1. Clifford S, Dissanayake C. {{Dyadic and Triadic Behaviours in Infancy as Precursors to Later Social Responsiveness in Young Children with Autistic Disorder}}.{ J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (May 28)
The relationship between dyadic (eye contact and affect) and triadic (joint attention) behaviours in infancy, and social responsiveness at pre-school age, was investigated in 36 children with Autistic Disorder. Measures of eye contact and affect, and joint attention, including requesting behaviours, were obtained retrospectively via parental interviews and home videos from 0- to- 24-months of age. Concurrent measures (3-5 years) included social responsiveness to another’s distress and need for help. Early dyadic behaviours observed in home videos, but not as reported by parents, were associated with later social responsiveness. Many triadic behaviours (from both parent-reports and home video) were also associated with social responsiveness at follow-up. The results are consistent with the view that early dyadic and triadic behaviours, particularly sharing attention, are important for the development of later social responsiveness.
2. Grether JK, Rosen NJ, Smith KS, Croen LA. {{Investigation of Shifts in Autism Reporting in the California Department of Developmental Services}}. {J Autism Dev Disord};2009 (May 29)
We investigated if shifts in the coding of qualifying conditions in the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) have contributed to the increase in California children with autism observed in recent years. Qualifying condition codes for mental retardation (MR) and autism in DDS electronic files were compared to hard-copy records for samples of children born 1987, 1990, 1994, and 1997. Contrary to expectations, we did not find evidence of a coding shift from « MR only » to « both MR and autism » or an increase in the proportion of children with coded autism who lacked supportive diagnostic documentation in records (possible « misclassifications »). These results indicate that changes in DDS coding practices are unlikely to explain the increase in DDS clients with autism.
3. Monge Galindo L, Escosa Garcia L, Garcia Sanchez N, Ruiz-Lazaro PM. {{[Hyperprolactinemia in a child diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and hyperkinetic disorder treated with risperidone.]}}. {An Pediatr} (Barc);2009 (May 25)Hiperprolactinemia en nino con sindrome de Asperger y trastorno hipercinetico tratado con risperidona.
4. Pinborough-Zimmerman J, Bilder D, Satterfield R, Hossain S, McMahon W. {{The Impact of Surveillance Method and Record Source on Autism Prevalence: Collaboration with Utah Maternal and Child Health Programs}}. {Matern Child Health J};2009 (May 28)
With the increasing number of Utah children identified with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), information on the prevalence and characteristics of these children could help Maternal Child Health (MCH) programs develop population building activities focused on prevention, screening, and education. The purpose of this study is to describe Utah’s autism registry developed in collaboration with state MCH programs and assess the impact of different record-based surveillance methods on state ASD prevalence rates. The study was conducted using 212 ASD cases identified from a population of 26,217 eight year olds living in one of the three most populous counties in Utah (Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah) in 2002. ASD prevalence was determined using two records based approaches (administrative diagnoses versus abstraction and clinician review) by source of record ascertainment (education, health, and combined). ASD prevalence ranged from 7.5 per 1000 (95% CI 6.4-8.5) to 3.2 per 1000 (95% CI 2.5-3.9) varying significantly (P < .05) based on method and record source. The ratio of male-to-female ranged from 4.7:1 to 6.4:1. No significant differences were found between the two case ascertainment methods on 18 of the 23 case characteristics including median household income, parental education, and mean age of diagnosis. Broad support is needed from both education and health sources as well as collaboration with MCH programs to address the growing health concerns, monitoring, and treatment needs of children and their families impacted by autism spectrum disorders.
5. Senechal C, des Rivieres-Pigeon C. {{[The impact of autism on the life of parents.]}}. {Sante Ment Que};2009 (Spring);34(1):245-260.Impact de l’autisme sur la vie des parents.
The aim of this paper is to explore the stress and the psychological distress faced by parents of children living with different types of disability. Its main focus is on parents of children with autism. The first part describes the stress factors faced by parents of children with disabilities and the second, the particularities of the stress faced by parents of children with autism. The third part explores other types of stress factors, such as financial problems, marital discord or beak-up, single parenthood and lack of social support. In the forth part, we examine weather the services are well suited to provide for the needs of families, and, in the fifth part, we describe the major role played by intervention in the life of families of children with autism.
