A study led by UK researcher Simon Baron-Cohen revealed that those with autism spectrum disorders often have excellent attention to detail that is directed towards detecting ‘if p, then q’ rules (or [input–operation–output] reasoning).  It’s no secret that those with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome excel in technical fields and there are great efforts to place them in suitable employment.

While there are already companies that work to place people with developmental disabilities into the technology field, the newest player Square One has a different approach.

The software and design firm has a small pilot program working to design a software-testing training program for people on the autism spectrum.  However, what is unusual about this program is that they are not using any funding or subsidies and have the bottom-line firmly in mind.

Currently a significant amount of software testing is outsourced to workers in the developing world. Square One co-founder Chad Hahn points out that his software testers will work for $15 to $20 an hour – pay comparable to, or even lower than, that of software testers in India, but with the benefit of being right here in the U.S. Hahn makes the case that there aren’t a lot of alternatives provided for people with autism —when they do find work, it’s usually unskilled work for minimum wage.

Hahn has had good feedback from parents of those with autism, who are supportive of the program if paying less makes hiring the developmentally disabled a viable option.

“I haven’t had one parent of an autistic child come to me and say this isn’t going to work,” he says. “They say, ‘This is a way for my child to make more money than they would have made otherwise, and allow them to be more independent.’ They worry, what is my child going to do when I’m gone? And this is kind of a way out.”

ICare4Autism also acknowledges the natural ability of those with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome to excel in the I.T. sector. Our autism workforce development initiative based out of our Global Autism Center in Jerusalem will work to assist students on the spectrum find high level career opportunities.  The service will provide individuals with a customized job plan, job coach, skills training and ongoing on-the-job training and support.  ICare4Autism is hoping to create a model that will be replicated internationally creating new high private sector opportunities world wide.

ICare4Autism’s workforce initiative, along with many other strategies in autism education, research and policy will be explored at our upcoming International Autism Conference – Autism: A Global Perspective on August 1^st-2^nd in Jersualem, Israel.

Neurons form pathways in the brain to process and transmit information by electrical and chemical signaling.

This study of brain cells in children with autism comes one step closer to answering a key question – whether the condition originates in utero or after birth in toddlerhood.

Autistic children were found to have about 67% more nerve cells in a part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex than children without autism, in a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by scientists at the University of California, San Diego.  The prefrontal cortex is responsible for communication, cognitive functions, decision making and moderating correct social behavior – areas which autistic children have difficulty with.

Lead researcher Eric Courchesne studied the brains of seven autistic boys between the ages of 2 and 16 post mortem and used analysis of the brains of six unaffected boys who died at similar ages to compare.

Although larger brain sizes in children with autism is not a new discovery, this is the first study that may have found which type of brain cells are responsible.

Neurons in all areas of the brain except those responsible for smell, memory and navigation are generated before birth.  “The present findings add significantly to mounting biological evidence that the developmental neuropathology of idiopathic autism begins before birth in some, possibly all cases,” Janet E. Lainhart, MD of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Nicholas Lange, ScD, of the Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Public Health in Boston, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

“Knowing that we have a specific type of defect that occurs very early in development really helps us to focus and sharpen the next steps in research to determine what caused the excess,” says Courchesne. And hopefully find new treatments that can help children and their families cope better with the symptoms of autism.

According to Courchesne this finding that autism children have excess neurons is quite surprising.

“When we think of the inability to handle complicated information, we usually think of too little in the way of connections or brain cells,” he says. “But this is just the opposite.”

This surplus of neurons may have led to problems with their ability to connect and communication with each other. Courchesne suggests this may be causing a lack of proper nerve connections in autistic children, slowing down and stopping normal active interaction between different parts of the brain.

This study shows an exciting new avenue for further research.  The sample of autism cases in this study wasn’t big enough to determine links with behavior. Also a wider sample would need to be gathered of the non-autistic cases that were being used for comparison.  Further research will also need to be done to see if similar results are also found in girls with autism.

Dakota, Noah, Tristan, Dillon, Gianna, Layla Conn (Aug. 2008)

Recently, I came across a TV segment, online, that spoke with the Conn family of Lincoln, California that has two sons with autism. On the segment, the California mother set a superb example of how a parent can set a positive outlook for children on their own diagnosis. I found this to be outstanding because to often people are either opening sad and disappointed by the diagnosis or try to bandage it up in various ways. Please view this clip from KCRA 3- Sacramento, California and share your input with the other readers.

When asked to describe her children autism, the mother explained “The look very typical but they don’t half the time understand, perception is way, way different. If a baby is crying next them they will not do anything. They will not help the baby, they hear the baby, but it doesn’t sound like anything to them, at all. They just don’t care.

To View the Video on KCRA-3′s YOU TUBE page please CLICK HERE