Friday, June 3, 2011
Be a friend to your autistic kid
Like any other parents Saurabh and Mitali Shukla were expecting their toddler, Arjun to lisp "mama-dada" or give them a tight hug.
Reader's view: Instances of autistic children reach crisis proportions
Reader's view: Instances of autistic children reach crisis proportions
Articles about child autism are heartbreaking; our prayers are with the children and their families.Articles about child autism are heartbreaking; our prayers are with the children and their families.
I remember when autism was first discussed on TV in the 1980s. Since then autism has increased at a frightening rate. There were just a few children at first. That jumped in less than 10 years from one in 150 children to, now, one in 110. It’s a crisis.
Parents of autistic children should intensely seek data about every autistic child in an effort to find common threads.
What drugs were parents on before a child with autism was conceived? Since the 1980s, people have been placed on increasing amounts of drugs, especially anti-depressants and anxiety drugs. Those can cause side affects, including sleepiness, moodiness, suicidal thoughts, personality changes, anger, shaking and weakness. They also can affect the thyroid, blood-sugar levels, the liver and various bodily systems.
Children also are on drugs more now.
Vaccines have been added, sometimes given nine at a time. Why does a newborn need a hepatitis vaccine on the day of discharge at just 2 days old? The Centers for Disease Control only makes recommendations about vaccines. There are no laws dictating what’s given or when. It’s up to parents to educate themselves about important vaccines such as those that prevent polio and diphtheria versus those of lesser importance.
Our food has more chemicals nowadays, too. Plus, there has been an increase in our society in scented candles, room deodorants, etc., all affecting parents’ systems prior to conception and babies once they’re born.
Since the 1980s, parents are spending more time on computers and are more selfish than previous generations. They’re ignoring their children more, leaving them to watch violent and sexual images on TV or in videos. This causes emotional distress similar to that of an abused child.
Rosemarie Mitchell
Duluth
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/200725/group/Opinion/
Looking For Early Signs Of Autism In Brain Waves
Looking For Early Signs Of Autism In Brain Waves
by Jon Hamilton
June 2, 2011
A technology that monitors electrical activity in the brain could help identify infants who will go on to develop autism, scientists say.The technology, known as electroencephalography, or EEG, is also providing hints about precisely how autism affects the brain and which therapies are likely to help children with autism spectrum disorders.
"Right now, the earliest we can reliably identify a child is, say, 3 years of age," says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. "Our work is designed to see [if we] can we do that in early infancy, long before any signs or symptoms of autism are apparent in the child's behavior."
If EEG lives up to its early promise, Nelson says, children with autism might start getting therapy before their first birthday.
Looking For Autism Markers In Brain Signals
EEG works by recording electrical signals that come from brain activity. Children who get tested wear something that looks a bit like a hair net. The device holds several dozen electrodes against their scalp.
"Once that's on, the child can either sit on a parent's lap or sit in a chair by themselves if they're old enough," while a computer analyzes the signals coming from their brain, Nelson says.
Nelson is part of a team that has been looking for patterns in those signals that indicate autism. Another member of that team is William Bosl, a research scientist at Children's Hospital Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
"What we're looking for are markers or features in the signals that tell us something about the brain as it develops," Bosl says.
And they've found at least one promising marker, he says. It involves very high frequency brain waves known as gamma oscillations.
Bosl and Nelson have been studying those oscillations in 79 children from the time they were 6 months old.
Some of the children are at high risk for developing autism because they have an older sibling with the disorder. The rest have no special risk factors.
"What we've observed is that starting as young as 6 months, maybe even younger, infants who have a high risk for developing autism show dramatic reductions in gamma activity," Nelson says.
That suggests EEG could help identify very young children who will go on to develop autism, he says. But Nelson and Bosl say they won't know for sure until the children in their study reach the age when the disorder becomes obvious.
Trouble Integrating The Senses
In the meantime, other research using EEG is revealing how autism affects the brain and how intervening early might make a difference.
