he Chair of the UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Harriet Harman MP, has written to the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, with questions about the roles and responsibilities of its Commissioners for St Andrews and Whorlton Hall, two institutions for people with learning disabilities and autism recently closed or put in special measures.
The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is characterised by an increase in cortisol in the 30 to 60 min after waking. Research has found significant associations between an atypical CAR and symptoms of stress and anxiety in typically developing (TD) children and adolescents. A number of studies have explored the CAR in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but no evidence synthesis is available to date.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience set‐shifting deficit as a part of executive function, which can lead to cognitive and behavioural flexibility deficits and/or restricted behaviours. Despite the increasing body of research on this cognitive deficit, set‐shifting training has not been exclusively studied in ASD.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits occur more frequently for youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One mechanism that may reduce the likelihood of these events is utilization of home and community-based care. Using commercial claims data and a rigorous analytical framework, this retrospective US study examined whether spending on outpatient services for ASD, including occupational, physical, and speech therapies and other behavioral interventions, reduced the likelihood of psychiatric hospitalizations and ED visits.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/2HjNDf3
Sensory overresponsivity (SOR), an atypical negative reaction to sensory stimuli, is highly prevalent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous work has related SOR to increased brain response in sensory-limbic regions. This study investigated where these atypical responses fall in three fundamental stages of sensory processing: arousal (i.e., initial response), habituation (i.e., change in response over time), and generalization of response to novel stimuli. Different areas of atypical response would require distinct intervention approaches.. Login at top right hand side of page using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens for full text.
Parents and carers of children with have an extra week to help shape the future of local services in southern Staffordshire.
The on-line survey to capture views of parents and families has been extended until midnight on Sunday 30 June and additional events to meet with parents and children are also being held.
Open access. Autism is a polysemous concept. It is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder that is diagnosed based on an assessment of behaviour and dysfunction. Autism also refers to a specific way of information or sensorial processing. For those diagnosed with autism, it is a real and shared experience. In this paper, I sketch the moral work that biological conceptions of autism perform.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Jun 10, 2019). DOI:10.1037/abn0000436
Myriad studies have found group differences in neural dynamics between people with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the extent to which variation in neural dynamics is related to variation in the autism phenotype across the population is not known. Here we measured behavioral characteristics of autism alongside intertrial phase coherence (ITC) and multiscale entropy (MSE) computed from EEG in order to address this question.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Implications for practice and research
>The younger siblings of children who received an autism spectrum diagnosis are shown to have lower vaccination rates than the younger siblings of children who have not received an autism spectrum diagnosis. The benefit of applying this knowledge in practice would be to take steps to target this subpopulation.
>The research is novel in that previous studies were not as large or focused. The retrospective matched cohort study uses ‘Vaccine Safety Datalink’ information from six integrated healthcare delivery systems across the USA.
>Future research could explore strategies for engaging with parents who have received an autism spectrum diagnosis for older children when considering vaccinating younger siblings. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Intellectual disability (ID) is associated with polypharmacy particularly off‐label psychotropics for “challenging behaviour.” NHS England introduced the “stopping over medication of people with a learning disability (LD), autism or both” (STOMP) initiative. As ID services are a professionally diverse group, it is important to know whether teams have suitable knowledge to deliver STOMP. The impact of delivering bespoke STOMP training was evaluated.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
International Journal of Play Therapy (May 30, 2019). DOI:10.1037/pla0000093
This article describes a pilot study for a play-based intervention designed to support the development of social competence of youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that includes play with the videogame, Minecraft. Four boys with ASD, ages 11–13, participated in play with the videogame during 8 1-hr sessions with a typically developing peer and 2 adults during structured play (role-based objective play) and free play (no roles or objectives) with video modeling, adult facilitation, and mediation from a typically developing peer. High rates of initiations were maintained during structured play; the quality of social play started as weak during free play but improved by the later sessions. Implications of the results for practitioners and researchers are discussed.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the inappropriate placement of children and adults with learning disabilities and/or autism in mental health hospitals, and the threat that such placements pose to their human rights.
This report gives the interim findings from our review of the use of restrictive interventions in places that provide care for people with mental health problems, a learning disability and/or autism.
Soccer is the world's most popular sport. The present authors evaluated the effect of the Game of Life (GOL) soccer initiative on soccer skills, fitness and mobility of adults with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Open access. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism are increasingly recognised in adults. For a diagnostic evaluation, parental information on childhood development is needed. However, no instruments that retrospectively describe neurodevelopmental problems in childhood are validated for evaluating adults. The 181-item parent-report questionnaire Five to Fifteen (FTF) is nevertheless frequently used for assessments in adulthood.
Open access. Early identification and diagnosis is beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Universal early screening is recommended by many experts, but disputed because evidence is limited, and sensitivity and specificity in general populations are largely unknown.