Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Apps4Autism: Therapeutic Advertisements for Autism (Ther-Ad) Ap...
Apps4Autism: Therapeutic Advertisements for Autism (Ther-Ad) App: "TherAd for Autism - Get the Autism App HERE. New Autism Video Therapy Introduced Via an App A new form of video self-modeling therapy ..."
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Acamprosate (Campral, Stop Drinking Drug) and Autism
Acamprosate can help treat patients with autism, Fragile X syndromeRelated:
In small, early clinical trials, adults and children with autism and Fragile X syndrome have shown improved communication and social behavior when treated with acamprosate, according to Craig Erickson, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine and chief of the Riley Hospital for Children Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center at Indiana University Health.
Acamprosate, which affects chemicals in the brain by blocking certain receptors associated with mental health, has approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcoholism in adults.
Dr. Erickson is the inventor on a pending utility patent for the use of acamprosate as a therapeutic agent for Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and the most frequent single gene cause of autism.
"We have been treating small numbers of both adults and children," said Erickson. "We have observed improvements in eye contact, social interaction and speech. This is very early work, but it appears promising.
"We have a lot to do. We need to determine appropriate doses and forms for the best drug delivery. Larger studies will be needed to determine effectiveness and tolerability. And we expect to find many interesting things along the road, for example whether this drug could work better in those with Fragile X who have autism than in those whose autism is from an unknown cause."
Read more at http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110405/Acamprosate-can-help-treat-patients-with-autism-Fragile-X-syndrome.aspx
Autism treatment under attack in Quebec
Number one autism treatment under attack in Quebec
MONTREAL, April 5 /CNW Telbec/ - Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI), the most highly recommended, comprehensively researched and universally recognized treatment for autism, continues to be questioned, underfunded and ultimately threatened - but only in Quebec.
At least four compilations of multiple studies in the last three years confirm that EIBI is a well-established, evidence-based practice. Elsewhere in North America, it has been the standard autism therapy for years.
"The language issue is keeping Quebec behind the rest of North America on EIBI," said Dr. Katherine Moxness, director of Professional Services, West Montreal Readaptation Centre (WMRC).
"Because there is no French-language data on EIBI from a Quebec-based population yet, we are constantly forced to defend this proven therapy and the costs associated with it," said Dr. Moxness.
Nevertheless, rumours that EIBI is ineffective or even harmful have been circulating in Quebec for just as long, promoted chiefly by one autism specialist and a small group of self-identified experts who strongly question the evidence or who profit from offering therapies that are not supported by the scientific community.
In January, Montreal's La Presse newspaper published a series of articles on EIBI. Based on isolated cases, unfounded statements and even misrepresentation of sources, those articles attacked EIBI's effectiveness and cited challenges and irregularities in applying EIBI as an argument for abandoning it altogether.
A resulting press release and editorial letter by a dozen Quebec-based autism experts, including Dr. Moxness, systematically refuted the points made in the articles but received no media coverage.
"Allowing these rumours to circulate unchecked could lead to parents denying their children access to the most effective treatment and justify a government policy that does not prioritize EIBI," said Martine Beaurivage, WMRC director of Child and Family Services.
THE FACTS:
- The Quebec government's published goal is to provide EIBI to only 40.5 percent of autistic children who need it.
- It funds 800 children at a cost of $25 million a year, while Ontario funds 1,440 children and spends more than $186.6 million a year.
- In a UQÀM study of 180 parents currently underway, 89 percent said their child had made "a lot of" or "enormous" progress since their child began receiving EIBI.
- A minimum of 20 EIBI hours per week is what the scientific literature recommends. Rehabilitation centres in Quebec provide only 14 hours per week, on average.
About West Montreal Readaptation Centre
West Montreal Readaptation Centre (WMRC) was one of the first rehabilitation centres in Quebec to develop an EIBI program and has treated some 700 children since 2004. It follows a rigorous clinical curriculum with measurable results and oversees EIBI services to over 100 children with autism annually.
Katherine Moxness, Ph.D., is a departmental director and psychologist who has worked with hundreds of people with autism for over 15 years and was instrumental in lobbying for Law 21 to allow psychologists to diagnose autism. Both Dr. Moxness and Martine Beaurivage have seen dramatic improvements as a result of EIBI. Also a psychologist, Ms. Beaurivage directs WMRC's Department of Child and Family Services and is a member of several autism expert committees.
Autism Treatment Double Standards
Kids with autism face double standard
Officially, Minnesota doesn't pay for an intensive type of autism therapy. Yet it has - but only for some families.Two years ago, a single mother in the Twin Cities asked the state Medicaid program to pay for an intensive type of autism therapy for her 2-year-old son.
She was turned down. State officials said the treatment -- known as Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA -- is "not now, and never has been,'' a covered service.
It turns out, though, that's not the whole story.
For years, Minnesota taxpayers have been subsidizing that same treatment, which can cost up to $100,000 a year, for middle-class and even wealthy families, including the children of lawyers and business executives.
Last year, the state Medicaid program spent $13.5 million on ABA treatments for 379 children -- most of them above the poverty line, according to state records. Those families have been able to tap into Medicaid through a special disability category that has no limit on family income.
Yet the state tells some of its poorest children, who are in Medicaid managed-care plans, that ABA is simply not an option.
Read more at http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/119121669.html
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Most meds don't help autism
Most meds don't help autism, studies show
Better studies that show which therapies work best for which children with autism spectrum disorders are needed, because most of the current research used to weigh treatment options today is lacking, according to new research published Monday.
When 1 in 110 children are affected by the same disorder where there's no definitively known cause or effective cure and in many parts of the country insufficient treatment options, determining how to best treat your child can be a huge challenge.
This is what parents of young and older children with autism face every day. People who have this neurological disorder can have multiple symptoms that affect their ability to communicate, impair their social behavior and display repetitive behavior. Many therapies and medications are offered to help patients with this disorder which affects patients for as long as they live, but there's not necessarily a consensus on what works at all or works well.
So the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, decided to take a deeper look at the existing research. The AHRQ recognized that care for adolescents and young adults with autism varies greatly from provider to provider and that the people making decisions about treatment – family and health care professionals – had little solid information on which to judge.
Three studies published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, provide some data from this very large report. One article examines the effectiveness of intense early behavioral therapy in children with ASDs; the two others look at medications that are often prescribed to treat children with autism, with one study focusing specifically on a hormone called secretin. The research was done at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
More at CNN.com
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
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