A limited offer for Facebook friends, Twitter followers or Blog Contacts

Do you have questions about communication?  Do you have a small group of people who might like the opportunity to ask questions about speech, language and learning?  Perhaps family members, colleagues or neighbours, individuals from a play-group, discussion or hobby group, sports team, parents or teachers from your school, or even co-workers? 

Small Talk Speech and Language Therapy are offering a limited number of one-hour long, no-obligation, FREE question and answer forums. We are happy to extend this offer to any of your Face Book contacts (please forward) and will travel within a 20 mile radius of Hednesford or we can welcome your group to come to our Head Office at Centrix House. 

To take advantage of this limited offer 

please ring 0844 704 5888 or e-mail info@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk
www.smarttalkers.org.uk
www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

  Tweet

Nearly one in six children - and almost one quarter of boys - have difficulty learning to talk, research suggests.

A YouGov online survey of 1,015 parents found only half of children with speech problems received expert help. The survey, for England's first "Communication Champion" Jean Gross, found some three-year-olds were unable to say a single word. Ms Gross said the proportion of children with problems is "high" and that getting help early was essential. "Our ability to communicate is fundamental and underpins everything else. Learning to talk is one of the most important skills a child can master in the 21st Century," she said. Click to play Click to play "The proportion of children who have difficulty learning to talk and understand speech is high, particularly among boys. "It is essential that all children get the help they need from skilled professionals as early as possible." Six out of 10 people questioned for the survey said the ability to talk, listen and understand was the most important skill for children to develop in the early years. This priority came ahead of the ability to interact with others (26%), reading skills (11%), numeracy skills (2%) and writing skills (1%). FIRST WORDS Dada - 15% Daddy - 13% Mama - 10% Dad - 10% Mummy 8% Mum - 7% Cat 2% No - 1% Dog - 1% All those questioned said they looked at picture books with their children, told them stories and sang nursery rhymes with them - all activities which boost language development. The survey showed that the majority of children (51%) did not enjoy looking at picture books with their parents until they were over six months old, but 18% enjoyed this at three months or younger. Children from more affluent families were reported to enjoy looking at picture books, and listening to stories and rhymes, at a younger age than children from less affluent families, researchers said. First words The most common age for children to say their first word, according to the parents surveyed, was between 10 and 11 months. More girls than boys (34% against 27%) said their first word before they reached nine months. But 4% of children had not said their first word by the age of three. There were no real social class differences in when children said their first word, the researchers said. Most parents (95%) could remember what their child's first word was. Among those surveyed, that word was most likely to be "Dadda" (15%) or "Daddy" (13%), with "Mama" (10%) and "Mummy" (8%) trailing a little behind. Speech experts generally think the "da" sound is easier for babies to say than "m". The YouGov research involved 1,015 parents of children aged one to to seven, questioned online in December. The figures have been weighted to provide a representative sample. Tweet

A simple brain scan to detect ASD?

Have a look at http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/  who today report................:

Scientists funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have  developed  a pioneering new method of diagnosing autism in adults. For the first time, a quick brain scan that takes just 15 minutes can identify adults with autism with over 90% accuracy. The method could lead to the screening for autism spectrum disorders in children in the future.

In the MRC-funded study, scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King’s College London, used an MRI scanner to take pictures of the brain’s grey matter. A separate imaging technique was then used to reconstruct these scans into 3D images that a computer algorithm can assess for structure, shape and thickness – all intricate measurements that reveal Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at its root. Having developed this process, the computer can quickly pinpoint biological markers, rather than personality traits, to assess whether or not a person has ASD.

ASD is a lifelong and disabling condition caused by abnormalities in brain development. It affects about 1% of the UK population (over half a million people), the majority of these being men (4:1 male to female). Until now, diagnosis has mainly relied on personal accounts from friends or relatives close to the patient – a long and drawn-out process hinged on the reliability of this account and requiring a team of experts to interpret the information.

Dr Christine Ecker, a Lecturer in the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences from the IoP, who carried out the study said:

“The value of this rapid and accurate tool to diagnose ASD is immense. It could help to alleviate the need for the emotional, time consuming and expensive diagnosis process which ASD patients and families currently have to endure. We now look forward to testing if our methods can also help children.”

Professor Declan Murphy, Professor of Psychiatry and Brain Maturation at the IoP, who led the research said:

“We think that our new method will help people with ASD to be diagnosed more quickly and cost effectively. Most importantly their diagnosis will be based on an objective ‘biomarker’ and not simply on the opinion of a clinician which is formed after an interview. Simply being diagnosed means patients can take the next steps to get help and improve their quality of life. People with autism are affected in different ways; some can lead relatively independent lives while others need specialist support or are so severely affected they cannot communicate their feelings and frustrations at all. Clearly the ethical implications of scanning people who may not suspect they have autism needs to be handled carefully and sensitively as this technique becomes part of clinical practice.”

Professor Christopher Kennard, Chair of the MRC’s Neuroscience and Mental Health funding board said:

“Bringing together the knowledge gained from neuroscience in the laboratory and careful clinical and neuropsychological evaluation in the clinic has been key to the success of this new diagnostic tool. In fact, this approach to research is a crucial theme throughout the MRC’s strategy. We know that an investment like this can dramatically affect the quality of life for patients and their families. The more we understand about the biological basis of autism, the better equipped we will be to find new ways of treating those affected in the future.”

The research studied 20 healthy adults, 20 adults with ASD, and 19 adults with ADHD. All participants were males aged between 20 and 68 years. After first being diagnosed by traditional methods (an IQ test, psychiatric interview, physical examination and blood test), scientists used the newly-developed brain scanning technique as a comparison. The brain scan was highly effective in identifying individuals with autism and may therefore provide a rapid diagnostic instrument, using biological signposts, to detect autism in the future.

The research was undertaken using the A.I.M.S. Consortium (Autism Imaging Multicentre Study), which is funded by the MRC. Support funding was also provided by the Wellcome Trust and National Institute for Health Research.

The paper, ‘Describing The Brain In Autism In Five Dimensions - MRI-Assisted Diagnosis Using A Multi-Parameter Classification Approach’ is published in the Journal of Neuroscience on Wednesday 11 August.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Simple MRI brain scan offers autism diagnosis in 15 minutes (news.scotsman.com)
• British scientists develop brain scan to detect autism (leaderpost.com)
• British scientists develop autism brain scan (timesofmalta.com)
• Autism Can Be Diagnosed With 15-Minute Brain Scan, Study Finds - BusinessWeek (businessweek.com)
• Quick and cheap autism test a step closer (telegraph.co.uk)
• Autism can be diagnosed with brain scan - study (guardian.co.uk)
• Brain scan test for adult autism (bbc.co.uk)