Lenny Shafer has posted his July calendar of events related to Autism. See it at Autism Calendar
Archive for the 'News' Category
If you are a person who might have thought “facilitated communication” was too far out, think again. This one will probably make you shake your head in disbelief.
School officials called Colleen Leduc and asked that she go to the school of her daughter Victoria, an 11-year old who has Autism. When she got there, they told Ms. Leduc that they had allegations that Victoria was being sexually abused. Of course, the school officials had performed their legal duty and notified child protective services.
How did they come by such startling knowledge? Leduc was incredulous as they poured out their story.
“The teacher looked and me and said: ‘We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of “V.” And she said ‘yes, I do.’ And she said, ‘well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.’”
What’ll folks come up with next?
Of course, you should read the entire story here or here (thanks, Mark), or track the coverage here. Flashes of the electrons to PZ Myers (Pharyngula), Janice Liedl, and BoingBoing.
Sphere: Related ContentLast month when I first saw the title “Thimerosal exposure in infants and neurodevelopmental disorders: An assessment of computerized medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink,” I was initially skeptical, but I wanted to check what was being proposed, so I jumped right past the author list and read the abstract. I was a bit intrigued, thinking to myself, “Hmmm…maybe there’s more to this than I thought.” Then, when I went to locate the actual article, I realized that the second and third authors were the Geiers, David and Mark. Slowed by the connection, I put the study aside for later review. Now, others have already done the analysis for me, and those analyses are the focus of this entry.
Continue reading ‘Young et al. deconstructed’
The University of Pennsylvania Collaborative on Community Integration has published its latest newsletter. To view this newsletter in fully formated form, click here. You can also find this issue and previous ones in the newsletter archive on the UPenn Collaborative Web site.
Continue reading ‘UPenn newsletter June 08′
Sphere: Related ContentOver on All that Autism Douglas H. McDonald, Ph.D. is offering an online magazine focusing on Autism. The site offers a front page that features current news about research related to Autism. There are also other sections that provide resources, research, news about applied behavior analysis and law. Some of these appear to be feeds drawn from other sources, so they provide a ready way to keep current.
Continue reading ‘All that Autism’
Children who show behavioral inhibition in video-taped sessions at a child development laboratory are substantially more likely to manifest social anxiety five years later than their peers who do not exhibit behavioral inhibition, according to a recent study appearing in . In the study by Hirshfeld-Becker and colleagues of the Harvard Infant Study Laboratory, the researchers found that the children who do and do not have behavioral inhibition are about equally likely to exhibit other developmental disorders (e.g., ADHD). The children showing behavioral inhibition did not differ significantly in gender, family intactness, or race, from those who did not show behavioral inhibition.
Objective: Behavioral inhibition (BI) to the unfamiliar represents the temperamental tendency to exhibit fearfulness, reticence, or restraint when faced with unfamiliar people or situations. It has been hypothesized to be a risk factor for anxiety disorders. In this prospective longitudinal study, we compared the psychiatric outcomes in middle childhood of children evaluated at preschool age for BI.
Method: The baseline sample consisted of 284 children ages 21 months to 6 years, including offspring at risk for anxiety (children of parents with panic disorder and/or major depression) and comparison offspring of parents without mood or major anxiety disorders. They had been assessed for BI using age-specific laboratory protocols. We reassessed 215 of the children (76.5%) at 5-year follow-up at a mean age of 9.6 years using structured diagnostic interviews.
Results: BI specifically predicted onset of social anxiety. The rate of lifetime social anxiety (DSM-IV social phobia or DSM-III-R avoidant disorder) was 28% versus 14% (odds ratio [OR] = 2.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10–5.10) in inhibited versus noninhibited children. BI significantly predicted new onset of social phobia among children unaffected at baseline (22.2% vs 8.0% in inhibited versus noninhibited children (OR = 3.15, 95% CI: 1.16–8.57). No other anxiety disorders were associated with BI.
Conclusion: BI appears to be a temperamental antecedent to subsequent social anxiety in middle childhood. Children presenting with BI should be monitored for symptoms of social anxiety and may be good candidates for preventive cognitive behavioral strategies.
Students with social anxiety and other acting in disorders (e.g., shy or withdrawn) are too easy to overlook. Educators need all the help they can get in catching these problems early and addressing them with effective interventions.
Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Biederman, J., Henin, A., Faraone, S. V. Davis, S., Harrington, K., & Rosenbaum, J. F. (2007). Behavioral inhibition in preschool children at risk is a specific predictor of middle childhood social anxiety: A five-year follow-up. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 28, 225-233. Link.
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