No Mind Left Behind - Social Brain 3 Conference

Hi Ava

In response to your question, I think that anything you can do to help a person with autism gain skills is all good.  Whilst children may be born with autism, they are also born with a capacity to learn.  The speed at which they do so will depend upon many things including IQ.  I don't use any particular method with my son although I'm sure I would be doing bits and bobs of many methods if I took time to read more about them.  My approach has been to learn as much as I can about ASD and then pick my battles.  What is really important and relevant for my son right now and what is important for our family is what we will work on.  We pick one or two things to work on at a time only.  We continue to make progress but one thing is for sure, there are many components of his ASD that pop up and last for a few months so sometimes it feels like you've cracked something for another phase to start that you want to try to help him to change... if he wants to or needs to.  I think there is a great deal that parents can do for their children with any degree of ASD.  Good luck on your journey :-)

Hi Jaffa Cakes

The reference is available here:

www.mindroom.org/.../

You can view the scientific programme of the conference and get researchers names etc.  This information is publicly available.

I hope this helps :-)

If ASD is a birth condition then can bio-medical help?  Hear so many therapy methods, was any particular therapy recommended to you?  I am currently using A.B.A and Teacch and diet.  It is all good stuff and my son is making slow progress but would appreciate any experienced advise.   Thanks x

- there is some research that suggests that there is heightened testosterone in the womb which may account for the fact that more boys have ASD than girls and adds to the theory that you are born with ASD rather than it being of an environmental cause

I would be really grateful if you could give me details of this please: where I can find it on the web, names of the researchers, even a scan of any literature.

You would be helping a family in great need.

Thank you

Hi Jim

Yes, sharing some of the interesting points of the conference  is a good idea:

- strong link between ASD and Anorexia

- female ADHD can look rather different than male ADHD and is sometimes like Borderline Personality Disorder

- Co-morbid low IQ and DCD are indicators of poorer outcome in ASD and ADHD

- There is more and more evidence to suggest that pre age 5, we should not be pinning a label down but regarding children as having a developmental mix of difficulties that require clinical examination (the acronym used at the conference was 'ESSENCE')

- there is some research that suggests that there is heightened testosterone in the womb which may account for the fact that more boys have ASD than girls and adds to the theory that you are born with ASD rather than it being of an environmental cause

That's about all I can remember off the top of my head at the moment.  I will add any more bits if I can think of any.  All in all it was a really good conference that was aiming to focus on strenths rather than disability :-)

Is there anything in particular you found interesting mummypig, might be really helpful to share some of those good points you took away for everyone who couldn't attend. If you're comfortable doing that