Marina Sarris Interactive Autism Network at Kennedy Krieger Institute Why are children and adults with autism more likely to be obese than other people?1-3 Studies show that many have extremely picky eating habits, do not exercise as much as others, or take medications that cause weight gain.4-11 While those may affect weight, a new study says the biggest risk factor, at least for youth, has nothing really to do with autism: it’s families.12 Youth whose […]
BY: LYNDA GELLER, Ph.D. Anyone who knows many children and adults with Asperger Syndrome knows that every person’s manifestation of the condition is very different. While they share significant social disability, some are very successful academically, some struggle with accomplishing work; some have intense intellectual interests that lead them to career paths, and others have intense interests that seem to have no practical use; some have a few friendships, others are desperately alone and lonely. […]
Marina Sarris Interactive Autism Network at Kennedy Krieger Institute ian@kennedykrieger.org In autism, lost sleep means more than just a drowsy morning: it’s linked to serious problems. A new study of children with autism shows that those who slept less also had lower intelligence scores and more severe autistic symptoms than kids who slept more.1 This is important because insomnia affects from 50 to 80 percent of children on the spectrum, according to estimates.1-5 They are […]
by Tulika Prasad Autism is a complex diagnosis. It’s a spectrum so it makes it all the more difficult to put it within the boundaries of a set of characteristics. As they say, every autistic individual has very unique traits and since it’s not a physical disability , sometimes autism is simply considered to be the result of bad parenting or a set of behavior anomalies that a person might have and therefore ignored or […]
by Maxine Rosaler I really can’t say what bewildered me more–the callousness with which the people at the school district responded to my requests for them to help my autistic son, or the occasional encounters with kindness I had along the way. My first encounter with kindness occurred during my son’s second week in kindergarten at a special needs school: The principal had called to tell me that she didn’t think the school was an […]