Sophie Molholm of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York is part of a team that's been studying how autism impairs the brain's ability to integrate information from the senses. Molholm says most people do this with ease.
"We walk through the world and our sensory systems are continuously presented with stimulation: Visual stimulation. Auditory stimulation. Touch. Smells. And we very automatically put this information together to make sense of the world and to navigate it," she says.
For example, when a person is listening to someone at a noisy cocktail party, he'll focus on that person's face. And his brain will automatically combine what he sees with what he hears, allowing him to understand more words than he would otherwise.
But people with autism often have trouble doing this, she says.
That became clear in an experiment that tested the ability of children with autism and typical kids to combine visual and auditory information, Molholm says.
Molholm and her colleagues had the children listen to words that were hard to understand because they were masked by white noise. Sometimes the words were accompanied by a video of a person speaking. Other times they just had to listen.
Molholm wanted to know whether the brains of children with autism would react differently than did other kids' brains. And they did.
"What we find is that children with autism don't benefit nearly as much from the visual signal as typically developing children," she says.
Other EEG research by Molholm's team indicates that that's because their brains are having trouble integrating what they're seeing with what they're hearing. The process was still happening, she says, but it took longer and it was less complete.
Benefits Of Early Intervention
Molholm says one surprising thing her research suggests is that the brains of kids with autism seem to get much better at integrating sensory information when they become teenagers.
"The beauty of that finding is that it suggests that the neural circuitry is intact," she says. "It's just not coming on line during the earlier childhood years."
Molholm says it's not clear why things change in teenagers with autism. But she says it's possible that their neural circuitry might come on line sooner if they are diagnosed early and begin therapy that encourages them to practice integrating information from different senses.
Related NPR Stories
Test Flags Babies With Autism, But Also Feeds False Alarms April 28, 2011
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/02/136882002/looking-for-early-signs-of-autism-in-brain-waves
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
New Evidence Favors the Folate Hypothesis for Autism
New Evidence Favors the Folate Hypothesis for Autism
May 31, 2011 (Denver, Colorado) — A new study has documented the presence of a polymorphism in the gene encoding methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) — essential for the metabolism of vitamin B9 (folate) — which almost doubles the chance of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The data provide further genetic evidence for a link between folate and autism.
Daniel Schulteis, MD, from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, presented the study results here at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research 2011 Annual Meeting.
Although autism is generally regarded as having a genetic basis with environmental triggering factors, the details have yet to be completely defined, and no single theory has prevailed, Dr. Schulteis noted. Dietary supplementation with folate has been anecdotally liked to the improvement of symptoms of ASD, "despite a lack of medical evidence and endorsement," Dr. Schulteis told Medscape Medical News.
Indeed, a converse link between autism and excess folate has been suggested. Genetic evidence for a folate connection with autism was first reported in a study of 168 autistic children that chronicled the doubled prevalence of MTHFR polymorphisms in those with autism, compared with those in the control group (J Am Phys Surg. 2004;9[4]:106-108).
Dr. Schulteis and his colleagues established the MTHFR registry in 2002, and used the accumulated data to examine the reported genetic link in detail. The database contains information on patients who have been screened for the 677A→T and 1298A→C MTHFR polymorphisms in connection with other clinical concerns.
Scrutiny of the records of 487 patients younger than 26 years of age revealed that 246 (51%) had 1 of the 2 mutations. The 677A→T mutation was predominate, affecting 67% of the patients. Fourteen of these individuals had ASD, which is appreciably greater than the accepted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted prevalence of 4.43 (or 1 in 110) in young people. The prevalence rate of ADS in the control subjects conformed to the 1 in 110 rate.
Of the 14 cases, 9 (64.3%) harbored either a homozygous (n = 2) or heterozygous (n = 7) MTHFR polymorphism (χ2, 24.06; P < .001; risk ratio [RR], 1.76). The 677A→T polymorphism displayed the greatest statistical risk (χ2, 17.81; P < .001; RR, 1.459), especially the heterozygous polymorphism (χ2, 18.507; P < .001; RR, 1.647).
