EASEe, Fun house Treasure hunt is a game that challenges the players sensory process (Screen shot)

Funhouse Treasure Hunt is a new computer game that has been created to help kids with autism develop their sensory processing skills and deal with with their disability.

Kids with autism have difficult time processing sensory information like sights, sounds or social cues from other people. This game, developed by Vision Audio, helps by challenging the players sensory processing. It mixes colors, lights, shapes and has music playing the background. It is just the right amount of input without over stimulating the child.

Funhouse Treasure Hunt is available for $39.00. There is also a trial version that can be downloaded for free. Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 all support the program.

For more information, please go to the official gamer website at: http://www.vision-audio.com/ease_funhouse.html

(Photo by: Leonid Mamchenkov/Flickr)

A research group comprised of scientists from England and Germany recently accomplished an interesting study involving the connection between the human voice and the infant.

They believe that further research could reveal a method in which they could identify children with autism.

These scientists analyzed the inner workings of the temporal lobe of the brain. They soon discovered that by the age of 7 months, an infant’s brain can not only process the human voice in a way that is like an adults; they can pick up on the emotional tone of the voice and evaluate it.

The ability to thoroughly understand the implications of the voice’s tone can inform a child about his surroundings. By hearing and understanding the emotions present, the child can grasp the environment around them and behave accordingly. A child with autism on the other hand, has difficulty analyzing the environment around him.

The scientists believe that by looking at the activity of the temporal lobe, they will be able to monitor how a child reacts and see if their vocal-processing is normal. This is important, because the earlier that signs of autism can be caught, then the quicker it can be diagnosed and treated.

The research group was able to come to this conclusion after noticing peculiar responses within the right temporal cortex while they were completing their tests. The area within the right temporal cortex that is associated with emotional identification revealed high levels of activity whenever the infants were addressed in an emotional way.

Photo by: Ken Wilcox/Flickr

Much like a schoolyard of youngsters, autism researchers are beginning to identify the differences between boys and girls with autism. By analyzing the effects that high levels of testosterone have on 78 girls, scientists may have uncovered ’sexism’ in autism.

In a study published this month in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia found that exceptionally high levels of the male hormone testosterone in girls deprived them of both “positive female qualities” such as social awareness and empathy as well as “positive male qualities such as power-solving abilities. Both deficiencies are hallmark signs of autism.

Andrew Whitehouse, a research fellow at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth commented, that the girls in the research, ‘’showed the tendency towards social difficulties. They talked too much or talked too little.”

The evidence was based on testosterone levels in the umbilical cord blood previously stored when born. This however, does not integrate other hormones and chemicals that may develop mid-pregnancy. Because the stage is imperative in brain development, the study will open more doors for hormone and drug use in pregnancy.

For more information on this story, please check back. The International Center for Autism Research and Education (Icare4autism) will continue to post on this topic, as new details are received. Official link to autism news website: www.icare4autism.org

(Photo By Flickr / x o x o l i c i o u s)

Scientific studies in Greece have been using stem cells found in bone marrow and abdominal fat to treat children with autism. With evidence, from results in a young 9-year-old boy named Yannis, the doctors involved are preparing a protocol to submit to the Ministry of Health to prove the autism treatment.

Yannis is the son of physician Dr. Solmos and had been diagnosed with autism but never responded to standard treatments. Dr. Solmos commented, “My Boy has simply not been able to speak to me on the phone before.”

At Kratiko Nikaias Hospital young Yannis underwent a hour long mini-liposuction procedure for the stem cells of his abdominal fat. Using this cheap and quick harvesting technique, developed by bio -tech company AdiStem, the abdominal stem cells were singled out and activated. These stem cells were then intravenously returned to Yannis, so his body would not reject them.

Merely one month later Dr. Solmos says of his son, “His school tells me his attention has improved. We experience him nearer to us and he feels us. I see a change in his ability to connect with other children. He plays with them now, which he used to avoid. He has also become more interested in letters and numbers.”

