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Fact Checked The Sleep Problems of Children With Autism Medically reviewed by Dr. Nilong Vyas, Pediatrician By Eric Ridenour Over half of autistic children, and as many as four out of five, may have one or more persistent sleep disorders. You are not alone if your autistic child has… Last Updated On September 7th, 2022 Share […]
Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have discovered that knocking out the gene NrCAM leads to an increase of dendritic spines on excitatory pyramidal cells in the brains of mammals. Other studies have confirmed that the overabundance of dendritic spines on this type of brain cell allows for too many synaptic connections to form between neurons – a phenomenon strongly linked to autism.The finding, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, adds evidence that NrCAM is a major player in neurological disorders. Previous UNC studies showed that knocking out the NrCAM gene caused mice to exhibit the same sorts of social behaviors associated with autism in humans.
“There are many genes involved in autism, but we’re now finding out exactly which ones and how they’re involved,” said Patricia Maness, PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics and senior author of the Journal of Neuroscience paper. “Knowing that NrCAM has this effect on dendrites allows us to test potential drugs, not only to observe a change in behaviors linked to autism but to see if we can improve dendritic spine abnormalities, which may underlie autism.
Maness’s finding comes on the heels of a report from Columbia University researchers who found an overabundance of the protein MTOR in mice bred to develop a rare form of autism. By using a drug to limit MTOR in mice, the Columbia researchers were able to decrease the number of dendritic spines and thus prune the overabundance of synaptic connections during adolescence. As a result, the social behaviors associated with autism were decreased. However, the drug used to limit MTOR can cause serious side effects, and it is located inside cells, making it a potentially difficult protein to target.
For the full article click here Article..
Today my daughter and I were on Las Vegas’s Fox 5 television. We did an interview with Monica Jackson, whom we really like on the show as well as Jason Feinberg, of whom my daughter is a huge fan. Pictured are Monica Jackson, Jason Feinberg, Michele Berkowitz, Rachel Berkowitz, and David Berkowitz. (Adam and Aaron our twin 15 year old twins were at home)
We would like to thank FOX 5, Mich Thomas, Kevin Bowlinger, Monica Jackson and Jason Feinberg for the opportunity to be on the show.
Thanks Debbie Lombardo See for the Logo!!!
Recently I became aware of a autism educator, Jeremy Brown, who is using Ipads in his classroom to help educate his special needs students. He has published the following on scribd at the following website. He has evaluated many of the available Ipad and Iphone apps and through his experiences as an autism educator, he has compiled and continues to compile lists of the best applications that are the most effective:
Here are some of them.
Jeremy Brown’s App Recommendations for Students with Autism
Jeremy Brown’s App Recommendations for Students with Autism
Updated February 7, 2011
–>FUNCATIONAL BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
–>Behavior Assessment Pro by Vermont BehavioralSolutions, LLC [iPhone\iPod Touch, $24.99]
–>BehaviorTrackerPro by Marz Consulting Inc.[iPhone\iPod Touch, $29.99]
DATA COLLECTION
Interval Minder by Notchland Labs, LLC[iPhone\iPod Touch, $2.99]
Percentally by RinnApps[iPhone\iPod Touch, $2.99]
REINFORCEMENT
iReward by Grembe Inc.[Universal, $4.99]
RewardTimer by Hidden View Software[iPhone\iPod Touch, $1.99]
Smart Charts by Happy Face Kidz[iPhone\iPod Touch, $2.99] AAC
TapSpeak Button for iPad by Ted Conley[iPad, $9.99]
TapSpeak Sequence for iPad by Ted Conley[iPad, $29.99]
iComm[iPhone\iPod Touch, FREE (9 categories) w/in-apppurchase $7.99 for 20 categories]
Expressive by Smarty Ears[Universal, $34.99]
MyTalkTools Mobile by
2nd Half Enterprises, LLC[Universal, FREE – LITE version limited to 12 cellsOR $39.99 & monthly subscription for web-based authoring interface]
Talkforme by iWord Limited[Universal, $5.99]
TapSpeak Choice for iPad by Ted Conley[iPad, $99.99]
Proloquo2Go by AssistiveWare[Universal, $189.99]
GRACE – Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal Peopleby Steven Troughton-Smith[Universal, $37.99]
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Time Timer by Time Timer LLC[iPhone\iPod Touch, $4.99]
Autism Timer by ROUGE41[iPhone\iPod Touch, $2.99]
Teacher Tools – Who’s Next? by Naaptime Software[iPhone\iPod Touch, $2.99]
ARTICULATION
Sunny Articulation Test by Smarty Ears Apps[Universal, $49.99]
Articulate It! by Smarty Ears[Universal, $39.99]
Match2Say by Smarty Ears[Universal, $34.99]
Say It Again!, Speech Corners, Speech Squares,Speech Hangman, Tic-Tac-Talk by LIMNET[Universal, $2.99\each]
WORD PREDICTION
Typ-O & Typ-HD by Second Guess ApS[iPhone\iPod Touch or iPad, $1.99 or $9.99] AssistiveChat by assistive apps[Universal, $34.99]
PredictAble by Therapy Box[iPad, $159.99]
TEXT-TO-SPEECH (TTS)
Speak It! by Future Apps Inc.[Universal, $1.99]
SPEECH-TO-TEXT
Dragon Dictation by Nuance Communication[Universal, FREE]
His blog is also very nice as well–>
Jeremy Brown’s App Recommendations for Students with Autism
About Jeremy:
He is an elementary special education teacher with a public school system in Maryland. He teaches a self-contained class of children in grades 3.
through 5th who have autism. Thiswill be my fifth year teaching. Assistive and instructional technologies are a professional interest of his. His students are fortunate to have several older generationiPhones and iPod Touches as well as two iPads for use in their classroom. These deviceswere purchased used off craigslist or eBay using personal funds. For many of the apps that he recommended, he was able to get promo codes from app developers in exchange forfeedback.
Please also check him out on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jeremyebrown
We are as part of our fund raising efforts trying to give free ipads to teachers and classrooms like Jeremy.
Please take a look at our fund raising page.
Please also check out www.lilliespad.com who also profile special needs applications for ipads as well.
