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February Digest

Welcome to our All Autism News series! Whether you’re a parent, advocate, professional in the field or individual with autism, All Autism News is here to give you a summary of this past month’s biggest news stories affecting the autism community.

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National News

New U.S. autism guidelines call for early treatment
Spectrum – Pediatricians should start treating children who show signs of autism even before tests confirm a diagnosis, according to the newest recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Autism prevalence in the United States explained
Spectrum – The rise has sparked fears of an autism ‘epidemic.’ But experts say the bulk of the increase stems from a growing awareness of the condition and changes to its diagnostic criteria.

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Research

Study ties gene active in developing brain to autism
Spectrum – Mutations in a gene called ZNF292 lead to a variety of developmental conditions, including autism and intellectual disability, according to a new study.

A Quarter Of Kids With Autism Go Undiagnosed, Study Suggests
Disability Scoop – A substantial number of children who meet the criteria for autism are failing to receive a formal diagnosis, according to a new study based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Early life experiences may shift severity of autism
Spectrum – A child’s environment exerts a strong influence on the severity of her autism, according to a study of 78 pairs of identical twins in which at least one twin has autism.

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Teens & Adults

When My Daughter on the Autism Spectrum Asked Why I Was Crying
Yahoo! – My daughter, who is 8 years old, is on the autistic spectrum. She was diagnosed over a year ago, has been in ABA therapy for about eight months, and has been making slow but still steady progress. However, that doesn’t exempt us from bad days. Yesterday was one of them.

Intelligence, behavior shape adulthood for people with autism
Spectrum – Just two factors assessed in childhood predict how well people with autism will function as adults, according to a new study: intelligence quotient (IQ) and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.

Early Treatment for Autism Is Critical, New Report Says
The New York Times – The average age of diagnosis is now around 4 years, but the goal is to get it well under 2, she said. And children who are at higher risk — for example, those whose siblings have A.S.D. — should receive especially close screening and attention.

With Blog, Teen with Autism Gains Voice
Disability Scoop – A few years ago, Mitchell Robins wasn’t able to tell anyone precisely what he was thinking. He lost the ability to speak when he was 4 and relied primarily on a system of pictures and limited sign language to tell his parents and caregivers what he wanted to eat or when he felt sick or how he wanted to spend his time. Then his parents realized he could spell.

Siblings of autistic children may have distinct facial features
Spectrum – Siblings of autistic children, like those with the condition, tend to have faces that are more masculine than average, according to a new analysis. The analysis classified features such as a wide forehead and long nose as masculine.

How can Parents Embed Language?

Many people think of speech-language pathologists (Speech Therapists or SLPs)as professionals that work with people to improve their speech (also called articulation or fluency), but a big piece of SLPs job is to help children with language development. Language is so important for individuals to function in school and life. When children have a developmental delay that impedes their ability to effectively communicate, SLPs work with parents, teachers and other caregivers to develop strategies that improve language acquisition.

Children learn language and communication from their environment and from their experiences and interactions with the people in their environment. Studies have shown that on average, about 90% of the words used by children by the age of three come from their parents’ vocabularies. Children imitate the number of words spoken, the length of conversations and the speech patterns of their caregivers.

This is why it is so important for parents and caregivers to actively engage their infants and children by talking to them as much as possible. The number of words a child hears per day will greatly impact their vocabulary and their language development, and ultimately this impacts success in many other areas for children as they develop. It does not need to be complicated- simply noticing your environment and commenting on it to your child is all it takes to stimulate your child’s learning of language and communication. It’s the frequency that matters.

One of the easiest ways to encourage the learning of language and communication is by encouraging talking during your normal, daily routines. Activities such as bathing, dressing, mealtimes, cooking, doing laundry, going for a walk, driving in the car, and grocery store shopping are all typical daily routines and activities during which you can embed all kinds of important skills that we want kids to learn (see reverse for 10specific ideas).

Below are ten specific skills related to language development with examples of how to insert those into daily activities:
1. Joint Attention Skills:

When looking at pictures, reading books, or even just playing with children, it is important that the child looks at the object, picture, or toy that you are talking about. This ensures that the child is listening and is able to understand the object or picture being labeled and described.

2. Turn-Taking:

Teaching children to respond to physical and verbal directions sets the stage for understanding how to share between two people. For example, when playing with a toy car, if the parent pushes the car to the child and says “vroom-vroom”, the parent waits for the child to respond by pushing the toy car back to them and imitating the sound.

3. Language Stimulation:

During all kinds of daily activities, talk to your child about what you are doing, seeing, hearing, etc. in your environment.

4. Play Skills:

Through play, children often show us what they understand about the world. This is how children discover and learn about objects, people and the world around them. Play with your child often and talk as you play about what you are doing.

5. Fill in the blank:

Set up a predictable, language routines, for example, set up a familiar phrase and purposefully leave out the last word, i.e., While singing “the wheels on the bus go round and ____, round and _____.” Or while reading “brown bear, brown ____.” Gradually make the task more complicated, i.e., during a favorite book, you can exclaim, “Oh, no…look…Clifford is laughing…he feels ____.” Prompt your child by looking at them and waiting for them to reply. Once you do this a few times, they will catch on.

6. Provide choices:

Provide choices instead of asking questions so your child does not have the option of answering “no” when you want to stimulate interaction. Instead of asking your child “Do you want to play with your cars” ask “Do you want to play with your cars or train?”

