Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools – New CE Course Includes DSM-5 Diagnostic Changes

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Gina Ulery

Do you work with children with autism? If so, this newly revised course is for you!

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Schools identifies DSM-5 diagnostic changes in the ASD diagnostic criteria, summarizes the empirically-based screening and assessment methodology in ASD, and describes a comprehensive developmental approach for assessing students with ASD.

The DSM-5 conceptualizations of autism require professionals to update their knowledge about the spectrum. This course will prepare you to recognize the presence of risk factors and/or early warning signs of ASD and be familiar with screening and assessment tools in order to ensure that students with ASD are being identified and provided with the appropriate programs and services. Course #30-69 | 2013 | 44 pages | 40 posttest questions

CE Information:

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) to offer home study continuing education for NCCs (Provider #5590); by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); by the National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC Provider #000279); by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); by the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); by the Illinois DPR for Social Work (#159-00531); by the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); by the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and by the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

About the Author:

Lee A. Wilkinson, EdD, PhD, NCSP, is an author, applied researcher, and practitioner. He is a nationally certified school psychologist, registered psychologist, chartered scientist, and certified cognitive-behavioral therapist. Dr. Wilkinson is currently a school psychologist in the Florida public school system where he provides diagnostic and consultation services for children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. He is also a university educator and teaches graduate courses in psychological assessment, clinical intervention, and child and adolescent psychopathology. His research and professional writing has focused on behavioral consultation and therapy, and children and adults with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. He has published numerous journal articles on these topics both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Dr. Wilkinson can be reached at http://bestpracticeautism.com.

Young Children With Autism Benefit Regardless of Treatment Model

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Gina Ulery

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found that preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who receive high-quality early intervention benefit developmentally regardless of the treatment model used — a surprising result that may have important implications for special-education programs and school classrooms across the country.

“This is the first study designed to compare long-standing comprehensive treatment models for young children with ASD,” said Brian Boyd, a fellow at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and one of the study’s co-principal investigators. Boyd also is an assistant professor in occupational science and occupational therapy in UNC’s School of Medicine.

“We know that more children are being diagnosed with ASD each year, and that it can cost an estimated $3.2 million to treat each child over a lifetime. Understanding that a child can benefit from a high-quality program, rather than a specialized program, may help reduce those costs by decreasing the need for teachers and other school practitioners to be trained to deliver multiple specialized services,” Boyd said. He stressed it remains important to ensure educators are trained to provide high-quality programs that meet the special behavioral, communication and other needs of children with ASD.

Previous research has shown that when children with ASD have access to early intervention via treatment programs, they improve developmentally. Until now, however, debate has persisted over which approach to use, said Boyd. The study appeared in the June issue of Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Two frequently used comprehensive treatment models have a long history: LEAP (Learning Experiences and Alternative Program for Preschoolers and their Parents) and TEACCH (now known only by its acronym).

FPG’s study examined the relative effects of the LEAP and TEACCH school-based comprehensive treatment models when compared to each other and to special-education programs that do not use a specific model. The multisite study took place only in high-quality classrooms and enrolled 74 teachers and 198 3- to 5-year-olds in public school districts.

The study found that children made gains over the school year regardless of the classroom’s use of LEAP, TEACCH or no specific comprehensive treatment model. “Each group of children showed significant positive change in autism severity, communication and fine- motor skills,” said Kara Hume, FPG scientist and co-author. “No statistically significant differences were found among models, which challenged our initial expectations — and likely the field’s.”

“This study may shift the field’s thinking about comprehensive treatment models designed for young children with ASD,” said co-author Samuel L. Odom, FPG’s director and the study’s principal investigator. “Perhaps it’s not the unique features of the models that most contribute to child gains but the common features of the models that most influence child growth.”

Researchers from East Tennessee State University, the University of Miami, Florida International University, University of Minnesota and Griffith University also participated in the study.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130716120058.htm

Decreased Autism Rates Found with Healthy Fats During Pregnancy

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Gina Ulery

By Chris Weller

Consuming various healthy fats during pregnancy may reduce a woman’s risk of having a child with autism, new research finds.

