
Everyone needs some physical activity, but people on the spectrum typically get less activity than those not diagnosed with ASD.  Why?  There are multiple reasons, but as it turns out it can’t all be blamed on the obvious culprit of increased screen time or video game use.  Those can be reasons why teenagers get less activity, but not specifically those with ASD.  Does physical activity help with ASD symptoms and features?   Maybe a little.  Different types of physical activity are discussed on this week’s ASF podcast.







  

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Social Sciences

Science & Medicine

Medicine

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Health & Fitness


As health care and outcomes for very premature infants has improved, scientists are able to track their longer term behavioral development, and that includes risk of developmental disorders like autism.  On this week’s #ASFpodcast, Dr. Jessica Bradshaw discusses her recent research examining biological predictors like body temperature and heart rate and how they are linked to early autism features like social communication deficits in toddlerhood.  All parents of pre-meet need to be vigilant and lean into resources like @BabyNavigator to help track their infant’s development.



https://www.nature.com/articles/s41372-024-01942-2

What happens to premature infants as they get older?


In honor of the last week of Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, we review two new scientific findings that call for more awareness and action, and less acceptance of the status quo.  First: sex differences in autism are not well understood, and as it turns out, the influences on a diagnosis are different.  Males have a higher rate of heritability compared to females.   Second, those with rare genetic disorders have very few options for treatment, but a new study promises hope for more personalized approaches.  The researchers use Timothy Syndrome as an example of how cells can start to function properly through a targeted approach which focuses on a small part of a gene.  This is potentially life saving for individuals with this disorder.



https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/38630491/



https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07310-6

Research for the end of Autism Action Month


Thank you to Dennis Wall from Stanford University for explaining what Machine Learning is, how it’s related to Artificial Intelligence (today’s four buzz words) and how these new technologies are helping families get a diagnosis.  He talks about the overall goals of these techniques, highlighting Cognoa’s CanvasDx to provide remote diagnoses to potentially reduce the waiting lists for families.  




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Machine Learning in Autism, Explained


Autistic individuals are turning to self-diagnosis to explain their autism features, sometimes based on better awareness, sometimes based on what they see on social media.  But how accurate are these autism diagnostic tools?  They range anywhere from tik-tok videos all the way to a tool called the RAADS-R which has been described as a valid diagnostic measure.  Unfortunately, as discussed by scientist Alexandra Sturm who looked closely at what this tool measures, it’s probably not a true diagnostic measure.  However, diagnosis for adults is hard to obtain, Dr. Sturm provides suggestions on what to do if you are curious about an autism diagnosis and don’t know where to turn.  







The RAADS can be found here:  https://embrace-autism.com/raads-r/



https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09515089.2024.2327823



https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38305196/

Autism Self-Diagnosis Tools


Did you miss the ASF 2024 Day of Learning and can’t wait for the videos to be posted?  This is a 17 minute brief summary of what was discussed, but unfortunately, with no visuals.  Don’t just listen to the podcast, watch the videos when they are posted.  Also included in this podcast is a shoutout to the Profound Autism Summit which brought together hundreds of advocates around those who need 24/7 care for their lives.  The link to their advocacy page is here:  https://www.votervoice.net/ProfoundAutism/campaigns/112917/respond 

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