Autism Spectrum Disorders

Exposure to air pollution appears to increase the risk for autism among people who carry a genetic disposition for the neurodevelopmental disorder.

Preterm infants—generally those born 23 to 36 weeks after conception, as opposed to the normal 37- to 42-week gestation—face an increased risk of behavioral problems, ranging from impulsiveness and distractibility to more serious conditions like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Teaching kids with autism spectrum disorder skills in turning down their fight or flight response and turning up the opposite may fundamentally allow them to be more socially engaging, decrease some of the need for cognitive rigidity and repetitive behaviors and, more importantly, allow them to feel better.

In one of the first randomized control trials studying an intervention for sensory problems in children with autism, researchers found that occupational therapy using the principles of Sensory Integration (OT-SI) provided better outcomes on parent-identified goals than standard care.

More and more women are given antidepressant medication while they are pregnant. And an increasing number of children are diagnosed with autism. This has given rise to concern over a possible connection. In contrast to other, smaller studies, our survey cannot demonstrate that the risk of having a child with autism is increased by taking antidepressant medication during pregnancy

The new research focused on just nine genes, those most strongly associated with autism in recent sequencing studies, and investigated their effects using precise maps of gene expression during human brain development.

In what are believed to be the first studies of their kind, Cedars-Sinai researchers recording the real-time firing of individual nerve cells in the brain found that a specific type of neuron in a structure called the amygdala performed differently in people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder than in those who do not.

Having bedroom access to television, computers or video games is linked to less sleep in boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a team of University of Missouri researchers found.

By personalizing and automating the patient screening process and then alerting the physician to the results, the Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation system, or CHICA, prompts the pediatrician to follow up in needed areas. Open-source CHICA can potentially interface with any electronic medical record system.

A cognitive-behavioral intervention known as problem-solving education (PSE) may help reduce parental stress and depressive symptoms immediately after their child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).