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Recent Autism News as of Feb 05, 2012
Court Ruling Denies Quick Resolution of Autism Therapy Issue
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:05:56 - Pacific Time
A Sacramento Superior Court judge issued a preliminary ruling that denies an attempt by HMOs to receive a quick decision as to whether health insurers must cover a certain autism treatment, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.The matter will move to trial if the tentative ruling holds following a limited argument in court on Thursday. The case involves a therapy known as applied behavioral analysis, or ABA. The treatment teaches children with autism and similar conditions how to eat, learn and play. Insurers consider ABA as an educational therapy rather than a medical treatment. In October, the California Association of Health Plans filed a lawsuit claiming that only lawmakers, not the state Department of Managed Health Care, can mandate a new insurance benefit. The association asked for a speedy adjudication of the issue or a summary judgment. Meanwhile, DMHC in July announced deals with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California to extend coverage to policyholders who request the therapy until the issue is settled. Judge Shelleyanne Chang concluded that the insurance association did not satisfy the burden of proof that the law is clear on the issue of coverage. She noted that there are disputed matters and that the lawsuit should proceed. Chang said DMHC has established the existence of a "triable issue" on five facts, thereby requiring denial of a summary judgment. Nicole Evans -- a spokesperson for the California Association of Health Plans -- said, "Essentially, the court decided to delay making a decision without addressing the subject of the lawsuit." Evans said the association will keep pursuing the lawsuit. DMHC officials were reviewing the ruling and did not issue a comment (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 8/24). Read More...
Sibling Autism Risk is Higher Than Previously Thought
Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:59:13 - Pacific Time
Parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face about a 19 percent chance that subsequent children will also develop ASD, according to a study partially funded by NIMH. This estimate is much higher than previous reports but may also be more accurate due to the study's size and design, according to the researchers. Their study was published August 15, 2011, online ahead of print in the journal Pediatrics. A few previous studies have explored the recurrence rate of ASD, or the likelihood of later-born siblings of children with ASD to also develop ASD. Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D., of the University of California-Davis, and colleagues evaluated data on 664 infants who were tested at 12 sites across the United States and Canada. All sites were members of the Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC), an international network supported by the U.S. advocacy group Autism Speaks. All BSRC members contribute data to a centralized database that allows infant-sibling researchers to pool data across many sites and answer questions that require very large and geographically diverse samples to address. The average age of the infant participants at the start of the study was 8 months, an age when signs of ASD are not usually present; two-thirds of the total study population were enrolled before age 6 months. All had at least one older sibling diagnosed with ASD, which was confirmed by a consortium doctor. The participants were themselves assessed for ASD multiple times in their first three years of life. Out of the total study sample, 18.7 percent of participants were diagnosed with ASD by age 3. Boys were nearly three times as likely as girls to be diagnosed with ASD. Participants who had more than one older sibling with ASD were about twice as likely to also be diagnosed with ASD, compared to participants who had only one older sibling with ASD. Unlike some previous studies, the gender or IQ of the older sibling with ASD did not affect the later sibling's risk in the present study. The findings indicate that ASD recurrence is 18 percent or higher, compared to 3-14 percent estimated in earlier studies. The researchers note that their study's size and design minimized the effects of stoppage, overreporting, and ascertainment bias. Read More...
Jaundice at birth may be linked to autism
Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:45:05 - Pacific Time
Babies diagnosed with jaundice may be more likely to later receive a diagnosis of autism, suggests a large new study. However, the Danish researchers caution that many questions remain unanswered, making it too early to say for sure if there is a true cause-and-effect relationship between the conditions. Environmental exposures prior to, during and shortly after birth are emerging as important risk factors for the development of autism, in addition to genetic factors, Hannah Gardener of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health in an e-mail. Jaundice is a common condition among newborns that results when the yellow pigment found in bile, called bilirubin, accumulates faster than the immature liver can process it. More than half of babies born full-term have some of the characteristic yellowing of the skin and eyes, but it usually resolves itself and is rarely harmful. Autism, which causes problems with social and communications skills, affects approximately one in every 110 U.S. children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a prior study, Dr. Rikke Damkjaer Maimburg of Aarhus University found that children diagnosed with autism were twice as likely to have been admitted to the neonatal care unit as newborns, most commonly for jaundice. Yet she knew that earlier research into a link between jaundice and autism had yielded conflicting results. So Maimburg and her colleagues decided to conduct a larger and more rigorous study than those done in the past. They retrieved detailed information from national registries on nearly all babies born in Denmark between 1994 and 2004. Of the 733,826 children born during that period, 35,766 were born with jaundice, 1,721 were later diagnosed with a psychological disorder of some kind and 577 developed autism. Read More...
