I lay on the floor and carried on talking....he didn't notice!: Thomas from Born Naughty episode 3

Most people have an idea of what a person with Autism might be like. This will depend on their previous experience or what they've watched for instance when Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman was shown, people assumed all children with ASD were like that with extra abilities in one area. Many teachers tell me they've worked with children with autism before when I'm discussing a potential new one, as if that makes them experts. The real truth is that the spectrum is so wide and each individual so different, that its very hard to be an expert in all aspects of ASD: 'when you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism' is by far the best quote I've come across. We must be aware of the aspects of ASD and potential strategies to help but each will require their own individual programme.

Diagnosing ASD can be very straight forwards with some children because the red flags are so numerous while others can be very difficult because they have become skilled at coping and the right questions must be asked in the right situations. Dr Ravi from 'Born Naughty' says that for  some children, its like appraising fine art' so just like some of us may look at a Picasso and think that's definitely NOT art, others would be able to admire the subtle messages portrayed within.

When you first met Thomas, you don't see any red flags initially: non verbal communication, language skills and even pragmatic skills can  look to be within normal limits to the un-trained eye. I saw him in a clinic situation at first, we chatted, played a little and did some formal and informal language assessments. He coped well with the filming and having to do things again for the camera angle. We'd dedicated the entire afternoon to the initial part of the assessment so we had a tea-break in the middle.

At this point, I hadn't spoken to his mother very much as my plan was to see her after Thomas so he could get something to eat and so we weren't talking in front of him. While we were in the kitchen area, she showed me her phone with a video of Thomas having a temper tantrum. It wasn't a major one, in fact as a mother of a child the same age, I would say it was  5/10, BUT my son would be absolutely mortified if he thought I'd told anyone let alone, videoed and shown it. Was Thomas bothered? No way, he didn't see that I would think anything.... he has impaired perspective taking, he couldn't put himself in others shoes (no theory of mind) and I needed to explore that route.

I saw him at his special sports club with his instructors: he didn't follow any instructions yet told everyone else what to do. The other children all attended special, schools but he didn't notice their differences.

I spent some time at home before doing the first session of social thinking (Garcia-Winner) which is about being  a social detective. I introduce the session and then lie on the floor while I'm still talking...... did he look shocked, look to see where I'd gone, say anything about an adult lying on a classroom floor? NO, he carried on talking!! I got out the ASD assessment!

Sure enough he scored a profile which together with the parental interviews and Ravi's observations, would suggest mild to moderate ASD.

With the programme, you get a  snapshot of the assessment, which actually took several days over a  month. Thomas was seen at home, in a school setting, sports group setting and in a clinic by me and at home by the Paediatrician. I interviewed parents on three separate occasions too. ASD diagnosis needs to be thorough to be sure.

Perspective taking and high level ASD is fascinating and we'll look at that more another time.

Is obsessing with Thomas the tank a sign of ASD?

Many of us who work with Children with ASD know that a familiar obsession with pre-school boys with the condition, is Thomas the Tank engine. One expert I know said she thought we could probably use it as part of an autism checklist, it's so popular for children with ASD to wear the jumpers and be clutching Thomas or Percy etc.


According to a new study, however, the  Reverend W. Awdry, the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, was on to something in 1943 when he developed the smiling steam engine. It turns out that putting a human face on a cartoon train, bus or tram can help children with autism understand emotions.

The head of the University of Cambridge's Autism Research Centre, Simon Baron-Cohen, conducted a study using a series of 15 animated stories called The Transporters. Each episode focused on a different emotion - from simple ones such as happy, sad and angry to more complex emotions such as sorry, ashamed, tired and joking. 

The findings, published in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders in November, showed children with autism spectrum conditions had improved emotion recognition after watching the 3D program for 15 minutes a day over a month. Professor Baron-Cohen said using mechanical vehicles also helped, as things such as trains and trams behaved in predictable ways. ''Children with autism and Asperger syndrome love order and predictability. So they shy away from people. To them, we're confusing and unpredictable,'' he said.
Read more at http://www.annakennedyonline.com/page.aspx?id=478

Autism diagnosis helped by speech screen

A  device may be able to automatically screen young children for autism based on how they talk, U.S. researchers say. The small recorder fits into a child's pocket and analyzes the words the child says during the day, and a software program evaluates how the child makes certain sounds.

A team of researchers led by Kimbrough Oller of the University of Memphis analyzed more than 3 million syllabic utterances, collected from almost 1,500 all-day recordings from 232 children aged 10 months to 4 years.

The program correctly identified an existing autism diagnosis 86 percent of the time. The analysis also predicted the age of a typically developing child, said the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Although clinicians have been saying for many years that they think that autistic kids sound strange when they talk, there's been no practical way to use vocalization as a part of the diagnostic or screening procedure in working with autism," said Oller, professor of audiology and speech-language pathology.

Oller identified the speech patterns the device analyzes and helped develop the screening method.

The tests were conducted in English, but Oller said the technique may apply to other languages. "It hasn't actually been tried yet, but there's every reason to think it should," he said.

Doctors now diagnose autism by testing children for a range of behavioral and speech issues including how much they talk by a certain age and whether they make eye contact with other people.

"Autism is a multi-factoral disorder and it has many behavioral dimensions to consider. And vocalization is clearly an important one," said Oller. "But I certainly don't think it should be used exclusively."

Oller, who studies language learning and language evolution, has identified how the formation of different syllables changes during a child's first four years.

Instead of saying "ba" as part of a longer word, for instance, a young child might at first say "ba-a," with "sort of a staccato or tremor kind of pattern," said Oller. The speech development of autistic children does not follow those typical patterns, the analysis shows.

The software distinguishes among speakers and processes sounds made only by the child being studied. The day-length recordings enable the researchers to examine a child's natural speech.

Parents send the recorder back to the company after the child has worn it for a day and the company analyzes the recording for language development progress and autism.

Infoture Inc developed the device and the software. The company dissolved in February 2009 and was reconstituted as the LENA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, which continues to fund the research. The foundation sells the device along with clothing with a pocket to hold the recorder.

Oller received consultation fees from Infoture before it dissolved and several of the other researchers are employees of the LENA Foundation.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE66I4UN20100719

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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.

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