Larry King

The Thursday, February 14th episode of Larry King Live will feature Jason MacElwain ("J-Mac"), Holly Robinson Peete, Doug Flutie, and Toni Braxton to "bust the myths and present breakthroughs" about autism.

Social Skills Site

A 27 year old Canadian man named Chris, who describes himself as a "(mostly) recovered shy, awkward guy" has created a website filled with practical advice for young adults seeking to improve their social skills. It includes a whole page devoted to high school. Also includes a blog noting recent updates.

Study Links Autism to Immune System

Carrie Peyton Dahlberg reports in the Sacramento Bee about a UC Davis study that found "11 genes, all governing "natural killer" immune cells, that are more active in autistic children than in other youngsters."

Researchers Frank Sharp and Jeff Gregg are part of the M.I.N.D. Institute, which is currently doing a lot of research on autism.

Autism in Girls

ABC's Nightline did a special report on autism in girls, reported by John Donovan.

Series: Our Children's Brains

Here is an interesting series of articles mostly put together by reporter Robbie Woliver of the Long Island Press. Includes topics like Auditory Processing Disorder, autism, and Asperger's, along with other issues like depression in children.

Summary of Research

This article by in Ashley Pettus Harvard Magazine provides a nice overview of research on possible causes of autism spectrum disorders. This sounds intriguing:
"The researchers are paying particular attention to networks of genetic activity that affect 12 genes already known to play a role in autism. These are genes that regulate the brain’s response to environmental stimuli, affecting learning and memory by regulating the plasticity of connections between neurons. Here, the work of Michael Greenberg, professor of neurology and neuroscience and director of neurobiology at Children’s Hospital, has been critical. Greenberg looks at animals to examine how experience shapes the formation and refinement of synapses during brain development. He believes that autism-spectrum disorders may result from flaws in synapse development that affect the brain’s ability to process incoming signals. During the first years of postnatal development, trillions of synapses form in the brain as a child interacts with his or her surroundings; many synapses that aren’t needed naturally fall away, while others are strengthened. One possibility, Greenberg suggests, is that this pruning process doesn’t happen effectively in people with autism."

Using Second Life

Ashley Phillips at ABC News reports on researchers using Second Life to aid in the improvement of social skils for people with Asperger's Syndrome.
"As a treatment, professionals that include occupational therapists and psychiatrists take patients through a series of exercises, in groups and individually, designed to help them learn social skills. In the center's new therapy, patients may have a job interview with a "boss" character or learn to ask another avatar out on a date. "

Study on Genetic Links to Autism

In an editorial by Evan Eichler and Andrew Zimmerman, The New England Journal of Medicine says:
"It has become clear that the solutions to autism will be neither simple nor uniform among patients with various autistic syndromes. At least 60 different genetic, metabolic, and neurologic disorders have been associated with autism and involve approximately 10% of patients, whose clinical presentations frequently vary, even among those with known disorders...these examples highlight a different paradigm for the genetic basis of autism. Rather than being an inherited disease, autism may be the result of many independent loci that rarely delete or duplicate during gamete production. Collectively, such de novo events might contribute significantly to the disease and explain why few genetic loci have been confirmed with the use of traditional linkage-based approaches...The discovery of significant associations for the rarer loci may require the screening of tens of thousands of DNA samples from patients rather than a few thousand samples. Deeper sample collection and new cost-effective genomic techniques may be needed..."

This is how mainstream media is reporting it:
"A rare genetic variation dramatically raises the risk of developing autism, a large study showed, opening new research targets for better understanding the disorder and for treating it..."

PBS Doc Premieres Tonight

"Today's Man", a documentary about a man named Nicky Gottlieb with Asperger's Syndrome, will be premiering tonight on most PBS stations. Here is an article by Felicia R. Lee about filmmaker Lizzie Gottlieb, Nicky's sister, from the New York Times. The PBS website for the film contains more information and a link to local listings.

Interview with "Unstrange Minds" author

Here's a highly interesting interview with Roy Richard Grinker, the author of Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism, on the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website. The interview was conducted by Benjamin Radford.
Some excerpts:
"I wrote Unstrange Minds so that people can see that autism is universal and that autism awareness is increasing everywhere in the world. But the most important reason for writing the book—though this was not my original intention—was to tell the world a simple message: the increase in autism diagnoses is not a crisis but rather evidence that we’re finally beginning to address a kind of human difference that has for too long been misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and mismanaged. More than six decades after autism was first described by Leo Kanner, we’re finally getting it right, and counting it right."
"I thought I could articulate some of the cultural and scientific reasons behind the increase in rates and give a positive message: the higher rates are due to positive changes in the way we understand and treat neurological and psychiatric disorders."
"The reality is that (1) the higher rates mean that autism is a bigger public health issue than we ever realized; and (2) there is nothing mutually exclusive about saying there’s no epidemic and at the same saying that we’ve finally figured out what’s going on with people on the autism spectrum, and we need more research and services. I recently received an e-mail from a parent who decried my stance: “How can you say there is no epidemic of autism?” she wrote. “When I was in school, there were no kids with special needs in my school. Today, in my daughter’s school there are dozens.” Actually, that is my point. In the past autistic people were not included in our schools. Today they are. And that’s a very good thing.
Another big misconception is that autism is somehow new. I am frequently asked: If there is no epidemic, then where are all the adults with autism? The answer is easy, but also complicated. Finding adults with autism is very hard, not because they do not exist but because they are dispersed in our society. Some live in group homes, others in institutions, others are living and working among us in our everyday lives. Kids are easy to count because they are all in school, neatly recorded in school records. But adults are a different story."

