Check out “This Year in Autism Research” from the Autism Science Foundation

http://autismsciencefoundation.org/news/this-year-in-autism-research-in-a-family-way/

Trick or Treat at the Autism Center!

Seattle Children’s Autism Center holds an annual Trick or Treat practice party in the welcoming halls of the Autism Center. A (very) autism-friendly event for the entire family. Bring friends! All welcome at this relaxed fun-filled event designed for your family.

Come enjoy door-to-door trick or treating, costumes, treats, games, prizes, and our memorable sensory room.  Dr. Travis Nelson from  The Center for Pediatric Dentistry will be on hand with toothbrushes and non sugar goodie bags.  Saturday Oct 29^th from 10 am – noon.  Seattle Children’s Autism Center  4909 25^th Ave NE, Seattle 98105.  Plenty of parking in front.  Lots of volunteers to play with your goblins.  Come feel at home in the hallways of the Autism Center.

Hope to see you there!

http://theautismblog.seattlechildrens.org/trick-or-treat-at-the-autism-center/

We’re thrilled to announce that we have more than 10,000 individuals with autism enrolled in SPARK! Join us in celebrating this milestone by adding some SPARK to your profile picture or cover photo (http://twibbon.com/Support/we-are-spark-frame). We cannot thank you enough for your support over the past 6 months and we look forward to continuing to grow our community! #WeAreSPARK

To enroll follow the link: www.SPARKforAutism.org/UW or contact our SPARK coordinator Emily Fox at 206-987-7917! You can also email the lab at rablab@uw.edu!

The Bernier Lab and Seattle Children’s Autism Center participated in the Autism Speaks Walk at the Seattle Center on September 24, 2016.  More than 1,000 people attended, and more than $170,000 was raised in donations.  It was a beautiful, sunny, and active day filled with families, friends and supporters of Autism.

Attendees from the greater Seattle area were surrounded by allies as they made their way through the one mile walk which centered around a resource fair. Seattle Children’s and The Bernier Lab had one booth, but beyond research opportunities there were numerous resources for families and children. From music therapy to after school care options to therapy animals, the fair showed the rich amount of opportunities that are in our surrounding areas. The yearly walk is a great way to celebrate the Autism community and show the progress in care options that continue to be made year after year.

In celebration of the beginning of football season here in Seattle, we thought it best to highlight the popular Seahawks “Beast Bus” attraction. While most fans just see it as part of the rich pre-game tradition in Hawks Alley, it actually has a strong connection to Autism.

The owner of this double decker is Ben Seher, who bought the bus straight from London and revamped it to the tailgating behemoth it is today. There is plenty of food and drink to go around in this living, breathing, fan-cave as riders are well aware. But, what most don’t know is that the suggested $20 donation actually goes towards a local Autism charity. Both Seher’s nephew and the Seahawks GM John Schenider son, Ben, have Autism and money raised from the bus goes towards “Ben’s Fund.” This service provides financial help to families affected by ASD and they usually raise $50,000-$60,000 a season! So next time you are tailgating at the Link, make sure you hop aboard the Beast to get some pre-game nutrients, and more importantly to help kids with Autism get the treatments they need.

The above map reflects what the world was thinking when Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage to “discover” the New World. That’s kind of like where we are with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). But there are many folks collaboratively engaged – parents, clinicians, educators, advocates, scientists, employers, etc – who are working to add details to the map.  

On the first of September researchers at Seattle Children’s and UW published a paper in Autism Research (for link to the paper click here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.1690/epdf) that identified a connection between exposure to diagnostic ultrasound in the first trimester of pregnancy is linked to the severity of autism symptoms observed in children diagnosed with autism. This connection was strongest when the children had certain genetic variations associated with ASD (called copy number variants). The paper has received some recent attention in the media so we wanted to take a moment to provide our take on the paper without any spin (important caveat is that this blog author is one of the authors of the paper).

First and foremost, this study does not look at whether ultrasound causes autism or not. That is an important statement that should be clear. The way this study was designed, this question cannot be asked or answered. Second, a key finding in this paper concerns the interaction between the genetic variations identified in the children, ultrasound, and the timing of exposure. The key point of the paper suggests there may be an interactive relationship between genetics and ultrasound exposure and the time of the exposure.

One more quick comment: this is the first paper to describe this interaction between ultrasound, genetics, timing and autism severity and therefore requires replication. However, science requires independent replication. Additional studies are needed and, importantly, should be conducted by different research groups. Independent replication is critical to moving science forward.

So, what should we do with this information? We should put it on our map in pencil. We should consider it one step in our ongoing move toward a better understanding of ASD which we’ll color in a little more with each independent replication (or we can erase it if there isn’t any any replication). We can only keep filling up the landscape if we continue working together knowing that with every study [well, maybe not every study, but most every study ;)] we’re illuminating another piece of the map.