Autism and Asperger
- Diagnosis, Imaging, Screening
- General Information
- Guidelines
- Internet Sites
- Risk Factors
- Risk Reduction
- Treatment - Daily Report
Treatment is updated daily with the most recent articles listed on top.
To view only the last month's articles for the other sub-topics, go to our Monthly Online Newsletters page
If you have any questions regarding our Search Reports, please contact us at info@infomedsearch.com.
Autism and Asperger
NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Autism
"Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old and seek help by the time the child is 2. Children with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication, social interactions, and pretend play. In some, aggression -- toward others or self -- may be present. Some children with autism appear normal before age 1 or 2 and then suddenly "regress" and lose language or social skills they had previously gained. This is called the regressive type of autism. People with autism may perform repeated body movements, show unusual attachments to objects or have unusual distress when routines are changed. Individuals may also experience sensitivities in the senses …"
NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Asperger syndrome
"The child with Asperger shows below-average nonverbal communication gestures, fails to develop peer relationships, has an inability to express pleasure in other people's happiness, and lacks the ability to reciprocate emotionally in normal social interactions. The condition appears to be more common in boys than in girls. There are likely genetic factors, but some theories suggest a prenatal infection may be to blame. While people with Asperger syndrome are frequently socially inept, many have above-average intelligence, and they may excel in fields like computer programming and science. There is no delay in cognitive development, in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, or in curiosity about the environment. Generally, there is no language development delay."
Highlighted Article
Assessing the diagnostic experiences of a small sample of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. (Res Dev Disabil. 2006)
"These parents experienced significant difficulties obtaining a diagnosis for their child. Parents saw an average of 4.5 professionals, and waited almost 3 years to receive a diagnosis following their first visit to a professional regarding their child's development."
Autism and Asperger
General Information
NEWS:
300,000 U.S. children diagnosed with autism "That means about 5.5 out of every 1,000 school-age children have been diagnosed with autism. … The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found boys are nearly four times more likely than girls to be identified with the condition."
Autism's Effects on Brain Extensive "The researchers found deficits in processing information on sensory, motor, language, memory and reasoning areas. But more basic sensory abilities such as touch, pain, position and vibration are spared. The scientists suspect the condition is triggered by the brain's inability to effectively integrate complex information almost anywhere in the brain. For instance, a child will have no problems finger-tapping, but when asked to complete a more complex motor task like drawing or using scissors, the child will have trouble. "
Autistic brains may daydream less
Autistic children have low cholesterol levels "Many children with autism have abnormally low levels of total cholesterol, according to a report in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. These low cholesterol levels may play a role in the development of the spectrum of autistic disorders. The deficiency appears to stem from an inability to produce cholesterol, not from an inadequate diet or impaired absorption in the intestines, the findings suggest."
CDC funds largest-ever study of autism"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and five other research centers will study the youngsters over five years. The research is designed to ferret out any genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to autism."
Families Cheer as Autism Bill Passes "The bill, which authorizes almost $1 billion for autism research and programs, cleared the House yesterday."
Finding Adds Another Piece to Autism Puzzle "Contrary to common medical thought, young children with autism do not have accelerated brain growth even though their brains appear enlarged … The abnormality is 'clearly not accelerated brain growth. An alternative hypothesis could be inflammatory processes. Our data would be consistent with adult studies that found higher levels of cytokines, associated with inflammation, in postmortem studies,' he explained."
National Institutes of Health Launching 3 Autism
Preschoolers With Autism Lag Behind Peers In Distinguishing Between Animate, Inanimate Objects "Young children with autism appear to be delayed in their ability to categorize objects and, in particular, to distinguish between living and nonliving things, according to a breakthrough study by researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University."
Researchers Gain Insight into Why Brain Areas Fail to Work Together in Autism
What Happens When They Grow Up
ARTICLES:
For Autistic Students, Social Skills From a Handheld Device
The Trouble With Asperger's Syndrome (Medscape Pediatrics. 2006) "Alas, we are a nation fixated on "pathologizing" many complex demeanors -- ranging from the overanxious state of some adults to the behaviors of children who have more energy and shorter attention spans than is comfortable for their overworked teachers or parents. Sadly, our reflexive need for diagnosis is accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to treat with a torrent of potent medications. One can only wonder what future generations will conclude about our society's eccentric impulse to medically label and chemically alter those human behaviors that are temporally or culturally viewed as abnormal. Perhaps sometimes, as Osborne nods to Freud, a quirk is just a quirk."
