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Presented by the Autism Center of Excellence: Karen Pierce, PhD & Eric Courchesne, PhD, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, CA Chapter 3: Pradeep Gidwani, MD, MPH.
One in every 100 babies born each year will have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). So, it is not surprising that autism is in the news daily. Come learn how some of these stories shape public opinion and how common beliefs about autism affect the pediatric practice. Esteemed professors, autism scientists, pediatricians and parents will help to clarify the science behind the news by presenting state-of-the-art, multimodal autism research, as well as strategies for interacting with families about this often controversial topic.
Among the topics to be discussed are the role of the pediatric practice in early identification of infants and toddlers at-risk for an ASD; the neurobiology of ASD; state-of-the-art treatment; and autism in the media, such as news about vaccines, and the recent ruling by the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom.
This activity is intended for San Diego County pediatricians and their staff.
At the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Identify at least three behavioral markers of infants at-risk for an ASD
- Recognize at least three neurobiological features of autism
- Employ at least two early screening tools
- Describe at least one major research study on the topic of vaccines and autism
In the face of rising rates of autism, the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) recently issued a 33-page document outlining the urgent need for early
screening and treatment of children with a possible autism spectrum disorder
(ASD). This AAP document describes several specific screening approaches
that have been used with some success in isolated research studies.
Simultaneously, our research laboratory, which has focused on the study of
autism for the past 20 years, began studying the early identification of
autism through the use of novel behavioral and biological markers. Other
Autism Centers throughout the country are also studying the early profile of
infants at-risk for an ASD. This course will fill the urgent gap of
providing information on how to screen infants and toddlers, as well as what
current research findings are on the early behavioral and biological profile
of infants at-risk for an ASD. For example, a new finding has shown that
infants at-risk for an ASD have abnormal rates of early brain overgrowth.
The importance of accurate and frequent head circumference measures during
well-baby check-ups will be discussed. Attached, is the AAP screening and
guideline document as well as the paper describing the research that
discovered early brain overgrowth in autism by Eric Courchesne (one of the
presenters) and colleagues.
This course will also fill the important need of providing information to
pediatricians that relate to key issues in the field of autism. For example,
scientific evidence that relates to the topics of vaccines and autism and
the increasing rates of the disorder will be discussed. |
