfunction of both disorders and how the causes are different.
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has created a resource with Autism Speaks to help improve sleep for children and teens affected by autism spectrum disorders. This new toolkit, titled “Sleep Strategies for Children with Autism: A Parent’s Guide,” offers strategies to help families whose children with autism have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep through the night.
Increased Awareness Among Clinicians and Parents Could Lead to Earlier Diagnosis and Intervention for Minority Children with ASD
Many children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can benefit from medication for related disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “Unfortunately, there is very poor understanding of overall medication use for kids with autism,” says Paul T. Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. As a step toward improving the situation, Shattuck and colleagues studied psychotropic medication use compared across individuals with an ASD, ADHD and both an ASD with ADHD. “Observations from the present study reinforce the complexity of pharmacologic treatment of challenging behavior in kids with ASDs and ADHD. There needs to be a clearer guide for treating kids with both an ASD and ADHD,” he says.
Researchers have found significant differences in brain development in infants as young as six months old who later develop autism, compared with babies who don’t develop the disorder. The study, by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of North Carolina, and other centers suggests autism doesn’t appear abruptly, but instead develops over time during infancy.
A new study from the Infant Brain Imaging Network, which includes researchers at the Center for Autism Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), found significant differences in brain development starting at age 6 months in high-risk infants who later develop autism, compared to high-risk infants who did not develop autism. The study has significant implications for improving early diagnosis and intervention for autism. Intensive early intervention has been shown to improve outcomes.
A study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that autism does not appear suddenly in young children, but instead develops over time during infancy.
The rate of diagnosis for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is the same among all racial groups — one in 110, according to current estimates. However, a study by a Florida State University researcher has found that African-American children tend to be diagnosed later than white children, which results in a longer and more intensive intervention.
Children with autism often have problems developing motor skills, such as running, throwing a ball or even learning how to write. But scientists have not known whether those difficulties run in families or are linked to autism. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis points to autism as the culprit.
As the autism field grows, future care providers are seeking the proper training and credentials from their undergraduate coursework to give them a competitive edge. Saint Joseph’s University’s Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support recently applied for and received approval for its minor in autism studies from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, Inc.® (BACB). Now, SJU students who complete the requirements for the minor will be eligible to sit for the Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) examination®, an important certification for professionals in the field.
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) tend to be preoccupied with screen-based media. A new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, looks at how children with ASDs spend their “screen time.” “We found a very high rate of use of solitary screen-based media such as video games and television with a markedly lower rate of use of social interactive media, including email,” Shattuck says.
Three University of Alabama researchers are working to help physicians in rural Alabama cut down the time it takes to assess children with autism.
Autism expert Jennifer Pinto-Martin of Penn Nursing calls for "careful attention to the real and ongoing needs of children and families coping with autism."
Dr. Yasmin Neggers looked at blood levels of lipids and fatty acids in two groups of South Korean children – one group of typically developing boys and another group of boys with an autism diagnosis. Even though there were no major differences in what these children ate, those with autism had a lower omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio and lower levels of high density lipoprotein, more commonly known as HDL. For both levels, it’s often believed, the higher the better.
A large population-based study in Sweden indicates that there is no link between smoking during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children.
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