Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.squidalicious.com My son has had a challenging few months. We have been scrambling, hard, to figure out the best ways to support him, help him feel comfortable and settled. Medical treatments have helped, as has a forensic approach to figuring out stressors in his environment, as has looking back through his […]
As some folks in the autism communities seem to misunderstand the purpose and mission of the IACC — the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, we asked recent IACC appointee Matt Carey to talk about why he joined the IACC, what the IACC does, and what he hopes to accomplish as a member. From the IACC member
Emily Willingham www.emilywillinghamphd.com www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham Let’s start with the headlines blaring the news about a recent autism study. They almost invariably use the phrase “grow out of autism,” even though the study itself does not use that phrase or even reference “grow” except to talk about head circumference. Instead, the authors of the report, published in
Emily Willingham emilywillinghamphd.com Stomach Endoscopy. Source: Wikimedia Commons Are autism, gut inflammation, and immune issues linked? One recent sponsored supplement published in the journal Pediatrics argues that they are. There’s certainly some evidence, although quite mixed, hinting at a link between immune or gut issues and a subset of people with autism, although which one triggers
Emily Willingham www.emilywillinghamphd.com Word on the street — well, really on a blog from a researcher — is that the writer of the autism/inflammation New York Times op-ed, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, is working on an “annotated” version of the article that will “back up” his claims.” Some annotation would have been useful to begin with; as
Emily Willingham www.emilywillinghamphd.com Recent headlines have trumpeted an FDA-approved clinical trial of cord blood-derived stem cells for autism, involving 30 children and two i.v. infusions of cells from each child’s own banked cord blood. The stated rationale is a link between inflammation and autism, but I, for one, find that rationale spurious. The inflammation-autism concept
Emily Willingham www.ThinkingAutismGuide.com Caveat: All findings discussed here were presented at a conference and have not undergone peer review. —- What is the use of animal models? I understand the use of animal models like mice to figure out how gene changes affect outcomes in a whole animal, rather than, say, in cells in a
Shannon Des Roches Rosa www.ThinkingAutismGuide.com TPGA editors at IMFAR 2012 We had a great time at IMFAR; it was important that TPGA be present, given our mission to support evidence-based autism information. I wish more autistic people and people whose lives include autism — personally or professionally — would or could attend. We’ll keep posting
Speaker Dana Marnane and TPGA editor & self-advocate Carol Greenburg This session was geared towards scientists, regarding why it makes sense to learn how to communicate autism science; how to write a a great article, and how to get your quotes in to articles. Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation put together and chaired
Can’t make IMFAR? Don’t worry, four of our TPGA editors are covering the International Meeting for Autism Research in Toronto, Canada, from Wednesday May 16 through Saturday May 19. Reporting starts with today ‘s 11 AM ET press conference (assuming Shannon & Jen make their flight, which has been delayed, eep — stand by). Panel
