Autism and Asperger
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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."
NHS (UK) - Autistic spectrum disorder "Autistic spectrum disorder is the term that is used to describe a group of disorders, including autism and Asperger syndrome. The word 'spectrum' is used because the characteristics of the condition vary from one person to another. Those with autism may also have a learning disability. Those who have Asperger syndrome tend to have average, or above average, intelligence, but still have difficulty making sense of the world. The causes of ASD are still unknown, and research is ongoing. However, research suggests that genetic factors may be involved, and there is also some evidence to show that the condition may be linked to environmental factors, such as pollution, or viruses like rubella (German measles). Recent research suggests that around 1 in 100 people have ASD in the UK. It is thought to affect four times as many males than females, although the reason for this is unknown."
NHS (UK) - Autistic spectrum disorder: Diagnosis for adults "Describing your experiences AS is characterised by something known as the triad of impairments. People with AS will be affected in some way by each of these impairments. The autistic spectrum is very broad and two people with the condition may have very different symptoms. No one person will have all the traits but most people with AS will usually have problems in the following three areas. Social communication Difficulty understanding gestures, body language and facial expressions, a lack of social motivation and difficulties making friends Social understanding Difficulties in group situations, problems understanding double meanings and jokes, and choosing topics that are not appropriate to talk about. Imagination This can include difficulty with imagining alternative outcomes and finding it hard to predict what will happen next. This frequently leads to anxiety and can show itself as: An obsession with rigid routines and severe distress if routines are disrupted. Problems with making plans for the future. Problems with sequencing tasks. Secondary traits of Asperger syndrome People with AS tend to have difficulties which relate to the triad but are not included within it. These can include: obsessive compulsive behaviours, obsessive interests in just one topic, social phobias, acute anxiety, depression, social isolation and clumsiness, often linked to a condition known as dyspraxia."
Highlighted Articles
Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the First 3 Years of Life (Nature Clinical Practice Neurology 2008) “The age at diagnosis of ASD ranges from 3 to 6 years, but there is increasing evidence that diagnosis in the second year of life is possible in some children. Early diagnosis will lead to earlier behavior-based intervention, which is associated with improvements in core areas, such as social functioning and communication. Early detection of—and intervention to treat—ASD is crucial because it is likely to lead to an improved outcome.”
A Prospective Study of Response to Name in Infants at Risk for Autism (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007) "Conclusions Failure to respond to name by age 12 months is highly suggestive of developmental abnormality but does not identify all children at risk for developmental problems. Lack of responding to name is not universal among infants later diagnosed with ASD and/or other developmental delays. Poor response to name may be a trait of the broader autism phenotype in infancy."
Structure of the Autism Symptom Phenotype: A Proposed Multidimensional Model. (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2007) "Conclusions: The pervasive developmental disorder symptom phenotype is composed of three domains or factors: social-communication, inflexible language and behavior, and repetitive sensory and motor behavior. Each child with pervasive developmental disorder can be characterized by these dimensions, which give an informative picture of the clinical presentation and a quantitative estimate of the severity of the disability."
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Autism and Asperger
General Information
NEWS:
Asperger Syndrome Tied to Low Cortisol Levels “Low levels of a stress hormone may be responsible for the obsession with routine and dislike for new experiences common in children with a certain type of autism. U.K. researchers found that children with Asperger syndrome (AS) do not experience the normal twofold increase of cortisol upon waking up. Levels of the hormone in their bodies do continue to decrease throughout the day, though, just as they do in those without the syndrome. The body produces cortisol, among other hormones, in stressful situations. Cortisol increases blood pressure and blood sugar levels, among other duties, to signal the body's need to adapt to changes occurring around it. It's thought that the increase shortly after waking helps jump-start the brain for the day ahead, the researchers said. “
Autism May Hinder Ability to Read Body Language
Autism: New Clue to Earlier Detection
Autistic traits 'spread widely' “Seeing autism as a "distinct illness" was probably wrong, they said. Even at this mild level, however, these characteristics - particularly problems communicating with peers and teachers - can be a disadvantage. The findings confirmed that IQ was not an issue - the traits could be present regardless of levels of intelligence. However, it cast some light on the differential in the numbers of boys and girls diagnosed with autism. Girls with autistic traits appeared to be able to compensate for social communication problems if they had sufficient "verbal IQ" - a natural ability to use language well. However, even boys with high "verbal IQ" seemed less able to overcome their communication problems.”
Children With Autism Need To Be Taught In Smaller Groups, Experts Argue
Difference In The Way Children With Autism Learn New Behaviors Described “As compared to their typically developing peers, children with autism relied much more on their own internal sense of body position (proprioception), rather than visual information coming from the external world to learn new patterns of movement. Furthermore, researchers found that the greater the reliance on proprioception, the greater the child’s impairment in social skills, motor skills and imitation. Previous research has shown that children with autism have difficulty with motor skills, which appears to be associated with abnormalities in how the brain learns motor actions. “
Gastrointestinal Problems in Autistic Children: Inherent or Influenced?
