A new study by a Canadian research group found that parents who have a child with autism and a later-born infant are more effective than clinicians at detecting signs of autism at 12- and 18-months old. In a study of 188 children, parents and clinicians reported on the presence of the same 19 behavioral symptoms, such as eye contact, hand-eye coordination, social smiling, repetitive motions, and vocalizations. Parent responses were based on their day-to-day observations of the child at home, while clinician responses were based on a 15-20 minute structured interaction with the infant. At 36 months, all children received a diagnostic evaluation.

 At both 12 and 18 months of age, the parent-rated symptoms were more predictive of a later diagnosis of autism than were the clinician-rated symptoms. These results suggest that parents may detect some clinically informative behaviors based on their day-to-day observations more readily than do clinicians during a brief clinical assessment. The authors note that additional work is needed to determine whether their findings hold true for parents who do not have an older child with autism. But for now, the important take-home message for clinicians is to listen carefully for early “red flag” behaviors reported by parents about their later-born infants, as they may be seeing behaviors that could be missed during a brief observation period. And the take-home for parents is to make sure to share your behavioral observations and concerns with your clinician! To learn more, click here!

Last week, Research Assistants Roya Baharloo and Elyanah Posner attended the Visions for Early Learning West Central Regional Coalition Meeting at Centralia College, where they gave a presentation on the Screen-Refer-Treat (SRT) study. This coalition has members from Grays Harbor, Mason, Lewis, North Pacific, and Thurston Counties, and works to promote partnerships and community connections to support early learning.  We appreciate the invitation to speak at this meeting, and the opportunity for lively discussions with service providers about the SRT aims and the importance of early autism intervention.

Anything can happen at the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), which is now underway in Rotterdam. Pictured here are Lauren Turner-Brown, PhD, a former graduate student of Dr. Stone’s from Vanderbilt, and Trent DesChamps, one of her current UW graduate students (proudly displaying his poster)!  Dr. Turner-Brown is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UNC-Chapel Hill and Assistant Director of the TEACCH Autism Program.

Last week, the Huffington Post published a list of children’s books that feature characters on the autism spectrum and discuss issues related to autism. All of the books on the compiled list promote understanding and acceptance from the perspective of characters with autism as well as their neurotypical siblings and peers. Some are even authored by individuals on the spectrum. What a positive way to increase the representation of autism in the media! For more information, click here.

The University of Washington is taking part in a national initiative called Project SEARCH, which provides people on the autism spectrum with training on the skills necessary for a full-time job. READi Lab collaborator Jill Locke, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, is the UW contact for this innovative pilot program. The program offers a one-year unpaid, part-time internship in which participants are matched with an on-campus job, where they are trained on skills such as multi-tasking, teamwork, and taking conversational cues. It launched on the east coast in 2016, and expanded to the UW in 2017. UW was selected because of support from the university and its partners, and for its proximity to Microsoft and other large tech companies who also have autism-hiring programs. Currently, there are seven participants who are finishing up the last quarter of the experience. The interns have been assigned to many jobs, anywhere from checking out camera equipment to maintenance to retrieving golf balls from the UW driving range. Click here to read more about this exciting program!

Estamos buscando a padres que tienen un hijo(a) pequeño con autismo para que participen en un grupo de enfoque. Le preguntaremos sobre sus experiencias cuando se comunica con sus doctores y proveedores de salud acerca sus preocupaciones del autismo.

Si elige participar en este estudio, lo invitaremos a ir a una reunión del grupo de enfoque que durara 2 horas con otros padres en la Universidad de Washington. Recibirá una compensación de $100 por su participación. Si está interesado en participar, nos puede llamar al  número (206) 543-9353 o enviarnos un email a PathASD@uw.edu. Para más información, aquí esta nuestro folleto!

Today’s report from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (ADDM) revealed an increase in ASD prevalence in the U.S. between the years of 2012 and 2014. The new prevalence rate is 1 in 59 children, based on a 2014 survey of over 325,000 children across 11 states. The prevalence rate from the 2012 survey was 1 in 68.

Three unfortunate statistics remain, making our research at the READi Lab ever more necessary:

• Hispanic children are less likely to be identified with ASD by age 8 compared to Non-Hispanic White or Black children
• Although 85% of children with ASD had documented developmental concerns before 36 months, only 42% had a comprehensive evaluation on record by 36 months
• The median age of earliest known ASD diagnosis was 52 months.

If you would like to read more, visit:

https://spectrumnews.org/news/new-report-shows-slight-uptick-autism-prevalence/

On Friday, READi Lab research assistants John, Hailee, and Elyanah attended Centralia College’s Family Fun Fest. They shared information with caregivers and educators about READi Lab’s research studies and the resources on our website. It was wonderful to meet so many people in Lewis County, which is one of the counties participating in the SRT grant. Thank you to the Lewis County Autism Coalition for inviting us!

Seattle Pacific University is hosting their fourth annual Voices of Autism event on Saturday April 21st, 2018 from 1-5 P.M. The event includes a community resource fair for families, a keynote lecture on advocacy from an adult on the spectrum, and a panel discussion focusing on the experiences and perspectives of those living with ASD. Also featured is a new musical called “Neurotistic,” that follows a young adult with autism, written by a former SPU student who self-identifies as being on the autism spectrum. The event is free and open to the public! To find out more and reserve tickets, click here.

On April 17 2018 at 12:00pm EDT (9:00am PST), Spectrum News will be hosting a free webinar discussing and debating the diagnostic criteria for autism. This webinar will feature Dr. Catherine Lord (Director of Center for Autism and the Developing Brain and Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine), Dr. Sally Rogers (Professor of Psychiatry at the MIND institute at the University of California, Davis), and Dr. David Skuse (Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the Institute of Child Health at University College London). It will begin with a live panel discussion on the DSM-5 and will be followed by an audience Q&A. To learn more and register for the webinar, click here.