Published in the Journal of American Epidemiology by the Harvard School for Public Health, the study examined maternal intake of certain fatty acids across mothers whose children have autism and those whose do not. The study found that women who consumed linoleic acid — a type of omega-6 acid found in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds — were 34 percent less likely to birth a child with autism, while women who consumed low levels of omega-3 fatty acids — those found in fish — were more 53 percent more likely.

“Our results provide preliminary evidence that increased maternal intake of omega-6 fatty acids could reduce risk of offspring [autism spectrum disorder],” the researchers wrote, “and that very low intakes of omega-3 fatty acids and linoleic acid could increase risk.”

The researchers point to the fatty acids’ importance in the fetus’ brain development, coupled with the mother’s stores of fatty acid toward the end of the pregnancy, as contributing to the decreased risks. However, they could only draw associative links, no causal claims, between the two behavior patterns.

The study included 317 mothers whose children have autism spectrum disorder and 17,728 mothers whose children do not. The mothers all completed surveys about their diets during pregnancy, with some filling out the information while pregnant and others completing it one year after birth.

One standout figure from the research was that women who consumed more omega-3 fatty acids than other women did not necessarily reduce their child’s risk for autism. At a certain point, the benefits reached a threshold.

This suggests that although getting too little omega-3 fatty acids may increase the risk of autism, once a certain threshold is reached, further consumption doesn’t provide an extra benefit, the researchers said.

Because of the limited sample size and correlative link, the researchers recommended further testing be done.
Read more at http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17077/20130702/healthy-fats-autism-risk-fetus-brain-development-omega-3-fatty-acids-pregnancy.htm#zHJkvEcXGqufHxwU.99

Childhood Vaccines NOT Linked To Autism

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Gina Ulery

By Jon Hamilton

Number Of Early Childhood Vaccines Not Linked To Autism

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds no link between the number of vaccinations a young child receives and the risk of developing autism spectrum disorders.

A large new government study should reassure parents who are afraid that kids are getting autism because they receive too many vaccines too early in life.

The study, by researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, found no connection between the number of vaccines a child received and his or her risk of autism spectrum disorder. It also found that even though kids are getting more vaccines these days, those vaccines contain many fewer of the substances that provoke an immune response.

The study offers a response to vaccine skeptics who have suggested that getting too many vaccines on one day or in the first two years of life may lead to autism, says Frank DeStefano, director of the Immunization Safety Office of the CDC.

To find out if that was happening, DeStefano led a team that compared the vaccine histories of about 250 children who had autism spectrum disorder with those of 750 typical kids. Specifically, the researchers looked at what scientists call antigens. An antigen is a substance in a vaccine that causes the body to produce antibodies, proteins that help fight off infections.

The team looked at medical records to see how many antigens each child received and whether that affected the risk of autism. The results, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, were unequivocal.

“The amount of antigens from vaccines received on one day of vaccination or in total during the first two years of life is not related to the development of autism spectrum disorder in children,” DeStefano says.

The finding came as no surprise to researchers who study the immune system, DeStefano says. After all, he says, kids are exposed to antigens all the time in the form of bacteria and viruses. “It’s not really clear why a few more antigens from vaccines would be something that the immune system could not handle,” he says.

The study also found that even though the number of vaccines has gone up, the number of antigens in vaccines has gone down markedly. In the late-1990s, the vaccination schedule exposed children to several thousand antigens, the study says. But by 2012, that number had fallen to 315.

That dramatic reduction occurred because vaccines have become much more precise in the way they stimulate the immune system, DeStefano says.

Hardcore vaccine skeptics are unlikely to be swayed by the new research. But many worried parents should be, says Ellen Wright Clayton, a professor at Vanderbilt University who helped write a report on vaccine safety for the Institute of Medicine.

“I certainly hope that a carefully conducted study like this will get a lot of play, and that some people will find this convincing,” Clayton says. That would let researchers pursue more important questions, she says.

“The sad part is, by focusing on the question of whether vaccines cause autism spectrum disorders, they’re missing the opportunity to look at what the real causes are,” she says. “It’s not vaccines.”

Autism Speaks, a major advocacy and research group, seems ready to move beyond the vaccine issue. Geraldine Dawson, the group’s top scientist, praised the new study and says the result should clear the way for research on other potential causes of autism.

These include factors like nutrition, which can affect a baby’s brain development in the womb, Dawson says. Other factors could include medications and infections during pregnancy, she says, or an infant’s exposure to pesticides or pollution.