The Help Group Summit 2010
Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:34:22 - Pacific Time
The Help Group Summit 2010 Convenes More Than 30 Leading Experts In Autism, Learning Disabilities & ADHD. On Oct. 1st and 2nd, 2010, The Help Group will host its annual Summit: Advances and Best Practices in Autism, Learning Disabilities and ADHD. The renowned experts who will be presenting at Summit 2010 are: David G. Amaral, PhD; Linda Andron-Ostrow, LCSW; Bruce L. Baker, PhD; Jan Blacher, PhD; Deborah E. Budding, PhD; Michael G. Chez, MD; Dana Chidekel, PhD; Pamela Clark, MA; Pamela J. Crooke, PhD, CC-SLP; Marcos Di Pinto, PhD; Jack M. Fletcher, PhD; Peter F. Gerhardt, EdD; Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD; Jodi Johnson, MA; Connie Kasari, PhD; Elizabeth Laugeson, PsyD; Philip Levin, PhD; Pat R. Levitt, PhD; Sandra K. Loo, PhD; Maja Mataric', PhD; David Miklowitz, PhD; Jule Mosk Morris, PhD; Derek A. Ott, MD; Ricki G. Robinson, MD; Edward Roth, PhD; Fred W. Sabb, PhD; Jonathan Sebat, PhD; Judy Van de Water, PhD; Bina Varughese, MS; and Lous Vismara, MD. These distinguished speakers will bring the latest information to professionals, parents, graduate and undergraduate students. The summit will be held at Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049 from Friday, Oct. 1st, 8:30 am - 5:30pm and Saturday, Oct. 2nd, 8:30am - 12:30pm. Registration begins at 8 a.m. Read More...
Little evidence antidepressants helpful for autism
Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:22:39 - Pacific Time
While antidepressants are commonly given to people with autism, there is no evidence from clinical trials that the drugs are helpful for children with the disorder, and only limited evidence that they benefit adults, a new research review finds. The analysis, reported in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, adds to doubts about the use of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in autism. Last year, a U.S.-government-funded study found that the SSRI citalopram (Celexa) was no better than a placebo at improving repetitive behaviors in children with autism. At the time, experts expressed surprise at the lack of benefit and said the results illustrated the need to test antidepressants against placebos in people with autism. For the new review, researchers evaluated the findings of the Celexa study, along with those of six other -- much smaller -- clinical trials in the medical literature. Overall, they found no evidence that SSRIs were better than placebos at improving repetitive behaviors or other symptoms in children with autism. And there was only limited evidence from two small clinical trials that certain SSRIs might improve anxiety, depression and other symptoms in autistic adults. On the whole, there is no basis for recommending the routine use of SSRIs in treating autism, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Katrina Williams, a pediatrician at the University of New South Wales and Sydney Children's Hospital in Australia. However, the researchers are not recommending that people with autism who are already on an SSRI and doing well stop taking their medication. As it stands, no medications are specifically approved for treating autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), a group of developmental disorders that hinder people's ability to communicate and build relationships. The conditions range from severe cases of "classic" autism to the relatively mild Asperger's syndrome. Behavioral and educational therapies that target the social, developmental and communication problems are the mainstay of autism treatment. But SSRIs are often prescribed to aid with certain symptoms; by one estimate, up to 40 percent of children with autism have been treated with an antidepressant. In the U.S., three SSRIs - sertraline (Zoloft), fluoxetine (Prozac) and fluvoxamine (Luvox) -- are FDA approved for children older than seven. Part of the rationale for SSRI use in ASDs is that the drugs can be effective for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, conditions whose features are similar to some behaviors seen in autism. For example, repetitive behaviors -- such as repeating specific words or actions, or obsessively following a routine or schedule -- are a main feature of autism. Read More...
