On this week’s podcast, Dr. Lori Sacrey of the University of Alberta highlights findings from a multi-site study she led that investigated how well parent report measures could predict an ASD diagnosis for at-risk infants. Plus, the journal Autism decided to move away from the puzzle piece symbol in this new era of autism research.
Podcast: Improving early detection of ASD by listening to parents
Often overlooked in intervention studies, it is becoming increasingly clearer that adaptive behavior, the “will do” vs. the “can do” of functioning, should receive more focus. On this week’s podcast, learn about adaptive behavior and hear about highlights of studies from the National Institutes of Health and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
On this week’s podcast, the needs of #autism support staff are discussed. These important members of the community suffer burnout which can impact the quality of the services they provide individuals with ASD. A new study examines how to improve the psychological well being of autism support staff so interventions and prevention of burnout can be developed. In addition, intolerance to uncertainty is highly associated with autism, but in a new study by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, there is now a direct link between this trait and ASD.
This week’s ASF podcast takes a look at the prevalence rate of autism diagnoses. Two national datasets have shown no further increase in autism prevalence in the last few years of looking. Also, folic acid proves to show an effect on the probability of not just an autism diagnosis but also autism symptoms, especially important for women taking anti epileptic medications for seizures and bipolar depression. Listen to the podcast here.
This week’s ASF podcast goes into some waves—gamma waves, which seem to help coordinate activity in different parts of the brain. Researchers at Oxford University led by Dr. David Menassa explore gamma waves in the brains of autistic adults who perform better on a visual processing task than those without a diagnosis. Dr. Menassa provides his own interpretation of the data on this week’s podcast, which you can read more on and listen to here.
This week’s ASF podcast explores differences in sexuality and sexual relationships between those with autism and without, and also differences between males and females with autism. While this is not a new topic, the number of publications and research has exploded this year. Learn more here.
Labor Day is a time to appreciate and honor all those people who work to make this world a better place. People with autism do that, but they also want to get paid and be employed just like anyone else. This Labor Day, the podcast summarizes challenges to studying employment in people with ASD, what we know, and what is being done in a collaboration between ASF, Curtin University in Australia, the Karolinska Institute and Stony Brook University in Long Island. This is the INSAR supported policy brief project that will be completed next year, but you will all be receiving a request to fill out a survey about employment in the coming weeks. In addition, what does employment mean for people with autism? A NY Times article recently highlighted the journey from childhood to adulthood and what having a job means. Listen to the podcast here: http://asfpodcast.org/?p=399