“You’ve met one person with autism, then you’ve met one person with autism.” This saying is an important reminder among all who live and work with people with autism that each person living with the condition is indeed distinct, said Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, professor and director of the autism research centre in the Division of Developmental Pediatrics at the...
Tag: <span>Autism</span>
Post
Could poor protein trafficking be a factor in autism?
A protein whose mutations are found in people with autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions helps keep connections between neurons in the brain running smoothly. Newly published research — led by Rockefeller University in New York City, NY — reveals that the protein astrotactin 2 (ASTN2) can traffick receptors away from neurons’ surfaces and prevent them...
Post
The ADHD brain retrained
The cost of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be as high as EUR 7,000 per patient per year in the United Kingdom and some 4 million children suffer from the disorder in Europe. NEWROFEED has developed a personalized, drug-free treatment for home use based on neurofeedback. Credit: Rozbeh, Shutterstock ADHD is a chronic debilitating...
Post
New biomarker panel could accelerate autism diagnoses
About 17 percent of kids with autism identified with metabolic blood test UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – DAVIS HEALTH SYSTEM Investigators at the UC Davis MIND Institute and NeuroPointDX, a division of Stemina Biomarker Discovery, have identified a group of blood metabolites that could help detect some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Part of the...
Post
Kids with autism learn, grow with the ‘social robot’
Robots may hold the keys to social success for kids with autism. That’s the takeaway from an experimental home-based therapy in which autonomous “social” robots modeled and encouraged behaviors like maintaining eye contact and paying attention while playing with 12 children with autism spectrum disorder. The kids were between 6 and 12 years of age. Robot...
Post
Therapy bot for autistic children
ON THE SPECTRUM. A child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might have trouble communicating verbally, paying attention to others, or controlling their stress and anxiety. These difficulties can affect the child’s social life and their success in school. Now, a team of researchers from robotics startup LuxAI have created QTrobot, a bot designed to help children with...
Post
The simple optical illusion that could help to diagnose autism in seconds
The method involves using an optical illusion with two layers of colored dots People with autism interpret the two layers of black and white dots differently Those who the dots as two separate sheets have a more detail-orientated view This is typical of people who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) People who see a three-dimensional...
Post
Humanoid Robot Teaches Autistic Kids to Recognize Emotions
Children with autism often seem to want to socialize with robots more than humans, something that researchers at MIT want to harness as a pathway for therapy. The team, partnering with others at Chubu University in Japan and Imperial College London, have given a popular humanoid robot, called NAO, the ability to see what the kids playing...
Post
Man with autism helps design virtual world to make life better for adults like him
June 29, 2018, by Nanette Light, The Dallas Morning News Kyle Barton is a 28-year-old guy on the autism spectrum. But he lives like the diagnosis isn’t there. It’s not that he’s in denial; he just doesn’t like the autism label. He’s got other things on his mind, such as designing the latest development in a virtual...
Post
Autism traits could be ‘edited’ out genetic trial suggests
Researchers are hailing a breakthrough after they used cutting-edge gene editing to significantly reduce repetitive behavior associated with the disorder. The study on mice used gold nanoparticles to target genes causing repetitive behaviour. CREDIT: SOLOMON BANDA The technique, which was performed on mice, could also be developed to treat conditions ranging from opioid addiction and neuropathic pain to schizophrenia...