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Tero Toivanen

A Family United For The Autistic: 15 Yr Old Aspie Talks About Autism - 0 views

kimdeanart.blogspot.com/...-aspie-talks-about-autism.html

autism Aspereger Syndrome Asperger's Disorder

shared by Tero Toivanen on 05 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Autism gives many unique traits to an individual, and many of these people go on to do great things (it is said Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and other innovators and scientists had forms of autism). I can’t speak for others - maybe they do want to rid themselves of their condition. But as for the parents and individuals making the decision, think about it: do you honestly want a cure that is going to change the individual you are?
  • Tero Toivanen on 05 Apr 09
     
    Autism gives many unique traits to an individual, and many of these people go on to do great things (it is said Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and other innovators and scientists had forms of autism). I can't speak for others - maybe they do want to rid themselves of their condition. But as for the parents and individuals making the decision, think about it: do you honestly want a cure that is going to change the individual you are?
Tero Toivanen

Facilitated Communication - 0 views

www.cqcapd.state.ny.us/...fcnatal.htm

facilitated FC facilitated communication

shared by Tero Toivanen on 30 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Facilitators who work closely with individuals with autism, as well as other developmental disabilities (e.g., mental retardation, cerebral palsy, etc.) report that individuals with little or no language are fully expressive about life experiences, thoughts, feelings, choices, preferences, and decisions, when allowed to communicate through facilitation.
  • Biklen and other proponents of facilitated communication have been strongly opposed to objective, empirical validity testing. They maintain that testing undermines the individual's confidence, places him or her under pressure, and introduces negativism that destroys the communicative exchange.
  • Rather, under the surface of autism is a person with full cognitive faculties. Smith and Belcher (1993) indicate that much of this suggests a basic unwillingness on the part of families, professionals, and caregivers to accept the individuals with disabilities for what they are, thus diminishing the value of the individual in a way that the disability itself could not have.
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  • Thompson (1993) describes facilitated communication as a classic example of the self-fulfilling prophecy. The facilitator wants to believe that the person with a severe cognitive and language disability is actually of normal to superior intellectual ability. Parents especially want to believe that a way has been found to finally unlock the door to their real son or daughter.
  • In short, people want facilitated communication to work.
  • Advocates of facilitated communication often respond to naysayers, "It can't hurt to try it." Biklen agrees, "It is not harmful to teach people to communicate through pointing." However, he qualifies his claim with the caveat that "it can be harmful if the facilitator over interprets, does not monitor the person's eyes, facilitates when the person is looking away, is not sensitive to the possibility of guiding the person, and asks leading rather than clarifying questions."
  • Some argue that "false communication" may distort beliefs, understanding, and rehabilitative approaches to persons with autism and other developmental disabilities.
  • Additionally, facilitated communication in the past few years has been the source of many contested abuse allegations, usually allegedly reported by an individual with very limited unassisted communication skills against a family caregiver or caregivers.
  • There are at least 50 legal cases in the U.S. involving allegations of sexual abuse produced through facilitated communication (Berger, 1994). Several such cases have already occurred in Australia, and some have arisen in Europe (Green, 1992).
  • With the exception of three empirical studies (Intellectual Disability Review Panel, 1989; Calculator and Singer, 1992; and Velazquez (in press)) which provide preliminary validation of facilitated communication, most of the support for the validity of facilitated communication is based on anecdotal reports.
  • Unfortunately, validity questions surround anecdotal reports of facilitated communication. In general, these reports lack the controls necessary to rule out experimenter biases, reliability concerns, and threats to validity (Cummins and Prior, 1992; Jacobsen, Eberlin, Mulick, Schwartz, Szempruch, and Wheeler, 1994).
  • Although Biklen (1990) admits that facilitator influence is a real possibility, facilitated communications are typically reported as though they are the words of the person with a disability.
  • Without exception, these empirical studies have questioned the authenticity of the communication as truly coming from the individual versus the facilitator.
  • Interdisciplinary Party Report (1988) and the Intellectual Disability Review Panel (1989) both of which examined the source of facilitated communications produced by persons in Australia, and found strong evidence that responses obtained through facilitation were influenced by the facilitator.
  • Gina Green, Director of Research for the New England Center for Autism and Associate Scientist for the E.K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, Inc., has reviewed over 150 cases where empirical testing was performed and cites 15 independent conduct evaluations involving 136 individuals with autism and/or mental retardatiion who were alleged to have been taught to communicate via facilitated communication. In none of the cases were investigators able to confirm facilitated communication by the 136 individuals.
  • Tero Toivanen on 30 Mar 09
     
