Video could transform how schools serve teens with autism | MSUToday | Michigan State University

Video could transform how schools serve teens with autism | MSUToday | Michigan State University: According to the researchers, the students demonstrated a rapid increase in the level of complex social behaviors each time video-based group instruction was used. Students sustained those social behaviors at high levels, even when the videos were used less often.

The students’ parents also completed anonymous surveys and indicated high levels of satisfaction. One reported their child started asking family members to play games together, a skill the teen had never before displayed at home.

The 5 Scariest Autism 'Treatments' - Forbes

The 5 Scariest Autism 'Treatments' - Forbes: Autism invites its share of quacks. In fact, it might have more quacks in its vicinity than a duck pond. After almost a decade of watching “cures” and “treatments” come and go … or stay and stay and stay, bafflingly … I’ve unconsciously created a list in my head, a la High Fidelity, of the Top 5 Scariest Autism Treatments Ever. And I don’t even mean that tongue-in-cheek for Halloween. I mean, these are dangerous in the “can kill you or cause permanent harm” sense. Yet, they remain in use in some circles and flogged by certain organizations who claim a commitment to curing or ‘recovering’ children from autism. So, from my head to yours:

Theatre could help autistic youth improve social deficits

Theatre could help autistic youth improve social deficits: A novel autism intervention program is using theatre to teach reciprocal communication skills to improve social deficits in adolescents with the disorder, a new study has revealed.

The newly released study assessed the effectiveness of a two-week theatre camp on children with autism spectrum disorder and found significant improvements were made in social perception, social cognition and home living skills by the end of the camp.

Web-based autism intervention tool shows promise

Web-based autism intervention tool shows promise: A new web-based intervention tool for challenging behaviors has been shown to be effective as far as its function-based intervention components are concerned, a team from CARD (Center for Autism and Related Disorders) reported in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders1.

Called the "BIP Builder", it is one of the components of an online autism solution known as Skills® (BIP stands for Behavioral Intervention Plan).

link between pregnancy weight gain and autism | ksl.com

U of U researchers find link between pregnancy weight gain and autism | ksl.com: According to a January 2013 article from The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, Utah vital records data show 51 percent of Utah women had excessive weight gain during pregnancy and 1 in 3 were overweight before becoming pregnant.

“The risk of autism spectrum disorder associated with a modest yet consistent increase in pregnancy weight gain suggests that pregnancy weight gain may serve as an important marker for autism’s underlying gestational etiology,” Bilder said.

Discovery at UNC points to possible environmental cause of autism | Science/Technology | NewsObserver.com

Discovery at UNC points to possible environmental cause of autism | Science/Technology | NewsObserver.com: Shih also said the study could inspire ideas for autism treatments: “If we know that topoisomerase is not functioning optimally, you can imagine that a compound or drug that compensates for that change or restores the function of the topoisomerase could have a positive impact on those individuals whose autism is tied to that.”

Noncontingent Reinforcement - Evidence Based Intervention Network

Noncontingent Reinforcement - Evidence Based Intervention Network: Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is a powerful method to reduce problematic behavior. NCR involves giving the student access to a reinforcer frequently enough that they are no longer motivated to exhibit disruptive behavior to obtain that same reinforcer. A classic example of NCR is a teacher placing a child on his or her lap during group instruction such that the child has no motivation to seek the teacher’s attention while the teacher is conducting story time with the class. There have been many empirical demonstrations of the effectiveness of the NCR interventions with a comprehensive demonstration of the evidence base by Carr, Severtson, and Lepper in 2008.

An Evaluation of the High-Probability Instruction Sequence with and Without Programmed Reinforcement for Compliance with High-Probability Instructions

An Evaluation of the High-Probability Instruction Sequence with and Without Programmed Reinforcement for Compliance with High-Probability Instructions: We assessed the effects of reinforcement and no reinforcement for compliance to high-probability (high-p) instructions on compliance to low-probability (low-p) instructions using a reversal design. For both participants, compliance with the low-p instruction increased only when compliance with high-p instructions was followed by reinforcement. These results suggest that providing reinforcement for high-p instructions may result in increased compliance to low-p instructions.

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Linguistic Contingent Responses take on two different forms: linguistic contingent responses to the child's communicative act and linguistic contingent responses to the child's focus of attention. To provide linguistic contingent responses to the child's communicative act, the adult must add information the child's communication attempts by expanding the semantic and syntactic information.

