A Message to Parents

Dear Parents, I am finally back after a long silence for almost two years. It is very hard to disengage myself from thinking and writing about...

Posts Tagged ‘research’

Grandparents’ Age ls Linked to Autism Risk

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

“A research published in JAMA Psychiatry states that older men who have children are more likely to have grandchildren with autism compared to men who have children at a younger age.” The risk factor of autism accumulates over generations. It might skip a generation. We always thought that the parents’ age may be a factor

A Humanoid to Improve Social Skills in Kids with ASD

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

NAO is the name of the humanoid robot, an elaborate and very sophisticated system, created to help children with ASD. The main function of NAO is to improve the social skills and communication abilities of children with ASD. Kids with ASD usually have poor joint attention. Joint attention, is the ability to synchronize the attention

Autism Prevalence Shot to One in 50 in The U.S.

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

Researchers believe that the increase of awareness might be behind the climb of this number. The ratio of boys to girls affected with autism is still the 4:1. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services believe  that the increase might be due to the diagnosis

Impairment in Social Interaction Is Linked to Deficit in Face Recognition

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

Neuroscientists in Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) discovered a brain odditiy in individuals with autism that explains the deficit in identifying faces . This deficit in turn explains the behavioral disorder in social interactions, which is one of the most common traits of autism. They suggest that the level of behavioral deficit may be linked to

Brain Activities Change As Individuals with Autism Age

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

A study titled: “Developmental Meta-Analysis of the Funcitonal Neural Correlates of Autism Spectrum Disorders,” found that the brain activity changes as individuals with autism age. They found that the change in brain activities keeps developing over time. This is the first study to show that. “If the shift in the parts of the brain that

Scanner ‘Shows Early Autism Signs’

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

“Signs of autism can be detected in the brains of 4-months old infants.” Researchers used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to study the brain activity of two groups of infants, one of which had a sibiling with autism. The babies were tested during a socially interesting human actions, (peek-a-boo), as well as while listening to some vocal

Teaching Perspective-Taking and Executive Function Skills

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

The Autism Research Group (ARG) in San Diego, California, is hosting an intense one-day workshop about “Effective Autism Behavior Intervention Techniques”. The workshop will be held in San Diego on April 29, 2013 at the Catamaran Resort and Spa from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The Center focuses on ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) which is

Developing Internal Speech Might Help The Thinking Process

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

“If individuals with ASD find communicating with others a challenge, it makes sense that they may also find it more difficult to communiate with themselves.” Durham University, Bristol University, and City University in the U.K. A research was done to solve a puzzle. When neurotypical individuals were interrupted by repeating a word, 90% worked much

A New Definition of Autism

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

In my opinion, this is the best definition of autism I have ever heard. A young autistic woman from the U.K. described having autism like having a “different operating system“. Can we run a Mac on windows operating system? When are people going to admit that having ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is “a way of

What Does “Cure” Means to Parents?

By Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized

A very insightful article in the the British “Guardian” newspaper, what parents of children with autism think about a cure. Some parents are very realistic, others are in denial. How does the media participate in helping/discouraging parents. Cure? Therapy? What is the most important support, resources do parents need? Read what parents say here: www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/01/parents-children-autism-cure