Raising Autism Awareness in Rhode Island in 2014

In case you missed the news last year, in June, 2013, Governor Lincoln Chaffee signed a resolution to create a special joint commission whose purpose is to "make a comprehensive study to improve the quality of life and create positive outcomes for individuals with Autism in Rhode Island."

The 23-member commission will have their first meeting today, Thursday, January 9, 2014, at the State House.

In other news, Senator Adam J. Satchell, of West Warwick, proposed a bill last year - in support of the Autism Project of Rhode Island - authorizing the creation of a special license plate to help raise awareness of autism spectrum disorder in the State.

The creative composition of the license plate was open to the public, offering local artists and graphic designers a chance to compete for the chosen design. The submission deadline passed last week, January 1. Submissions are currently being reviewed.

For more information on the Rhode Island Autism License Plate, you can visit their Facebook page.

For more updates on the efforts to raise autism awareness in Rhode Island, check out our Facebook page, and stay tuned to our blog for further developments.

Lighting Up the Season With the Spirit of Giving

Christmas-themed light displays have become a part of many families' Holiday traditions. And If you're from the Rhode Island area, chances are you've been to - or at least have heard about - the Christmas lights display at La Salette Shrine, just over the Massachusetts border, in Attleboro.

But did you know there are some truly impressive Christmas light shows right here at home?

One of the most dazzling displays of Christmas lights you may have never heard of takes place at "The Crazy Christmas House," located in Coventry, Rhode Island. For eight years running, Tyler Horrocks has been decking out his Coventry home with Christmas lights in impressive Holiday style. What began in 2005 as a 5,000-light display has grown with each passing year, and now boasts over 63,000 lights in 64 different computerized sections. And yes, it's all set to music, which you can hear from the warmth and comfort of your car thanks to Horrocks' creative technical innovation.

Every year, the "Crazy Christmas House" raises money for charity. In 2012 Horrocks raised $8,000 for the Make a Wish foundation; and this year, he's hoping to raise $13,000 to fulfill the Christmas wish of one local boy, 11-year-old Jacob Matarese.

Jacob, who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, has himself done some extraordinary work for his community, raising money for multiple charities such as the Special Olympics and the American Heart Association. This Christmas, Horrocks is hoping to give Jacob the recognition he deserves, with your help, by raisings funds to provide him with an autism service dog through 4 Paws for Ability.

4 Paws for Ability is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of children with disabilities by training and placing task-trained service dogs, providing increased independence for children, and assistance to their families.

So whether you're looking for a way to get into the spirit of giving this Holiday season, or establishing a new Christmastime tradition for your family, don't miss this amazing spectacle for a good cause at the Crazy Christmas House this year.

The Crazy Christmas House is located at 9 Blue Spruce Drive in Coventry, Rhode Island, in the Wood Estates neighborhood. The light show runs every day, Monday through Saturday, now through January, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Donations to this year's charity can be given on site.

For operating hours and more information, visit www.crazychristmashouse.webs.com

Using the iPad as a Learning Tool for Children with Autism

According to a new study at the Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, minimally verbal children with autism can learn to speak later than previously thought.

The study, completed in 2013, worked with 61 children with autism, ages 5 to 8, using speech-generating software on computer tablets to communicate. Researchers found that in addition to touching symbols on the tablets to generate speech, the children were encouraged to audibly verbalize the words themselves.

“For some parents, it was the first time they’d been able to converse with their children,” said the study's lead investigator, Ann Kaiser.

For years, Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) devices have been used to enhance, expand and develop communication skills for people with autism; from picture card exchange systems to portable word processors and speech-generating talk boxes.

Now with the increasing ubiquity of portable information technology, modern hand-held devices such as the iPad may offer a more accessible and affordable way to help minimally verbal children with autism to communicate.

The study at Vanderbilt Peabody College was funded by Autism Speaks, and conducted in cooperation with the University of California–Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins University. It will be published in 2014.

