intervention – ASF Weekly Science Podcasts

In all the recent hype on the “overprescribing” of psychiatric medications, there is a circulating rumor antidepressant use in the mother during pregnancy has could be linked to an autism diagnosis in the child. Thankfully, there is research on this topic, and the results are clear: antidepressant exposure during pregnancy does not cause autism in … Continue reading "Antidepressa...

You may have heard terms in early intervention like “NDBI” or “Early Start Denver Model” and wondered if there was a difference in efficacy behind all these flavors of toddler interventions. On this week’s podcast, we speak to Dr. Giacomo Vivanti from @DrexelAutism, who combined data from 4 of these interventions across 700 children to … Continue reading "The di...

Two pediatricians, a child neurologist and a child psychiatrist walk into the ASF weekly science podcast to discuss the safety, efficacy and appropriateness of leucovorin, the drug that the HHS is fast tracking through the FDA approval process. Does it work? Is it safe? What should I do or know when I talk to my … Continue reading "A lesson on leucovorin"

Gene therapies have been in the news lately. They are being used to help individuals who have a genetic variant linked to a disorder or disease, including but not limited to: spinal muscular atrophy, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, diabetes and some types of cancers. What is the promise in rare genetic forms of … Continue reading "Genetic therapies in store for neurodevel...

Catatonia is a syndrome which includes immobility, stupor, and sometimes regression in psychiatric wellness or even ability to feed or take care of ones self. This syndrome is seen in autism about 10% of the time but is is often overlooked or misdiagnosed. This may be because the symptoms are relatively rare or because catatonia … Continue reading "Let’s talk about catatonia"

In part 1 of a 3 part series on Profound Autism, ASF interviews Emily Ferguson, PhD from @Stanford shares what she learned by asking parents and caregivers of Profound Autism “what do you need?” The short answer was: “There is No Help“. The responses were overwhelmingly focused on inclusion in any program or service, since … Continue reading "What do Profound Autism C...

While NDBIs are generally considered beneficial, they still face controversies – do they actually work and does that translate to an improved quality of life for the family? This week’s #ASF podcast interviews Molly Reilly and Jinwei Song of @UConn to dive into these issues, as well as the role of the caregiver in the … Continue reading "Are Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral...

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 … Continue reading "The 2024 Day Of Learning Quickie"

Last week in North Carolina, the Meeting on Language in Autism was held, with 3 days of amazing presentations and lots of productive discussions about how language and speech develops and how people with autism communicate. This podcast describes the origins of language development and how intervention during toddlerhood can promote lifelong language abilities. To … Continue reading "Missed...

This week’s podcast re-explores a question about a potential therapy for autism – minocycline. Minocycline is an antibiotic used to treat a number of different infections and some anecdotal reports have linked it to an improvement of autism. This has led to some experimental trials on minocycline, with inconclusive results. This week, a multisite study … Continue reading "What&#8...