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Inhibition of Eye Blinking Reveals How Toddlers with ASD Attend Differently to What They Watch
One of the central goals in autism research is to better meet the needs and experiences of individual children on the autism spectrum, even and especially children who may not be able to easily communicate those experiences. Researchers hope that doing so will provide an inroad into helping those...
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Future Directions in Medication Treatments for ASD
There has been enormous growth over the past 10-15 years in research attempting to identify effective medications for children and youth with ASD. A few classes of medications have been shown to be effective for treating specific symptoms associated with autism. There is accumulating data to...
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How Science and Evidence Won Out Against Auditory Integration Therapies
There are many ways of learning about our world. One way is through science and the scientific process. There is a growing belief that the methods of science and scientific inquiry are the standards that should be employed when designing and evaluating autism treatments. Ideally, by adhering to...
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New Trends in Brain and Tissue Banking for Autism Research
Professor Giovanni Morgagni, of the University of Padua published in 1761 a book, “The Seats and Causes of Disease Investigated by Anatomy,” that described nearly 700 autopsies and demonstrated that disease is recorded in the pathology of organs in detectable ways. Dr. Richard Cabot’s review...
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Training Peers Improves Social Outcomes for Some Kids with ASD
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who attend regular education classes may be more likely to improve their social skills if their typically developing peers are taught how to interact with them than if only the children with ASD are taught such skills. According to a study funded by the...
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Early Motor Experiences Give Infants a Social Jump Start – Study Indicates Infants at Risk for Autism Could Benefit from Motor Training
In a new study published on September 9, 2011 in the journal Developmental Science (Epub ahead of print), researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Vanderbilt University found that early motor experiences can shape infants’ preferences for objects and faces. The study findings...
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Risk of Recurrence of Autism in Younger Siblings Higher Than Thought
The risk that an infant with an older sibling with autism also will develop the disorder, previously estimated at between 3 and 10 percent, is substantially higher at approximately 19 percent, a large, international, multi-site study led by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute has found....
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Abnormal Micro-RNA: A Possible Cause of ASD and Schizophrenia
Key Concept: Abnormal micro-RNA programming disrupts early brain development causing autistic spectrum disorder, characterized by delays, plateaus and spurts of brain development. Similar abnormal micro-RNA programming disrupts brain development during adolescence causing schizophrenia,...