“As we home in on what is causing autism, I think we are going to have fewer and fewer questions about some of these things that don’t appear to be causing autism,” Dawson says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/29/175626824/the-number-of-early-childhood-vaccines-not-linked-to-autism?sc=17&f=1001

Professional Development Resources is featuring it’s Autism CE curriculum during the month of April to promote awareness among health professionals @ https://www.pdresources.org/searchlisting?search_input=autism&search_title=on&search_description=on

Autism Awareness Month CEU Special

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Gina Ulery

April is Autism Awareness Month, and today (April 2nd) is the 6th annual World Autism Awareness Day. Every April we feature our CE courses that focus on autism with the goal of contributing to autism awareness among health professionals. This year we are offering 25% off all of our autism-related CEU courses for the entire month:

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Families who have a child with autism may face new challenges this year when the long-awaited revised version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5) is published. It is scheduled for release in May 2013. Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM is considered the “bible” of psychiatry because it establishes the criteria mental health professionals use to diagnose their patients. According to Clinical Psychiatry News (Feb. 6, 2013), the new autism requirements in the DSM5 will be more restrictive than those found in the current DSM-IV.

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The intent is to make the diagnosis of autism more precise, but one of the real-life consequences will be that many individuals who are currently diagnosed with the condition may no longer qualify under the new criteria. An article published in CNN Health (Dec. 3, 2012) cited research predicting that at least 5% to 10% of patients will no longer meet the criteria for autism.

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Other predictions are for much higher numbers. One article, published in the journal Developmental Neurorehabilitation in June 2012, found that over 47% fewer toddlers would be diagnosed under the DSM5 autism criteria than under the current DSM-IV criteria. Whether or not such projections prove to be accurate, there is widespread concern among parents and advocacy groups that individuals who are currently diagnosed and under treatment may lose their benefits.

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While it may take several years for these diagnostic shifts to sort themselves out, it is important in the meantime for professionals who work with autistic individuals to monitor the situation closely. We plan to publish new courses as the DSM5 diagnostic criteria are phased in and new research becomes available.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA); by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC #5590); by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046); by the National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC #000279); by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA #3159); by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA #AAUM); by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR#PR001); and by various state licensing boards. Click here to view all accreditation’s.

Autism Society Responds to Approved DSM-5 Autism Definition

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Gina Ulery

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) approved a fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), signing off on a sweeping change to the definition of autism.

The DSM-5 eliminates autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder (not otherwise specified) by dissolving them into one diagnosis called autism spectrum disorder. According to the APA, this represents an effort to more accurately diagnose all individuals showing the signs of autism.

The DSM-5 is important because it provides the diagnostic labels that governments, insurance companies, schools and other institutions use to determine the services needed by each individual. The Autism Society, the nation’s largest grassroots autism organization, strongly advocates that individuals with autism spectrum disorder should continue to access their existing services or maintain their waiting list positions if a diagnosis changes under the DSM-5.

The Autism Society has been very involved throughout this process. We have submitted written comments to the APA advising that changes must not affect the services individuals receive. We have been invited to discuss these upcoming changes with the APA and will continue to represent the rights of individuals with autism–advocating for the protection of services. The Autism Society hosted a keynote session on the DSM-5 at its national conference last July, during which APA working group member Dr. Bryan King explained the need to make autism diagnosis more reliable and valid from person to person and place to place.

Here are a few important points the Autism Society believes all individuals affected by autism should know:

The specific diagnoses that are considered Pervasive Developmental Disorders are all quite complex. According to many clinicians, diagnosis of co-morbid conditions occurs too frequently because the definition of autism in the DSM-5 is too long and too complicated.
The APA reports that it did not find significant data to differentiate a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD-NOS and “high functioning” autism.
Broad criteria has made it more difficult to grasp an already complex disorder that manifests itself differently person to person.
A lack of clinical clarity can also lead to particular populations (females, minorities, and those from low income families) from being properly evaluated, resulting in misdiagnosis and improper treatment.

A Blood Test for Autism?

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Gina Ulery

By Laura Blue

Earlier detection of autism, relying on markers in the blood, may help more children to take advantage of helpful behavioral therapies.