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: These responses typically add little linguistic information beyond acknowledging the child's behavior. However, non-linguistic contingent responses can influence communication by enhancing joint attention focus, enhancing the child's knowledge of cause and effect, and enhancing the child's exploration of his/her environment. All factors that have been recognized as positively influencing future communicative acts.

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: To sustain communication between the child and the adults in his/her environment, provide structured play activities in which your child must use symbolic forms of communication to interact in order to continue playing with a favorite toy or game. Research on long term memory suggests that meaningful rehearsal of a task is one of the factors that positively influence long term memory (Ormrod, 1990).

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Children with Autism, in particular, tend to be visual learners. They seem to decipher visual instructions more efficiently than verbal commands. Verbal messages, such as spoken words, are difficult for children with autism to process because they disappear fast. Non-transient messages, on the other hand, provide a clear and stable message that the child can refer to with or without the assistance of the adult and without the need to understand the meaning of the word.

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: According to Piaget, a child's sense of knowing comes from schemes or mental structures. Initially, schemes are simple, however, over time, they build upon each other and become more complex. In order for schemes to mean anything to the child, they must be balanced. For this to occur, the child must learn to assimilate (be given) and accommodate (know how to use) any stimuli they are presented. Consistent structured routines will provide the child with the exposure and practice in the area of accommodation (knowing how to use the item).

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: A typical interrupted behavior chain (IBC) strategy uses naturally occurring routines as contexts for communication instruction related to requests for assistance by children who are minimally motivated to communicate

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Provide the child with more appropriate ways to express himself/herself. Challenging or inappropriate behaviors are often attempts for children to communicate a message to others. Through the use of functional communication training, challenging behaviors are viewed as communicative acts that are functionally equivalent to alternative and more conventional methods

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Place items in a spot where the child can see the items, but cannot obtain the item, without the assistance from the adult. This can be done in a number of ways. First, highly motivating items can be placed behind the adult, but in clear view. Since the child cannot go through the adult, he or she must communicate with the adult to receive the item. Second, items can be placed inside a cabinent, container or a closet and picture icons or photographs can be placed on the outside of the closet or cabinet door. Once again, providing the need for adult assistance to obtain the item.

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Time Delay is a natural-environment intervention designed to increase the number of opportunities for communication and to establish environmental stimuli rather than adult verbalization, as cues for communication. Time delay is a strategy to use with individuals who have been verbally cued to communicate and have become dependent on the adult prompts, or individuals who need some encouragement to be more spontateous and independent

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: Incidental teaching refers to the the "interaction between an adult and a single child, which is used by the adult to transmit information or give the child practice in developing a skill." All interactions are child-initiated. However, in order to produce the child's interactions, the adult arranges the environment so that the child must engage the adult's assistance in order to get a desired item

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies

autism strategies classroom chatboard message board IEP information chat room teach teaching information class students autistic support children - communication strategies: The Mand-Model technique will encourage communicative competence because it is designed for children who are generally not initiators of communicative exchanges. This approach is likely to be successful with children when they will be communicating to recieve highly preferred items. For example, food, drink, and toys are more likely to ensure a high level of motivation

The Severity of Autism Is Associated with Toxic Metal Body Burden and Red Blood Cell Glutathione Levels

The Severity of Autism Is Associated with Toxic Metal Body Burden and Red Blood Cell Glutathione Levels: This study investigated the relationship of children's autism symptoms with their toxic metal body burden and red blood cell (RBC) glutathione levels. In children ages 3–8 years, the severity of autism was assessed using four tools: ADOS, PDD-BI, ATEC, and SAS. Toxic metal body burden was assessed by measuring urinary excretion of toxic metals, both before and after oral dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). Multiple positive correlations were found between the severity of autism and the urinary excretion of toxic metals. Variations in the severity of autism measurements could be explained, in part, by regression analyses of urinary excretion of toxic metals before and after DMSA and the level of RBC glutathione (adjusted of 0.22–0.45, in all cases). This study demonstrates a significant positive association between the severity of autism and the relative body burden of toxic metals.

A biomarker of mercury body-burden correlated with diagnostic domain specific clinical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder - Springer

A biomarker of mercury body-burden correlated with diagnostic domain specific clinical symptoms of autism spectrum disorder - Springer: The study purpose was to compare the quantitative results from tests for urinary porphyrins, where some of these porphyrins are known biomarkers of heavy metal toxicity, to the independent assessments from a recognized quantitative measurement, the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), of specific domains of autistic disorders symptoms (Speech/Language, Sociability, Sensory/Cognitive Awareness, and Health/Physical/Behavior) in a group of children having a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).