TalkAutism, Genes & Odds in the News
There’s been an interesting flurry of research and discussion about autism and autistic spectrum disorders in the news lately. In the past few weeks, studies about prevalence and genetic correlations have been accompanied by journalism about life for families with autism. Autistic spectrum disorders are a personal area of interest to me, although my life has not been personally touched by them. Here’s a quick round-up of research, profiles, and discussion.
NPR’s “Talk of the Nation”: “Researchers scan the genomes of the largest collection of families with multiple cases of autism ever assembled, looking for common factors. Research in the journal Nature Genetics reports on the initial stages of a project that is hunting for genetic factors in autism The analysis found a region on chromosome 11 that appears to be shared by many of the individuals studied.” Listen to this story
NY Times Magazine, “Her Austistic Brothers.” What is life like for siblings? How autism in the family affects sibs is very different than once thought. “Tarah Perry wishes her brothers would remember to put on deodorant. Other 16-year-olds, after all, don’t need to be reminded of that by their 14-year-old sister. Other families don’t keep a stick of Degree in the glove compartment to enforce deodorant compliance on the way to school in the morning. Granted, Justin and Jason are different from other brothers — they are autistic twins — and Tarah’s family is therefore different from other families, and generally speaking she is perfectly O.K. with that.” Read more
Autistic Spectrum Disorders: 1 in 150 U.S. Children: “Our estimates are becoming better and more consistent, though we can’t yet tell if there is a true increase in autism spectrum disorders or if the changes are the result of our better studies,” the disease centers’ [CDC] director, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, said in a statement. ”We do know, however, that these disorders are affecting too many children.”
New Jersey: Autism Anomaly? “Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bestowed another first on New Jersey, ranking it No. 1 among 14 states it studied in the prevalence of autism and related disorders. But the ranking also points to some good things about New Jersey that might be instructive for other states — a higher level of awareness about autism, meticulous record-keeping and a wider availability of services in schools and communities. Some researchers believe that the prevalence rate for autism nationally would look more like New Jersey’s if the other states simply paid as much attention to its children as New Jersey does.”
Autism Vox: Anyone involved in the online community for families with autism is probably familiar with Kristina Chew’s blog. If you’re not, check it out for thoughtful posts about research, news, family life and more. For updates on autism research, there’s the EBDBlog.
For theory-heads interested in autism, Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory of “mindblindness” proposes a way of understanding the experience of people with autism. I’d be curious to know from families with autism what they think of “mindblindness” and how (if at all) this perspective can be/has been used to develop real-life strategies.
Update 2/27/07: Two more. One thanks to Kristina Chew, “Gifted, Autistic, or Just Quirky? As More Children Receive Diagnosies, Effects of These Labels Seem Mixed.” One from the NY Times, “It Seems the Fertility Clock Ticks for Men, Too.”
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