1. Bryson SA, Ostmeyer KF. {{Increasing the Effectiveness of Community Mental Health Center Social Skills Groups for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Training and Consultation Example}}. {Administration and policy in mental health}. 2014 Jan 4.
The goal of this collaboration between a university and two community mental health (CMH) centers was to increase capacity among staff serving children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in usual care social skills groups. University researchers observed two usual care social skills groups in two sites; identified needs and strengths; delivered tailored trainings on behavioral management principles; and provided follow-up coaching. After training and coaching, CMH staff demonstrated significant gains in self-reported and observed behavioral management skills. Foundational education in behavior management may benefit successful implementation of ASD-specific evidence based practices in community settings.
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2. Kim SY, Tassone F, Simon TJ, Rivera SM. {{Altered neural activity in the ‘when’ pathway during temporal processing in fragile X premutation carriers}}. {Behavioural brain research}. 2014 Jan 4.
Mutations of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene are the genetic cause of fragile X syndrome (FXS). Large expansions of the CGG repeat (> 200 repeats) consequently result in transcriptional silencing of the FMR1 gene and deficiency/absence of the FMR1 protein (FMRP). Carriers with a premutation allele (55 to 200 of CGG repeats) are often associated with mildly reduced levels of FMRP and/or elevated levels of FMR1 mRNA. Recent studies have shown that infants with FXS exhibit severely reduced resolution of temporal attention, whereas spatial resolution of attention is not impaired. Following from these findings in the full mutation, the current study used fMRI to examine whether premutation carriers would exhibit atypical temporal processing at behavioral and/or neural levels. Using spatial and temporal working memory (SWM and TWM) tasks, separately tagging spatial and temporal processing, we demonstrated that neurotypical adults showed greater activation in the ‘when pathway’ (i.e., the right temporoparietal junction: TPJ) during TWM retrieval than SWM retrieval. However, premutation carriers failed to show this increased involvement of the right TPJ during retrieval of temporal information. Further, multiple regression analyses on right TPJ activation and FMR1 gene expression (i.e., CGG repeat size and FMR1 mRNA) suggests that elevated FMR1 mRNA level is a powerful predictor accounting for reduced right TPJ activation associated with temporal processing in premutation carriers. In conclusion, the current study provides the first evidence on altered neural correlates of temporal processing in adults with the premutation, explained by their FMR1 gene expression.
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3. Waterhouse L, Gillberg C. {{Why Autism Must be Taken Apart}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2014 Jan 4.
Although accumulated evidence has demonstrated that autism is found with many varied brain dysfunctions, researchers have tried to find a single brain dysfunction that would provide neurobiological validity for autism. However, unitary models of autism brain dysfunction have not adequately addressed conflicting evidence, and efforts to find a single unifying brain dysfunction have led the field away from research to explore individual variation and micro-subgroups. Autism must be taken apart in order to find neurobiological treatment targets. Three research changes are needed. The belief that there is a single defining autism spectrum disorder brain dysfunction must be relinquished. The noise caused by the thorny brain-symptom inference problem must be reduced. Researchers must explore individual variation in brain measures within autism.