Tracing the Origins of Autism: A Spectrum of New Studies "The etiology of a medical condition might seem an unlikely subject to arouse intense feelings. Yet few medical disorders have stirred up as much passion and divisiveness among scientists and the general public as autism has in recent years. … At the eye of the storm is the startling climb in the numbers of children who have been diagnosed with one of the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The most severe ASD is autistic disorder (which often is called simply “autism”); other forms include Asperger syndrome and the much rarer childhood disintegrative disorder. In the United States, the diagnosis of ASDs increased roughly 10-fold over the course of a decade, from 4–5 children per 10,000 in the 1980s to 30–60 children per 10,000 in the 1990s …"
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
A Comparison of Motor Delays in Young Children: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Delay, and Developmental Concerns. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
A Controlled Trial of a Training Course for Parents of Children with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (Journal of Pediatrics 2005)
A Longitudinal Study of Pretend Play in Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Children with autism were profoundly delayed given both competence (prompted) measures as well as performance (spontaneous) measures. Joint attention at time 1 strongly and uniquely predicted pretend play development."
A view to regressive autism through home movies. Is early development really normal? (Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2006)
Abnormal brain size effect on the thalamus in autism. (Psychiatry Res. 2006) "Findings from this larger study are consistent with the previous report of an abnormal brain size effect on the thalamus in autism and support the possibility of abnormal connections between cortical and subcortical structures in this disorder."
Abnormal Use of Facial Information in High-Functioning Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Abnormalities of cholesterol metabolism in autism spectrum disorders. (Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2006)
An islet of social ability in Asperger Syndrome: Judging social attributes from faces. (Brain Cogn. 2006)
Association Between Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors and Nonverbal IQ in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. (Child Neuropsychol. 2006) " … these results demonstrate reduced spatial working memory abilities in autism, and extend previous findings by demonstrating that these deficits are significant when tasks impose heavier demands on working memory."
Attention to facial emotion expressions in children with autism (Autism 2006) "High-functioning children in the autism spectrum are frequently noted for their impaired attention to facial expressions of emotions. … As found in earlier studies, in neutral conditions children with autism were less attentive to emotion expressions than children from a control group. This difference disappeared when children were explicitly asked to make a socially relevant decision. These findings suggest that the attention of children with autism to emotion expressions in others is influenced by situational factors."
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in a clinic sample of children and adolescents with pervasive developmental disorders. ( Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2006) "Conclusion: ADHD symptoms are pervasive in clinically referred children and adolescents with ASD."
Atypical behaviors in children with autism and children with a history of language impairment. (Res Dev Disabil. 2006)
[Autism and Asperger syndrome: an overview] (Rev Bras Psiquiatr. 2006) "Autism and Asperger syndrome are the best known among the pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), a family of conditions marked by early-onset delays and deviance in the development of social, communicative, and other skills. In the revised fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), the PDD category includes conditions that are invariably associated with mental retardation (Rett's syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder), conditions that may or may not be associated with mental retardation (autism and PDD not otherwise specified or PDD-NOS), and one condition that is typically associated with normal intelligence (Asperger syndrome). The PDDs are among the most common developmental disorders. They refer to a family of conditions characterized by great variability of clinical presentations. They vary in terms of both profile of symptomatology and degree of affectedness but cluster together around the early-onset disruption of the socialization processes. They are neurodevelopmental in nature and have impact on basic and early-emerging brain mechanisms of sociability. Thus, they result in disruption of normal processes of social, cognitive, and communication development."
[Autism and the pervasive developmental disorders] (Rev Bras Psiquiatr. 2006) " Autism and related pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), sometimes called the Autism Spectrum Disorders, refer to a family of early onset and lifelong disruptions of socialization variably impacting on multiple and core areas of development, from the establishment of intersubjectivity and personal relationships, to language and communication, to learning and flexibly adjusting to the surrounding environment.1 The paradigmatic manifestation of the PDDs – autism – is a model of complex developmental disorder in that any attempt to understand it requires an analysis at many different levels, from behavior to cognition, from neurobiology to genetics, and all of which considered in closely dependent interactions over time. Over sixty years after the initial descriptions of autism, we now know that the PDDs are the most prevalent and strongly genetic conditions among all developmental disorders."
