Dr. David Wallinga, a physician at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and co-author of the study, said, “To better address the explosion of autism, it’s critical we consider how unhealthy diets interfere with the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, and ultimately our risk for developing long-term health problems like autism.”

By using a macroepigenetics model, researchers can take nutritional and environmental factors as well as genetic makeup into account and observe how these interact and contribute to potential developments of a certain health outcome.

Leading author, Commander (ret.) Renee Dufault (U.S. Public Health Service), a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologist remarks, “With autism rates skyrocketing, our public educational system is under extreme stress.”

The researchers decided to establish how environmental and dietary factors, such as HFCS consumption, could together contribute to the autism and related disorders. For instance, consuming HFCS is associated with the dietary loss of zinc. Zinc insufficiency has a negative impact on the body’s ability to eliminate heavy metals. Several heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium and mercury are potent toxins that have adverse effects on young children’s brain development.

Other beneficial minerals, like calcium, are also affected by HFCS consumption, as a loss of calcium further aggravates the devastating impact of exposure to lead on fetuses and children’s brain development. Insufficient calcium levels can also debilitate the body’s ability of getting rid of organophosphates, which belong to a class of pesticides that the EPA, as well as independent scientists have long ago recognized as having especially toxic affects on the young developing brain.

Dr. Richard Deth, a professor of Pharmacology at Northeastern University and a co-author of the study explained, “Rather than being independent sources of risk, factors like nutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals are cumulative and synergistic in their potential to disrupt normal development. These epigenetic effects can also be transmitted across generations. As autism rates continue to climb it is imperative to incorporate this new epigenetic perspective into prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies.”

This study provides insight into the comprehensive interaction between several of the factors that could lead to the development of autism. However, in order to control the autism epidemic within the U.S., researchers must continue to analyze the affects of industrialized food systems and exposure to environmental toxins on ASD.

“A macroepigenetic approach to identify factors responsible for the autism epidemic in the United States”
Renee Dufault, Walter J Lukiw, Raquel Crider, Roseanne Schnoll, David Wallinga and Richard Deth
Clinical Epigenetics, April 2012, doi:10.1186/1868-7083-4-6

Petra Rattue. (2012, April 16). “Autism Linked To Industrial Food Or Environment.” Medical News Today.

But a small subset of children – 8% to 11% – show dramatic improvement in communication and social skills from low functioning to high functioning, the researchers reported online ahead of the May issue of Pediatrics -

“More work is needed to discover whether these longitudinal patterns will help us not only to understand the diversity of autism but also to better target interventions and improve treatment,” they wrote.

The study “Six Developmental Trajectories Characterize Children With Autism,” utilized annual evaluations for 6,975 children with autism inCaliforniaand discovered a subset of children dubbed “bloomers”.  These children are severely affected by autism at age 3 but seem to have “bloomed” by age 8, leaving behind many of the condition’s crippling deficits. While these “bloomers” still retain some of autism’s symptoms, like the tendency to rock back and forth when stressed or to repeat the same behavior over and over, they become “high functioning,” according to the study.

A child at the low end of the communication scale might not be able to talk, or even to make any sounds, explained the one of the study’s authors Christine Fountain, a postdoctoral fellow atColumbiaUniversity. Those at the other end of the scale “would have a broad vocabulary, understand the meaning of words and use them in appropriate contexts, understand the meaning of story plot and carry on complex conversations,” she explained.

The most rapid improvements were typically seen before age 6, the researchers said.  More research is needed to understand what puts children with autism on a “blooming” path, and whether anything can be done to get them there, Fountain said.

After scrutinizing the differences between children who bloomed and those who didn’t, the researchers determined that it likely comes down to which kids were able to get early, intensive therapy since the children who improved the most had parents with more education and financial means.

“These socioeconomic disparities suggest that equal access to early interventions and services for less advantaged children is going to be really vital,” Fountain comments.

“Most children need about 30 to 40 hours a week of intervention,” said Tamar Apelian, a staff psychologist at the autism evaluation clinic at theUniversityofCalifornia,Los Angeles. “What’s tricky is being able to navigate the system to get the therapy, especially with the state budget crisis. The parents who do this seem to have more means and they can hire an advocate or a lawyer.”

Do you know a child with autism? How would you describe their progress over time? Tell us on Facebook.

The study, conducted by Dr. Terry Brugha of the University of Leicester, involved combining information collected on a sample of people living with learning disabilities in private households and communal care establishments with information from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) of 2007.

The study concluded that about 60% of men with profound learning disabilities and 43% of women with profound learning disabilities were also autistic.

“We were surprised by how many adults with moderate to profound learning disability had autism because previous estimates pointed to lower rates in this group. Because they form a very small part of the adult population, when we added these new findings to the rate we had previously found in adults living in private households, and able to take part in our national survey in 2007, the overall percentage of adults in England with autism did not increase significantly over our 2007 estimate of 1%.”

“Until now, routine statistics have not been gathered on the numbers of people with learning disabilities who also have autism leaving this as a hidden problem,” said Sally-Ann Cooper, Professor of Learning Disabilities at the University of Glasgow.  “Our study clearly shows that the more severe to profound an adult’s learning disability is, the more likely they will be found to have autism if actually assessed.”

This ‘invisibility’ was a result of the many adults living in private households with either relatives or caregivers. The study found that 42% of men and 29% of women with severe learning disabilities living in private households were found to be autistic, all of which would not have been surveyed otherwise.

The new information will be of particular importance for those who plan and produce services to support those with learning disabilities in both public and private settings, as well as help improve legislation on the matter. In March 2011, England published a national strategy for autism and guidance for the condition, with the objective to improve the quality of services provided to adults with autism. These improved guidelines include training protocol for staff that has the responsibility to identify people with autism and understand their care.

“This is the second recruitment drive for an ongoing study looking to identify biomarkers, or risk-factors,” group leader Associate Professor Andrew Whitehouse says.

A/Prof Whitehouse and his group have found that autism may be linked with enlarged head circumference and prenatal exposure to increased levels of testosterone.

With one in every 100 people around the world affected by autism and the incidence increasing, researchers are working towards in utero detection and intervention that starts at birth.

“Autism is not usually picked up until a child is between two and three years of age, often when a child is not meeting language milestones,” A/Prof Whitehouse said.

“If we could detect autism much earlier, we could start intervention when the course of the brain development is much easier to alter.  We’re also hoping to provide extra training to child health nurses to help them identify warning-signs for autism at check-ups during the first year of life.”

The group will use a new ultrasound technique to image the brain of the foetus as it develops in utero.

“Previously, this imaging could only be achieved with the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which is potentially harmful to both mother and child,” A/Prof Whitehouse says.

The researchers will compare brain development and prenatal testosterone levels of 100 “at risk” pregnancies, compromised of pregnant women with a previous autistic child and foetuses at increased genetic risk of autism, with 100 control pregnancies, where the women have had a previous child with typical development.

“If we can see differences between the groups in the level of testosterone or the trajectory of prenatal brain development, we may be able to identify these factors as biomarkers.”

“By identify biomarkers early in life, even prenatal life, we can then determine if a child is at risk of autism and do all the right things from the beginning and perhaps alter the path of brain development.”

Pregnant women who are interested in participating can contact Tammy Gibbs of the Autism Research Team at tammyg@ichr.uwa.edu.au

Is a Glutamate and glycine imbalance the cause of autism? A new scientific model claims to be able to detect imbalances in biological systems.

The Center for Modeling Optimal Outcomes®, LLC (The Center) was working on a model that would give a step-by-step protocol on any system’s homeostatic state. The model is a ratio, or a set of relationships, that can measure how in balance – or out of balance – a biological system is. They tested it on the brain’s chemicals, they tested on proteins (genes) and then, they tested it on autism.

Autism is a “disrupted” homeostatic state according to the Center. Their goal was to test their model with a known heterostatic disorder to find its causes. The model worked.

By measuring the “balanced ratios” against autism’s “imabalanced” ones, the Center was able to discover that the “trigger” behind autism is an imbalance between a pair of amino acid neurotransmitters; glutamate and glycine.

“Our Life Sciences group has already used the model to identify causes for several illnesses,” said the Center’s founder, William McFaul “Autism was one of most difficult illnesses the Center had attempted to analyze. If it hadn’t been for so many parents insisting that vaccines were responsible for the condition, we might never have found [the imbalance].”

He added that the use of the model will be different for each of the disorders within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and that they will look forward to sharing their findings relative to each disorder when they become available.

According to Linda Oliver-Perrier, The Center’s spokesperson for their Life Sciences group, the findings are difficult to explain and urges the curios to visit the Center’s Web site to learn more.

“Undoubtedly, this finding … will cause immense controversy,” said The Center’s Spokesperson, Oliver-Perrier.

Whether you’re an alternative medicine proponent or a defender of Western Medicine, there’s still plenty to talk about with autism treatments.

An article published by the Chicago Tribune, back in May, is now getting some traction. The article makes a case against doctors Mark Geier and his son, David Geier who developed a new treatment for autism they called a “miracle drug”.

“The therapy is based on a theory – unsupported by mainstream medicine – that autism is caused by a harmful link between mercury and testosterone,” wrote reporter Trine Tsouderos. Tsouderos went further to say that all alternative treatments should be rejected.

Then, on October 5^th, a new CDC report came out. In Indiana, a grossly polluted state with comparatively high rates of autism, data reported to the Indiana Department of Education, by every public school system in the state, have shown spikes in the numbers of children enrolled in special education under the category “autistic” over the past three years.

That report seems to have started off another set of sparks for people who support alternative therapies.

“We feel some urgency that we can’t wait for 10 or 20 years,” pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth Mumper, medical coordinator for the Autism Research Institute, testified in a special federal court that examined the issue of autism and vaccines.

David Kirby, author of the best-selling book Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy said in response that the mainstream media’s response to the new CDC data had been “rather nonchalant.”

“But the implications of the new incidence measures are anything but mundane. They are startling,” said Kirby.

One blogger associated Tsouderos’ critique of experimental treatments with a burning house that you are told to do nothing about. “That’s my response to the Chicago Tribune accusing us of performing ‘uncontrolled studies’ on our kids,” wrote Kim Stagliano in her blog, Age of Autism.

Stagliano continued to say that medical agencies will tell parents to use powerful psychiatric drugs with little to know knowledge of how they work or their long term effects on kids. “Talk about risky,” she said.

What happens when children with autism become adults with autism? Here in New York State, there are a number of notable programs that seek to answer that question.
Kim Kitchens, manager of Wawa, an organic food store in Hamilton, New York, has worked with Eden Autism Services that provides work for dozens of adults diagnosed with autism for 25 years.

“They do a fantastic job for us,” Kitchens. “They’re very happy to be here”

The number of people diagnosed with autism has become alarming. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had found the incidence of 8-year-olds born in 1996 with ASDs is 1 in 100. The agency’s last two studies of children born in 1992 and 1994 put the chance at 1 in 150. Most recently, a published study took parents by storm when it claimed that autism affects 1 in 94 children.

A state-commissioned report due out this month is starting to tackle issues associated with these figures.
Among those is the need to create job opportunities for autistic students who age-out of state-funded educational programs at the age of 21, experts say.

“Right now, the economy is the biggest problem. All people are struggling to find work, and we face that, too,” said Roni Kantor, a state Department of Human Services employee who helps coordinate employment services for disabled people.

Three years ago, the parent of an autistic man brainstormed with Rutgers’ Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center for the Disabled to create Men with Mops, a company that hires part-time autistic workers exclusively. The company now has about 80 customers and is manned by 23 autistic men with mostly severe disabilities. It pays them minimum wage to mop floors and mow lawns.

While this is one of very many programs, experts suggest that adults with autism may be helped by several different programs. At the high school level, it’s important to begin with vocational or technical training for people with autism. Regional and community agencies can also help people bridge the gap from school to employment.

“People with autism spectrum disorders are often very prompt, punctual, determined, mistakes or errors, and can make great editors,” said company co-director Christopher Manente.

The saying goes, “no news is good news.” However, there have been a number of positive and inspiring stories found in the world recently! Due to popular demand, here are a few blurbs on some of the good news found in the autism world.

Picture by mrbill on flickr

Kaleb Drew, a first grader at Villa Grove Elementary School, has been awarded the permission to keep his Labrador Retriever, Chewey, at school with him. Douglas County Judge Chris Freese, agreed that the dog is a service animal, similar to a Seeing Eye dog.

The school is was apprehensive about having the dog at the school because they were unsure of the reactions of other children in the class. They were trying to prevent allergic reactions and avoid problems if any of the other children are fearful of the animal.

“I’m very pleased and happy that Kaleb and Chewey are going to get to continue their work together and continue to grow as a team and learn from each other,” Kaleb’s mother said after the ruling.

Sesame Street recently celebrated its 40^th year on television. It is also celebrating the positive effect it’s had on children, especially those with autism and other disabilities.

Sesame Street has a very colorful cast including adults, children, monsters, animals, even imaginary friends. Several of the characters on Sesame Street, humans and puppets alike, have disabilities. Sesame Street strives to be an example to children by showing them that everyone is accepted.

Image by stev.ie on flickr

The show sends messages of love and acceptance. It gives daily lessons of how to handle emotions and feelings. It educates children about letters and numbers and even promotes games of make-believe. These principles make Sesame Street an ideal model for all children, and a perfect guide for those with autism.

Tender Care Human Services creator Yolanda Vitulli uses music and art as more than just a simple program to entertain disabled children in the Queens and Brooklyn NY area. She believes they can really expand the world of children with autism.

“They love coming here,” she said of the children in the program. “We had a break for the summer and they would be calling us, ‘When are we going to have that music therapy back?’”

The idea for Tender Care began when her son, Michael, 20, who has autism repeated a special purple dinosaur and told his mother “I love you” when he was six.  Vitulli was skeptical that he knew what he was saying. Michael was diagnosed with echolalia, and repeats things that he hears. After stating his love again and again, Vitulli declared her love as well.

Image by mourner on flickr

“He got a big smile and we had a big hug,” Vitulli recalled. “That’s when he started to develop his speech.”

While many of the stories seen in the news are based on tragedies and sad tales, it is up to the autism community to make sure new and wonderful things are happening that prevent these negative incidences from reoccurring. The smallest medical advances in autism can make a huge difference in the lives of effected children and their families.  Here at the International Center for Autism Research and Education (ICare4Autism), we are doing our part to spread awareness and educate the public about autism.

In Northeast Philadelphia, Monday, November 9, 2009, Segundo Duque, took the life of his 16-year-old son, Fabian, before ending his own life. Duque, 61, of Ecuador, had Fabian in the back seat of his mini-van. Neighbors said that he was driving Fabian back to the Devereux Kanner Center in Pennsylvania, the special-needs school that he attended. But, he never made it.

“We didn’t know it was her son”

“Tells his son, ‘I love you,’ several times and then takes the gun at point blank range, shoots him and kills him,” said Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark.

Point A shows approximate location where suicide occured

Duque pulled his van over and shot Fabian in the head at Wyoming Avenue and H Street, in Juniata Park, police said. There was an unidentified young woman who fled from the vehicle unharmed, and called for help.

“She had no indication - she was unaware anything was going to happen,” Homicide Sgt. William Gallagher said.

Fabian’s mother lived up the street from the accident site and noted the police activity. She went to work unaware of her families involvement in the incident, according to an anonymous neighbor.

“She didn’t know at that point. And we didn’t know it was her son down there,” the neighbor said.

Louis Carrasquillo, whose mother was married to Duque before Fabian was born, said Fabian, although nonverbal, interacted with the neighborhood kids. All the neighbors helped look after him. He said that Duque was a wonderful and devoted father, but the car salesman was not a good person.

“He didn’t garner too much respect from anybody, but you had to respect him because he loved his kid,” said Carrasquillo. “Why he did that to his son, how he could do that to his son, I don’t know.”

New Book Uses Yoga to

Aid the Special Needs Child

“Yoga, which means ‘union’, is the word used by the Hindu culture to describe the natural flow of body movements while melding structure and energy,” writes author Nancy Williams. “Yoga therapy is based on unity and the respect of all. What does yoga therapy look like? It looks like a group of beautiful special needs children learning and using the important components of a gentle Hatha yoga practice to improve each and every aspect of their life.”

Book By Nancy Williams

In her new book Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting [January 2010, Singing Dragon, Paperback, 208 pp, 978-1-84819-027-6, $19.95], Williams elaborates on how yoga therapy is especially well-suited for working with special-needs children.

Yoga therapy is gaining recognition as a form of treatment that can improve the physical and mental wellbeing of children with a variety of complex needs. Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child contains an easily understandable, specially-designed yoga program for use with children of all abilities, and provides both parents and professionals with the knowledge they need to carry out the therapy themselves. The program consists of a series of postures, each of which is explained and accompanied by an illustration. The postures are designed to help children understand and use their bodies, and work towards positive changes such as realigning the spine, encouraging eye-contact, and promoting calm and steady breathing.

Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child is designed in easily accessible sections on yoga therapy for specific conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder, Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy. The book concludes with child and parent reports on how the program has worked for them, and a list of useful contacts and resources.

“Yoga helps me breathe deeper, twist further, balance better, bend with ease, appreciate myself and others more, while teaching me that I am the creator of every single detail in my life,” concludes Williams. “In this book, you will learn how to bring this joy into your child’s life, by teaching them the components of a yoga practice.”

Nancy Williams has been a yoga therapist for 9 years. During this time, she has worked with children with a wide range of special needs, including Autism Spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, sensory integration disorder and Down’s syndrome. Nancy also works as a pediatric Speech Pathologist, and is a certified Neuro Developmental Treatment Therapist, Zero Balancing practitioner, Yoga instructor and Reiki Master Teacher. Nancy owns Therapeutic Bodyworks, a studio in Tucson, Arizona where she teaches yoga therapy classes to individual and small groups of children. Nancy also offers consultations and conducts training workshops.

Singing Dragon is a new publisher specializing in the martial arts, health, fitness, alternative and Asian medicine