    Facilitated Communication by Natalie Russo [First Published in Quality of Care Newsletter, Issue62, January-February 1995]
Tero Toivanen

NIMH · Our brains are made of the same stuff, despite DNA differences - 1 views

www.nimh.nih.gov/...-despite-dna-differences.shtml

nimh brains dna differences gene prefrontal cortex schizophrenia autism research study genetic variation neuroscience neurons

shared by Tero Toivanen on 30 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • “Having at our fingertips detailed information about when and where specific gene products are expressed in the brain brings new hope for understanding how this process can go awry in schizophrenia, autism and other brain disorders,” said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D.
  • Among key findings in the prefrontal cortex:Individual genetic variations are profoundly linked to expression patterns. The most similarity across individuals is detected early in development and again as we approach the end of life.Different types of related genes are expressed during prenatal development, infancy, and childhood, so that each of these stages shows a relatively distinct transcriptional identity. Three-fourths of genes reverse their direction of expression after birth, with most switching from on to off.Expression of genes involved in cell division declines prenatally and in infancy, while expression of genes important for making synapses, or connections between brain cells, increases. In contrast, genes required for neuronal projections decline after birth – likely as unused connections are pruned.By the time we reach our 50s, overall gene expression begins to increase, mirroring the sharp reversal of fetal expression changes that occur in infancy.Genetic variation in the genome as a whole showed no effect on variation in the transcriptome as a whole, despite how genetically distant individuals might be. Hence, human cortexes have a consistent molecular architecture, despite our diversity.
  • Among key findings:Over 90 percent of the genes expressed in the brain are differentially regulated across brain regions and/or over developmental time periods. There are also widespread differences across region and time periods in the combination of a gene’s exons that are expressed.Timing and location are far more influential in regulating gene expression than gender, ethnicity or individual variation.Among 29 modules of co-expressed genes identified, each had distinct expression patterns and represented different biological processes. Genetic variation in some of the most well-connected genes in these modules, called hub genes, has previously been linked to mental disorders, including schizophrenia and depression.Telltale similarities in expression profiles with genes previously implicated in schizophrenia and autism are providing leads to discovery of other genes potentially involved in those disorders.Sex differences in the risk for certain mental disorders may be traceable to transcriptional mechanisms. More than three-fourths of 159 genes expressed differentially between the sexes were male-biased, most prenatally. Some genes found to have such sex-biased expression had previously been associated with disorders that affect males more than females, such as schizophrenia, Williams syndrome, and autism.
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  • Our brains are all made of the same stuff. Despite individual and ethnic genetic diversity, our prefrontal cortex shows a consistent molecular architecture.
  • Males show more sex-biased gene expression. More genes differentially expressed (DEX) between the sexes were found in males than females, especially prenatally. Some genes found to have such sex-biased expression had previously been associated with disorders that affect males more than females, such as schizophrenia, Williams syndrome, and autism.
  • Tero Toivanen on 30 Oct 11
     
    Our brains are all made of the same stuff. Despite individual and ethnic genetic diversity, our prefrontal cortex shows a consistent molecular architecture. 
Tero Toivanen

Researchers find mirror neuron system functions normally in individuals with autism - 0 views

www.physorg.com/news192882829.html

mirror neuron autism neuroscience dysfunction study research

shared by Tero Toivanen on 12 May 10 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 12 May 10
     
    A team of neuroscientists has found that the mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, responds normally in individuals with autism. Their findings, reported in the journal Neuron, counter theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties exhibited by individuals with autism.
Tero Toivanen

Autistic Aphorisms: Intelligence, Genius, and Autism - 0 views

autisticaphorisms.blogspot.com/...ligence-genius-and-autism.html

aphorisms intelligence autism genius Pythagoras Plato Aristotle Archimedes Newton Gauss Einstein