To treat Yannis, AdiStem has borrowed methods previously used to treat blood disorders and repair damaged tissue. Adistem’s new innovations also include treating type II diabetes and osteoarthritis.

Because the procedure borrows stem cells from one area of the body and places them in another, it avoids ethical issues.

Still, Terry Grossman, M.D., a stem cell research from Colorado who witnessed Yannis’ progress remains skeptical, “Further studies are needed, but it is possible that stem cell therapy will soon be available as a powerful new tool to help children with autistic spectrum disorders.”

For more information on this story, please check back. The International Center for Autism Research and Education (Icare4autism) will continue to post on this topic, as new details are received. Official link to autism news website: www.icare4autism.org

(Photo by: Flickr/Matt McGee)

The University of California Riverside has recently added autism screening clinics to its Autism Resource Center. As an essential part of Early Intervention therapy, the university is urging parents and community members to have their children screened for autism.

Utilizing the Autism Diagnostic Observation System, the screenings are aimed towards children 2 to 5 years old, but open to everyone. And, to assist the public community, the screenings are available in English and Spanish, on both on the UCR campus and in the San Bernardino Unified School District.

The idea for the center stems from geographic need. Jan Blacher, founder and director of SEARCH (Support, Education, Advocacy, Resources, Community, Hope) center and professor of education expanded that “there is absolutely nowhere in the Inland Empire for parents to go to find… an appropriate education program.”

The Autism Screening Program will also include many activities for parents who have children with autism, up to age 7. The parent program mainly consists of group sessions of weekly meetings for three weeks. The program ends with a fourth meeting (optional) with an autism professional. The increased communication between parents is aimed to improve how they handle their children with autism. It is also aimed to improve how the parents can further integrate their children into society.

The SEARCH center is also recruiting parents for group sessions about autism treatment options. Blacher summed up the project in that, “this is all about creating.”

(Photo by Flickr/PuppiesAreProzac)

A bio-pharmaceutical company, Cellceutix, has released details about a study that could be a milestone in the fight for a cure along the autism spectrum.

In the study, Dr. Krishna Menon compared two groups of rats that were both injected with a serum that induces autismlike symptoms, and one group was injected with the compound KM-391.

According to the group, the compound had stunning results on the group, and had the group excelling at significantly better rates than the group that did not get injected with KM-391. In fact, over 3 months, the group that had taken KM-391 had experienced an 80% improvement that the other group had not.

Chief Financial Officer of Cellceutix, Leo Ehrlich, had this to say on his company’s breakthrough: “Right now, there are drugs that address the symptoms, like hypertension. They might give them Ritalin. We addressed the three or four causes of autism.”

While Ehrlich is excited about the study, he refrained from referring to the results as leading to a cure. He urged people to remember that autism falls on a spectrum, and what works for one case might not work for another. He also insisted that the study had long way to go before it could hit the market.

Ehrlich added: “Basically in pharmaceuticals, if it doesn’t work on animals it won’t work on humans. If it does work on animals, it might work on humans. So this gives it a good chance that we can move forward and do tests on children. Of course we have to do toxicity tests first. In our company, we think it will be about a year. To be on the market, we’d be talking three to four years, if everything went smoothly.”

(Photo by: Flickr / Orin Zebest)

Valerie W. Hu, Ph.D., mother of a 22-year-old son with autism, teamed up with other researchers at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and discovered a possible way to reverse autism’s effects.

Published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEBJ) , the autism research all lies in the analysis of blood.

Wu expands, “Since autism is very diverse in the array of symptoms present in any given individual, it is first necessary to be able to identify specific deficits in each individual in order to design and then prescribe the best treatment.

By observing twins with autism in the methylation state (“DNA tagging”), researchers could focus on individual reactions as certain proteins developed. They found this evidence in the cerebellum and frontal cortex of the brain.

Wu further expands on the process of autism gene research: “We identified RORA as one of the genes that was altered specifically in the sub group of autistic individuals who exhibited severe language deficits.”

This research brings a fresh perspective to the long-debated MMR-debate. In fact, GeraldWeissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal agreed with Wu. Referring to the constant debate and commented.