Screening speech may aid autism diagnosis
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:04:14 - Pacific Time
A device may be able to automatically screen young children for autism based on how they talk, U.S. researchers said on Monday.The small recorder fits into a child's pocket and analyzes the words the child says during the day, and a software program evaluates how the child makes certain sounds. A team of researchers led by Kimbrough Oller of the University of Memphis analyzed more than 3 million syllabic utterances, collected from almost 1,500 all-day recordings from 232 children aged 10 months to 4 years. The program correctly identified an existing autism diagnosis 86 percent of the time. The analysis also predicted the age of a typically developing child, said the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Although clinicians have been saying for many years that they think that autistic kids sound strange when they talk, there's been no practical way to use vocalization as a part of the diagnostic or screening procedure in working with autism," said Oller, professor of audiology and speech-language pathology. Oller identified the speech patterns the device analyzes and helped develop the screening method. Read More...
Canadian Study Uncovers DNA Changes In People With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:41:51 - Pacific Time
A study co-led by Dr. Stephen Scherer, a molecular genetics researcher at the University of Toronto has uncovered genetic changes with people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The Autism Genome Project, saw 120 scientists in 12 countries work collaboratively to identify over 100 different autism-related genes. Starting in 2002, the project involved researchers and experts from around the world sharing their data, samples and expertise with the aim of identifying genetic susceptibility of autism spectrum disorders. The DNA of 1000 autistic people and 1300 people without autism spectrum disorder were compared. The findings of the study have revealed that as so many different genes are autism-related, this could explain why individuals with autism display different symptoms. Another revelation of the study was that people with autism spectrum disorder either lack or have extra copies of multiple genes vital for the both normal development and function of the brain. The results will help health care workers treating individuals with autism to develop better treatments and diagnostic tools and future research may enable researchers to identify autism spectrum disorders far more effectively. Read More...
Preliminary settlement reached in autism lawsuit
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:41:58 - Pacific Time
Families of children with autism in eastern Los Angeles County appear to have prevailed in a fight to maintain state funding for a popular therapy for the disorder. More than 2,200 families received notice this week of a preliminary settlement in a class-action lawsuit that, if approved by a judge, would force the Eastern Los Angeles County Regional Center to continue to provide the treatment, known as the DIR model (for "developmental, individual difference, relationship-based"). DIR is the basis for Floortime, a popular method in which a therapist follows a child's lead during play activities to develop communication and social skills.Last year, the regional center — one of 21 nonprofits throughout the state that administer state money for people with developmental disabilities — informed more than 100 families whose children were receiving DIR that it would no longer pay for the therapy. That prompted the Public Counsel Law Center to file a class-action suit. At the time, Gloria Wong, the executive director of the regional center, said she was simply enforcing a mandate from the state Legislature to stop paying for experimental and non-medical treatments — part of a broad effort to cut more than $300 million from the state budget for people with developmental disabilities. DIR has not been tested with controlled scientific studies, but experts testified it is supported by decades of clinical experience. Other regional centers pay for DIR. The Eastern Los Angeles County Regional Center could end up having to provide the treatment to more people than ever. As part of the settlement, families whose autistic children had never received the treatment were among those notified this week that they too may be eligible for it. Lawyers in the case said they expect the judge to give final approval to the settlement in September. Read More...
Genetic Errors Linked to Autism
Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:51:08 - Pacific Time
The genetic background to autism may have gotten a little clearer. Scientists say they have pinpointed certain types of genetic abnormalities that are unusually prevalent in individuals with the disorder. These are either segments of DNA entirely missing from the genome or the same segment repeated several times, known to geneticists as "copy number variations" (CNVs). "We knew genetics were involved through twin studies and family studies, but the majority of studies focused on common variations in probably a few genes," explained study author Stephen Scherer, director of the McLaughlin Center and the Center for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto in Canada. "We found dozens, if not hundreds, of genes involved and each autism family may have their own genetic form of autism. The variations are quite rare." "This validates and confirms a hypothesis long held by researchers in this community that autism, instead of having just one or two genetic risk factors, is likely to have hundreds, and these are usually identified by these sudden deletions or insertions in the genome called copy number variants," added Andy Shih, vice president of scientific affairs at Autism Speaks, which helped fund the study. Shih served as key facilitator of the Autism Genome Project Consortium, a collaboration of institutions around the world that conducted the study. The study findings are published in the June 10 issue of Nature. The researchers compared the genomes of nearly 1,000 people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and about 1,300 healthy controls. On average, participants with ASD had 19 percent more CNVs than the controls. Most of the CNVs were inherited from parents while others appeared for the first time in the autistic individual. When researchers mapped all the genes affected by CNV deletions, they found many overlaps. "We were able to link hundreds of these candidate genes together in the same pathway and these molecules include the known autism genes," Scherer said. "We identified known groups of genes but also entirely new collections." These links between genes may prove important in looking for treatments. "Now that we have a good outline of the network of molecules involved, that's what we can use to start designing rationally targeted therapeutics," Scherer said. "We didn't really have that before." In some cases, there may even be drugs already out there that would affect some of these genes, he said. Many of the CNVs identified were in areas of the genome already known to be associated with autism. Others were in areas involved with neuron (brain cell) signaling, also in line with previous research. Read More...
