Being able to reach a reasonable conclusion of the internal states of others is called mentalization and is critical for successful social interactions. The main components of this system are the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporal-parietal junction. These areas show similar patterns during both the performance and observations of actions. People with autism have trouble mentalizing. This is important as difficulties with this in adults with autism; this is evident in tasks involving action processing. In addition, this issue can impair the understanding of the social intentions of others and this can lead to inappropriate social decisions. These decisions then can lead to maltreatment by others. This study was done to see if there was connectivity between regions of mentalization system when inferring the social intention of others from their actions. Adults with autism are significantly impaired on tasks that involve integrating information regarding others’ intended states with the surrounding context.

Since the completion of the human genome project, researchers have been discovering changes to hundreds of places in the DNA. Some of these variants have been associated with psychiatric diseases such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Researchers have found a roadmap for the development of new generation therapy for psychiatric conditions. In the last decade, scientists have conducted genetic studies of people with a psychiatric disease, comparing results to healthy individuals to find genes that have different sequencing in those diseases. This paper helps to explain the roles of tens of thousands of sections of regulatory DNA and proteins in the brain. Once again this study is but a jumping off place for further studies (Geschwind et al, 2018). Dendritic structure (dendrite is a short branched extension of a nerve cell along which impulses received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body) is tightly coupled with synaptic function in basal conditions. Many brain disorders are associated with an aberrant regulation of F-actin and impaired signaling. These alterations likely underlie the aberrant spine morphology found in these disorders. Further studies on the mechanism of structural plasticity of dendritic spines will provide new therapeutic targets and methods for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders (Borovac et al, 2018).

As young adults with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) leave high school and try to start their journey to adulthood they face many hurdles. There is a significant number of these young adults who lower chances at employment, secondary education or living on their own.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are part of a broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders, with Classic Autism being the hallmark of the conditions. These occur in childhood and carry on through adulthood. ASD’s are widely characterized by a range of impairments in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and the presence of restricted and repetitive stereotyped behaviors.

As parents of Autistic individuals or as Autistic individuals, we have all been in those situations where there are alarm bells going off about your child’s doctor/your doctor. This can be one of the most stressful things to go through as a parent and as a person.

Being the mother of an Autistic child is challenging. When you are a parent that also has a mental illness along with it, it makes it even harder. You must be aware of your emotions always. Whether you have depression, Bipolar Disorder or something else- your emotions likely run your life at times. It is just as important to learn your triggers to successfully raise your child as it is to learn your child’s triggers when dealing with Autism. I, myself, am a mother who is raising two Autistic children and happen to have mental illnesses.

When we think about Autism we often exclude the adults that have it. Many of whom are just now being diagnosed as adults because Autism wasn’t widely diagnosed or understood when they were younger. 30 plus years ago we knew little about Autism, with the diagnostic rate sitting at 1 in 10,000 in the 1980s. In the nineties, prevalence was 1 in 2500 and later in the 1990s it sat at 1 in 1000. Now the rate sits at 1 in 59. So tonight, I decided to go back to my roots. You see, I started writing for emaxhealth by doing interviews with parents of Autistic children. So, I took some time tonight and sat down to interview an adult with Autism that I know. One that was diagnosed as an adult and has children with Autism. A person that is very near and dear to me.

If your kids are anything like my kids, they love video games. So much so that they will even watch other people playing video games on Youtube. (A practice I implore you as parents to monitor, a lot of youtubers are inappropriate. Even the Minecraft Videos are largely filled with adult banter) I often question whether playing video games is good for my children given the fact that they have Autism.

The “cause” debates are some of the hottest topics in the world of Autism. It seems that parents of Autistic children, scientists and Autistic adults are all at odds as to the cause of Autism and whether finding the causes is responsible or necessary. Almost everybody eventually joins a side in these debates, it is hard to stay out of them. Once a person’s mind is made up often they hold these beliefs close to their heart and it is impossible to sway them to any other way of thinking, I.e. vaccines causing or not causing Autism. Debates over causes have been known to get heated quickly.

Today was one for the books. I had an Autism specialist appointment for both of my children today. My youngest son was re-diagnosed with Autism and treatment started at this appointment. He is 11 years old, and I am feeling immense guilt over the amount of time it took to get him diagnosed correctly; it occurred to me that there may be many parents out there going through the same guilt that I am right now. It seems we are always being own harshest critics and our own worst enemies.

As the mother of an Autistic teenager with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) I have tried just about every therapy and treatment known to man to help my son. Many of these options were started when my son was very small, as early intervention is key to everything with Autism. One of said treatment options that we started is Occupational Therapy (OT).

Many people with Autism have major problems with both speech and nonverbal communication. It simply eludes them. My son had obvious issues with speech and nonverbal communication right from the beginning. Being nonverbal until the age of almost 7 years I had to find ways to connect with him outside of speaking, as well as do whatever I could to harness speech within him. It was the most tiring and rewarding task I had with him growing up, I just wanted to hear him speak; wanted him to be social. Furthermore, Autistic individuals may also find it very hard to interact socially. Zain still has social deficits. For these reasons, speech therapy is a central part of treatment for Autism. It was central, and still is central, to my son’s development as he receives speech therapy twice a week.

As tomorrow is Mother’s Day in the United States I thought it would be a good time to stop and celebrate special needs mothers, all that we do and some special ways we can spend Mother’s Day! As the mother of 2 children with Autism some days are more bittersweet than others.

What if an easy and inexpensive test could predict the likelihood of your child developing Autism when performed at well-child appointments starting at the age of 3 months? What if this test performed with 100 percent accuracy? What if I tell you this may be a reality?

When you think of Autism you often think of the obvious issues that families deal with; the meltdowns, the lack of eye contact and the lack of speech. Very rarely does the general public or the newly diagnosed parents think of the “small” issues that we deal with that often go unspoken of. One such issue is parental depression. Sometimes living the life that we must live leaves us depressed and stressed out. Whether it be from a lack of social communication with other adults or just the feeling of being overwhelmed. It certainly is not easy to be the parent of a child on the Autism spectrum. There are joyous moments, but there is no denying the challenges parents face, and the toll these take. Parents also have to worry about themselves getting sick, fighting for services, sacrificing careers, sinking into debt, and some simply rage at the injustice of it all. Parents grieve. We are allowed to do so. I find myself there right now. The monotony of each day, the meltdowns, the constant doctors’ appointments, the lack of sleep, the lack of understanding by both my family, friends and my son… it all gets to me from time to time and right now is one of those times.