NEW UK Autism Research Hub: The Synapse Centre for Neurodevelopment ESNEFT
NEW UK Autism Research Hub: The Synapse Centre for Neurodevelopment ESNEFT The Synapse Centre for Neurodevelopment The Synapse Centre, based within the ESNEFT (East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust) is a new research centre based in the East of England...
Synchrony 2020 Online Symposium – Translational Research In Autism
Synchrony 2020 Online Symposium – Translational Research In Autism Latest advancements in autism research and development of approved therapeutics for improving health and quality of life of people with autism. We are happy to share the announcement that the second...
Addressing Poor Health & High Death Rates in Autism
Addressing Poor Health & High Death Rates in Autism “We must first recognise ASD as a whole body disorder” Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD, is traditionally seen as the result of behavioural and neuropsychiatric dysfunction. However there is a strong...
Finding your kindness: Autism and COVID-19
Finding your kindness: Autism and COVID-19 Finding your kindness: Autism and COVID-19 I’m holding my son’s hand as we walk through the parking lot toward the grocery store. People give us looks. He’s 17 and they likely cannot understand why we’re holding hands. We’re...
My Son’s Autism and Disability: Unintended Consequences of a Polarised Debate
My Son’s Autism and Disability: Unintended Consequences of a Polarised Debate The social and medical models of disability What could possibly motivate a busy parent like myself, with not enough hours in the day, to take time out to write about the social and medical...
Brain Plasticity in Autism- new approaches from Yale University
All brains are able to change by forming new neural connections. This ability to change is known neuroplasticity or brain plasticity. The capacity of the brain to, under the right circumstances, re-organize itself physically and functionally underpins trans-cranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment modality. Harry D. Schneider PhD, MD, MPH, Consultant in Neurolinguistics to the Joy Hirsch PhD, Director of Brain Function Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine, will share his decades of research and clinical experience of tDCS…
Autism and auditory processing
Autism and auditory processing The impact of auditory processing issues in autism It is well understood that many on the autism spectrum experience challenges with processing a range of sensory information. This is wonderfully covered in previous Thinking Autism blogs...
Synchrony 2019 – Translational Research in Autism symposia
The first Brain Foundation annual symposia, Pleasanton, California 8-10 of Nov 2019, aimed to connect researchers with clinicians, donors & stake holders to help translate research efforts into evidence-based treatments for autism and its co-morbidities. It highlighted the need for multidisciplinary collaboration, detailed diagnostics and personalised treatment…
Transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS – a novel treatment for autism?
One of the treatment modalities that has shown the greatest promise for reducing symptoms of autism in recent years is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The most recent study confirmed and expanded on the findings of previous investigations, which strongly indicate that tDCS could have positive effects on cognition, behaviour and physical health, and improve quality of life and autonomy for a large percentage of individuals with autism.
Misperceptions of ASD Neurodiversity and Health Recovery
As a Chartered Psychologist, child development researcher and author in the autism/ASD field, I frequently meet misperceptions of neurodiversity in relation to programmes for autism and health recovery. Somehow or other the belief has developed that to offer such help to an individual on the autistic spectrum is to deny their neurodiversity. In this blog I suggest a new way of looking at this subject…
Cannabis for Treating Core and Comorbid Autism Symptoms – Where are we at?
Several studies published in recent months investigated the effects of cannabis-based products for treating autism. Although the studies were open-label and relatively small in scale, the overall results were overwhelmingly positive, with statistically significant improvements in social communication, language, restrictive/repetitive and challenging behaviours.