My point still stands: autism can take a flying leap February 23rd, 2012, 4:12 pm · · posted by Jo Ashline, OC Moms

This morning I published a blog post about autism here on the Mom Blog (which is part of the Orange County Register). It was taken down an hour later. The reason was NOT because it was, as one Facebook commenter put it,  “bigoted and offensive.” It was because I used a word that I learned the hard way can’t be used in a media outlet like OC Register.

And I respect that. I respect my editor. I respect the editors she answers to.

I respect that there are certain protocols in place that prevent me from being a potty mouth. Guidelines are in place for a reason and if I want to continue writing this blog, I’m going to have to find a more creative way to express my emotions than resorting to those tried and true no-no words.

I’m up to the challenge. I DO want to keep writing here. I have plenty more to say and plenty of people I haven’t offended yet.

But today I had to make a choice. As a writer I am faced with this inner voice that tells me whether or not something I put out is done so with integrity. That doesn’t mean that everything I write is award-winning or will move mountains, but it does mean that when I hit publish, I do so with the confidence that I’ve given it my all. Even if it’s a piece about Victoria Beckham.

I reread that post half a dozen times. I tried my best to think of replacements that would still get my point across. But darn it all to heck if I just didn’t get the same feeling when I filled in the blanks with, I Told Autism To Take A Flying Leap or  I Told Autism It Can See Itself Out or I Told Autism That Maybe It Can Sort Of Possibly Retreat But Only If It Feels Like It.

So I chose to leave it alone and post it on my personal website, joashline.com, where you can read it in its uncensored entirety. 

Now. To address these accusations of bigotry and hatred.

I do not speak from a place of discrimination. I do not speak from a place that puts some people before others. I have more diagnoses than I know what to do with, including but not limited to panic attack disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, alcoholism and depression — and that’s just the first line of my medical file. These are all things that make up who I am, in part, but they are not things that I celebrate.

These are all diagnoses that have shaped me in some form or another, but I have no problem flipping them off after a bad day because of them, or after a particularly good one in spite of them.

The same is for my son’s autism. I do not consider him defined by his autism. I consider him affected and afflicted and hindered by it. That is our version. That is our reality. This is a child who requires 24 hours of non-stop supervision, because he would not think twice about running out into traffic or drinking bleach or walking off with a stranger or jumping into a body of water even though he cannot swim.

This is what our version of autism looks like.

We invest in doctors and therapy and innovative technology — not because maybe we think autism is kind of OK as long as we have a handle on it, but because we want to get rid of it. Because we see what it does to our loved ones and we hold onto the belief that it CAN and it WILL get better.

So my opinion stands. Autism can, er, take a flying leap.

And I promise to keep it legit on this site and entertain and anger and otherwise annoy you without the use of banned words. I used to teach kindergarten for goodness sake. I CAN do this!

But if you’re ever in the mood to hear a naughty word or two — because sometimes it’s that one naughty word that can really drive home a point — well then, you know where to find me.

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My point still stands: autism can take a flying leap

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- In the largest study of brain development in preschoolers with autism to date, a study by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers has found that 3-year-old boys with regressive autism, but not early onset autism, have larger brains than their healthy counterparts.

The study is published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.  It was led by Christine Wu Nordahl, a researcher at the UC Davis MIND Institute and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and David G. Amaral, Beneto Foundation Chair, MIND Institute Research Director and University of California Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

"The finding that boys with regressive autism show a different form of neuropathology than boys with early onset autism is novel," Nordahl said. "Moreover, when we evaluated girls with autism separately from boys, we found that no girls - regardless of whether they had early onset or regressive autism -had abnormal brain growth."

Brain enlargement has been observed in previous studies of autism. However, prior to this study, little was known about how many and which children with autism have abnormally large brains.

"This adds to the growing evidence that there are multiple biological subtypes of autism, with different neurobiological underpinnings," Amaral said.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms include deficits in language and social interaction and communication. The condition affects 1 in 110 children born today, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is diagnosed more frequently in male children than female children - at a ratio of 4 to 1.

The current study is one of the first published from data collected by the UC Davis MIND Institute Autism Phenome Project (APP). The project's goal is to recruit and enroll as many very young children as possible in order to collect sufficient biological and behavioral information to characterize different autism subgroups and to explore different neural, immunologic, and genetic signatures of autism.

For the study, the authors enrolled a total of 180 children between age 2 and 4. One hundred and fourteen of the participants had autism spectrum disorder; the remaining participants were 66 age-matched typically developing controls. Of the children with autism, 54 percent were diagnosed with the regressive form and 46 with the non-regressive type.

The researchers collected magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on 180 participants at age 3. To evaluate the rate of brain growth prior to age 3, they analyzed head circumference measurements taken from pediatric well-baby visits from birth through 18 months. Roughly half of the children with autism were reported by their parents as having experienced a regression, characterized by the loss of previously acquired language and social skills.

MRIs were carried out on study participants during natural, nighttime sleep using protocols developed specifically for the Autism Phenome Project by Nordahl.

"Obtaining MRI scans in 3-year-old children without the use of sedation may seem quite challenging. But, by working closely with the parents, we actually were successful more than 85 percent of the time. Patience on the part of everyone and the dedication of the families was critical for our success," Nordahl said.

The study found that accelerated head growth and brain enlargement was consistently observed only in the subset of children diagnosed with regressive autism. Specifically, total brain volume in 3-year-old males with regressive autism was more than 6 percent larger than that of age-matched typically developing peers. Twenty-two percent of boys with regressive autism, as opposed to 5 percent of boys without regressive autism, had enlarged brains, the study found.