shared by Tero Toivanen on 30 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Professor James Flynn has incorporated an interesting sidebar into his book What is Intelligence? In it he lists his seven choices for Western civilization’s greatest minds: Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Archimedes, Newton, Gauss, and Einstein.
  • Hundreds of research teams, maybe even thousands by now, have so convinced themselves that intelligence must originate from inside our skulls, have so convinced themselves that only within networks of cranial neurons can be found the secrets to humanity’s growing mental capacity, that all have managed to overlook completely the far more plausible alternative—the one existing right before our very eyes.
  • It is time to reconsider that conventional wisdom, time to regard genius with a different set of eyes; for genius is not a function of greater intelligence, genius is the description of how intelligence grows.
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  • Look at the content of any intelligence test—language, arithmetic, patterns, designs. What we measure with the aid of those I.Q. booklets are not the abilities we inherited from out our animal past, but instead their exact counterpart; we measure only those skills the species has been adding throughout all its history since. In some sense, an intelligence test measures the modernness of an individual; an intelligence test measures an individual’s ability to appropriate for himself the same set of skills the species has been appropriating as a whole—skills that do not find their origin in our biological nature, but instead owe their existence to the strange, brewing mixture of non-biological pattern, structure and form that has been rapidly taking shape all around us.
  • The unusual characteristics of humanity’s transformational individuals are not the result of their genius, they are genius’s prerequisite
  • But counter to prevailing wisdom, there are many autistic individuals—most likely a majority—who do make substantial progress by means of an alternative perceptual course, a course that allows them not only to navigate meaningfully their surrounding world, but also to assimilate, if somewhat awkwardly and belatedly, to the human species itself (and thereby explaining how autism, estimated to be present in nearly one percent of the human population, could go entirely unrecognized until as recently as sixty-five years ago).
  • all autistic individuals must crystallize their existence by means of this alternative perceptual course—it becomes, in essence, autism’s most salient feature.
  • The unusual behaviors and interests of autistic children—lining up toys, staring at ceiling fans, twirling, flapping hands repeatedly, fascination with knobs, buttons, switches, letters, shapes and digits, watching the same video again and again, singing the same song over and over—these activities betray a form of perception completely unlike that of most other children, a perception noticeably absent in social and biological focus, but also noticeably drawn to symmetry, repetition and pattern.
  • The unusual routines of autistic children are the natural, indeed the expected, mode of expression for a form of perception engaged primarily by the structural aspects of the non-social, non-biological world.
  • Autistic individuals would have been the first to notice the inherent structure contained in the natural world—the geometry of plants, the isomorphisms of natural objects, the logic of the celestial seasons—only they would have had motivation to embrace such form, only they would have had the need to perceive nature’s symmetry, repetition and pattern in order to form their cognitive grounding.
  • We know only bits and pieces about the four Greeks on Professor Flynn’s list, but filling in with the traits from the list’s more modern members, we can reasonably summarize all the unifying characteristics: late- or strange-talking, socially awkward, irascible, obsessed with structure, compelled by form, unusually—not necessarily greatly—intelligent.
  • The continuing medicalization of autism, the insistent demonization of autism’s spontaneous effect—these carry the danger of an unforeseen consequence. For the cure of autism will not be the end of a tragic brain disorder; autism’s eradication will not see the passing of a troubling mental disease. The removal of autism from the entire human species will produce only an ironic solution to the mystery of our expanding human intelligence, it will produce the ignoble end to the Flynn effect.
  • When confronted by data that runs counter to our accustomed way of seeing things, we as humans have but two choices: we can try to explain the results away, or we can adjust our perception of the experienced world. The former choice paves the all-too-common road of modern academic science; the latter, as described above, walks the more promising path of genius.
  • Autism is not a mental illness, not a brain disorder, it is instead the source of humanity’s changing perception of its experienced world; it is, with care and understanding, genius’s fertile soil.
  • Tero Toivanen on 30 Mar 09
     
    Autism is not a mental illness, not a brain disorder, it is instead the source of humanity's changing perception of its experienced world; it is, with care and understanding, genius's fertile soil.
Tero Toivanen

Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may - 1 views

www.theautismnewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx

neuron abnormalities developmental autism mirror neuron special education special needs research

shared by Tero Toivanen on 08 May 11 - No Cached
  • Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may contribute to social deficits in autism.
  • Now, a new study published in Biological Psychiatry reports that the mirror system in individuals with autism is not actually broken, but simply delayed.
  • While most of us have their strongest mirror activity while they are young, autistic individuals seem to have a weak mirror system in their youth, but their mirror activity increases with age, is normal by about age 30 and unusually high thereafter.
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  • This increase in function of mirror neuron systems may be related to increased capacity for social function or responsiveness to rehabilitative treatments among individuals with autism.
  • One of the next steps in this line of research will be for researchers to examine how individuals with autism accomplish this improvement over time, and how therapeutic interventions targeting the same mechanism can help to support this important process.
Tero Toivanen

Facilitated Communication - Association for Science in Autism Treatment - 2 views

www.asatonline.org/...facilitated.htm

communication science autism facilitated FC Facilitated Communication research special education ASD:teaching ASD:educators

shared by Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10
     
     "Research evidence, replicated across several hundred children with autism spectrum disorders, shows that the facilitators rather than the individuals with autism spectrum disorders control the communication and that FC does not improve language skills (Mostert, 2001). Therefore, FC is an inappropriate intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders."
Tero Toivanen

facilitated communication - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com - 0 views

skepdic.com/facilcom.html

skepdic facilitated communication autism FC

shared by Tero Toivanen on 26 Mar 09 - Cached
  • The American Psychological Association has issued a position paper on FC, stating that "Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that facilitated communication is not a scientifically valid technique for individuals with autism or mental retardation" and describing FC as "a controversial and unproved communicative procedure with no scientifically demonstrated support for its efficacy."
  • Frontline Program on facilitated communication:
    • Tero Toivanen
      Tero Toivanen on 26 Mar 09
       
      Here is the video about Facilitated Communication (FC). If you have something to do with FC, I think you should watch it.
  • Parents are grateful to discover that their child is not hopelessly retarded but is either normal or above normal in intelligence. FC allows their children to demonstrate their intelligence; it provides them with a vehicle heretofore denied them.
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  • Facilitated Communication therapy began in Australia with Rosemary Crossley. The center for FC in the United States is Syracuse University, which houses the Facilitated Communication Institute (FCI) in their School of Education.
  • A very damaging, detailed criticism was presented on PBS's "Frontline", October 19, 1993. The program was repeated December 17, 1996, and added that since the first showing, Syracuse University has claimed to have done three studies which verify the reality and effectiveness of FC, while thirty other studies done elsewhere have concluded just the opposite.
  • Furthermore, FC clients routinely use a flat board or keyboard, over which the facilitator holds their pointing finger. Even the most expert typist could not routinely hit correct letters without some reference as a starting point.
  • Facilitators routinely look at the keyboard; clients do not. The messages' basic coherence indicates that they most probably are produced by someone who is looking at the keyboard.
  • Anyone familiar with Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking or Christy Brown knows that blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or physical or neurological disorders, do not necessarily affect the intellect. There is no necessary connection between a physical handicap and a mental handicap. We also know that such people often require an assistant to facilitate their communication. But what facilitators do to help the likes of a Hawking or a Brown is a far cry from what those in the facilitated communication business are doing.
  • But the vast majority of FC clients apparently are mentally retarded or autistic. Their facilitators appear to be reporting their own thoughts, not their patient's thoughts. Interestingly, the facilitators are genuinely shocked when they discover that they are not really communicating their patient's thoughts. Their reaction is similar to that of dowsers and others with "special powers" who, when tested under controlled conditions, find they don't have any special powers at all.
  • It is interesting that the parents and other loved ones who have been bonding with the patient for years are unable to be facilitators with their own children.
  • And when the kind strangers and their patients are put to the test, they generally fail. We are told that is because the conditions made them nervous. These ad hoc excuses sound familiar; they sound like the complaints of parapsychologists.
  • Skeptics think the evidence is in and FC is a delusion for the most part. It is also a dangerous delusion. Critics have noted a similarity between FC therapy and repressed memory therapy: patients are accusing their parents and others of having sexually abused them. Facilitators are taught that something like 13% of their clients have been sexually abused. This information may unconsciously influence their work.
  • Tero Toivanen on 26 Mar 09
     
    You find here a very about Important Video about Facilitated Communication (FC). The American Psychological Association has issued a position paper on FC, stating that "Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that facilitated communication is not a scientifically valid technique for individuals with autism or mental retardation" and describing FC as "a controversial and unproved communicative procedure with no scientifically demonstrated support for its efficacy."
Tero Toivanen

Yale Study Suggests Children with Autism Watch for the Wrong Visual Clues - 0 views

autism.about.com/...for-the-wrong-visual-clues.htm

autism Visual Clues

shared by Tero Toivanen on 02 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to stare at people's mouths rather than their eyes. Now, an NIH-funded study in 2-year-olds with the social deficit disorder suggests why they might find mouths so attractive: lip-sync—the exact match of lip motion and speech sound.
  • Such audiovisual synchrony preoccupied toddlers who have autism, while their unaffected peers focused on socially meaningful movements of the human body, such as gestures and facial expressions.
  • "Typically developing children pay special attention to human movement from very early in life, within days of being born. But in children with autism, even as old as two years, we saw no evidence of this," explained Ami Klin, Ph.D., of the Yale Child Study Center, who led the research. "Toddlers with autism are missing rich social information imparted by these cues, and this is likely to adversely affect the course of their development."
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  • In theory, this finding could lead to educational techniques that could help very young children with autism build their social referencing skills. This could be hugely important for children with autism, since their challenges with "reading" social cues create so many problems as they enter school, interact with peers, and begin to navigate social relationships.
  • Tero Toivanen on 02 Apr 09
     
    Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to stare at people's mouths rather than their eyes. Now, an NIH-funded study in 2-year-olds with the social deficit disorder suggests why they might find mouths so attractive: lip-sync-the exact match of lip motion and speech sound.
Tero Toivanen

