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Study finds those with Autism 'have problem with Self Aware' |
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Monday, 14 December 2009 13:52 |
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"We know many people with autism do want to interact with others and make friends but have difficulty recognising or understanding other people's thoughts and feelings.
This research has shown that people with autism may also have difficulty understanding their own thoughts and feelings and the brain mechanisms underlying this."
The study and article shows brain scans of those with Autism physically have difficulty in socializing with others. The study also shows autistic people have difficulty in thinking/making sense of themselves.
The study consisted fo 66 males. Questions were posed while their brain scans were done. Questions consisted of answers being of their own thoughts, preferences, or physical characteristics between themselves and someone else.
The scan showed their brain region responded the same with either thoughts of themselves or someone else. Showing no distinction between the two.
The full article can be read here. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 14 December 2009 14:09 )
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Research suggests children can recover from autism |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 11 May 2009 00:46 |
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AP Medical Writer= CHICAGO (AP) Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age 9 he had overcome the disorder.
His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of children with autism can "recover" from it â most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy.
Skeptics question the phenomenon, but University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein is among those convinced it's real.
She presented research this week at an autism conference in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no longer considered autistic.
Among them was Leo, a boy in Washington, D.C., who once made no eye contact, who echoed words said to him and often spun around in circles â all classic autism symptoms. Now he is an articulate, social third-grader. His mother, Jayne Lytel, says his teachers call Leo a leader.
The study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, involves children ages 9 to 18.
Autism researcher Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of the advocacy group Autism Speaks, called Fein's research a breakthrough.
"Even though a number of us out in the clinical field have seen kids who appear to recover," it has never been documented as thoroughly as Fein's work, Dawson said.
"We're at a very early stage in terms of understanding" the phenomenon, Dawson said.
Previous studies have suggested between 3 percent and 25 percent of autistic kids recover. Fein says her studies have shown the range is 10 percent to 20 percent.
But even after lots of therapy â often carefully designed educational and social activities with rewards â most autistic children remain autistic.
Recovery is "not a realistic expectation for the majority of kids," but parents should know it can happen, Fein said.
Doubters say "either they really weren't autistic to begin with ... or they're still socially odd and obsessive, but they don't exactly meet criteria" for autism, she said.
Fein said the children in her study "really were" autistic and now they're "really not."
University of Michigan autism expert Catherine Lord said she also has seen autistic patients who recover. Most had parents who spent long hours working with them on behavior improvement.
But, Lord added, "I don't think we can predict who this will happen for." And she does not think it's possible to make it happen.
The children in Fein's study, which is still ongoing, were diagnosed by an autism specialist before age 5 but no longer meet diagnostic criteria for autism. The initial diagnoses were verified through early medical records.
Because the phenomenon is so rare, Fein is still seeking children to help bolster evidence on what traits formerly autistic kids may have in common. Her team is also comparing these children with autistic and non-autistic kids.
So far, the "recovered" kids "are turning out very normal" on neuropsychological exams and verbal and nonverbal tests, she said.
The researchers are also doing imaging tests to see if the recovered kids' brains look more like those of autistic or nonautistic children. Autistic children's brains tend to be slightly larger than normal.
Imaging scans also are being done to examine brain function in formerly autistic kids. Researchers want to know if their "normal" behavior is a result of "normal" brain activity, or if their brains process information in a non-typical way to compensate for any deficits.
Results from those tests are still being analyzed.
Most of the formerly autistic kids got long-term behavior treatment soon after diagnosis, in some cases for 30 or 40 hours weekly.
Many also have above-average IQs and had been diagnosed with relatively mild cases of autism. At age 2, many were within the normal range for motor development, able to walk, climb and hold a pencil.
Significant improvement suggesting recovery was evident by around age 7 in most cases, Fein said.
None of the children has shown any sign of relapse. But nearly three-fourths of the formerly autistic kids have had other disorders, including attention-deficit problems, tics and phobias; eight still are affected.
Jayne Lytel says Leo sometimes still gets upset easily but is much more flexible than before. |
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Study shows Hepatitis B triple series vaccine causes develoment disability |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 09 January 2009 02:51 |
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I ran across this very interesting article regarding Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1-9 years. The site is Adventures in Autism and he makes really good points regarding this test. This study investigated the association between vaccination with the Hepatitis B triple series vaccine prior to 2000 and developmental disability in children aged 1-9 years (n = 1824), proxied by parental report that their child receives early intervention or special education services (EIS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000 data were analyzed and adjusted for survey design by Taylor Linearization using SAS version 9.1 software, with SAS callable SUDAAN version 9.0.1. The odds of receiving EIS were approximately nine times as great for vaccinated boys (n = 46) as for unvaccinated boys (n = 7), after adjustment for confounders. This study found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were unvaccinated boys. |
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Scans Show Sound-Processing Deficits in Autistic Kids |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 09 January 2009 02:44 |
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Children with autism spectrum disorder process sounds a fraction of a second slower than other children, an abnormality that offers insight into listening and language issues linked to the condition, a new study says. Researchers used magnetoencephalography (MEG), which records minute magnetic fields associated with electrical brain activity, to detect the slight delay in autistic children who were exposed to beeps, tones in pairs, vowels and sentences at different speeds, tones and frequencies. The findings were expected to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), in Chicago. “This delay in processing certain types and streams of sound may underpin the subsequent language processing and communication impairment seen in autistic children,” researcher Timothy Roberts, vice chair of research in the department of radiology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a news release issued by the RSNA. This signature of autism found in brain activity may eventually become a biomarker to improve classification of the disorder and aid in treatment and therapy planning, he added. “We hope that in the future, these signatures will also be revealed in the infant brain to help diagnose autism and allow earlier intervention,” he said. Autism inhibits the brain functions that govern the development of social and communication skills. About one in every 150 American children, mostly boys, is affected by the condition, according to the Autism Society of America. |
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