Category Archives: Autism Research

Childhood Vaccinations and Autism

By Marlena Smith | Published: June 13, 2011

Childhood vaccination is a controversial topic with high stakes in the field of autism. The danger in declaring a positive association between autism and vaccinations that is based on unsound research methods, like those described above, is that other findings that are grounded on more solid research methods may be discarded as a result. No matter what your beliefs are in regards to vaccinations, I urge you to take caution when interpreting the results of this study.

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The American Psychiatric Association’s Proposed Revision of the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism

By Marlena Smith | Published: June 10, 2011

While these are very real concerns, they do not take away from the scientific evidence that the disorder is best described as falling along a spectrum and that the APA’s revised diagnostic criteria likely offers a more accurate clinical definition of the disorder. As we move forward with the revised diagnostic criteria, we will surely run into obstacles; however, in the long run I believe we will have a much more clinically useful definition of autism. I am interested in hearing what you have to say on the matter. What are your thoughts on the APA’s revised diagnostic criteria?

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Prenatal Vitamins and Autism Spectrum Disorders

By Marlena Smith | Published: June 1, 2011

Participants included 278 children with typical development, 288 children with autistic disorder, and 141 children with ASD, ages 24 to 60 months. Via telephone interviews, mothers were questioned retroactively about their consumption of vitamin supplements during the three months prior to conception and throughout the gestational period. Furthermore, blood samples were collected from the families of 232 participants with typical development and 238 participants with autistic disorder. Maternal, paternal, and child blood samples were tested for various one-carbon metabolism gene variations, which have been found in previous research studies to be associated with ASD.

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Estimated Prevalence of ASD in South Korea

By Marlena Smith | Published: May 24, 2011

Due to the severe drop off in participation from those who were qualified to receive diagnostic evaluations but did not, Dr. Kim and colleagues employed methods to adjust for the missing data. For starters, all the children reported in the Ilsan Disability Registry as having ASD were assumed to have it. As for the children enrolled in mainstream education, likelihood of having ASD was predicted based on the data collected from the participants who did undergo diagnostic evaluations, as well as each child’s ASSQ score, sex, and age. Thus, the 1 in 38 statistic that we see reported is based off of these adjusted data, not the actual observed children.

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Adults

By Marlena Smith | Published: May 10, 2011

According to Dr. Brugha and colleagues, these findings suggest that the increased prevalence of ASD seen today may not be the result of increased incidence of ASD, but rather under-diagnosis of ASD across previous generations. While further research is needed to replicate these findings, the results of this study offer preliminary evidence that incidence of ASD may have remained more or less stable over time and that improved screening and diagnostic practices may account for the greater rate of ASD diagnoses today.

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Also posted in Autism Awareness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Wandering and Elopement

By Nicole Simpson | Published: April 28, 2011

This survey will help researchers document and understand elopement behaviors and will hopefully lead to the creation and implementation of effective state and federal policies that will provide public awareness, help, and support to parents and caretakers.

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Cultural Differences in Endorsed Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders

By Marlena Smith | Published: April 27, 2011

In a recent study, Dr. Johnny Matson and colleagues identified cultural differences in endorsed symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). While it has been reported that diagnostic criteria and behavioral manifestation of ASD is virtually the same worldwide, cultural differences may impact how ASD symptoms are interpreted around the world. For this reason, Dr. Matson and colleagues set out to investigate cultural differences in reported ASD symptoms across four countries including Israel, South Korea, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US).

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Four of the Many Strengths Associated with Autism

By Jonathan Tarbox | Published: March 15, 2011

I can’t pretend to speak to why the rest of the autism community focuses on the difficulties associated with autism, but I can speak to why it may appear that we at CARD, and other people in the applied behavior analysis (ABA) community, focus on areas of difficulty. Put simply, it’s because these are the areas that people ask us for help with. No one goes to a treatment provider and asks for help dealing with what’s great about their child— they don’t need to, they simply appreciate it every day. But it’s quite true that there are thousands of strengths associated with autism. Any attempt at a list is going to sound like I am stereotyping people, which would be ridiculous. But here are a couple strengths that come to mind.

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Also posted in A Note From The Docs, Autism Therapy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A Review of Assessments Used to Select Content for EIBI Programs

By Marlena Smith | Published: March 1, 2011

With the current pool of available assessments, clinicians are left to run a battery of tests in order to identify target skills to include in treatment. Furthermore, to fill in the gaps, clinicians are likely to rely on clinical judgment derived from individual preference, experience, and expertise rather than a thorough assessment of the child’s development. Although extensive research has shown EIBI to be an effective treatment for ASD, research has also revealed great variability in program design and treatment effectiveness across service providers. Current clinical practices in assessment and program design likely account for much of the variability seen in the quality of EIBI services today.

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Also posted in Autism Therapy | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Preference for Geometric Patterns Identified as a Possible Early Sign of Autism

By Marlena Smith | Published: February 25, 2011

Participants included 110 children, ages 14-42 months. Of the participants, 37 had ASD, 22 had developmental delay, and 51 had typical development. The participants’ preference for geometric patterns versus social images was measured using eye tracking technology. The participants were shown a minute long video, in which the screen was divided in two halves. One half of the screen displayed social images of children dancing and doing yoga while the other half displayed geometric patterns. Eye tracking technology measured how long each participant looked at each half of the screen.

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Posted in Autism Research | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments