Autism, Asperger's and brain structure

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London have been using a sophisticated brain-imaging technique called voxel-based morphometry to compare the brains of people with autism/Asperger's syndrome and a healthy control group. They studied 39 people with Asperger's, 26 with autism and 33 healthy controls. The participants with autism/Asperger's had a significant reduction in grey matter in their medial temporal, fusiform and cerebellar regions and in their brainstem and cerebellar regions. The people with autism had more grey matter in their frontal and temporal lobe regions; something not found in the people with Asperger's.

Toal, F. ... [et al] - Clinical and anatomical heterogeneity in autistic spectrum disorder: a structural MRI study Psychological Medicine, July 2010, 40(7), 1171-1181

Autism and child development

Not everyone with autism develops at the same rate or in the same way during early childhood. Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland collected data from 2,720 parents and found three different patterns of autism. Regression was characterised by a loss of previously acquired social, communicative or cognitive skills before the age of three. 'Plateau' was the display of only mild developmental delays until the child showed a gradual to abrupt halt in their development that restricted further advances in their skills and No Loss and No Plateau children showed early warning signs of autism without experiencing either a loss or a plateau. The children who went through the Regression pattern had a significant increase in their autism symptoms, the greatest risk of not attaining conversational speech and were more likely than other groups to need increased educational support. Compared to the No Loss No Plateau children the children from the Plateau group were more likely to need educational support and more likely to be diagnosed with autism rather than the less-serious Asperger's syndrome.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420114231.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Asperger's and cortisol

When most people wake up they usually experience a surge in the levels of a hormone called cortisol, which helps them to deal with the stress of the new day. However, this may not be the case for adolescent boys with Asperger's syndrome, according to a study by researchers at the University of Bath, in the U.K. The study compared the levels of cortisol in 20 adolescent boys with Asperger's and 18 controls when they woke up, and 30 minutes later. The boys with Asperger's did not have a surge in their cortisol levels, something which may explain why they have a need for routine and a resistance to change.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE53E5SC20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Computer monitoring helps social skills

People with autism or Asperger's syndrome can often talk at great length about their interests or interrupt others. Psychologists at the University of Illinois have developed a new way of giving people feedback about their conversation skills. They digitize the conversation and feed it back into a monitor. People's voices appear in colour growing in size if the voice gets louder, overlapping another colour if it interrupts and narrowing with silence. It is hoped that this feedback will help people with Asperger's modify their conversation in family or couple therapy.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE53000Z20090401?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true

Asperger's at break-time

60% of children with autistic spectrum disorders in England are educated in mainstream school settings. Although children with Asperger's syndrome are able to cope with the academic demands of school work they do less well with the social demands of school such as interaction with peers, understanding rules and codes of conduct and what to do at break or lunch times when they are left to their own devices. Children typically spend a third of their time at school and a third of their school day outside the classroom yet so far there has been very little research on the social integration of pupils with Asperger's in mainstream schools. A study of 57 secondary-school children in Sheffield and Rotherham found that children with Asperger's engaged in fewer social interactions during the school day (both in and out of lessons), spent break and lunch times inside in quieter, more closely adult supervised areas of the school, reported having fewer friends, were less physically active and were more likely to be the targets of bullying although they did have as good an attendance record as the other children.

Wainscot, Jennifer J. ... [et al] - Relationships with peers and use of the school environment of mainstream secondary school pupils with Asperger syndrome (high-functioning autism): a case-control study International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy 2008, 8(1), 25-38