The Seattle Mariners are celebrating Autism Awareness Day on Sunday, April 15^th at Safeco Field! Attendees will have the opportunity to claim a free Autism Awareness Day t-shirt with their ticket purchase. Seven dollars of every ticket sold through their website will benefit Autism Speaks. The Mariners will also have a sensory-sensitive quiet area at the Ellis Pavilion for families on the day of the game. First pitch is at 1pm against the Oakland Athletics—so go root, root, root for the home team! Click here to learn more about this event!

The Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC) is a multidisciplinary, international community of researchers committed to understanding the developmental origins and earliest signs of autism by studying later-born infants of children with autism. READi Lab director Wendy Stone is a long-standing member (and previous Chair) of the BSRC. Through collaborative research projects, this group has identified both behavioral and biological markers of risk and disrupted development prior to the age of diagnosis, which has sparked studies of early intervention in infancy. Check out our website at www.babysiblingsresearchconsortium.org to find information for parents and to learn more about our current studies and research publications.

Today Sesame Street is releasing the next phase of their initiative, “See Amazing in All Children!” The new content – available in English and Spanish – includes 4 video segments, a storybook introducing Julia’s family, a read-along video of the “We’re Amazing, 1,2,3!” storybook, and digital routine cards (click on the links below). In addition, on Monday April 9, the second annual simulcast of a Julia-focused Sesame Street episode will air on HBO and PBS Kids. #SeeAmazing

Storybook introducing Julia’s family

Read-along video of the “We’re Amazing, 1,2,3!” storybook

Digital routine cards

 

Video segments:

Learning different ways to say hello

Helping kids find ways to play together

Celebrating family diversity

Searching for patterns

What began as a senior project for one student at Columbus East High School in Indiana is now a published children’s book that raises awareness about autism. Kyndal Gary wrote and illustrated a 24-page book titled “Something’s Different About Andrew” which highlights different situations experienced by Andrew, the main character with autism. Kyndal hopes the book can help people understand that individuals with autism have hidden talents and can be successful. He will be holding a book reading in front of the entire student body at his high school during Autism Awareness Month (April 2018). To find out more about his book, click here!

Children with and without ASD can be equally shaken by the tragic events that appear in the news, such as school shootings. Autism Speaks has posted some suggestions for talking to your child about tragedy as well as understanding their potential reactions. The tips are provided by Dr. Peter Faustino, a delegate of the National Association of School Psychologists. Click here to read these helpful suggestions!

 

Stuart Duncan and his son share the love of playing Minecraft, an online adventure game. While this may sound like a common father-son activity, both Stuart and his son are diagnosed with autism. Stuart noticed that the internet can be an unfriendly, and sometimes terrifying, place for children with autism – so he created a Minecraft server called Autcraft that provides a safe and compassionate game space. In Autcraft, children earn rewards for being helpful and friendly toward other players, rather than competitive. He monitors the server carefully, and now 8,000 people around the world are on his white list, waiting to be approved to join. To listen to his TEDx talk to learn more about the server and his story, click here. You can also visit the Autcraft website by clicking here.

We are recruiting our second round of focus groups for parents with a young child with ASD.  We are conducting separate focus groups for families who speak English and those who are Spanish-speaking only.  The focus group will last about 2 hours, and participating families will be compensated $100 for their time. Click here for more information!

The Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquarium of the Americas, based in New Orleans, has become the first aquarium to be certified as sensory inclusive. The Nature Institute worked with KultureCity, a nonprofit organization that helps effect change in the community for those with sensory differences, to ensure that their programs are inclusive and can address each visitor’s unique needs. As a result, they now offer “sensory bags” that include items such as “VIP” lanyards and noise-cancelling headphones, have created “quiet zones” for people who need a place to calm down, and have provided professional development training to their staff to better assist visitors. In addition, they’ve created social stories to help visitors know what to expect during their visit to their Aquarium and Zoo, which can be downloaded from their website. To learn more about the program, click here.

Want to share your thoughts about how individuals with autism can be successful in the workplace? Researchers at Stony Brook University have teamed up with the Autism Science Foundation to create this survey to identify the factors that contribute to the employment success for individuals with ASD. The survey takes 10-15 minutes to complete, and is designed for adults with ASD (18+ years old), parents of children with ASD (13+ years old), and clinicians, employers, and researchers who work with individuals with ASD. The goal of this project is to enable communities to better support people with ASD, as well as the employers and healthcare professionals who help people with ASD obtain and keep employment. To take the survey, click here!

Thanks to supplemental funding from NIMH for the SRT grant, the READi Lab held an ADOS-2 training workshop last week for early intervention providers in Yakima and Spokane counties. The ADOS-2 is a standardized diagnostic assessment tool that can provide useful information to Autism Centers of Excellence (COEs) and other diagnosticians for determining a child’s eligibility for Medicaid-funded ABA services.

The 2-day training workshop was conducted by Susan Hepburn, PhD, a clinical psychologist and professor at Colorado State University. The trainees were participants in our Screen-Refer-Treat study from Guilds School and Northwest Autism Center (in Spokane) and Children’s Village (in Yakima).  The providers spent time learning ADOS-2 tips and tricks from Susan Hepburn, engaged in role-play assessments with each other, and had some hands on experience with children. A special thank you to the Spokane Guilds School for hosting the workshop!

FUN FACT: Dr. Hepburn is one of Dr. Stone’s former graduate students from her Vanderbilt years.