Autism Blog - Autism and aspergers are essentially the same « Left Brain/Righ... - 0 views

leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=2533

autism Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis

shared by Tero Toivanen on 03 Jul 09 - Cached
  • The histories of autism and Asperger’s Disorder (AD), based on original contributions by Kanner and Asperger, are reviewed in relation to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.
  • Based on up-to-date empirical research, however, it appears that AD and autism are not qualitatively distinct disorders, but are different quantitative manifestations of the same disorder.
  • The differences between AD and autism may be a function of individual variability in these areas, not the manifestation of qualitatively distinct disorders.
  • Tero Toivanen on 03 Jul 09
     
    Based on up-to-date empirical research, however, it appears that AD and autism are not qualitatively distinct disorders, but are different quantitative manifestations of the same disorder. The differences between AD and autism may be a function of individual variability in these areas, not the manifestation of qualitatively distinct disorders.
Tero Toivanen

Autistic Aphorisms: Enhanced Perception in Savant Syndrome - 0 views

autisticaphorisms.blogspot.com/...eption-in-savant-syndrome.html

autism savant perception structure creativityn patterns syndrome

shared by Tero Toivanen on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Mottron team did not shy away from suggesting that the features of savant syndrome could serve as an entryway into understanding all forms of autistic perception and cognition, savant like or not. This effectively removed savant syndrome from being the freak sideshow of autism and elevated it to the status of being a key element for understanding the condition.
  • it is orientation towards structure and pattern that determines the essential characteristics of autistic perception and cognition.
  • Not weak central coherence. Not damaged executive functioning. Not a missing theory of mind. Not a masculinized brain. Orientation to pattern and structure is the key to understanding autistic perception—an approach that is productive towards autistic interests and abilities, not destructive, as is the case for nearly every other competing theory. The Mottron team's emphasis on pattern-oriented perception in autistic individuals is a helpful step forward in understanding autistic individuals as they truly are.
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  • all the success stories related inside the pages of EPSS are accompanied by fortuitous exposure to various forms of structured material, clearly marking out the most promising path for autistic development and growth.
  • And of course these discussions fly in the face of the current clamor for early intervention in autism, where it would seem the goal is always to yank the autistic child away as early as possible from his or her preferred method of engaging the world, and substitute instead an intense bombardment of socially based indoctrination, hoping to turn the child around while there is still time for the “malleable” brain to be re-molded.
  • In my opinion, it is no mere coincidence that the very same elements that stand at the core of the Mottron team's affirmative description of autistic perception and cognition are also the very same elements that stand at the core of humanity’s sudden departure off the savannah and leap into the modern world.
  • Admittedly, a thorough discussion of such a topic would be much too large for inclusion in an academic research paper such as EPSS, but the fact that the Mottron team does not mention, or even hint at, the connection between the features of autistic perception and the features of human cognitive history leave it unclear whether the team has ever considered such a connection.
  • At this point in time, the Mottron team seems to be the only autism research team heading in a positive and enlightening direction—a direction that is constructive for autistic individuals everywhere—and I look forward to all their future contributions.
Tero Toivanen

Marlene Behrmann: Connecting Autistic Behavior to Brain Function - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...-research-study_b_1905925.html

autism research behavior brain

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • It turns out that in all three of the primary cortices -- visual, auditory and somatosensory -- we did not see the typical response trial after trial in the individuals with autism. Instead, we saw considerable variability -- sometimes a strong response, sometimes a weak response. The fact that we did not see precise responses in autism was a really important result. It suggests that there is something fundamental that is altered in the cortical responses in autism. This variability in the brain response might also possibly explain why individuals with autism find visual stimulation, touch and sound to be so strong and overwhelming.
  • We know from genetic research that many of the neurobiological changes that occur in autism have to do with changes at the level of the synapse, the way that information is transmitted from one neuron to another.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 Sep 12
     
    "A team of researchers ... were interested in trying to understand on a basic neural level what happens inside the brain that might give rise to the altered behaviors in autism."
Tero Toivanen

