Autism-World

Autism and Mental Retardation are two different things.What is the difference between Autism and Mental Retardation?Most people with mental retardation show relatively even skill development, while individuals with autism typically show uneven skill development with deficits in certain areas – most frequently in their ability to communicate and relate to others – and distinct skills [...]

Q: I tried to explain autism to my husband tonight and got carried away. I saw his eyes glaze over. I know there is no social awareness or abiity to understand metaphorr (it’ raining cats and dogs etc) but how can you put it into a nutshell for those that truly do not understand it?
Answer:
In [...]

When you hear people claim autism has increased 60 fold or more, they are comparing old, underestimated rates with the modern, more complete rates.I think my neice would have been labeled “brain damaged” or “retarded” 50 years ago. I suspect many family doctors wouldn’t label a child autistic because family doctors back then actually knew [...]

The suggestion is that in males and females with autism; the brain is essentially extremely “male” caused by an excess of testosterone.
Note, not the person, just the brain. The brain has these features as a result of the wrong amounts of hormones during development. What I want to know is, since autism is supposedly a [...]

Autism is not so much a disease, it is a disorder. The difference is that diseases are something that is caused by an outside effect such as bacteria or virus. Disorders are a result of something gone awry with the neurological system and can’t be caught by another person.
There have been some links to Autism [...]

According to Temple Grandin symptoms that resemble frontal lobe damage are a big part of autism. In other words, a person with autism shows symptoms that are similar to someone with undeveloped frontal lobes, even though the autistic person does not have a smaller or damaged frontal lobe.Grandin says: “…even though autistic people have a [...]

Rett Syndrome,which is in the autistic spectrum was found to be genetic in ‘99 and there is actually a genetic test for it .
It is believed that autism is genetic because of its similarities to Rett Syndrome and that it tends to run in families.
Yes, a “cure” is possible and Rett Syndrome symptoms have been [...]

Autism is a developmental disorder that some people are born with – it’s not something you can catch or pass along to someone else. It affects the brain and makes communicating and interacting with other people difficult. People who have autism often have delayed language development, prefer to spend time alone, and show less interest [...]

Q: Can autism or pdd be caused by baby formuls?
Answer:
No one is really sure what is causing the “epidemic” of autism cases.I doubt it’s caused by baby formula…that’s just some vitamins and lactation protiens.The world is full of hazards…perhaps a combination of environmental factors are sharing a vector and causing this surge in autistic cases.

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Autism and early childhood schizophrenia are quite different,though many people found out that they have things in common.
In actuality, in decades past, prior to the real understanding of autism which was finally recognized in the 1970s, persons with that disorder were commonly diagnosed as having childhood schizophrenia. This resulted in a great many persons being [...]

by Teresa Binstock

Several subsequent posts shall delineate a remarkable parallel between three
traditional areas of research: Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (LKS) and a virus that is
known (i) to impair language in some persons, and (ii) to induce seizures or other
epileptiform atypicalities. We not that items i and ii are also seen in LKS.
[...]

1. Some type of one-on-one interacting with child, such as the following(this would include academics and socializing skills)

Floortime
Son-rise
ABA, VBA, DTT
RDI (Relationship Development Intervention)
Faciliated Communication

2. Some type of Sensory Integration Therapy, as needed

Sensory Integration (SI) therapy/Occupational Therapy
Physical therapy/hippotherapy/sports
Hearing therapy/AIT/Listening program
Irlen lenses/special glasses
Speech therapy/language training
PECS – picture exchange system/sign language

3. Some type of biological measures, if needed(this [...]

Good nutrition and digestion is important for everyone. Someone, especially a young child or person with communication difficulties, may have a harder time relaying what they are feeling. So if something is upsetting them, you may not know exactly what is the problem. Children with neurological difficulties often have eating and digestive problems. This may [...]

Social anxiety disorder is well suited to the spectrum concept because it has trait-like qualities of early onset, chronicity, and no empirically derived threshold that demarcates normal from clinically significant trait social anxiety. Social anxiety disorder has been shown to respond to relatively specific pharmacologic and cognitive-behavioral therapies, which makes identification of other conditions that [...]

Q: I am beginning to think there is a link. Most autistic children that I see have older/slim mothers that breastfeed. Could there be something the mother is doing/not doing to unintentionally cause their child to be autistic. I see some mothers worrying about their bodies after the pregnancy.
Could the infant not be getting enough [...]

Q: What is the difference among autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and high-functioning autism?Can the three be clearly differentiated?
Answer:
The can not be clear-cut. It depends on two main factors:1) The age of the person that is to be diagnosed,2) The qualification of the person who is making the observation.ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) is a “very” wide spectrum [...]