Diagnosing autism currently requires hours of observation by clinicians and a far from objective series of behavioral measures, but improvements in genetic testing could make the process more efficient.

In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston describe a new experimental test to detect the developmental disorder, based on the differences in gene expression between kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those without the condition. The blood-based test appears to predict autism relatively accurately, at least among boys, and has already been licensed to a company, SynapDx, for commercial development. In an email statement to TIME, a spokeswoman for SynapDx said the company plans to start clinical trials of the new test in early 2013.

The new blood test for autism is intriguing, researchers say, because it seems to be at least as effective as any other genetic test for autism that doctors currently use. Scientists believe that autism has some genetic basis, based on genes that have been associated with the disorder, and the fact that the condition seems to run in families. “A week does not go by where you don’t hear about a genetic mutation that has been linked to autism in at least a few families,” says Isaac Kohane, a pediatric endocrinologist and computer scientist at Children’s Hospital Boston, and the senior study author on the new article in PLOS ONE. Kohane is a scientific adviser for SynapDx, but says he does not own any stock in the company.

But autism is a complex condition, he says, with many possible genetic determinants. And the precise genetic mechanism, or more likely mechanisms, are still poorly understood. But to get a better idea of which genetic changes might be most relevant to the disease, Kohane and his colleagues compared 66 patients with ASDs and 33 similar patients who were not affected by the disorder. Because they couldn’t analyze the participants’ brain tissue, they relied on their blood as a proxy for revealing any differences. And indeed, they found certain markers in the blood of autistic participants that did not appear in those without the disorder. They traced these to 489 genes and narrowed that list down to 55 genes that could predict autism in about two-thirds of those with the disease.

“There are a lot of different mutations involved, and a lot of different pathways that seem to be involved in autism,” Kohane says. Those genetic pathways included some known to be related to learning, and some linked to immune function. “The fact that not all kids had both, and some kids would be more abnormal in immunological pathways and others would be more abnormal in [another pathway] spoke, I think, to the genuine heterogeneity of the disease,” Kohane says.

“In that respect, autism is beginning to look a lot like what the cancer biologists are telling us about breast cancer, or lung cancer,” he says. “There may be hundreds of different molecularly defined cancers, which each have their own specific optimal treatment.” Similarly, autism spectrum disorders, too, may have diverse genetic roots, and appear clinically in slightly different ways from one patient to another.

Today, 1 in 88 kids suffers from an autism spectrum disorder, and prevalence has soared over the last 30 years, although it’s not clear why. Diagnosing the disease early is important because it allows children to take advantage of behavioral intervention programs that can lead to higher IQ scores and improvements in language. Kohane says the blood test could identify those at risk of autism well before symptoms appear around age 2, and help these children access potentially beneficial therapies.

The test, however, is still in early stages of development. Kohane says that its accuracy (at around 70% in a high-prevalence, predominantly male sample) is high enough to be clinically useful among kids with a suspected developmental disorder. But he stresses that the test as it stands still generates too many false positives, or people mistakenly identified with the condition when in fact they don’t have it, for the test to be used as an autism screening tool among all children. If the current results are confirmed, that may take a few more years.

Professional Development Resources is approved as a provider of continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC #5590); the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC #000279); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR #PR001); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA #3159); and various state licensing boards.

Click here to view CE course offerings on Autism.

‘Asperger’s Disorder’ Being Dropped from Diagnostic Guide

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Gina Ulery

By Lindsey Tanner, The Associated Press

The now familiar term “Asperger’s disorder” is being dropped. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD. But “dyslexia” and other learning disorders remain.

The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by the nation’s psychiatrists. Changes were approved Saturday.

Full details of all the revisions will come next May when the American Psychiatric Association’s new diagnostic manual is published, but the impact will be huge, affecting millions of children and adults worldwide. The manual also is important for the insurance industry in deciding what treatment to pay for, and it helps schools decide how to allot special education.

This diagnostic guide “defines what constellations of symptoms” doctors recognize as mental disorders, said Dr. Mark Olfson, a Columbia University psychiatry professor. More important, he said, it “shapes who will receive what treatment. Even seemingly subtle changes to the criteria can have substantial effects on patterns of care.”

Olfson was not involved in the revision process. The changes were approved Saturday in suburban Washington, D.C., by the psychiatric association’s board of trustees.