Maine Set To Lead Multi-State Autism Study

In October, Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, Maine joined a new and wide-reaching autism research project, backed by a $1.2 million grant, to study cases of severe autism across six states.

The project, which this blog reported on in August, involves the recently founded Autism and Developmental Disorders Inpatient Research Collaborative (ADDIRC), consisting of hospitals in New Hampshire, Maryland, Colorado and Pennsylvania, as well as the Rhode Island Consortium for Autism Research and Study (RICART).

Perspectives Corporation joined RICART in August of 2013.

The grant comes from the Simons Foundation and the NLM Family Foundation. The study will be led by Dr. Matthew Siegel of the Spring Harbor Hospital and is expected to included between 500 to 1,000 children, each of whom will be tracked over a period of multiple years.

Discrete Trial Training for the Treatment of Autism

Discrete Trail Training (DTT) is one of several teaching strategies that are a part of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA); one of the most studied and effective therapeutic methods for helping children with autism and related developmental disorders.

DTT was developed in the 1970s by doctors at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) who designed this method of training on the principals of ABA; that when a behavior is rewarded, it is more likely to be repeated. While ABA looks at behavior in these terms of a cue, the behavior and consequence, DTT further compartmentalizes skills into small, or "discrete," components which are systematically taught one by one.

In a landmark study conducted at the UCLA in 1987, it was found that nearly half (47%) of children receiving ABA therapy were able to achieve normal intellectual and educational functioning by the end of first grade. Since then, ABA and DTT have become widely recognized as safe, effective, and proven treatments for autism, and have been endorsed by a number of state and federal agencies including the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association.

Perspectives Corporation’s Autism Center of Excellence designs and develops highly effective treatment programs tailored to the unique nature of each individual, while utilizing Applied Behavior Analysis and Discrete Trial Training methodologies, for children and adults with autism throughout Rhode Island.

For more information about Perspectives Corporation's Autism Center of Excellence, visit perspectivescorporation.com/autism.

Autism Study Planned for Rhode Island

The Framingham Heart Study is perhaps one of the most ambitious long-term studies in medical history. Begun in 1948 under the direction of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute it has been in operation for upwards of a half century. In collaboration with the community, researchers for the study have documented the cardiac-related conditions of more than 5,000 residents of a single Massachusetts town; an effort which has helped to identify major causative factors and characteristics of heart disease.

This year, the Rhode Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment (RICART) has launched a ground-breaking effort comparable in scope. Backed by a $1.2 mllion grant by a New-York based scientific research firm, The Simons Foundation, RICART is set to establish a State-wide autism registry and network. The project will link families and researchers in an effort "to spur important and innovative research on the causes and treatments for individuals with autism and related conditions," according to Stephen Sheinkopf, Ph.D., a clinical researcher at Women & Infants Hospital and co-director of the RI-CART project.

Over the next three years, the project aims to enroll over 1,000 children and adults with autism. With just over one million residents over 1,000 square miles, it is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there are about 10,000 people with autism in Rhode Island.

For more information about the RICART project, visit the Women and Infants Hospital website.

New Study Suggests Autism Affects Male and Female Brains Differently

According to a new study, autism may affect the brains of men and women differently.

The study, conducted by scientists at the Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge, UK, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the brains of 120 males and females with and without autism.

The tests found that the brain anatomies of females with autism were substantially different when compared to the brains of their male counterparts, while at the same time exhibiting traits more closely related to males without autism.

"What we have known about autism to date is mainly male-biased, said Dr Meng-Chuan Lai, the lead author of the study. "This research shows that it is possible that the effect of autism manifests differently according to one's gender."

The discovery may also relate to an idea known as the extreme male brain theory of autism, which hypothesizes that autism is actually an extreme version of the typical male brain profile.

"The key message is that researchers should not really assume that what we know about autism in males will always be applicable to females."

For more about the study, see BBC News Health.

For a full text of this study, see the June issue of the Oxford Journal of Neurology, Brain.