The last issue of the prestigious Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry included a study that examined the role of parental age on the risk for autism among two very large nationally representative cohorts in two separate countries (Sweden and the UK). The basic question – whether the parents’ age impact the risk of having a child with autism – is not that exciting or innovative as several studies have shown that older parents, especially dads, are more likely to have children with autism. What was really interesting about this study is that it was conducted with an incredibly large numbers of twins, which can help us understand the association between parental age and the relative environmental vs. genetic contributions to autism. Read More

Last week after writing about the DSM-V “Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria,” I received several emails asking my opinion regarding the proposed merger of autism and Asperger’s disorder into a single ‘spectrum’ category.  This change has clearly generated some significant political debate in the media and the blogosphere, with some in favor of the change (see for example Dr. Roy Ginker’s NYT article), while others have expressed reservations about the potential impact that this change may have in the autism and Asperger’s community. So I wanted to keep my contribution to this discussion somewhat removed from the political/social issues associated with the change, and instead focus on the scientific/clinical basis for this specific move.  Thus, my aim with this post is not to take a position for or against the proposed DSM-V changes. Instead, I simply want to provide some background information about some of the research data and clinical issues that may have contributed to the DSM-V committee’s decision to propose the merger of all ASDs into a single category. Read More

I have received many emails about yesterday’s post on the CDC autism prevalence study. I thought I would spend some time to briefly address 3 specific issues.

1. Prevalence Rates and Home Schooling.

I received a thoughtful email about the impact of home schooling on the CDC prevalence rate and autism research in general, given that many children with ASDs may be home schooled. Here is my response: Read More

By now most people interested in autism have read the CDC report, or at least read the news, regarding the new estimated prevalence rates of autism in the United States. Today I finally was able to read the full original report and have some brief general thoughts.

The report is based on the findings by the CDC Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. This network consists of a series of sites across the united states that calculate the rates of autism diagnoses for specific communities. The network first provided autism estimates based on data obtained in 2000 and then 2002. Last week’s report is based on data obtained in 2006. I have previously reviewed how the CDC prevalence rates for autism are obtained, so I will focus this post on highlighting some across state variability and differences between the 2002 and 2006 results. Read More

Caring for children with autism, especially those with severe autism, is often extremely challenging for the entire family. Some children with autism require continuous monitoring throughout their childhoods and beyond, and the costs associated with the most common interventions and assessments can place major strains on the family’s resources. While some studies have found that mothers of children with autism indeed experience more psychological stress than other mothers, less is known about which factors contribute to such psychological difficulties. In the latest issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders there is a very interesting study conducted in Australia that attempted to identify the protective as well as contributing factors to psychological distress among mothers caring for children with autism spectrum disorders. Read More