Pages

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Autistic Children Slower to Integrate Multiple Stimuli

Children with autism spectrum disorders are slower at integrating various types of sensory information than those with a more typical development, researchers reported.The finding -- based on recordings of electrical activity in the brain -- is concrete evidence that children with autism spectrum disorders process information differently than typical children, according to Sophie Molholm, PhD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues.

 Click here for full article.

31

Monday, August 16, 2010

Autism explosion half explained, half still a mystery

Why have the numbers of autism diagnoses ballooned in recent decades? Researchers have long claimed that changes to the way the condition is diagnosed are the main cause. But now a series of a studies have shown that diagnostic changes alone cannot account for the increase. They suggest that other causes, perhaps environmental factors, are also contributing to the rise in cases. "These studies give me the feeling that there must be a true increase in the number of children affected," says Tom Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, Maryland. The studies are the work of sociologist Peter Bearman at Columbia University in New York and colleagues. They have spent three years trying to disentangle the causes of the roughly sevenfold increase in autism rates seen in many developed nations over the past 20 years. They have identified three factors that are driving up autism rates, but found that these account for only half of the observed increase.
 Click here for full article.

31

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Quick brain scan could screen for autism.

A 15-minute brain scan could in future be used to test for autism, helping doctors diagnose the complex condition more cheaply and accurately.


 Click here for full article.

31

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Geek Syndrome - Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome- is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?

In the last 20 years, significant advances have been made in developing methods of behavioral training that help autistic children find ways to communicate. These techniques, however, require prodigious amounts of persistence, time, money, and love. Though more than half a century has passed since Kanner and Asperger first gave a name to autism, there is still no known cause, no miracle drug, and no cure. And now, something dark and unsettling is happening in Silicon Valley. Click here for full article.

31