Yale Child Study Center Director in NJ

For anyone in the area, Dr. Ami Klin, director of the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center, will present a free program on ASDs and AS on Wednesday, Jan. 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Adath Israel Congregation, 1958 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrence.
More details can be found here.
He is also presenting an all day workshop for educators the following day for $75.00.

Clinical Trials

I may have posted this before but it seemed worth revisiting. If you are looking for clinical trials related to ASDs, check out

www.clinicialtrials.gov

Here is a sampling on a search "autistic disorder".

Smart is not an Endgame

Penelope Trunk reminds us to pay attention to social skills - our own and our children's.

"And when you think about someone finding his way to success in the real world, consider the Wall Street Journal's list of traits that recruiters look for in business school candidates:
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Original and visionary thinking
• Leadership potential
• Ability to work well on a team
• Analytical and problem-solving skills"

Test

Just testing out a change made nervously to my template. I am such a blog design coward!

Article on RDI

This article by Mary Jiminez from the Shreveport Times (Louisiana) describes one family's experience with RDI - Relationship Development Therapy. The price tag is $500-$800 per month, and it is not covered by insurance.

Autistic Brain Structure & Development

Wrongplanet posts an interesting article from the journal Neuron about the size of portions of brains in autistic children and autistic adults.

"Surprisingly, current research is showing different results in the brains of autistic children compared to data collected in adults. The very same structures that appear smaller in adult autistic brains appear much larger and overgrown in autistic children. "

This paragraph is kind of shocking:
"Considerations for developmental aspects of autism are becoming ever more important. Even gene-association studies may be inconsistent because the genes that cause and regulate differential development may not be the same as those genes that respond to these differences later in life, making it hard to define a clear set of “autism” genes. This means, that genes found in autism studies may be identifying genes involved with secondary issues and are not finding genes that have to do with developing autism directly. Indeed, many genes identified thus far in autistic patients have to do with regulating cell death in the brain and may only be expressed secondarily in response to the overgrowth of particular brain structures."

Contestant with AS on "America's Top Model"

Aspiring model Heather Kuzmich made it to the Top 5 on the current edition of "America's Top Model." Heather, has Asperger's Syndrome, and her experience is described in this article. I'm sorry I missed this. If anyone did watch it, please comment with your thoughts.

AS and Sleep

This should come as no surprise to parents of children with Asperger's. But at least they are studying it.
" The first known attempt to evaluate the sleep patterns of children with Asperper Syndrome (AS), taking into account sleep architecture and the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP), finds that children with AS have a high prevalence of some sleep disorders and mainly problems related to initiating sleep and sleep restlessness together with morning problems and daytime sleepiness, according to a new study."

Bush Vetoes Funding Bill for Combating Autism Act

From the Autism Society of America Web site:
"On November 13, President Bush vetoed the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. This bipartisan bill had strong support in both the House and the Senate, but the President objected to the overall funding levels of the bill, which includes modest increases for vital programs - most of which have experienced significant cuts, lost purchasing power or both over the past three years.
This legislation includes significant increases for autism programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration and the National Institutes of Health. These increases represent full funding of the Combating Autism Act, and are critical in improving our ability to diagnose, intervene and develop new therapies for autism. We need this crucial investment!
The House could move to override the President’s veto as early as this week. Contact your Member of Congress and urge them to vote YES on the veto override.
Click here to take action now."

NJ Theater Workshop for Adults with Autism

From Tina Kelley, reported in the New York Times, an article about a 12 week theater workshop at Montclair State University.
"B. Madeleine Goldfarb, the director of outreach and education at the Autism Center, helped get funding for the program. She said of the center’s clients: “Most of them have some sort of passion for something, and can be savantlike within that particular passion. How do you harness that?”
Ms. Goldfarb, who is pursuing more grants for the program, described its roots in discussions with some of the center’s clients.
“They were all sitting in their own little worlds, not communicating with one another around a big conference table, not making eye contact or engaging,” she said. She asked them what their passions were, and the atmosphere quickly became charged as a consensus grew around theater.
“There was a change in connectedness, in reciprocity, in giving suggestions, with other people in the room commenting on suggestions,” she said. “It was astounding.”
By welcoming adults, the workshop fills a crucial need. Suzanne Buchanan, the director of clinical services at the New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community, described “almost a total lack of funding of appropriate programs” for adults with autism, many of whom do not work full time.
“Having a meaningful activity where they’re working productively with others, working toward a common goal, is a really great way for them to spend their time,” Dr. Buchanan said.