Autism in the Faroe Islands. An Epidemiological Study. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Of the children aged 8 through 17 years, 0.56% had childhood autism, Asperger syndrome or atypical autism. The male:female ratio was just under 6:1. The prevalence of autism in the Faroe Islands was very similar to that reported from many western countries."
Autism spectrum disorders and underlying brain pathology in CHARGE association. (Dev Med Child Neurol. 2006)
Autistic brain never rests, researchers say "The scientists also observed that the more abnormal the resting brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex appeared, the more socially impaired the autistic subject was."
Autistic social impairment in the siblings of children with pervasive developmental disorders. (Am J Psychiatry. 2006)
Autobiographical Memory and Social Problem-solving in Asperger Syndrome. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
[Behavioral patterns of autistic children during infancy.] (Zhongguo Dang Dai Er Ke Za Zhi. 2006) "RESULTS: The children with autism presented a series of abnormal behaviors, including no social smile, no eye contact and no respond to own name, and joint attention deficiency, which were distinguished from the children with other developmental disorders. The imitation and attachment behaviors were significantly different between the two groups. Repetitive motor actions and interest peculiarity were only seen in children with autism."
Brief Report: Effect of Maternal Age on Severity of Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Results indicate that there is no relationship between IQ or selected CBCL subtests and maternal age, suggesting that maternal age does not influence the severity of autism as measured by these indicators."
Brief Report: "The Autism Epidemic". The Registered Prevalence of Autism in a Swedish Urban Area. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Can the Children's Communication Checklist differentiate autism spectrum subtypes? (Autism. 2006) "The findings support the autism spectrum concept based on severity of symptom impairment rather than distinct categories."
Characteristics of school-age children with autism. (J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2006)
Childhood autism and associated comorbidities. (Brain Dev. 2006)
Childhood inattention and hyperactivity symptoms self-reported by adults with Asperger syndrome. (Psychopathology. 2006)
Clinical neurological abnormalities in young adults with Asperger syndrome. (Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2006) "This preliminary study indicates that neurological abnormalities, soft signs in particular, represent a non-specific vulnerability factor for AS. Consistent with other features of AS, neurological abnormalities seem to persist into adulthood."
Cognitive and Verbal Abilities of 24- to 36-month-old Siblings of Children with Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
[Diagnosis and treatment of brain creatine deficiency syndromes.] (ev Neurol. 2006)
Do Children with Autism have a Theory of Mind? A Non-verbal Test of Autism vs. Specific Language Impairment. ( Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Early features of autism Repetitive behaviours in young children. (Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006)
Effects of season of birth on autism spectrum disorders: fact or fiction? (Am J Psychiatry. 2006) "CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this historical, population-based cohort study do not support an association between season of birth and autistic spectrum disorders."
Executive function deficits in autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Examining profiles across domains and ages. (Brain Cogn. 2006)
Executive Functioning in Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: Can We Differentiate Within the Spectrum? (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Face perception in high-functioning autistic adults: evidence for superior processing of face parts, not for a configural face-processing deficit. (Neuropsychology. 2006)
Face Processing in Individuals With Autism (Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health. 2005)
Familial Autoimmune Thyroid Disease as a Risk Factor for Regression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A CPEA Study. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "The only specific autoimmune disorder found to be associated with regression was autoimmune thyroid disease …"
Finding a face in the crowd: Testing the anger superiority effect in Asperger Syndrome. (Brain Cogn. 2006)
Follow-up of children with autism spectrum disorders from age 2 to age 9. (Autism. 2006) "These findings highlight the potential long-term benefits of both early identification and early intervention, and provide additional evidence for the importance of promoting public awareness of the early signs of autism."