7. Picture walk: 

It is not necessary to read every word in a book as they can often be too wordy and confusing for the early learner. Instead, encourage your child to look at the pages and guess what is going on. Set up a familiar structure to help your child express herself—go through the book and point out familiar nouns/verbs using the phrase, “I see___”… “I see a puppy.” “I see a sun” while pointing to the object. Next, take your child’s finger and put it on an object you are sure he/she is familiar with and use the fill in the blank procedure “I see a _____ (CAT!)”.When your child becomes familiar with the routine, he/she will begin to say the phrase by herself. This sets up the routine of “my turn-your turn”.

8. Out of reach:

Put desired objects in out of reach places to encourage your child to request and ask for help. A natural instinct for parents is to make everything easier for their child—but many times we are actually doing a disservice when we anticipate our child’s every need. Once a child realizes the power of language, they will talk for what they want.

9. Confusion:

This can get your child talking and it is a nice time to introduce early language concepts in a very concrete way. So—the next time you are at the table and your child asks for peanut butter—give him regular butter instead. Wait for him to tell you that this isn’t what he asked for—at that point you can say “But, Didn’t you ask for butter?”—“NO! PEANUT butter mommy!”—“Oh, I get it now. Peanutbutter and butter are the same in a lot of ways—we can spread both of them on bread, they are both soft and they both have the word “butter” in them! But, they are also very different…peanut butter is a darker color—more like a light brown—and it is sweeter.”

10. Ask and then, Listen:

Once your toddler is talking, start teaching them to initiate conversations, and listen, a lot. You will be surprised once you stop talking about how much more your toddler will talk. This will give your child an opportunity to practice initiating communication and then you can let your child take the lead. Initiating conversation lays the groundwork for many social skills that are so important for future development.

-by Amy Hill, M.A., CCC-SLP and Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Evidence-based Practice and Autism

By Hanna C. Rue, Ph.D., BCBA-D

What is evidence-based practice?

By now, many people have heard of the term “evidence-based practice” (EBP). Many professionals in areas such as health care and education use the term EBP.  A clinician or practitioner is engaging in EBP if he/she is making use of high-quality research in their specified area, their clinical judgment based on experience with  certain population, intervention, or program, and taking into consideration the values and preferences of their client/student and their families.  EBP is not one thing but a framework that guides the practice of professionals.

How does a person identify high-quality research in the field of autism treatment?

It can be hard for professionals to keep up with the very active literature of autism treatment (e.g., behavioral interventions, educational interventions, medical interventions, etc).  So what is a family member to do when attempting to find research supporting a particular autism treatment/intervention? One way professionals and family members can remain informed about high quality research in the area of autism treatment is to read systematic reviews on the subject.

What in the world is a systematic review? Glad you asked.  A systematic review is a collection of empirical research articles that are reviewed by a researcher or research group.  The review typically includes a rating the of the quality of science in each study.  That is, the researchers develop a way to measure whether or not the study was well designed and carried out or was not well designed or carried out.  The researchers then determine the impact of the treatment/intervention on the participants in the study.  Researchers may develop a rating indicating how much participants benefited from the treatment.  Once researchers evaluate the quality of science and impact of treatment, they summarize the results.  These summaries make it easy for professionals and family members to find results of a multitude of studies in one place.  A number of recent systematic reviews regarding behavioral and educational interventions for individuals with autism have been published.  See below for links to websites providing access to the results of two systematic reviews.

What do you do with this information?

Once you review the results of a systematic review, you can make informed decisions regarding the treatment/ intervention programs for your loved one with autism.  For example, use this information when meeting with the professionals working with your family member with autism.  Ask professionals about their knowledge of interventions supported by quality scientific research and how to tailor these interventions to meet the needs of your family.  If you have home-based staff assisting with intervention implementation, ensure they have training to effectively use scientifically supported interventions.

Recommended websites:

National Professional Development Center

 National Autism Center

 

Autism Awareness Continues

As the saying goes, “If you have met one person with autism, you have met ONE person with autism”.  If you have talked with different members of the autism community during autism awareness month, you have likely had very different conversations about our experiences and what we hope might come from this month.  Some will share the need for greater understanding, compassion, and inclusion.  Others might point to the need for more investment in research and access to services.  Some parents align strongly with specific organizations and messages while others carve their own path.

Ultimately, there is no “wrong” way to share your voice and your story.  As we honestly offer our perspective and experience, we add to the collective awareness (acceptance, support, action…) that we all hope to inspire.

Whether you are at walks, sharing or seeking information in your community, wearing blue or not.  We celebrate the diversity of our community and the way in which we all contribute to the cause of enlightening our world about the amazing abilities and challenges we all have the opportunity to support.

Here are a few exciting “wins” for our community currently taking place.

  • Companies like Microsoft and STEM are beginning to create practices for hiring individuals on the spectrum while organizations like Specialisterne and ASTEP are assisting more companies to follow suit.
  • The momentum of research continues to build and there is a lot of optimism about how the emerging information could support faster identification and better support for children with autism.
  • Technology is playing a big role in communication as well as how services are delivered.
  • Recently, Hawaii, Mississippi and Georgia became the latest states to pass autism insurance reform.

Read more about the news stories listed in this blog on www.allautismnews.com