What do newborn babies, children who have been severely deprived of human contact, people with autism, and blind mothers have in common? On the surface, not much. But they provide a common theme for understanding…
Scientists have linked common genetic markers with major psychiatric disorders including autism and schizophrenia, in the largest ever genetic study of psychiatric illness. The study findings, published…
Using objects like Lego for the purpose for which they were designed was a key clue, the study found.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24732687@N00
Young autistic children who can spontaneously imitate adults and use objects in a functional way may be more likely to respond well to a therapy called the Early Start Denver Model, new research shows…
Exposure to traffic-related air particles during pregnancy and the first year of life was linked with a higher risk of autism, the study found.
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Exposure to traffic pollution while in the womb and the first year of life may be associated with a higher risk of autism, a US study has found. Autism Spectrum Disorder has a variety of symptoms including…
Overall, there will be fewer symptoms and disorders listed in the new psychiatry manual.
Axel Buhrmann
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. For autistic people and their…
Men play an equal, if not larger, role in passing on genetic mutations to their children.
Bettina Neuefeind
We all know about the reproductive “biological clock” in women reminding them of the finite time in which they can have children. Now researchers have found evidence that men also have a reproductive “best…
ABC’s Four Corners recently aired a controversial documentary (The Autism Enigma) on how gut bacteria might affect autism. Here we review some of the science surrounding what it suggested caused autism…
The Autism Enigma aired on ABC’s Four Corners’s on Monday August 27, 2012.
ABC TV
Autism is a “messy” truth. It doesn’t have the high blood sugar of diabetes, the uncontrolled cell division of cancer, nor the clear brain degeneration of Alzheimer’s disease. Autism is a condition (or…
Language development is a truly remarkable phenomenon. But for a small number of kids, the words don’t come so easily. Most children acquire their first words around 12 months of age, start to string words…
Most children with autism want friends but social graces don’t come naturally.
Flickr/mikebaird
As knowledge and awareness of autism grows in the community, so do the myths. Autism is currently diagnosed according to behaviours which fit into three broad areas: social difficulties, communication…
Reading oversimplified science stories is stressful business.
Michael Clesle
There’s this gene that about half of all people carry. It’s a pretty nasty gene – it massively increases the risk of the carrier being a murderer or a murder victim, going to jail or dying in an accident…
Oscilliations produced by the brain are associated with sleep, navigation and cognition and can be used to diagnose neurological…
In the absence of clear biological markers for autism, the DSM will remain a hugely influential book well into the 21st century.
Richard Masoner/Wikimedia Commons
The DSM giveth, and the DSM taketh away - this is the less-than-complimentary sentiment of many people within the autism community as the clock ticks down to the publication of the most eagerly-anticipated…