News Archive
Distinctive Bacteria Could Enable Urine Test for Autism: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 07:45:58 - Pacific Time: Read More...
UK doctor at heart of vaccine row banned from practice: Tue, 25 May 2010 05:54:13 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Studies Link Infertility Treatments to Autism: Thu, 20 May 2010 07:12:18 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Study: Gluten-free diets do not improve autism behavior: Thu, 20 May 2010 07:09:31 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Callifornia Special-Ed Teachers Back to School on Autism: Mon, 17 May 2010 06:42:29 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autistic Kids and GI Problems Linked: Wed, 5 May 2010 07:37:02 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Dr. Stanley Greenspan dies, founded Floortime and developmental approaches to autism therapy: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:45:27 - Pacific Time: Read More...
How and when autism symptoms appear dictate illness severity: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:54:42 - Pacific Time: Read More...
The Debate Continues on Autistic Enterocolitis: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:41:16 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Grandparents key for autistic children: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 08:13:38 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism Susceptibility Genes Identified: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 07:16:38 - Pacific Time: Read More...
1 in 4 Parents Link Autism to Vaccines: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 08:01:38 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Do Toxins Cause Autism?: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 07:00:20 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism signs appear in babies' first year, but parents don't notice: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:53:09 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Curemark CM-AT Autism Treatment Granted FDA Fast Track Status: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:21:00 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Hormone May Help Autism Symptoms: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:04:52 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Proposed Autism Diagnosis Changes Anger "Aspies": Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:51:13 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Older mothers' kids have higher autism risk, study finds: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 07:10:54 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Andrew Wakefield responds to article about journal retraction of autism study report: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 07:29:54 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Andrew Wakefield found to have Acted Unethically in Autism Study: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:54:02 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Hotel includes suite outfitted for parents of autistic child: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:44:05 - Pacific Time: Read More...
OSR#1: Industrial chemical or autism treatment?: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:51:15 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Families of autistic kids sue over therapy's elimination: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:51:47 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Startup Tests Drugs Aimed at Autism: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:00:08 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Misconnections in Developing Brain May Cause Autism: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:48:55 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Brain Imaging May Help Diagnose Autism: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 06:30:04 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism Group Calls for More Studies on Restrictive Diets: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 07:37:52 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Another study finds no MMR-autism link: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 17:00:17 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Asperger's syndrome will be folded into a single broad diagnosis: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 07:11:21 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism clusters found in 'educated areas' of state: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:18:02 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Texas Study Confirms Lower Autism Rate in Hispanics: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:38:56 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Toxic metals may influence autism severity: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:19:38 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism and Vaccines are Unrelated. So, What Causes Autism?: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:38:03 - Pacific Time: Read More...
With autism at 1 in 110 kids, treatment in demand: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:49:48 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Brain Imaging Sheds Light on Social Woes Related to Autism: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:17:52 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Study Expected to Announce 1 in 100 Autism Rate—A Startling 50% Jump: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:57:01 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism's stigma replaced by eminence: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:43:10 - Pacific Time: Read More...
People with autism 'have problem with self-awareness': Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:31:41 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Autism and schizophrenia could be genetic opposites: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:55:10 - Pacific Time: Read More...
Parent training vital to raising children with autism: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:24:29 - Pacific Time: Read More...
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