Q:Does anyone know where i can find a punnet square showing the inheritance of autism?
Answer:
The factors that cause autism is not yet fully known. That’s why it’s pictorial symbol is an “unfinished puzzle”.
Until recently [say last 50 years], autism was thought to have generated due to bad parenting and abuse [i.e. external factors]. However, very [...]

Q: A friend of mine said that she’d read an article that mentioned that a shot given to infants/toddlers may be a cause of Autism but, she couldn’t remember what shot it said could be…
Has anyone read anything about the POSSIBLE link between infant shots and Autism?
Answer:
The stopped putting Thimerasol (the mercury-related preservative) in all [...]

To airline staff and airport security personnel:
This child, [CHILDS NAME], has a condition known as fragile X syndrome. This is a genetic condition. Children with fragile X syndrome can have difficulty learning and so, they may not understand all of your instructions. Additionally, they may be very anxious about meeting new people and have difficulty [...]

As you well know, some children with fragile X syndrome find taking a trip on an airplane to be challenging. In large part, it’s the unpredictability of air travel (e.g., flight delays, unexpected additional security checks) that is the biggest challenge. We have learned from our families some ways to reduce the unpredictability and make [...]

Fragile X syndrome may be underlying behavioral concerns in the classroom for undiagnosed students, especially in early childhood. Behaviors reflect obsessive-compulsive tendencies, hyperactivity, attention deficit, and autism.
Fragile X syndrome is the second most common chromosomal cause of mental retardation. The severity of cognitive, language and behavioral outcomes may be related to the actual number of [...]

The purpose of these recommendations is to provide general guidelines to aid clinicians in making referrals for fragile X syndrome testing.
Individuals for Whom Testing Should Be Considered

Individuals of either sex with mental retardation, developmental delay, or autism, especially if they have (a) any physical or behavioral characteristics of fragile X syndrome, (b) a family history [...]

Below is a list of Asperger’s Syndrome characteristics.
Cognitive Characteristics?of Asperger’s Syndrome:
Susceptibility to distraction
Difficulty in expressing emotions
Resistance to or failure to respond to talk therapy
Mental shutdown response to conflicting demands and multi-tasking
Generalized confusion during periods of stress
Low understanding of the reciprocal rules of conversation: interrupting, dominating, minimum participation, difficult in shifting topics, problem with initiating or [...]

In the child in whom the diagnosis is suspected, a high resolution chromosome analysis is often first performed to insure that no other chromosome disorder is present, since features such as mental delay, microcephaly, or seizures can be seen in other chromosome abnormalities. Concurrent with the chromosome test, a fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis [...]

Large typical deletion
70%
Hypopigmentation is common

UBE3A mutation
5-7%
Possibility of normal carrier mother

Paternal uniparental disomy
2-3%
Inheritance of both 15s from father

Imprinting defect
3-5%
Some have IC deletion, some do not

Other chromosome abnormalities
2%
Unusual chromosome rearrangements

Unknown
15%
All diagnostic tests negative (FISH, methylation, UBE3A mutation analysis)

Technorati : Angelman Syndrome

For several decades the chromosome study of AS individuals revealed no abnormalities, but with the development of improved methods a very small deleted area was found in chromosome 15. Molecular methods such as FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) now demonstrate a deletion in about 70% of individuals with AS. The deleted area, although extremely small, [...]

In 1965, Dr. Harry Angelman, an English physician, first described three children with characteristics now known as the Angelman syndrome (AS) (1). He noted that all had a stiff, jerky gait, absent speech, excessive laughter and seizures. Other cases were eventually published (2-8) but the condition was considered to be extremely rare and many physicians [...]

Angelman syndrome is usually not recognized at birth or in infancy since the developmental problems are nonspecific during this time.
Parents may first suspect the diagnosis after reading about AS or meeting a child with?Angelman syndrom.?The most common age of diagnosis is between three and seven years when the characteristic behaviors and features become most evident. [...]

Angelman syndrome was known as a distinct clinical entity before the genetics were fully understood. It has taken years of research to elucidate the different genetic mechanisms that can lead to AS. There are 4 major genetic mechanisms that cause Angelman syndrome:

1.Chromosome 15q11 -q13 deletion (a very small piece missing) accounts for 65-75% of AS [...]

In 1996/1997, the laboratories of Dr. Joseph Wagstaff from Children’s Hospital in Boston and Harvard School of Medicine and Dr. Arthur Beaudet from Baylor College of Medicine found a single gene on chromosome l5q called UBE3A that caused Angelman syndrome (figure 3). They showed that some patients with AS have mutations in the UBE3A gene. [...]