Autism Research Blog: Translating Autism: Amygdala, autism and clinical impairment: Whe... - 0 views

www.translatingautism.com/...m-and-clinical-impairment.html

amygdala autism high functioning autism Asperger's Disorder asperger

shared by Tero Toivanen on 03 Mar 09 - No Cached
  • The amygala serves a critical function in emotion recognition and processing, and thus it has been implicated in the neurophysiology of autism. For example, individuals with autism have been found to display atypical amygdala growth processes from childhood into adolescence (see for example Nacewiz et al., 2006. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63,12).
  • The Amygdale's bilateral biochemical functioning was obtained via magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Four metabolites were measured: N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine/Phosphocreatine (Cre), choline (Cho), and myoinositol (ml).
  • The authors did not find any differences in the concentrations of any of the metabolites when comparing the HFA and the control groups
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  • However, among the individuals with HFA, NAA was significantly associated with communication impairments, as measured by the ADI. In addition, Cre and NAA were associated with restrictive interests, and Cre alone was associated with social difficulties. The results therefore, indicate that those with the lowest concentrations of these metabolites tended to have more severe clinical symptoms as reported by the ADI.
  • The results of this study provide support for the need to conduct examinations that go beyond simple group comparisons.
  • key metabolites, while observed at normative levels, play a key role in the clinical presentation of the disorder.
  • presence of normative functioning in a particular domain or brain process (when compared to typical peers) does not necessarily indicate that such domain is not implicated in the phenomenology of the condition.
  • Tero Toivanen on 03 Mar 09
     
    Amygdala, autism and clinical impairment: When group comparisons are not enough. The results of this study provide support for the need to conduct examinations that go beyond simple group comparisons. In this case, the authors found no differences in any of the metabolites between the two groups, which could easily lead one to conclude that such metabolites may not play a role in autism. Yet, the results were strong in indicating that key metabolites, while observed at normative levels, play a key role in the clinical presentation of the disorder.
Tero Toivanen

Facilitated communication: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article - 1 views

www.absoluteastronomy.com/...Facilitated_communication

autism Facilitated Communication FC facilitator dyspraxia mental retardation research Independent Typing

shared by Tero Toivanen on 14 Mar 10 - Cached
  • The procedure is controversial, since a majority of peer reviewPeer reviewPeer review is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given field, who are qualified and able to perform impartial review...ed scientific studies conclude that the typed language output attributed to the clients is directed or systematically determined by the therapists who provide facilitated assistance. Some peer-reviewed scientific studies have indicated instances of valid FC, and some FC users have reportedly gone on to type independently.
  • Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units... psychologist Daniel WegnerDaniel WegnerDaniel M. Wegner is an American social psychologist. He is a professor of psychology at Harvard University and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is known for his work on mental control and conscious will, and for originating the study of transactive memory and... has argued that facilitated communication is a striking example of the ideomotor effectIdeomotor effectThe ideomotor effect is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously. As in reflexive responses to pain, the body sometimes reacts reflexively to ideas alone without the person consciously deciding to take action..., the well-known phenomenon whereby individuals' expectations exert unconscious influence over their motor actions. Even FC users and proponents do acknowledge the possibility of facilitators at times "guiding" users, consciously or unconsciously. Other theorists (Donnellan and Leary, 1995) argue that autism is in significant part characterized by dyspraxia (a movement disorder), and that there exists a synchronistic "dance" to communication in all mammalian social interaction which accounts for the mixed results in validation studies.
  • Stephen von Tetzchner, the author of another leading textbook on Augmentative and Alternative CommunicationAugmentative and alternative communicationAugmentative and alternative communication is communication for those with impairments or restrictions on the production or comprehension of spoken or written language.-Definition :... has done theoretical research about facilitated communication. In his opinion "The existing evidence clearly demonstrates that facilitating techniques usually led to automatic writingAutomatic writingAutomatic writing is the process or production of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. Practitioners say that the writer's hand forms the message, with the person being unaware of what will be written...., displaying the thoughts and the attitudes of the facilitators."
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  • Mark Mostert (2001) says: "Previous reviews of Facilitated Communication (FC) studies have clearly established that proponents' claims are largely unsubstantiated and that using FC as an intervention for communicatively impaired or noncommunicative individuals is not recommended." In March 2007, Scott Lilienfeld included facilitated communication on a list of treatments that have the potential to cause harm in clients, published in the APSAssociation for Psychological ScienceThe Association for Psychological Science , previously the American Psychological Society, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, teaching, and the improvement of human welfare... journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.
  • The phrase "independent typing" is defined by supporters of FC as "typing without physical support", i.e., without being touched by another person. Skeptics of FC do not agree that this definition of independence suffices because of the possibility of influence by the facilitator. For example, Sue RubinSue RubinSue Rubin is a functionally non-verbal published autistic author who was the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Autism Is A World in which she communicated via the controversial communication technique of facilitated communication...., an FC user featured in the autobiographical documentary Autism Is A World, reportedly types without anyone touching her; however, she reports that she requires a facilitator to hold the keyboard and offer other assistance.
  • Tero Toivanen on 14 Mar 10
     