Changes in brain size were not apparent in boys who did not experience a regression. Girls with autism, regardless of autism onset status, also did not show abnormal brain growth. The study findings suggest that abnormalities in overall brain growth are specific to male children with the regressive type of autism, and that rapid brain growth may be a risk factor for regression, the researchers said.
   
While brain size was clearly larger at age 3, the study also determined when the precocious growth began, by examining records of head circumference that provides a reasonable estimate of brain size in young children. These analyses clearly indicated that brain growth diverged from normal at around 4 to 6 months of age. This is of particular interest, because many families believe that the trigger that led to their child's regression took place close to the time that the regression happened. But the data reported in this paper indicate that the process leading to the enlarged brain, which presumably also is associated with the onset of autism, started when the child was a newborn.

Much remains to be elucidated regarding brain changes associated with autism, the authors note. In the current study, not all boys with regression demonstrate the precocious brain growth. The investigative team also continues efforts to define the underlying brain pathology in children with early onset autism and in girls with autism. 
    
"It is not clear how many different types of autism will be identified," Amaral said. "The purpose of defining different types of autism is to more effectively study the cause of each type and eventually determine effective preventative measures and better, individualized treatments. This is a first step in defining autism subtypes based on the data from the Autism Phenome Project, but it certainly will not be the last. There are already indications that other subtypes of autism will be more closely associated with immunological differences or genetic alterations."

The study's other authors are Nicholas Lange of the Department of Psychiatry and Biostatistics at Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Public Health McLean Hospital; Deana D. Li, Lou Ann Barnett, Aaron Lee, Tony J. Simon, Sally Rogers and Sally Ozonoff of the UC Davis MIND Institute and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the UC Davis School of Medicine; and Michael H. Buonocore of the Department of Radiology, UC Davis School of Medicine.

The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the University of California, Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute.

At the UC Davis MIND Institute, world-renowned scientists engage in research to find improved treatments as well as the causes and cures for autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, fragile X syndrome, Tourette syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, pharmacology and behavioral sciences are making inroads into a better understanding of brain function. The UC Davis MIND Institute draws from these and other disciplines to conduct collaborative, multidisciplinary research. For more information, visit http://mindinstitute.ucdavis.edu.

Read more:
Larger brains for some boys with autism?

Low birth weight affects a child's risk of having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study conducted by a Northwestern University researcher.

After studying 3,715 pairs of twins that include one twin with an ASD, Northwestern researcher Molly Losh learned that a weight difference of at least 15 percent or 400 grams made the smaller twin three times more likely to have an ASD.

Losh directs Northwestern's Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Laboratory and teaches at Northwestern's School of Communication.

The twins were born between 1992 and 1995 and are part of the Swedish Twin Registry's Child and Adolescent Twin Study, which is directed by Paul Lichtenstein at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. The twins in Losh's study were the same sex, but included both identical and fraternal pairs.

"This is the first study of its size that links low birth weight with the potential for autism," said Losh. "Looking at twins is a good way to study autism because the unaffected twins serve as the controls."

The causes of autism are complex, but this study gives scientists one more clue, said Losh. "We already knew the genetic link, that you are more likely to have autism if you have a family history of it or have relatives that family members described as 'anti-social' and 'aloof.' This study helps us narrow down the environmental factors. But there are still a lot of unknowns."

ASD is an umbrella term that includes developmental disabilities that can cause "significant social, communication and behavioral challenges," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lack of social interaction is the common thread, although severity ranges from mild to severe.

The syndrome is an equal-opportunity condition, crossing racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. Its various forms are four times more common among boys than girls. They affect 1 in 110 children, the CDC said.

Children diagnosed with an ASD are more common today, but the CDC said scientists are not sure if that is due to better diagnoses or an increased rate of the disorders.

Years ago, said Losh, parents were blamed for autism. "Mothers were called 'refrigerator moms' because they were accused of being cold with their babies," she said. "In fact, I see just the opposite. These parents are doing all they can to help these children."

Losh's study will be published in a spring 2012 issue of the journal Psychological Medicine.

The rest is here:
Low birth weight may increase autism risk, study finds

THURSDAY, Feb. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Children with autism may benefit from medications to treat children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other related disorders, but clearer guidelines are needed, a new study shows.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 1,000 U.S. teens enrolled in special education programs, to assess the use of psychiatric medications in those with autism, ADHD and both conditions.

Patients with both autism and ADHD had the highest rates of medicine use (about 58 percent), followed by those with ADHD only (around 49 percent) and those with autism only (about 34 percent), according to study author Paul Shattuck, an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues.

Black teenagers with autism only or with autism and ADHD were less likely to receive medications than whites.

"Observations from the present study reinforce the complexity of pharmacologic treatment of challenging behavior in kids with [autism spectrum disorders] and ADHD," Shattuck said in a university news release. "There needs to be a clearer guide for treating kids with both an [autism spectrum disorder] and ADHD."

He noted that drug treatment for autism reflects a trial-and-error approach based on associated symptoms, and there is a poor understanding of overall medication use for children with autism.

"Also striking are the high rates of antipsychotic, antidepressant/anti-anxiety and stimulant medication use in these youths," Shattuck said. "Additional studies examining the treatment of core and associated [autism spectrum disorder] symptoms are needed to guide the treatment of these kids."

It is estimated that one in 110 people have autism, with the majority being boys. Signs of autism include problems with communication and social interactions.

The study appears in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about autism.

Originally posted here:
Meds for Autism Not Well Understood: Study