Autism Lecture Powerpoint

Question 1

Autism epidemiology

Answer 1

Has increased to almost 1% of children, but NOT due to epidemic, rather due to expansion of the spectrum, heightened awareness of the condition, better diagnostic/screening/service tools

Question 2

Diagnostic substitution

Answer 2

Refers to how children who were previously diagnosed under old terms for developmental disabilities are now given the diagnosis of autism resulting in incidence of intellectual disability declining to the same extent autism spectrum disorder has increased

Question 3

Autism definition

Answer 3

major deficits in 3 areas including communication (delay/mutism, echolalia, monotone), socialization (poor eye contact, doesn’t read gestures, little interest in friends), and repetitive sterotypic behavior (limited range of interests, preservation of routine, fixations on obscure things)

Question 4

Autistic regression

Answer 4

Occurs around 18-24 months where a child who is seemingly developing properly sees language and social regression that will then go forward from there at a slowed rate but NO motor regression (that would indicate degenerative dz)

Question 5

Asperger syndrome

Answer 5

Children without language delay but qualitative impairment of social interaction, restricted repetitive sterotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities that are clinically significant and impair social, occupational, or other areas of functioning (argued to be linked to high functioning autism)

Question 6

Unclassified behaviors in autism (5)

Answer 6

• restricted diet or pica
• toe walking
• low or high threshold to pain
• non cuddly, colicky
• overly sensitive to noise

Question 7

M-CHAT screening

Answer 7

Pediatric screening assessment for autism at 18 and 24 months that requires referral for further eval if they fail 3 items or 2 critical items

Question 8

Red flags for autism (4)

Answer 8

• significant speech delay at 24 months
• regression, mutism, echolalia
• picky eater
• family history

Question 9

Standardized autism tests (after referral from M-CHAT screening) (3)

Answer 9

-ADOS (most common)
-ADI-R
CARS

Question 10

Underconnectivity theory

Answer 10

A theorized cause of autism that involves undersignaling between different lobes of the brain, such as the back and the front (better at visual processing but difficulty social processing which sees the network cross the brain to the front)

Question 11

Autism etiology (3)

Answer 11

• Genetic (highly heritable)
• familial history of nobel grade academic prestige
• 15% environmental factors prenatally

Question 12

False theories about vaccination and autism

Answer 12

• MMR vaccine (Wakefield is a fraud and lied)
• Thimerosal (mercury in the vaccine)
• multiple vaccines overloading immature immune system (today we give more vaccines to kids but fewer antigens than we did before)

Question 13

Applied behavioral analysis

Answer 13

Behavioral treatment in children with autism where they repetitively learn new behaviors for reward and is the only intervention proven to help

Question 14

Autism treatment (3)

Answer 14

• speech/language therapy
• applied behavioral analysis (ABA)
• Sensory integration/sensory diet

Question 15

Secretin and autism

Answer 15

Theorized that delivery IV of secretin had imediate and dramatic improvement in autistic behaviors, but double blind studies have shown no effect other than placebo

Question 16

Medications for autism and examples (3)

Answer 16

Do not work well for ASD as in children with other diagnoses such as ADHD, principle is to start low and go slow, some examples can include risperdal, SSRI, lamictal