Episodes
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Can COVID cause autism?
This week, a new study suggests a causal link not between Tylenol, but to COVID, which can cause a fever. There is clearly more research needed, but the findings are consistent with research on the link between maternal illness and autism. Also, it’s well known that genetics plays a role in how...
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Post-Pandemic Problems
A few years after the start of the pandemic, and a couple of years into “recovery”, scientists are still disentangeling the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and exposure. For example, is there an uptick in autism screen positives when pregnant mothers fell ill? Were there diagnostic disparities…
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Support for Siblings during COVID
Everyone needed support during the pandemic, but families affected by autismneeded special support. This included siblings. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital tried out an intervention around stress and anxiety reduction in siblings in 2020. Not only was it liked, it worked. It didn’t...
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The CDC speaks on prevalence, and we listen.
This week we conduct an interview with Michelle Hughes, PhD, epidemiologist with the CDC, who answers all of our questions about how many people have autism, how they are counted, what has changed since the last count and why the CDC are counting more kids than they were 10 years ago. You can…
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Can we solve the pandemic problems around diagnosis and intervention?
This week’s #ASFpodcast highlights a few articles from the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders this week which examined the tolerability and efficacy of online diagnostic procedures and interventions, from the perspective of both parents and clinicians. They seem to work about the same,...
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Hybrid is Most Helpful
This year’s first podcast dedicated to COVID issues explores both caregiver and clinician satisfaction with telehealth. New studies explore this satisfaction with assessment as well as psychiatric interventions. Also, as a follow up to the INSAR presentations on resiliency in mental health, a new...
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What I like about you.
This week is a “brick-a-brack”: of topics. They include: 1. how COVID-19 is especially dangerous for people with neurodevelopmental disorders; 2. how certain genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders can affect other body functions other than the brain (like the digestive system and…
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How the Pandemic Affected Parents
You have heard a lot about how the pandemic affected those with a diagnosis – and it isn’t good. Recent studies have turned their attention to stress and anxiety and depression of caregivers during the pandemic. It was higher in those parents with children of a neurodevelopmental disorder, but it...
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How you doin’?
We are now about 8 months into the pandemic and the effects of social distancing. How are families doing? What are scientists doing to understand the effects and ways to help families in the future? This podcast describes four international studies that addressed what families were experiencing…
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