Government Finds Higher Autism Figure: 1 in 100 “Greater awareness, broader definitions and spotting autism in younger children may explain some of the increase, federal health officials said. "The concern here is that buried in these numbers is a true increase," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. "We're going to have to think very hard about what we're going to do for the 1 in 100." “
Heightened Level Of Amygdala Activity May Cause Social Deficits In Autism “The amygdala is popularly associated with the "fight-or-flight response" in dangerous situations. But it has other functions, including identifying faces and situations and evaluating social information such as emotions. The new research shows that brain activation in adults with autism remains elevated long after similar brain regions of typically developed adults have stopped being activated when exposed to a series of pictures of human faces. A decrease in activation over time to the same type of information is called neural habituation and is connected with learning, according to Natalia Kleinhans, lead author of the new study and a UW research assistant professor of radiology. "What we are seeing is hyperexcitability or overarousal of the amygdala, which suggests that neurons in the amygdala are firing more than expected," said Kleinhans, who is associated with the UW Autism Center. "If you consider that habituation reflects learning in as simple a task as looking at a face, slowness to habituate in people with autism may contribute even more markedly to difficulty with more complex social interactions and social cognition. If the brain is not reacting typically to a static face with a neutral expression, you can imagine how difficult it may be for someone with autism to pick up more subtle social cues."“
Mothers Of Children With Autism Have Higher Parental Stress, Psychological Distress
Parent's Mental Illness and Kid's Autism “Children born to a parent with schizophrenia or certain other mental illnesses may have an increased risk for autism, new research suggests. Parents of children diagnosed with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, depression, or neurotic disorders as a parent of a child without autism. The researchers note an association between children with autism and mothers and fathers with schizophrenia. For other psychiatric disorders the increase in risk was seen only in children born to mothers with psychiatric disorders.”
Possible Treatment For Neurological Disorder Rett Syndrome -- Most Common Basis Of Autism In Girls
UCLA Discovery May Explain Why Autism Strikes Boys Four Times More Than Girls “UCLA scientists have discovered a variant of a gene called CACNA1G that may increase a child's risk of developing autism, particularly in boys. The journal Molecular Psychiatry publishes the findings in its May 19 advance online edition. Classic autism strikes boys four times more often than girls. When including the entire spectrum of autism disorders, such as the milder Asperger syndrome, boys are diagnosed 10 times more often than girls.”
Vaccine Court Rejects Autism Claims
ARTICLES:
Sarah's Death at 19 Left Her Family Struggling to Understand the Power of an Eating Disorder.
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
Asperger's syndrome in adulthood. (Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2009)
Autism spectrum disorder grown up: a chart review of adult functioning. (Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009)
Autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and sleep disorders. (Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2009) “SUMMARY: Sleep disorders are common in both ASD and ADHD.”
Characteristics and Concordance of Autism Spectrum Disorders Among 277 Twin Pairs (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009)
Estimated Autism Risk and Older Reproductive Age. (Am J Public Health. 2009)
High rates of psychiatric co-morbidity in individuals with Asperger's disorder. (World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009)
Impairment in movement skills of children with autistic spectrum disorders (Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 2009)
Laughter Differs in Children with Autism: An Acoustic Analysis of Laughs Produced by Children With and Without the Disorder. (J Autism Dev Disord. 2009) “Findings are interpreted to suggest that children with autism express laughter primarily in response to positive internal states, rather than using laughter to negotiate social interactions.”
Obsessive-compulsive traits in children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome. (Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009)
Prevalence of autism-spectrum conditions: UK school-based population study. (Br J Psychiatry. 2009) “RESULTS: The prevalence estimates generated from the SEN register and diagnosis survey were 94 per 10 000 and 99 per 10 000 respectively. A total of 11 children received a research diagnosis of an autism-spectrum condition following screening and assessment. The ratio of known:unknown cases is about 3:2 (following statistical weighting procedures). Taken together, we estimate the prevalence to be 157 per 10 000, including previously undiagnosed cases.”
Recognition and treatment of Asperger syndrome in the community. (Br Med Bull. 2009) “AREAS OF AGREEMENT: There is a general agreement that Asperger syndrome (AS) is one of the autistic spectrum disorders, that it is a developmental disorder which is either present at birth or develops shortly after and that there is a strong hereditary component. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: The fundamental impairment of AS is in the social arena, but what causes this is disputed. We propose that it is a disorder of non-verbal communication. Another important area of controversy is the extent to which AS may remit. GROWING POINTS: Many people with AS develop secondary psychiatric disorders in adolescence and adulthood, some of which may be linked genetically, notably bipolar disorder … Some people with AS are known to commit offences, and when they commit they are more likely to be violent offences against strangers. How much of a risk that is presented by people with AS, and how to assess this risk, is another growing area of concern. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: The social impairments of people with AS include deficits in empathy, self-awareness and executive function. Many of these are quintessentially human characteristics, and the study of people with AS provides opportunities for using neuroimaging to compare people with AS and controls and identify which areas of the brain are concerned with these 'higher functions'.”
The possibility and probability of a gut-to-brain connection in autism. ( Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2009)
The role of epilepsy and epileptiform EEGs in autism spectrum disorders. (Pediatr Res. 2009)
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