Gait function in high-functioning autism and Asperger's disorder : Evidence for basal-ganglia and cerebellar involvement? (Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2006) "Gait abnormalities have been widely reported in individuals with autism and Asperger's disorder. There is controversy as to whether the cerebellum or the basal-ganglia frontostriatal regions underpin these abnormalities. This is the first direct comparison of gait and upper-body postural features in autism and Asperger's disorder. … While DSM-IV-TR suggests that Asperger's disorder, but not autism, is associated with motoric clumsiness, our data suggest that both clinical groups are uncoordinated and lacking in motor smoothness. Gait differences in autism and Asperger's disorder were suggested to reflect differential involvement of the cerebellum, with commonalities reflecting similar involvement of the basal-ganglia frontostriatal region."
Gray and white matter brain chemistry in young children with autism. (Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006)
Growth in stature and head circumference in high-functioning autism and Asperger disorder during the first 3 years of life. (Dev Psychopathol. 2006) "The results indicate that growth dysregulation in autism is not specific to the brain but also involves growth in stature."
Health-related quality of life in parents of school-age children with Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism. (Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2006) "BACKGROUND: The estimated prevalence rate of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) in children is 6 per 1.000. Parenting children who are intellectually impaired and have PDDs is known to be linked to the impaired well-being of the parents themselves. … CONCLUSION: Mothers but not fathers of children with AS/HFA reported impaired HRQL, and there was a relationship between maternal well-being and child behaviour characteristics."
High functioning children with autism spectrum disorder: A novel test of multitasking. (Brain Cogn. 2006)
Impact of treating sleep apnea in a child with autism spectrum disorder. (Pediatr Neurol. 2006) "Identification and treatment of sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea, may improve daytime behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders."
Impaired sadness recognition is linked to social interaction deficit in autism. (Neuropsychologia. 2006) "Our findings point to a deficit in emotion recognition in autism, extending beyond the recognition of facial expressions, which is associated with a functional impairment in social interaction skills. Our results are discussed in the context of the results of neuroimaging studies that have used animated stimuli and images of faces."
Insomnia in school-age children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. (BMC Psychiatry. 2006) "CONCLUSIONS: Parental reports indicate that in childhood AS/HFA insomnia is a common and distressing symptom which is frequently associated with high levels of coexistent emotional and behavioural problems. Identification and treatment of sleep problems need to be a routine part of the treatment plan for children with AS/HFA."
Magnesium profile in autism. (Biol Trace Elem Res. 2006)
Memory Illusion in High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Mental Health in the United States: Parental Report of Diagnosed Autism in Children Aged 4--17 Years --- United States, 2003--2004 (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006) "Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by early onset of impairments in social interaction and communication and unusual, stereotyped behaviors. Autism (i.e., autistic disorder) often is classified with two related, although less severe, developmental disorders: Asperger disorder and pervasive developmental disorder--not otherwise specified. These three constitute the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Diagnosis of ASDs is based exclusively on developmental pattern and behavioral observation (Box). Two population-based studies conducted by CDC in selected U.S. locations reported ASD prevalence of 3.4 and 6.7 per 1,000 children, respectively (1,2)."
Monozygotic twins with Asperger syndrome: Differences in behaviour reflect variations in brain structure and function. (Brain Cogn. 2006)
Motor Signs Distinguish Children with High Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome from Controls. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "The Autism group was shown to have significant impairment on several measures of motor control compared to the Control group."
Normal Physiological Emotions but Differences in Expression of Conscious Feelings in Children with High-Functioning Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Obstetric complications in individuals diagnosed with autism and in healthy controls. (Compr Psychiatry. 2006)
One-year Change in Repetitive Behaviours in Young Children with Communication Disorders Including Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Oxidative stress in autism. (Pathophysiology. 2006)
Parental Perspectives on the Causes of an Autism Spectrum Disorder in their Children. (J Genet Couns. 2006)
Parental Recognition of Developmental Problems in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders. ( Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Patterns of Reading Ability in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Overall, levels of word and nonword reading and text reading accuracy fell within average range although reading comprehension was impaired. However, there was considerable variability across the sample with performance on most tests ranging from floor to ceiling levels. Some children read accurately but showed very poor comprehension, consistent with a hyperlexia reading profile; some children were poor at reading words and nonwords whereas others were unable to decode nonwords, despite a reasonable level of word reading skill. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of reading skills in children with ASD."
Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: prevalence and links with immunizations. (Pediatrics. 2006) "CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder in Montreal was high, increasing in recent birth cohorts as found in most countries. Factors accounting for the increase include a broadening of diagnostic concepts and criteria, increased awareness and, therefore, better identification of children with pervasive developmental disorders in communities and epidemiologic surveys, and improved access to services. The findings ruled out an association between pervasive developmental disorder and either high levels of ethylmercury exposure comparable with those experienced in the United States in the 1990s or 1- or 2-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations."
Plasma serotonin in autism. (Pediatr Neurol. 2006) "Low maternal plasma serotonin may be a risk factor for autism through effects on fetal brain development."
Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP) (The Lancet 2006) "Prevalence of autism and related ASDs is substantially greater than previously recognised. Whether the increase is due to better ascertainment, broadening diagnostic criteria, or increased incidence is unclear. Services in health, education, and social care will need to recognise the needs of children with some form of ASD, who constitute 1% of the child population."
Presentation of depression in autism and Asperger syndrome: A review. (Autism. 2006)
Profiles of executive function in parents and siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Genes Brain Behav. 2006)
Pseudo-random number generation in children with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder (Autism 2006) "The repetitive, stereotyped and obsessive behaviours, which are core diagnostic features of autism, are thought to be underpinned by executive dysfunction. This study examined executive impairment in individuals with autism and Asperger’s disorder using a verbal equivalent of an established pseudo-random number generating task. … "
Psychological and Neurobehavioral Comparisons of Children with Asperger's Disorder Versus High-Functioning Autism. ( Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents with Autism Compared to Young People with Intellectual Disability. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Young people with autism were found to suffer from significantly higher levels of psychopathology than young people with ID. The implications of this finding are discussed."
[Quality of life and autism] (Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2006)
Repetitive Behaviour and Play in Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Repetitive Behaviour in Children with High Functioning Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Children with OCD reported more compulsions and obsessions than children with ASD; both groups reported more compulsions and obsessions than a typically developing comparison group. Types of compulsions and obsessions tended to be less sophisticated in children with ASD than those with OCD. Sameness behaviour was more prevalent in younger children with OCD, but for children with ASD, age was not significantly related to sameness behaviour, repetitive movements, compulsions, or obsessions."
Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. ( Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Sensorimotor Gating Deficits in Adults with Autism. (Biol Psychiatry. 2006)
Sensorimotor performance in school-age children with autism, developmental language disorder, or low IQ. (Dev Med Child Neurol. 2006)
Sexual Behavior in High-Functioning Male Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Skin Conductance Responses to Another Person's Gaze in Children with Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Social Skills and Problem Behaviours in School Aged Children with High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Sorting Preference in Children with Autism: The Dominance of Concrete Features. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Subjective Perceptual Distortions and Visual Dysfunction in Children with Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Systematic review of prevalence studies of autism spectrum disorders. (Arch Dis Child. 2006)
The contribution of diagnostic substitution to the growing administrative prevalence of autism in US special education. (Pediatrics. 2006) "CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence findings from special education data do not support the claim of an autism epidemic because the administrative prevalence figures for most states are well below epidemiological estimates. The growing administrative prevalence of autism from 1994 to 2003 was associated with corresponding declines in the usage of other diagnostic categories."
The Development of Face Processing in Autism. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
The near universal presence of autism spectrum disorders in children with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. (Am J Med Genet A. 2006) "Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) is an autosomal recessive condition caused by a defect in cholesterol synthesis. Affected children often have malformations and mental retardation. Autistic behaviors also are evident. The purpose of the present study was to determine the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in children with SLOS. … these results suggest that most children with SLOS have some variant of autism. SLOS appears to have the most consistent relationship with autism of any single gene disorder. Therefore, a link between cholesterol metabolism and autism is suggested."
The profile of memory function in children with autism. (Neuropsychology. 2006)
The Relationship of Asperger's Characteristics and Schizotypal Personality Traits in a Non-clinical Adult Sample. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006)
Tics and Tourette syndrome in autism spectrum disorders (Autism 2006)
Who Cares? Revisiting Empathy in Asperger Syndrome. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2006) "Our data show that while the AS group scored lower on the measures of cognitive empathy and theory of mind, they were no different from controls on one affective empathy scale of the IRI (empathic concern), and scored higher than controls on the other (personal distress). Therefore, we propose that the issue of empathy in AS should be revisited."
Go to the top