Healing Thresholds Autism Therapy Topic Feed

Imitation as a Form of Autism Therapy

scottie — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:19:32 +0000

Teaser:

The Michigan State University Autism Lab has been doing research on imitation as a form of autism therapy.

Body:

The Michigan State University Autism Lab has been doing research on imitation as a form of autism therapy. In results recently published, Professor Brooke Ingersoll reported that children with autism who engaged in imitation may show increased communication and social skills. Ingersoll explained that imitation may be done at home with parents getting on their child's level and imitating them. One mom said her son "has responded very well to the imitation. He really enjoys seeing others act like he does. It kind of engages him more and with other people he is more interactive." The Autism Lab is always looking for participants with autism for their studies. They are hoping to perform research on adolescents with autism and imitation.

Read original article: Special Report: Autism Interrupted

Robots Continue Their Work with Children with Autism

scottie — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Teaser:

We have written news stories in the past about the use of robots to teach and interact with children with autism. Robots are becoming even more prevalent in teaching situations.

Body:

We have written news stories in the past about the use of robots to teach and interact with children with autism. Robots are becoming even more prevalent in teaching situations. For example, not only are they being used to help children with autism, but in some countries, robots are teaching academics to children. A youngster with autism in California has been paired with a robot to help him with basic social skills. The robot helps the boy maintain eye contact, and imitate movements. Computer scientists are working with artificial intelligence and machines to make robots that are “highly programmed machines that can engage people and teach them simple skills, including household tasks, vocabulary or, as in the case of the boy, playing, elementary imitation and taking turns.”

Read original article: Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot

Singing, Movement, and Imitation as Therapy for Autism Speech Difficulties

scottie — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:28:20 +0000

Teaser:

Tripp Black an 8 year-old with autism, had lost the ability to speak at age 2.

Body:

Tripp Black an 8 year-old with autism, had lost the ability to speak at age 2. Recently, his parents enrolled him in an experimental therapy program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center that uses singing, movement, and imitation to improve speech skills. After participating in the therapy, Tripp began saying simple words. Gottfried Schlaug, the director of music and neuroimaging at the medical center has found that music combined with motion helped victims of stroke regain speech, and adapted his therapy to children with autism. For 8 weeks, on a daily basis, 10 children participated in the study. The children would hear sung words, be shown a picture of the word, and have their hands guided to tap drums. Schlaug believes that “the combination of sound and movement can activate a network of brain regions that overlap with brain areas thought to be abnormal in children with autism. Researchers think the intensive, repetitive training on sound paired with motion will help strengthen those abnormal areas.”

Read original article: When Language is Blocked, Music May Offer Detour

Responding to generalized imitation/sounds that goes with words besides oink with pig, moo with a cow, etc.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:09:43 +0000

example teaching the language therapist to dote on words that have long and short vowel meanings of two or more syllables, practice this step over and over with an essay and read aloud using breaths and syllable enunciations and differ them with nasal noises and use pictures of animals with sounds and nature that makes sounds of wind, raindrops, person makes sounds of things, stuff use familiar auto car sounds, honking and go over breathing normal with opinion of english syllable usage and preference of ongoing speech used as casual communicatives. Thanks kathy. p.s. syllables are great and have that ambience and effect on toning things down when we see a crisis arriving at the door, don't we? okay my favorite is chry san thi mum wow a mouthful and I do have to take a breath after forcing that word around.

Responding to generalized imitation/sounds that goes with words besides oink with pig, moo with a cow, etc.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:09:39 +0000

Shared Minds: Effects of a Mother’s Imitation of Her Child on the Mother-Child Interaction

scottie — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:41:44 +0000

Title	Shared Minds: Effects of a Mother’s Imitation of Her Child on the Mother-Child Interaction
Publication Type	Journal Article
Authors	Sanefuji W, Yamashita H, Ohgami H
Journal Title	Infant Mental Health Journal
Year of Publication	2009
Volume	30
Issue	2
Pages	145-157
URL for Abstract	http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122266380/abstract
Teaser	Mothers who imitate their child with autism may help teach nonverbal social skills and feel more positive about their relationship with their children.
Full Text	Mothers who imitate their child with autism may help teach nonverbal social skills and feel more positive about their relationship with their children. This case report describes a therapy approach where the mother imitated her 21-month-old child with autism. The mother and child were together for sessions with therapists for 60 minutes per month, and the mother was taught how to continue therapy at home. For the first two months, she spent 5 minutes every day playing with her child and responding to him. For the next two months, she imitated her child’s facial expressions and sounds during play. For the last two months, the mother stopped imitating and was responsive during play. The child’s joint attention skills improved more rapidly during the imitation phase than during the other phases of therapy. The mother also enjoyed being with her child more during the imitation phase.

Nutrition and Essential Fatty Acids May Help Verbal Apraxia and Autism

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:20:34 +0000

Can nutrition help verbal skills in children with autism? A study reported the August 2009 issue of Alternative Therapies says yes, for some children. Combined vitamin E and omega 3 therapy may help a type of verbal apraxia (a type of speech problem) that may be linked to food allergies and nutritional problems.

Children with verbal apraxia have trouble pronouncing words and may have severe speech problems. Many scientists have thought that verbal apraxia is a brain disorder. This study suggests that verbal apraxia may also be related to metabolism differences and nutritional problems.

Metabolism is the process of making energy from food. Metabolism is a complex system of enzymes, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that work together to digest food and turn it into energy that the body can use. People likely have a wide range of metabolic differences. Some of those differences can be quite large for some individuals. In this study, they suggest that some children with autism may have metabolism differences that affect how they process foods, and how their brain works.