The prevalence of ASD in those with MTHFR polymorphisms was 1.7 times greater than it was in the control population.
"Our results add credence to the folate hypothesis, at least in this select number of ASD cases. These data should not be taken as a recommendation for change regarding folate supplementation, but are an indication of the need for further prospective studies," Dr. Schulteis explained to Medscape Medical News.
"The study design appears good. The number of samples evaluated was somewhat limited, but were selected based on conditions often associated with the MTHFR C677T polymorphism. The conclusions are appropriate based on these data, and support the hypothesis that individuals with this particular polymorphism are at increased risk to develop autism," Eugene J. Rogers, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Clinical Laboratory and Nutritional Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, told Medscape Medical News.
Dr. Schulteis pointed out that the study was specifically intended to address the role of the 2 particular mutations.
"Other genes that impair folate transport and metabolism may also contribute to the risk of abnormal neurodevelopment, but MTHFR C677T is also a known risk for placental abruption (miscarriage) under 'normal' folate nutritional status, which is minimized under conditions that enhance maternal folate status during pregnancy."
"Therefore, it is highly likely that the folic acid food fortification/supplementation era has increased the birthrate of individuals with this polymorphism. They require more folic acid for neurodevelopment after birth, and are more susceptible to functional folate deficiency and neurodevelopment disorders, such as autism, than those without this polymorphism," Dr. Rogers noted.
"This study was small but was statistically significant, implying that larger studies will most likely show a stronger association between the presence of MTHFR C677T and autism. These studies need to be done now," he added.
The authors and Dr. Rogers have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) and Asian Society for Pediatric Research 2011 Annual Meeting: Abstract 3843.506. Presented May 3, 2011.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1219969328542551061
Autism awareness scant as crisis mounts: hearing
Autism awareness scant as crisis mounts: hearing
WASHINGTON — Activists and experts pressed the US Congress on Tuesday to do more to help promote worldwide awareness of autism, which they said is becoming an escalating health crisis."Autism is a 'developmental disability pandemic.' It is largely under recognized, under appreciated in its impact and under resourced," argued Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, who leads a House subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights.
A developmental disability, autism can interfere with social and communication skills. There is no cure, and its causes are unknown, though genetics and environmental factors are thought to play a role.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes ASD (autism spectrum disorder) as an "urgent public health concern."
The disability that affects one's ability to communicate and interact with others and typically appears during the first three years of life.
But a new population-wide study of South Korean children has just shown autism rates much higher than in the United States, suggesting more people worldwide may have the disorder than previously thought.
By examining 55,000 children age 7-12, even those not enrolled in special education programs, researchers found that one in 38 children had some form of autism, including the more mild social disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome.
In the United States, the autism prevalence rate is believed to be one in 110.
But US studies have tended to focus on children in special education programs, and have not screened entire populations in the regular school system where high-functioning autistic children may be enrolled, as was done in South Korea.
"I think the (South Korean) study has set the stage for more investigation," Andy Shih, scientific affairs chief at Autism Speaks, told the panel.
Shih called the findings in South Korea "startling," and said they "raised important questions about if we are underestimating" ASD prevalence in the United States.
Around the world, recent years have seen many Western countries put in place screening programs. But developing countries lag far behind in screening and in some cases, particularly in Africa, in overcoming cultural stigma enough to make progress on diagnosis and care fronts, Smith and others noted.
"Communication is the key," said Brigitte Kobenan, an Ivory Coast native who has a son with autism and founded Autism Community of Africa. She said many government officials in Africa were not aware of the condition. And people in some African nations treat a child with ASD as a bad omen, hiding them for fear they will get no support and only be ostracized.
But media campaigns and social workers can get the word out as a first step, Kobenan added.
Arlene Cassidy, of Autism Northern Ireland, said on a remote connection that boosting autism's profile for research and as a public health issue was critical.
