(Press-News.org) When given early treatment, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) made significant improvements in behavior, communication, and most strikingly, brain function, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study.
The study was published in the current issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders by Yale Child Study Center researchers Fred Volkmar, M.D., Kevin A. Pelphrey, and their colleagues.
The results suggest that brain systems supporting social perception respond well to an early intervention behavioral program called pivotal response treatment. This treatment includes parent training, and employs play in its methods.
ASDs are complex neurobiological disorders that inhibit a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, and are often accompanied by behavioral challenges. Until recently, autism diagnosis typically did not occur until a child was about three- to five-years-old, and treatment programs were geared for this older age group. Today, Volkmar and his team are diagnosing children as young as age one. Pivotal response treatment, developed at the University of California-Santa Barbara, combines developmental aspects of learning and development, and is easy to implement in children younger than age two.
In the current study, the team used functional magnetic resonance imaging — for the first time — to measure changes in brain activity after two five-year-olds with ASD received pivotal response treatment. Study co-author Pamela Ventola used this treatment method to identify distinct behavioral goals for each child in the study, and then reinforced these targeted skills with treatment involving motivational play activities.
The team found that children who received this treatment showed improvements in behavior, and being able to talk to other people. In addition, the MRI and electroencephalogram revealed increased brain activity in the regions supporting social perception.
Their results are from two children, but the researchers are currently conducting a full-scale study of 60 children. Pelphrey said that while both children in the current study received the same type of treatment for ASD, the results were not homogenous because ASD is a multi-faceted disorder that has a unique effect on each child. Some children with ASD function on a higher level than others, for example.
"ASD is a heterogeneous disorder, and research aimed at understanding treatment must address this heterogeneity," said Pelphrey. "Both the children in our current study made progress, but their degree of progress and level of skills at the end of treatment were distinct."
Volkmar sees these results as a first step in a novel approach to treatment planning.
"Autism research has come a long way," he said. "These findings are exciting because they show that early intervention works in autism."
### Other authors on the study included first author Avery C. Voos, Jonathan Tirrell, Danielle Bolling, Brent Vander Wyk, Martha D. Kaiser, and James C. McPartland.
Funding for the study came from the Harris Professorship at Yale Child Study Center given to Kevin A. Pelphrey; Allied World; and National Institute of Mental Health grant K23MH86785. This research was also made possible by CTSA Grant Number UL1 RR024139 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH roadmap for Medical Research.
Citation: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Doi: 10.1007/s10803-012-1683-9
Early treatment sparks striking brain changes in autism
2012-11-06
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
HF patients treated by a cardiologist, rather than hospitalist, have fewer readmissions
2012-11-06
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – November 6, 2012 – When a cardiologist attends to heart failure patients, even when the severity of illness is higher, patients have reduced rates of hospital readmissions, compared with those patients who are treated by a hospitalist, according to a trial being presented today at the American Heart Association's scientific sessions in Los Angeles.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the most common cause for hospital readmission in patients over the age of 65 years. Whereas efforts to reduce readmission rates have focused on transitions of care and short-term ...
Living abroad can bring success -- If you do it right
2012-11-06
"Travel broadens the mind" goes the old adage, and potential employers often agree, valuing the open-mindedness and creativity fostered by such worldliness. But according to new Tel Aviv University research, not all international experiences are created equal.
"Although living abroad does help to hone creative abilities, not all individuals who have lived abroad derive an equal benefit from such experiences," explains Dr. Carmit Tadmor of TAU's Recanati School of Business, who conducted the study with Dr. Adam Galinsky of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern ...
Team finds a new way to inhibit blood clotting and inflammation
2012-11-06
CHAMPAIGN, lll. — Scientists have identified a group of small molecules that interfere with the activity of a compound that initiates multiple steps in blood clotting, including those that lead to the obstruction of veins or arteries, a condition called thrombosis. Blocking the activity of this compound, polyphosphate, could treat thrombosis with fewer bleeding side effects than the drugs that are currently on the market.
Their findings appear in the journal Blood.
Blood clots are formed at the site of an injured blood vessel to prevent blood loss. Sometimes, however, ...
New study reveals challenge facing designers of future computer chips
2012-11-06
To build the computer chips of the future, designers will need to understand how an electrical charge behaves when it is confined to metal wires only a few atom-widths in diameter.
Now, a team of physicists at McGill University, in collaboration with researchers at General Motors R&D, have shown that electrical current may be drastically reduced when wires from two dissimilar metals meet. The surprisingly sharp reduction in current reveals a significant challenge that could shape material choices and device design in the emerging field of nanoelectronics.
The size of ...
ICDs can reduce sudden death in young patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
2012-11-06
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – November 5, 2012 – A multicenter registry has demonstrated that the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to combat sudden cardiac death in high-risk pediatric patients suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The study is being presented Nov. 5 at the 2012 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA) in Los Angeles.
While the study found that the rate of possible device complications adds a level of complexity to this age group, it also demonstrated that life-saving ICD interventions were common in younger patients ...
Higher anxiety associated with poorer functioning in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome
2012-11-06
UC Davis researchers have found that for children with the genetic disorder known as chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome anxiety -- but not intelligence -- is linked to poorer adaptive behaviors, such as self-care and communication skills, that affect daily life. The developmental syndrome, which is associated with a constellation of physical, cognitive and psychiatric problems, usually is apparent at birth or early childhood, and leads to lifelong challenges.
The study findings suggest that helping children cope with fear-based symptoms may be the best strategy for ...
Overweight patients hospitalized with pneumonia more apt to survive
2012-11-06
Medical researchers at the University of Alberta studied the records of nearly 1000 patients who were admitted to hospital with pneumonia and noted those who were obese were more apt to survive compared to those who were of normal weight.
For their research study, the team examined the records of 907 patients with pneumonia who were admitted to six Edmonton hospitals and also had their body mass index recorded. Two-thirds of the patients had severe pneumonia and 79 died in hospital. Of those who died, 12 were under weight, 36 were normal weight, 21 were overweight and ...
Older adults who are frail much more likely to be food insufficient, according to national study
2012-11-06
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity – scientifically categorized as "frail" – are five times more likely to report that they often don't have enough to eat, defined as "food insufficiency," than older adults who were not frail.
The nationally representative study of more than 4,700 adults older than age 60 in the United States uses data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The results are online today in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Lead author Ellen Smit, ...
Daily multivitamin use does not reduce cardiovascular disease risk in men
2012-11-06
Boston, Mass. – Approximately one-third of Americans take a daily multivitamin, but little is known about a multivitamin's long-term affect on chronic diseases. Now, new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that daily multivitamin use does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. A similar BWH study, announced last month, found daily multivitamin use can reduce a man's risk of cancer by 8 percent. The cardiovascular disease findings will be presented Nov. 5 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012 and published simultaneously ...
Tech fund boosts Binghamton inventors
2012-11-06
BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University researcher Ron Miles invented a tiny directional microphone — suitable for use in hearing aids — that filters out unwanted sounds. Now, with help from the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund, he hopes to bring the idea to the marketplace.
Technology for the hearing-impaired is hardly perfect. The small microphones contained within hearing aids do a good job of boosting volume, but that can be a problem in a noisy restaurant as background sounds get boosted as much as your dinner date's conversation. Miles used a tiny structure found ...