Autism

Autism's early child. By The Numbers: Autism Is Not a Math Problem. We are not all on the spectrum now. This is the text of a speech that was given at the conference ‘Autism, Ethics and the Good Life’, held at the Royal Society in London on 2 April 2012 (World Autism Awareness Day).

Is autism a disorder? Is autism an identity? If you had asked me these questions a few years ago, before I became involved with the Autism Ethics Group at King’s College London, then my answer would have been a clear ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively. Clearly, autism is most usefully understood as a disorder. And clearly, it is not useful to understand autism as an identity. If you were to ask me the same two questions today, then I would say exactly the same thing. Test Drug Eases Behavioral Symptoms Seen In Autism. Mapping the language minefield for kids with autism - opinion - 02 April 2012. Going bananas.

Laughing your head off. Phrases that aren't literally true make no sense if you have autism, like Michael Barton Why do people with autism, like yourself, find the English language so confusing? Autistic people think in black and white and therefore interpret everything literally. Ordinary people seem to love using idioms, metaphors and figurative speech, whether to aid communication or simply to make life more interesting, whereas for autistic people they simply make no sense. Tell me about the time your teacher told you to "pull your socks up".I bent down and did just that.

What if you saw a sign saying "Passengers are to remain seated at all times"? What goes through your mind when you hear expressions like "It cost him an arm and a leg? " Is this what prompted you to write your book, It's Raining Cats and Dogs: An autism spectrum guide to the confusing world of idioms, metaphors and everyday expressions ? Searching for the Onset of Autism. Diffusion tensor image shows white matter pathways in infant at risk for autism.

Warmer colors represent higher fractional anisotropy, a measure of white-matter organization. (Credit: Image created by Jason Wolff, University of North Carolina.) Early behavioral intervention has shown some promise as a way to help children with autism. Scientists and autism: When geeks meet. Fever In Pregnancy Linked To Autism. Discovering Autism: Unraveling an epidemic. By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times December 11, 2011 First of four parts Amber Dias couldn't be sure what was wrong with her little boy.

Chase was a bright, loving 2 1/2-year-old. Childhood Vaccines Cleared of Autism, Diabetes Link in New Report. From Nature magazine Vaccines are largely safe, and do not cause autism or diabetes, the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) said in a report issued today.

This conclusion followed a review of more than 1,000 published research studies. "We looked very hard and found very little evidence of serious adverse harms from vaccines," says Ellen Wright Clayton, chairwoman of the reporting committee and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "The message I would want parents to have is one of reassurance. " Jumping Genes in the Brain Are Tied to Autism [Video] Stretches of DNA that move around the brain, colloquially known as jumping genes, may play a role in fostering one pernicious form of autism.

It has long been known that a a mutation that switches off a gene called MECP2 is involved in Rett syndrome, the most physically disabling form of autism. Rett, which mostly affects girls, results in speech and motor defects that appear just after children learn to speak their first words and start walking. In the Nov. 18, 2010, Nature, Alyson Muotri, Fred Gage and Carol Marchetto found that jumping genes, more formally known as LINE-1 retrotransposons, may help explain why a single mutation may cause a diverse panoply of symptoms.

When the mutation disables the gene, it causes the jumping genetic elements to move around human stem cells six times more than they do in normal (wild type) cells. Autism Signs Appear in Brains of 6-Month-Old Infants. The early signs of autism are visible in the brains of 6-month-old infants, a new study finds, suggesting that future treatments could be given at this time, to lessen the impact of the disorder on children.

Researchers looked at how the brain develops in early life, and found that tracts of white matter that connect different regions of the brain didn't form as quickly in children who later developed autism, compared with kids who didn't develop the disorder. "The way the wiring was changing was dampened" in the children with autism, said study researcher Jason Wolff, who studies developmental disabilities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "It was a more blunted change over time, in how the brain was being wired," In contrast, in the brains of infants who did not later develop autism, white matter tracts were swiftly forming, Wolff said.

The Ballooning Brain: Defective Genes May Explain Uncontrolled Brain Growth in Autism. As a baby grows inside the womb, its brain does not simply expand like a dehydrated sponge dropped in water.

Early brain development is an elaborate procession. Every minute some 250,000 neurons bloom, squirming past one another like so many schoolchildren rushing to their seats at the sound of the bell. Each neuron grows a long root at one end and a crown of branches at the other, linking itself to fellow cells near and far. By the end of the second trimester, neurons in the baby's brain have formed trillions of connections, many of which will not survive into adulthood—the least traveled paths will eventually wither.

Should we rewrite the autism rule book? - opinion - 15 March 2012. Big changes are proposed for the way autism is diagnosed.

Two leading experts argue for and against the suggested redefinition Fred Volkmar AN EFFORT is under way to update the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic guide - the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In particular, changes suggested for diagnosis of autism are the focus of much debate. There are clear reasons for changing and tweaking DSM categories and criteria in the light of new research, but the impact in this case is likely to be major. Jonah Lehrer on New Research About Autistics.

Autism Rates Rise Again. Increased autism rates crush vaccine hypothesis - health - 05 April 2012. CLAIMS that autism is caused by vaccines containing thiomersal have been floored by increasing rates of autism in children not exposed to the chemical.

No link has been found between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a mercury-containing compound known as thiomersal that is used in some vaccines. Nevertheless, since 2000, thiomersal has been phased out of most paediatric vaccines in the US. Autism Linked To Obesity In Pregnancy. Testosterone On My Mind And In My Brain. Introduction by John Brockman "I thoroughly enjoyed the evening last week," emailed Brian Eno. "A lot of interesting people got connected together and everyone told me they enjoyed themselves. "