"The status quo is against us... The funding priority overall is still very low," Cassidy said. "When there's no data, there's no problem," she said. "The key is finding the budget... and quantifying the need."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gSg6KZ8LQz7Uz5_95H6ran7JCxdg?docId=CNG.836b5e3d9530f1a41a32f2a2dc8f9d11.ed1
Monday, May 30, 2011
Asperger's Syndrome: High-Functioning Autism to Lose Its Name
Asperger's Syndrome: High-Functioning Autism to Lose Its Name
"It opened up my world," said Parker, who is now 45. "Having been on the outside, I all of sudden found I was on the inside with millions of other people."
Parker said the Asperger's diagnosis, which is used interchangeably with high-functioning autism, made it easier for her to get along with others -- even her husband and their four kids.
"They could finally understand why I was a certain way. They said, 'Oh, that's why you're like that.'"
The American Psychiatric Association formalized the diagnosis of Asperger's in 1994, 50 years after it was first described by Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger. But the association plans to remove the term "Asperger's" from its new diagnostic manual, set for release in 2013 -- a decision that has sparked criticism from advocacy groups.
"When the term 'Asperger's' started to get used, it was a tremendous relief for families of children and adults with the syndrome. They finally had a name for what was going on; they could finally understand what the struggle in their lives was about," said Dania Jekel, executive director of the Asperger's Association of New England. "My worry is that we'll go back 16 years to a time when folks with Asperger's syndrome will not be recognized."
But members of the American Psychiatric Association's Neurodevelopment Disorders Workgroup, the group spearheading the change, said removing the term "Asperger's" from its manual and instead refering to it as an autism spectrum disorder will help focus the diagnosis on an individual's special skills and needs at that moment in time.
"The Asperger's distinction is based on early language delay, but many people come in as adults and have difficulty reporting this reliably," said Francesca Happe, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and a member of the workgroup."We have known for years that autism is a spectrum, which is enormously heterogeneous. ... There is no good basis to distinguish Asperger's from high-functioning autism. The distinction doesn't make scientific sense."
The term "high-functioning" refers to language and intellectual ability -- skills that set Asperger's apart from other disorders on the spectrum. But Jekel worries that removing the term "Asperger's" might open the door for misinterpreting it as just a mild form of autism.
"For many, Asperger's is not mild," she said. "If you have an IQ that's fairly high and you're verbal, people expect you to be like everyone else and get along in the world. But this is something that really can be very, very difficult for people to live with."
In response to an invitation for public comment on the proposed change, Jekel asked that "Asperger's" continue to be used as a descriptive word for a specific region of the spectrum.
"My hope is to have a name not only for Asperger's but for other parts of the spectrum, too," she said. "I think we're lucky to already have a name, and I'd like to see that continued so that families and educators can continue to use this word."
Happe said people are free to continue using the word as a descriptor, acknowledging that it has raised awareness that a person can be on the spectrum of autism disorders and have higher functions.
"When someone uses the term, I know what they mean," she said. "It's a sort of an exemplar-based category."
Asperger's' Label Essential to Services
For Phyllis Anderson, the term "Asperger's" is a ticket to obtaining essential services for her 15-year-old son, Garrett."I need the label to get some sort of response from the administrators," said Anderson, who lives in Dallas. "If I can tell them my son has this label, they're a lot quicker to cover their backs and provide for my son. So that label does carry weight in the school system."
For Garrett, who was diagnosed in second grade, the Asperger's label is bittersweet. While helping him to understand why he's different, it makes it harder for him to fit in.
"I know my son has struggled because he just wants to be normal," Anderson said. "But I think it's good to know and understand how you're wired."
For Parker, whose diagnosis came much later in life, the label had a "profound effect." It helped her find life-changing therapies, a new community of people with similar experiences, and even a new calling. She now runs a company that makes weighted blankets, which help people with sensory processing disorders, a symptom of Asperger's, stay calm and sleep better.
