NPR’s Joseph Shapiro reports on how the recession is hurting kids with autism. Two Nevada families, the Johnson and the Carey are profiled in this report. Both families have a child that needs an early-intervention program. But Nevada, a fast-growing state had by the end of 2008, 566 children on the state’s waiting list.
Read the article or listen to the story at Recession Hurting Kids With Developmental Delays (NPR).
The Sunday Times of London reported yesterday that the doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism.
Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.
Full story at The Sunday Times.
The Washington Post previously reported (September 4, 2008) that a study published in Public Library of Science One found no link to autism in the vaccine.
“Like Wakefield’s study, the new study looked for evidence of potential links between MMR vaccinations, autism and the digestive (gastrointestinal, or GI) problems sometimes seen in autistic children.”
“There was no evidence . . . MMR preceded either autism or GI problems” in the children studied, The Washington Post quoted W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology, neurology and pathology at Columbia University.
Read the full story at The Washington Post.
The study, Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study, can be found at the Public Library of Science One.
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Temple Grandin new book Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals was published January 6, 2009.
Grandin explains that repetitive behaviors whether in human or animals are highly abnormal and indicates a nervous system that is not working normally in either an animal or person. She gives some examples of abnormal behavior: a polar bear pacing over and over, a gerbil that is continuously digging in a corner, etc. The main thing is that the behavior is exactly the same thing being done over and over again. The solution to ending the abnormal repetitive behaviors is to discover the motivation of the animal. The polar bear is expressing seeking behavior. A type of behavior that anticipates a reward at the end. The behavior itself pleasurable. The gerbil is a pray animal and needs a place to hid and thus its behavior is motivated by fear. Grandin gives solutions to stop these repetitive animal behaviors. For the polar bear zoo keepers gave him things to do such as lots of barrels with different buoyancies. The little gerbil received a tunnel to hide in.
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British researchers have found a way to use the fascination many autistic children have with trucks and trains to teach them about human emotions.
With funding from the British government, researcher Simon Baron-Cohen and his team developed a series of educational video vignettes for a DVD called The Transporters. The DVD uses colorful animated vehicles, each with the face of a highly expressive actor on it, to teach autistic children how to better read faces and emotions.
Read the article at DVD Helps Kids With Autism Read Faces, Emotions (NPR).
Math and numbers are often easy for kids with autism, however social interactions are almost always a struggle. A course to help kids improve their social skills was developed by a team of researchers at Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Institute. The program is called Building Up Development of Socialization, or BUDS.
Read the article at Teaching Kids With Autism The Art Of Conversation (NPR).
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