“For far too long, autism research has been side-tracked by the cranky notion that it’s caused by the MMR vaccine,” He continued, “Studies like this, which define genetic and epigenetic changes in discrete subgroups of the autism spectrum, offer real hope that effective treatments and accurate diagnosis are closer at hand,” said Weissmann.

Software Company Specialisterne awarded funds for investing in people with autism (Photo by: TW Collins/Flickr)

Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS), which owns software company Specialisterne, has become a force in autism advocacy. Previously known for recruiting workers with autism, Specialisterne has been awarded a humongous grant of £407,036, or the American equivalent of approximately $616,492 by the BIG Lottery Fund to expand its company program to Glasgow in the United Kingdom.

Gerry Higgins, the Chief Executive of CEiS, knows the overwhelming autism statistics and shares the same vision Thorkil Sonne had when he founded Specialisterne. Higgens expressed his concern that “only 13% of adults with an autism spectrum disorder are in full-time employment.” Higgins then thanked the BIG Lottery Fund by saying “Funding has helped to realise a dream that has been three years in development.”

Part of the United Kingdom’s lottery, the BIG Lottery Fund distributes a percentage of lottery money totaling to millions of pounds every year to important causes. Alison Magee, Chair of the Scotland Committee of the BIG Lottery Fund said: “This is a truly innovative project which has identified a niche market and created a tailor made programme for a section of our society with specialist needs.”

Looking towards the future, the award was given to the promising company because of the vision that “Specialisterne UK will help transform the quality of life for those taken on board…by capitalising on skills identified amongst selected individuals living with an autistic spectrum disorder.”

Recognizing the importance of integrating the millions of people autism into the workforce, the BIG Lottery Fund has made autism a priority by investing its funds into Specialisterne UK.

(Photo By: Flickr / Puppies Are Prozac)

A bio-pharmaceutical company, Cellceutix, has released details about a study that could be a milestone in the fight for a cure along the autism spectrum.

In the study, Dr. Krishna Menon compared two groups of rats that were both injected with a serum that induces autismlike symptoms, and one group was injected with the compound KM-391.

According to the group, the compound had stunning results on the group, and had the group excelling at significantly better rates than the group that did not get injected with KM-391. In fact, over 3 months, the group that had taken KM-391 had experienced an 80% improvement that the other group had not.

Chief Financial Officer of Cellceutix, Leo Ehrlich, had this to say on his company’s breakthrough: “Right now, there are drugs that address the symptoms, like hypertension. They might give them Ritalin. We addressed the three or four causes of autism.”

While Ehrlich is excited about the study, he refrained from referring to the results as leading to a cure. He urged people to remember that autism falls on a spectrum, and what works for one case might not work for another. He also insisted that the study had long way to go before it could hit the market.

Ehrlich added: “Basically in pharmaceuticals, if it doesn’t work on animals it won’t work on humans. If it does work on animals, it might work on humans. So this gives it a good chance that we can move forward and do tests on children. Of course we have to do toxicity tests first. In our company, we think it will be about a year. To be on the market, we’d be talking three to four years, if everything went smoothly.”

(Photo By: Flickr/Thomas Roche)

Judge Oscar Magi felt this was a privacy violation on behalf of the autistic teen, and convicted three Google employees accordingly.

Magi justified his decision by stating: “In simple words, it is not the writing on the wall that constitutes a crime for the owner of the wall, but its commercial exploitation can.”

Google did not sit quietly by the decision. They feel that the internet is supposed to be a place where there can be a free exchange of ideas. They wrote in their statement: “”If these [freedom] principles are swept aside, then the web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear. These are important points of principle, which is why we and our employees will vigorously appeal this decision.”

Magi wanted his decision to be seen as a wake-up call to those who do not monitor or pay attention to what they host. Magi did not necessarily disagree with Google’s statement, rather he felt that the idea of freedom on the internet can only be pushed so far.

Magi wrote in his ruling, “”But on the other hand, there also is no such thing as the endless prairie of the Internet where everything is allowed and nothing can be banned.”