The aim is not to expand the number of people diagnosed with mental illness, but to ensure that affected children and adults are more accurately diagnosed so they can get the most appropriate treatment, said Dr. David Kupfer. He chaired the task force in charge of revising the manual and is a psychiatry professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

One of the most hotly argued changes was how to define the various ranges of autism. Some advocates opposed the idea of dropping the specific diagnosis for Asperger’s disorder. People with that disorder often have high intelligence and vast knowledge on narrow subjects but lack social skills. Some who have the condition embrace their quirkiness and vow to continue to use the label.

And some Asperger’s families opposed any change, fearing their kids would lose a diagnosis and no longer be eligible for special services.

But the revision will not affect their education services, experts say.

The new manual adds the term “autism spectrum disorder,” which already is used by many experts in the field. Asperger’s disorder will be dropped and incorporated under that umbrella diagnosis. The new category will include kids with severe autism, who often don’t talk or interact, as well as those with milder forms.

Kelli Gibson of Battle Creek, Mich., who has four sons with various forms of autism, said Saturday she welcomes the change. Her boys all had different labels in the old diagnostic manual, including a 14-year-old with Asperger’s.

“To give it separate names never made sense to me,” Gibson said. “To me, my children all had autism.”

Three of her boys receive special education services in public school; the fourth is enrolled in a school for disabled children. The new autism diagnosis won’t affect those services, Gibson said. She also has a 3-year-old daughter without autism.

People with dyslexia also were closely watching for the new updated doctors’ guide. Many with the reading disorder did not want their diagnosis to be dropped. And it won’t be. Instead, the new manual will have a broader learning disorder category to cover several conditions including dyslexia, which causes difficulty understanding letters and recognizing written words.

The trustees on Saturday made the final decision on what proposals made the cut; recommendations came from experts in several work groups assigned to evaluate different mental illnesses.

The revised guidebook “represents a significant step forward for the field. It will improve our ability to accurately diagnose psychiatric disorders,” Dr. David Fassler, the group’s treasurer and a University of Vermont psychiatry professor, said after the vote.

The shorthand name for the new edition, the organization’s fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, is DSM-5. Group leaders said specifics won’t be disclosed until the manual is published but they confirmed some changes. A 2000 edition of the manual made minor changes but the last major edition was published in 1994.

Olfson said the manual “seeks to capture the current state of knowledge of psychiatric disorders. Since 2000 … there have been important advances in our understanding of the nature of psychiatric disorders.”

Catherine Lord, an autism expert at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York who was on the psychiatric group’s autism task force, said anyone who met criteria for Asperger’s in the old manual would be included in the new diagnosis.

One reason for the change is that some states and school systems don’t provide services for children and adults with Asperger’s, or provide fewer services than those given an autism diagnosis, she said.

Autism researcher Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks, said small studies have suggested the new criteria will be effective. But she said it will be crucial to monitor so that children don’t lose services.

Other changes include:

— A new diagnosis for severe recurrent temper tantrums — disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. Critics say it will medicalize kids’ who have normal tantrums. Supporters say it will address concerns about too many kids being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with powerful psychiatric drugs. Bipolar disorder involves sharp mood swings and affected children are sometimes very irritable or have explosive tantrums.

— Eliminating the term “gender identity disorder.” It has been used for children or adults who strongly believe that they were born the wrong gender. But many activists believe the condition isn’t a disorder and say calling it one is stigmatizing. The term would be replaced with “gender dysphoria,” which means emotional distress over one’s gender. Supporters equated the change with removing homosexuality as a mental illness in the diagnostic manual, which happened decades ago.

Source: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/01/15605718-aspergers-disorder-being-dropped-from-psychiatrists-diagnostic-guide?lite

Autism and Air Pollution: The Link Grows Stronger

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Gina Ulery

By Laura Blue

Children with autism are two to three times more likely than other children to have been exposed to car exhaust, smog, and other air pollutants during their earliest days, according to a new study.

That new research adds to a mounting body of evidence that shows a link between early-life exposure to pollution and autism spectrum disorders.