    The procedure is controversial, since a majority of peer reviewed scientific studies conclude that the typed language output attributed to the clients is directed or systematically determined by the therapists who provide facilitated assistance. Some peer-reviewed scientific studies have indicated instances of valid FC, and some FC users have reportedly gone on to type independently.
Tero Toivanen

A week ago, a new study published in the Archives of General - 0 views

www.theautismnewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx

study autism research gene mutation ASD sporadic spectrum disorders de novo spontaneous mutations intellectual disability epilepsy

shared by Tero Toivanen on 22 May 11 - No Cached
  • The Howard Hughes Medical Institute describes how researchers using "high-throughput gene sequencing technology" were able to identify several de novo or spontaneous gene mutations in 20 children with sporadic autism spectrum disorders -- that is, their family members showed no other sign of autism.
  • The team identified 21 spontaneous mutations -- meaning they weren't inherited from either parent -- in the children's DNA. Eleven of these were mutations that would alter the protein encoded by the affected gene. In four of the 20 children, the researchers found mutations that were severe, some of which have been previously linked to autism, intellectual disability, and epilepsy.
  • one child had a mutation in the GRIN2B gene, which is crucial for neuronal signaling.
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  • Another individual had an extra nucleotide in FOXP1, a gene that, along with its close relatives, has been heavily implicated in language defects.
  • These new findings support the 'multi-hit' model of autism, which suggests that having more than one mutation can cause or worsen symptoms of autism and other brain disorders. The different combinations of mutations may contribute to the heterogeneity in ASDs.
  • That such different combinations of genetic mutations contribute to a child being autistic could account for why individuals with an ASD diagnosis have some very similar, and very different, features.
  • Tero Toivanen on 22 May 11
     
    "The Howard Hughes Medical Institute describes how researchers using "high-throughput gene sequencing technology" were able to identify several de novo or spontaneous gene mutations in 20 children with sporadic autism spectrum disorders -- that is, their family members showed no other sign of autism."
Tero Toivanen

Sensory processing in autism - 0 views

aut.sagepub.com/...215

autism sensory processing Sensory Profile

shared by Tero Toivanen on 24 May 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 24 May 09
     
    Furthermore, analysis of the patterns of sensory processing impairments revealed striking within-group variability in the ASD group, suggesting that individuals with ASD could experience very different, yet similarly severe, sensory processing abnormalities. These results suggest that unusual sensory processing in ASD extends across the lifespan and have implications regarding both the treatment and the diagnosis of ASD in adulthood.
Tero Toivanen

Auditory Integration Training and Facilitated Communication for Autism -- Committee on ... - 0 views

aappolicy.aappublications.org/...431

AIT FC Auditoy Integration Training Facilitated Communication autism

shared by Tero Toivanen on 22 May 09 - Cached
  • For example, Smith et al16 studied 10 individuals with autism specifically to investigate the effects of facilitator influence and level of assistance on the results of FC. Each subject had six sessions, two with no help, two with partial assistance, and two with full assistance. Results showed that there were no cases of correct responses from the subject unless the facilitator knew the correct response. In addition, numerous responses were typed by the subjects to stimuli that were shown only to the facilitator, and not the subject. Similar results have been found by Regal et al17 and Eberlin et al.1
  • One complication of the use of FC has been the allegation of abuse, particularly sexual abuse, that has been obtained from individuals through the use of FC against third persons. This has generated adverse publicity and caused severely negative consequences for families who may be unsure of the validity of the allegations. Because of legal mandates regarding reports of child abuse, this becomes a critical issue for teachers and pediatricians alike, who may find the credibility of the report highly questionable but are obligated to fulfill their legal responsibilities. Margolin20 notes that although more than 50 such allegations have resulted in legal proceedings, most have terminated before trial. The ethical dilemmas posed by FC for practitioners have been reviewed by Jacobson et al.8
  • It is important for the pediatrician to obtain current data on both AIT and FC as they become available. Until further information is available, the use of these treatments does not appear warranted at this time, except within research protocols.
  • Tero Toivanen on 22 May 09
     
    This statement reviews the basis for two new therapies for autism---auditory integration training and facilitative communication. Both therapies seek to improve communication skills. Currently available information does not support the claims of proponents that these treatments are efficacious. Their use does not appear warranted at this time, except within research protocols.
Tero Toivanen

Applied Behavioral Analysis - Understanding ABA Therapy - 1 views

www.brighttots.com/aba_therapy

autism ABA Applied Behavioral Analysis PRT Pivotal Response Therapy PECS Picture Exchange Communication System Lovaas Discrete Trial Training

shared by Tero Toivanen on 07 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 07 Jun 09
     
    Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques have been proven in many studies as the leading proven treatment and method of choice on treating individuals with autism spectrum disorder at any level. ABA approaches such as discrete trial training (DTT), Pivotal Response Training (PRT), Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
Tero Toivanen

Research Unearths New Treatments for Autism - 2 views

www.apa.org/...pi4.html

autism research TEACCH Young Autism Project Lovaas DIR ABA PRT Pivotal Response Training social engagement system middle ear music intensity

shared by Tero Toivanen on 01 Jul 09 - Cached
  • The Utah researchers found that children receiving a combination of the two treatments (Lovaas-type training at school and TEACCH methods at home) showed three to four times greater progress on all outcome tests than did children who received only the school-based treatment. That study was reported in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 2532).
  • Researchers in Washington, D.C., are comparing a discrete trial training approach with a "developmental, individual-difference, relationship based" (DIR) approach, says child psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan, MD, professor of psychiatry at George Washington University Medical School.
  • Psychologist Robert Koegel, PhD, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his colleagues are attempting to tailor a standard treatment to the specific needs of an autistic child and family. The standard treatment is called pivotal response training
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • An initial retrospective study is comparing two groups of 20 children initially diagnosed with autism who were functioning well after two or more years of treatment, either with a discrete trial training approach or the DIR approach. The study aims to determine if treatment differences lead to subtle differences in outcome, for example, in terms of flexibility, emotional range, creativity and richness of the child's inner life. Investigators are planning to follow this research with a prospective, randomized, more rigorous study of the two approaches.
  • "In our previous studies we found out that it looks like you can't just deliver a standard treatment to autistic kids, that there's so much variability among the children that what works for one child doesn't work for another child," he says. "Our hypothesis is that...unless you individualize treatment, you're not going to get the best effect."
  • Researchers at the University of Maryland are testing an intervention to trigger children's "social engagement system," which includes behaviors such as listening, looking, facial expressions and vocalizations that support social interaction, says psychologist Stephen Porges, PhD. The treatment is designed to improve autistic children's ability to interact with others, thereby making them more receptive to traditional therapies.
  • The intervention is based on the theory that tensing the middle ear muscles enables people to pick out the human voice from lower frequency sounds in the environment, Porges says. Treatment involves exercising middle ear muscles by playing music that has been altered to include only frequencies associated with the human voice, which improves one's ability to listen to human voices. This, in turn, stimulates the entire social engagement system, Porges says. About 80 percent of 50 children with autism or other behavioral problems receiving this treatment via five 45-minute sessions in a double blind, randomized controlled study showed marked improvements in listening, language and other communication skills.
  • In a report last year in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 15-23) evaluating an intensive home-based discrete trial training intervention, Stephen Sheinkopf, PhD, of the University of Miami and Bryna Siegel, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, noted that children receiving an average of only 21 hours per week of treatment showed gains in IQ comparable to those achieved by children receiving 32 hours per week. The intensity question remains an issue of importance for the autism community. "If we need 40 hours a week, fine," says psychologist Geraldine Dawson, PhD, of the University of Washington. "But if you only need 25, you have to realize that 40 hours is a tremendous burden not only financially, but on families and on the child."
  • Tero Toivanen on 01 Jul 09
     
    Several treatments, and combinations of treatments, are under intense study.
Tero Toivanen

Mutations in 3 Genes Linked to Autism Spectrum Disorders - 1 views

www.theautismnewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx

genes linked autism spectrum disorders research

shared by Tero Toivanen on 08 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Mutations in 3 Genes Linked to Autism Spectrum Disorders : Mutations in three new genes have been linked to autism, according to new studies including one with investigators at Mount Sinai School of Medicine
  • The findings, in a trio of papers revealing new genetic targets in autism, are published in the April 4th online issue of the journal Nature.
  • The genes with mutations identified in the studies – CHD8, SNC2A, and KATNAL2 – were discovered with a new state-of-the-art genomics technology known as exome sequencing, where all protein coding regions of the genome, called the exome, are analyzed.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The researchers say that with further characterization of the genes and sequencing of genes in thousands of families, they will be able to develop novel therapeutics and preventive strategies for autism.
  • The institutions involved in this study sequenced data from more than 500 families (both parents and the affected child), examining the protein-enriched areas of the genome.
  • “When the same mutations are found in multiple affected children and none are found in children without autism, we believe that we have identified mutations that collectively affect a higher proportion of individuals with autism,” said Dr. Buxbaum. “Our studies revealed that the proteins encoded by the mutated genes interact with each other far more than expected, demonstrating significantly greater connectivity than would be expected.”
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