Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recap of a roundtable discussion on how video games can be used to help individuals with ASD

A National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Data Brief

Report of a Harvard research study "that mined Boston hospital electronic health records of more than 14,000 young people and produced the striking illustration above of just how whole-body a condition autism can be. Particularly of note in the chart: the high prevalence of bowel disorders in those with autism, a topic that has been somewhat controversial; and the high levels of schizophrenia and auto-immune disorders. I interpret the study's conclusions, below, as saying, "Kids with ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorders - don't just have brain problems, they may have many physical problems and we'd better all keep that in mind.""

"The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS) is one of the most widely used instruments for behavioral evaluation of autism spectrum disorders. It is composed of four modules, each tailored for a specific group of individuals based on their language and developmental level. On average, a module takes between 30 and 60 min to deliver. We used a series of machine-learning algorithms to study the complete set of scores from Module 1 of the ADOS available at the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) for 612 individuals with a classification of autism and 15 non-spectrum individuals from both AGRE and the Boston Autism Consortium (AC). Our analysis indicated that 8 of the 29 items contained in Module 1 of the ADOS were sufficient to classify autism with 100% accuracy. We further validated the accuracy of this eight-item classifier against complete sets of scores from two independent sources, a collection of 110 individuals with autism from AC and a collection of 336 individuals with autism from the Simons Foundation. In both cases, our classifier performed with nearly 100% sensitivity, correctly classifying all but two of the individuals from these two resources with a diagnosis of autism, and with 94% specificity on a collection of observed and simulated non-spectrum controls. The classifier contained several elements found in the ADOS algorithm, demonstrating high test validity, and also resulted in a quantitative score that measures classification confidence and extremeness of the phenotype. With incidence rates rising, the ability to classify autism effectively and quickly requires careful design of assessment and diagnostic tools. Given the brevity, accuracy and quantitative nature of the classifier, results from this study may prove valuable in the development of mobile tools for preliminary evaluation and clinical prioritization-in particular those focused on assessment of short home videos of children-that speed the pace of initial evaluatio

part of infant brain imaging study at UNC

Practice simple social skills with iPad game, designed for toddlers on autism spectrum

The Apple iPad has been hailed as a savior for assisting children with autism spectrum disorder or other special needs. It was portrayed as a minor miracle in a recent segment on "60 Minutes" and has been found to help even the very young quickly learn.

Asperger's to be folded into DSM-V definition of autism raising questions

study involving 10,00 + infants

"Autism Now: How Should We Address Deepening 'National Health Emergency'?"

Ten year review of studies by AHRQ

a review of two studies

see news story from MIT for discussion: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/autism-theory-mind-0201.html

NIMH funded study

Researchers in Utah and at HMS say they have developed a test with more than 90% accurate results