For the new study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers in California analyzed some 500 children living in that state: roughly half had autism and half did not. The kids’ mothers gave an address for each and every home in which they had lived during pregnancy and the child’s first year of life. Researchers took that information — along with data on traffic volume, vehicle emissions, wind patterns, and regional estimates of pollutants like particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and ozone — to estimate each child’s likely pollution exposure. According to the study, children in the top 25% of pollution exposure (using one of two different pollution scales) were far more likely to be diagnosed with autism than kids in the bottom 25% of the pollution scale.

The researchers stress, however, that their study does not definitively prove that pollution is the root cause of autism.

“We’re not saying that air pollution causes autism. We’re saying it may be a risk factor for autism,” says Heather Volk, lead author on the new study and an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. “Autism is a complex disorder and it’s likely there are many factors contributing,” she says.

The following continuing education courses on autism were designed for the educational advancement of healthcare professionals:

Autism Linked to Fever or Flu in Pregnancy

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Gina Ulery

By Joseph Brownstein, MyHealthNewsDaily Contributor

Having a fever or flu in pregnancy may be linked with the development of autism in children, a new study suggests. While researchers are hesitant to draw strong conclusions, the study is at least the second showing such a link.

The researchers followed mothers in Denmark and the nearly 97,000 children they had between 1997 and 2003. During the study, 976 children in the study were diagnosed with autism.

Children were more likely to be diagnosed with autism if their mothers had the flu or developed a prolonged fever during the first or second trimester of pregnancy.

But the topic needs further study before stronger conclusions can be drawn, said study researcher Hjördis Osk Atladottir, of the University of Aarhus.

“Around 99 percent of women experiencing influenza, fever or taking antibiotics during pregnancy do NOT have children with autism,” Atladottir wrote to MyHealthNewsDaily in an email.

Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Developmental Disabilities Branch, who was not involved in the study, said, “We’re not recommending clinically that physicians change their management of pregnant women based on these findings.”

One reason for the caution may be that pregnant women who are concerned about lowering their child’s risk of autism would, for the most part, simply need to adhere to existing guidelines, which recommend getting a flu shot, and treating fevers by taking acetaminophen and contacting their physician.

Some researchers were puzzled by the authors’ caution.

“The data indicates that maternal flu infection or an extended fever increases the risk for autism in the offspring — a twofold increase,” said Paul H. Patterson, a biology professor who researches the connections between infection and neurological development at the California Institute of Technology.

Noting that the new finding is consistent with other research, Patterson said, “I’m not clear on why they appear to soft-pedal their results in their conclusions.”

A study published in May from researchers at the University of California, Davis found a similar connection, showing that mothers of children with autism were more likely to have had a prolonged fever in the late first or second trimesters of pregnancy, compared with mothers of children who didn’t have autism.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an author of the UC Davis findings, said while the reason that fevers or flu during pregnancy may be linked with autism are unclear, it’s thought that inflammation may have an adverse effect on early brain development.

“I think there’s some growing evidence that perhaps inflammation in the wrong tissue at the wrong time could interfere with normal developmental processes,” Hertz-Picciotto said.

There is also evidence for a link between mothers who have inflammatory conditions such as diabetes and autism in children, but that link, too, has not been conclusively established, she said.

“There is some growing evidence that in neurodevelopment, this could be part of a pathologic process, this could lead to behavioral type syndromes,” Hertz-Picciotto said.

Indeed, researchers are just beginning to develop an understanding of autism’s causes, the experts said.

“We know a lot more than we knew five years ago, but the science is really in its infancy,” said Coleen Boyle, of the CDC.

A CDC-sponsored study, called the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED), is following more than 2,700 children in California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, with the hope of identifying factors that might influence autism spectrum disorders.

Boyle said that the possible environmental causes of autism can be more challenging to research than the disorder’s genetic causes. For example, data in the new study had to be collected starting in the late 1990s.

“You can just see the time that’s required to collect that kind of information,” Boyle said.

“There’s not a lot of people looking at these environmental factors,” Hertz-Picciotto said. “This is something people should be paying more attention to, because it’s actionable.”

Pass it on:A flu or fever during pregnancy may lead to autism in children.

Source: http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/3257-autism-fever-flu-pregnancy-inflammation.html

Professional Development Resources, an accredited provider of online continuing education courses for health professionals, offers a number of courses that address the research, diagnosis and treatment of those on the Autism spectrum.

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