What did the study show? This study tested 187 children with verbal apraxia, and many of them also had autism. All of the children took 400-3,000 International Units of vitamin E daily. They also took 1-3 grams of polyunsaturated fats (including omega 3 fatty acids) per day.

Almost all of the families (97%) reported improvements in speech, imitation, coordination, eye contact, and other skills with vitamin E and omega-3 therapy. There were few side effects reported during the length of the study.

The authors also described blood test results for nutritional information about 26 of the children. They reported low carnitine levels, high anti-gluten antibodies (suggesting a gluten allergy), low vitamin D levels, and fat absorption problems in most of the children they tested. They described how nutrition and metabolism might be different in some children with autism.

What do these results mean for children with verbal apraxia and autism? The results are exciting because 97% of the children showed improvements, and there were few side effects. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? But it’s not quite as perfect as it sounds.

There are some major limitations of this study. First of all, the researchers asked parents to give their subjective opinion of improvements. The parents knew they were in a study. Although they were given specific improvements to look for, there is a possibility of bias in favor of reporting a good result.

Secondly, they did not use placebo controls. All of the parents and children knew they were getting the supplements. There is the possibility of the “placebo effect” which is when people taking placebo (“sugar pills”) report feeling better or actually show improvements. Many think it is the power of the mind/body connection that somehow influences how they feel or even how their body physically responds. There is scientific evidence for brain connections to the immune and endocrine systems to support these observations. It is possible that, in this study, the children and/or parents were hopeful that the supplements would work, and that influenced the outcome. There was a placebo effect observed in a recent study of citalopram and autism in children.

Third, the supplements may be helpful for only a subset of children with verbal apraxia. The researchers chose children with verbal apraxia who also had metabolism differences….

What is the bottom line for omega-3 and vitamin E from this study? In spite of the shortcomings of this study, the results are very promising. Children with verbal apraxia may benefit from vitamin E and omega-3 supplements, which may get their metabolism on a better track. And researchers will continue to explore the nutrition/metabolism link with brain function. Good nutrition is likely to be important for many brain functions, not just verbal apraxia.

Autism Ambassadors Teach Social Skills to Younger Children in Their School

scottie — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:14:32 +0000

Teaser:

Fifth and sixth graders at Albany Avenue Elementary School in New York are trained to act as "autism ambassadors" and become a buddy to a younger child with autism.

Body:

Fifth and sixth graders at Albany Avenue Elementary School in New York are trained to act as "autism ambassadors" and become a buddy to a younger child with autism. It may seem as though the older children are just playing with the younger students, but in reality, they are teaching valuable social skills to the children with autism. The younger children will often imitate behaviors of the older students, such as making more eye contact and being more verbal. It is also a chance for the older students to learn about children they might not otherwise connect with. Using older students to buddy with younger kids to assist them means that children with special needs can stay and learn in mainstreamed schools. One parent of a child with autism said, "To have him being buddied up by another child . . . he learns their ways of doing things and socializing with them and learning how to converse and have a conversation."

Read original article.

Facial Sinthesys [sic] of 3D Avatars for Therapeutic Applications

scottie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:14:25 +0000

Title	Facial Sinthesys [sic] of 3D Avatars for Therapeutic Applications
Publication Type	Journal Article
Authors	Orvalho V, Miranda J, Sousa AA
Journal Title	Annual CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology 2009 Conference: Frontiers in Neuroengineering
Year of Publication	2009
URL for Abstract	http://frontiersin.org/conferences/individual_abstract_listing.php?conferid=257&pap=1796&ind_abs=1&pg=2
Teaser	Computer-generated human images that respond to input may help children with autism learn to read facial expressions.
Full Text	Computer-generated human images that respond to input may help children with autism learn to read facial expressions. A new method may help teach people with autism to learn to read emotions in a fun way. Computer images of people called avatars may be tailored to use during therapy to teach facial expressions. The author describes a new system that allows the patient to interact with the computer. The patient can also imitate the avatar. The user learns skills while they are playing a game.

Syndrome of Allergy, Apraxia, and Malabsorption: Characterization of a Neurodevelopmental Phenotype that Responds to Omega 3 and Vitamin E Supplementation

scottie — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:09:45 +0000

Title	Syndrome of Allergy, Apraxia, and Malabsorption: Characterization of a Neurodevelopmental Phenotype that Responds to Omega 3 and Vitamin E Supplementation
Publication Type	Journal Article
Authors	Morris CR, Agin MC
Journal Title	Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
Year of Publication	2009
Volume	15
Issue	4
Pages	34-43
URL for Abstract	http://www.alternative-therapies.com/resources/web_pdfs/recent/0709_morris.pdf
Full Text	Combined vitamin E and omega 3 therapy may help a type of verbal apraxia (speech problems) that may be caused by food allergies and nutritional problems, and could affect children with autism. Children with verbal apraxia have trouble saying words and may have severe speech problems. Many scientists have thought that verbal apraxia is a brain disorder. This study suggests that verbal apraxia may be a result of nutritional problems. This study tested 187 children with verbal apraxia. Many of the children also had autism. All children took 400-3,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin E daily. They also took 1-3 grams of polyunsaturated fats (including omega 3 fatty acids) per day. Almost all of the families reported that the children who received vitamin E and omega 3 therapy had better speech, imitation, coordination, and eye contact. The authors also described blood test results for 26 of the children. They reported low carnitine levels, high anti-gluten antibodies, low vitamin D levels, fat absorption problems, and other results. The authors described how nutrition and metabolism might be different in some children with autism. The authors said that two major problems with this study were that they asked parents to give their own opinion of whether or not the children were getting better, and they did not use placebo controls. Even so, they said the results are very promising.