A recent study found that children who are autistic had a different type of bacteria in their gastro-intestinal system. The bacteria, Sutterella, can cause inflammation, which can lead to symptoms that are difficult to treat. Autistic children may have more difficulty communicating that their stomachs hurt and become more frustrated when they're not understood. This can lead to behavior problems.
Continue reading "Autistic Children's GI Systems are Different" »
Individuals with severe autism often suffer from another problem as well: gastrointestinal disturbances. The underlying reason for this apparent link is unknown, but a study in mBio this week reveals that the guts of autistic children differ from other children in at least one important way: many children with autism harbor a genus of bacteria in their guts that non-autistic children do not.
Featured on AANP SmartBrief, February 21, 2012, Written by Michelle Diament
Signs of autism are evident in children as young as 6 months but take time to unfold, a development researchers said could lead to opportunities to intervene before the disorder makes its full mark.
The finding comes from research on 92 infants considered at high-risk for autism because each had an older sibling with the developmental disorder.
Continue reading "Can Autism Be Derailed? Researchers Say Maybe" »
Autism and Autism spectrum disorders are one of the biggest worries parents experience. In the last few years, we've seen an explosion of numbers of children diagnosed with Autism, we've seen the link between autism and vaccines debunked and more research on the subject. I found this article from Reuters that may help clear up some of the anxiety.
I was speaking to a friend who works with children with Autism. She was explaining go me how many children with Autism or those who are on the Autism spectrum are not able to look people directly in the eye. Instead, they use their peripheral vision and may look at people from the side. She works in early intervention with children under 3 and talked about the challenges o helping these children interact with the outside world. I just read in the NY Times about therapy dogs who help children start to speak and interact with the outside world.
About 1 and 110 children will be diagnosed with Autism. It seems that the number of children diagnosed with Autism has increased in the last few years, and it's not known if it's because of increased awareness or better diagnostic tools. I spoke to some researchers at Stanford about Autism and their feeling is that the vast majority of cases are inherited and not from some environmental trigger or event.
Continue reading "More Evidence That Autism is Linked to Genetics" »
I was talking to a friend who works with Autistic children and their families. We were marveling at the explosion of new information about Autism and related Autistic Spectrum disorders.
Though there is no evidence that vaccinations are linked to autism, this common misconception still occupies a lot of our time as we try to provide evidence to parents who are understandably worried about their children. Let me just restate this. Vaccinations don't cause autism, neither does infections in early childhood. We think that there may be a genetic component.
A recent study found that Mercury levels are similar in children with and without autism. This is reassuring and brings us closer to finding out what is involved in autism. The blood mercury levels in children with autism or autism spectrum disorders were no different from those found in children without the disorder. "This is an excellent study that has addressed a very important question for many families about the role of mercury [in autism]. It's a very clear study [in] that no differences in mercury were seen," one autism expert said.
Just as a reminder, vaccines in the U.S. can contain mercury.Click here to read the whole article from Reuters.
