Shift Autism Research’s Focus from Cures to Management: Opinion

FOR A DECADE, the scientific community has made progress in the identification of potential genetic and environmental causes of autism. Myriad problems remain unsolved and untouched.

Many autistic children are medically fragile. They endure physical suffering from gut irregularity (reflux, diarrhea, pain, constipation), insomnia, seizures, adverse reactions to medications and significant allergies.

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Early Treatment Sparks Striking Brain Changes in Autism

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 Dr. Fred Volkmar, Kevin A. Pelphrey, and their colleagues.

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Autism’s Invisible Victims: The Siblings

It is a virtual epidemic. One in eighty-eight American children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week, Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform held a hearing on how the federal government can better respond to the dramatic rise in autism rates. Yet for all this concern, one large affected group is being routinely overlooked: the siblings. Of the 839 studies reported within the last four years in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, only four were devoted to siblings and their primary focus on genetic risk rather than life experience.

Statistical Illiteracy May Lead to Parents Panicking About Autism.

I just was doing my morning reading of a few news sources and stumbled across this Huffington Post article talking about research correlating babies cries to autism. It suggests that the sound of a babies cries may predict their future risk for autism. As the parent of a young son, this obviously caught my attention in a very lizard-brain, caveman sort of way. I couldn’t find a link to the research paper in the article so I did some searching and found out this result is also being covered by Time, Science Daily, Medical Daily, and a bunch of other news outlets.

Now thoroughly freaked, I looked online and found the pdf of the original research article. I started looking at the statistics and took a deep breath. Based on the analysis they present in the article there is absolutely no statistical evidence that a babies’ cries can predict autism. Here are the flaws with the study:

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