"I always knew I was different but didn't know why," Parker said. "I think I started to accept myself more."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismSymptomsDiagnosis/aspergers-syndrome-set-lose/story?id=13674552
Founder of electric shock autism treatment school forced to quit
Founder of electric shock autism treatment school forced to quit
Institute uses punishment machine to discipline severely autistic and emotionally disturbed children by giving them electric shocks
- guardian.co.uk,
- Article history
The founder of a controversial school that treats severely autistic and emotionally disturbed children by shocking them into submission with the use of electrodes has been forced to quit the institution and serve five years' probation.
Matthew Israel, a Harvard-trained psychologist, has created a treatment that is unique to the US and possibly the world. The Judge Rotenberg Center, just outside Boston, disciplines its students using a punishment machine that Israel invented called the GED, which gives a two-second electric shock to the skin of up to 90 milliamps.
At the centre, which was profiled by the Guardian earlier this year, students wear backpacks around the clock with the GED electric generators inside them, and are zapped using remote control devices controlled by their carers. In some cases, they are shocked as often as 30 times a day as a means of dissuading them from behaviour deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
The criminal charges brought against Israel relate to an incident in August 2007 at one of the school's residential homes where students sleep at night. A call came in from someone posing as an authorised supervisor, who informed the carers on duty that two teenagers had misbehaved and should be given shock treatment.
At 2am, the boys were strapped on boards and given multiple shocks. One of the boys, aged 18, was shocked 77 times over a three-hour period and the other boy, aged 16, was shocked 29 times. It was later discovered that the initial call had been a hoax.
The Massachusetts attorney general, Martha Coakley, indicted Israel over allegations that he ordered his staff to destroy video evidence that revealed exactly what happened that night. Prosecutors had previously ordered that the video recordings from the home were preserved.
"Dr Israel then attempted to destroy evidence of the events and mislead investigators, and that conduct led to his indictments today. Today's action removes Dr Israel from the school and should ensure better protection for students in the future," Coakley said.
The conviction is a substantial blow to Israel, who has weathered a storm of protest about his controversial methods for 40 years. He announced his retirement from the school on 2 May, without referring to the pending criminal case. He said he was moving to California, where his wife Judy lives.
"I am now almost 78 years old, and it is time for me to move over and let others take the reins," he said in a resignation letter.
But his departure will not materially change the way the school operates, crucially its technique of disciplining children by meting out electric shocks as a form of supposedly therapeutic punishment. Of the school's 225 students, 97 are currently on the electric shock regime.
The terms of the plea deal struck between Israel and the prosecutors require the school to introduce additional monitoring to prevent a similar lapse of security happening again. But the shocks themselves can continue.
"The case was only about Israel's conduct, it did not address the way the school is run," a spokesman for the attorney general's office said.
Laurie Ahern of Disability Rights International, which has been a persistent critic of the school, said that without an end to the shocks, Israel's departure would be irrelevant. "I don't see any radical change at the moment."
Hillary Cook, who spent three years at the school until 2009, and who was regularly shocked, said that whatever happened to Israel, she wanted to see the regime of shocks abolished. "I'm just worried about the kids who live there, because I know what it's like. They say the shocks are like a bee sting, and believe me they are not. It should be illegal to physically harm children and disabled people in this country."
The school has been a subject of huge controversy over past decades, with regular attempts to shut it down. Last year its use of electric shocks was attacked as a form of torture by the UN rapporteur on torture.
In February, the justice department opened an investigation into the school after it received a complaint alleging the centre had violated disability laws.
Despite the negative publicity directed at him, Israel managed to keep operating for so long partly because he had the vociferous support of parents of severely autistic children at the school.
The centre rarely uses drugs on its students, in contrast to many other homes for autistic people where heavy doses of psychotropic drugs are prescribed. At the time of Israel's resignation, Louisa Goldberg, whose son has been on the shock regime for the past 11 years, said that "Dr Israel's pioneering efforts have given our child back his life and we are extremely grateful for all that he has done for our family."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/electric-shock-autism-treatment-school
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