Nearly every mental health professional and autism specialist has wondered at some point if there could be a link between ADHD and autism. Now, a blockbuster study has provided some new evidence of a genetic link, which is a possible breakthrough researchers say could lead to the use of cutting edge gene therapy treatment for behavioral and developmental issues in the future.
Posted by: Lawrence V. Tucker, M.D.
In a time where there is still much to learn about autism, new breakthroughs and knowledge are always exciting. This week, autism has been in the headlines twice thanks to the results of more studies being released. The first one reported that women who took antidepressants during pregnancy were more likely to have children with autism, though that study is already being discredited since it was widely exaggerated. The second study, which is much more promising, revealed that a neurotransmitter ...
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With one in 68 children currently being diagnosed with some form of autism, it’s very clear that it is here to stay. Eventually those autistic children grow up, fall in love, and hopefully find the right partner and get married. With proper treatment from an autism specialist, an adult on the autism spectrum can ...
Continue Reading →As a parent, you worry about your children hitting certain milestones—and if they miss a few, you start to worry about things like signs of autism. Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.
With ...
Continue Reading →Being a parent of an autistic child isn’t easy. You likely feel pressured to do everything to ensure your child behaves “normally,” displaying as few characteristics of autism as possible. There is also the threat of outside pressure, with others constantly giving you advice or telling you about “promising new studies.” In addition, you want to do everything you can to make sure your child is happy.
Getting your child autism and aspberger’s treatment from an autism specialist as ...
Continue Reading →Halloween can be a very fun time for children. But for kids with special needs like ADHD, autism and anxiety, it can also be scary and difficult. If your child falls on the autism spectrum, talk to an autism specialist about handling holidays like Halloween since the disorder is so diverse and every child is different. Here are some general tips for helping your special needs child enjoy this holiday:
It has long been known by every scientist and autism specialist that autism strikes boys more often than girls. In fact, boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism. But when girls do get autism, they tend to be at the more severely affected end of the spectrum. What has never been clear is why. But now, ...
Continue Reading →The results of a new study have shown that brain activity among autistic children is significantly more active while at rest than that of non-autistic children—on average, 42%. The study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, was a followup to a previous finding that brain connections are different in autistic children. The results showed that autistic children’s brains generate much more information than those of non-autistic children.
The researchers believe this finding offers a scientific explanation for the ...
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Children with autism are often faced with sensory processing issues. Every autism specialist has struggled to understand the sensory tricks the condition can play on children’s minds. Now, a newly released study may have the answer: children with autism spectrum disorders have trouble integrating simultaneous information from their eyes and their ears.
The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that ...
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There are all kinds of facts and speculations about the autism spectrum. Unfortunately, many Americans are either somewhat misinformed or simply don’t know much about it. Since more and more children and adults are getting diagnosed with autism each year, it’s important that people at least have a basic understanding of what it is and how it affects people. The sooner someone ...
It is much easier to diagnose a child with autism than an adult. Distinguishing autism from other psychiatric conditions can be difficult since adults’ symptoms often overlap and can be similar to things like ADHD and schizophrenia. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new screening tool to facilitate the diagnosis of autism in adults.
Screening methods used for diagnosing adults with an autism spectrum disorder can be time-consuming and require a great deal of expertise from an autism ...
Continue Reading →It is a well-known fact that the earlier a child is diagnosed with autism, the sooner they can get autism treatment that can lead to a fairly normal life. However, autism can be difficult to diagnose before a baby is one or two years old due to the lack of signs. But now, some U.S. researchers are claiming that a sign of autism may be present in the first months of life: a steady decline in attention to other ...
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