Posted on Autism

CHOP Researchers Identify Key Ways to Improve Police Interactions with Black Autistic Youth

Novel study emphasizes the need for improved training to recognize key behavior differences in this patient population
Policing and the autistic community

Researchers from the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have published a groundbreaking study highlighting critical steps to improve interactions between law enforcement and Black autistic youth. Published today in the journal Autism, the study reflects concerns from Black caregivers of Black autistic children, offering actionable insights to enhance police training and foster safer interactions.

Black autistic youth face a heightened risk of adverse outcomes during police encounters due to a combination of factors: higher police contact rates within Black communities, documented bias in the use of force, and misunderstandings of autistic behaviours. Despite this elevated risk, the perspectives of Black families have been underrepresented in research aimed at improving these interactions.

“Black families often avoid participating in research because their experiences and voices haven’t been fully valued,” said Dr. Ashlee Yates Flanagan, the study’s lead author and a psychologist at CHOP’s Center for Autism Research. “Focusing on their concerns amplifies their voices and lays the groundwork for meaningful change.”

Study Details and Key Findings
The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 43 Black caregivers of Black autistic children. The study deliberately centred on these families’ cultural and racial context, including contributions from underrepresented researchers and discussions of race and policing in America.

The analysis revealed four key themes:

  1. Concerns About Police Training: Families are worried that officers lack the necessary training to recognize autistic behaviours, which could lead to misinterpretations and escalation.
  2. Policing of Typical Autistic Behaviors: Common behaviours like reduced eye contact or repetitive movements are often misunderstood and can be perceived as suspicious or defiant.
  3. Fear of Harm or Fatal Outcomes: Families expressed deep concerns about the potential for violence or even death during police encounters.
  4. Hope for Mindful Policing: Despite these fears, caregivers remained hopeful that targeted training and greater understanding could improve interactions.

Opportunities for Change
Caregivers emphasized equipping officers with tools to understand autistic behaviours better and respond with patience and empathy. For instance, recognizing that behaviours like avoiding eye contact may not indicate guilt but instead reflect autism-related traits could significantly reduce unnecessary escalation.

“These families are hopeful,” Dr. Yates Flanagan explained. “Their optimism highlights an opportunity for real change, and this study provides a roadmap for adapting police training to be more culturally and neurologically inclusive.”

Looking Ahead
The study underscores the need for police training programs to incorporate diverse perspectives, especially those of Black caregivers, to create meaningful change. Law enforcement can improve outcomes for all involved by addressing racial and neurological dynamics.

“Black caregivers of Black autistic youth have been overlooked in prior research, yet their insights are essential,” said senior author Dr. Julia Parish-Morris, a scientist at CHOP and Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “Our findings reveal significant gaps in police training and a clear path forward. This is a call to action to make policing safer and more effective for everyone.”

By addressing these findings, the researchers hope to reduce risks for Black autistic youth and foster positive community relationships between families and law enforcement.

Posted on Alzheimer's, Dementia

Skip the Screen, Pick Up a Book: Tips to Keep Your Brain Sharp

Reading book

Social or mentally stimulating activities such as reading or chatting with others benefit memory and thinking. Credit “Reading Book” by Negative Space is marked with CC0 1.0.

As you settle in for some well-earned relaxation this holiday season, choosing between binge-watching your favourite shows or diving into a good book could impact your long-term brain health. According to researchers at the University of South Australia, certain activities are much better than others for protecting your memory and thinking skills as you age.

A study involving 397 older adults (aged 60+) revealed that while physical activity is a well-known way to reduce dementia risk, your sedentary activity can also make a big difference. Some seated activities, like reading, chatting with friends, or crafting, promote mental stimulation and social engagement, which are beneficial for cognitive health. On the other hand, watching TV or playing video games can harm memory and thinking abilities.

Why It Matters

Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide, with nearly 10 million new cases every year. In Australia alone, about 411,100 people are living with dementia, and nearly two-thirds of them are women. Yet, experts estimate that 45% of dementia cases could be prevented by adopting healthier lifestyle habits.

Dr. Maddison Mellow, a researcher from UniSA, explains:

“Not all sedentary behaviors are equal. Activities that engage your mind and encourage social interaction – like reading or having a conversation – are much better for brain health than passive activities like watching TV or gaming.”

The Science of Sitting

Researchers suggest a hierarchy to how different sedentary activities affect your brain. Activities that challenge your mind or foster connections with others rank higher, offering more protection against cognitive decline.

“We already know that physical activity is essential for reducing dementia risk,” Dr. Mellow says. “But our study highlights that even swapping out one sedentary behaviour for another – choosing reading over TV, for example – can provide cognitive benefits.”

Healthy Habits for the Holidays

If holiday traditions include endless Christmas movies or TV marathons, Dr. Mellow suggests simple tweaks to support brain health:

  • Break It Up: Insert short bursts of physical activity – like a walk around the house or some light stretching – between episodes.
  • Swap Smartly: Add mentally stimulating activities, such as reading, writing, or chatting with loved ones, into your downtime.
  • Start Small: Even five-minute swaps can make a difference, like putting down the remote for a book or crossword puzzle.

As Dr. Mellow explains:

“The key is to balance enjoyable movement with cognitive or socially engaging activities. Building these habits gradually can have long-term benefits for your brain and overall health.”

A New Approach to Screen Time

While the familiar advice to “move more, sit less” still holds, this research offers a fresh perspective: not all sitting is bad. Choosing activities stimulating your mind can help you maintain cognitive health, even during restful moments.

So, this holiday season, consider mixing a brisk walk or a book into your cosy movie nights. Your brain will thank you for it!

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Posted on ADHD

Supporting Caregivers of Children with ADHD

A Groundbreaking Program to Enhance Psychological Wellbeing and Parenting Skills
A Groundbreaking Program to Enhance Psychological Wellbeing and Parenting Skills

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition marked by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, often disrupting academic, social, and family dynamics. For parents, particularly mothers, managing ADHD can lead to significant stress, ineffective parenting practices, and strained parent-child relationships. Despite the acknowledgement of this challenge in Japan, specialized ADHD-focused parent training programs have been scarce—until now.

Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have developed Well Parent Japan (WPJ), a 13-week group-based training program designed to empower mothers of children with ADHD. The program focuses on enhancing psychological well-being, building ADHD-specific parenting skills, and fostering confidence in parenting.

Dr. Shizuka Shimabukuro, a researcher in OIST’s Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit and the program’s lead developer, has been instrumental in its creation and evaluation. Recognized with an award from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) for her contributions, Dr. Shimabukuro recently co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study highlights the program’s effectiveness and cost-efficiency compared to standard treatments available in Japan.

“We implemented WPJ across three sites in Japan and found it more effective than usual treatments in these settings. Importantly, it was tested in community-based settings such as hospitals and developmental centres, rather than research labs, to ensure real-world applicability,” Dr Shimabukuro explains.

Finding Strength in Community

The program’s group-based format has proven effective in creating a supportive community for mothers who often feel isolated or hesitant to seek help.

“In Japan, mothers are typically the primary caregivers, and many feel alone in managing their children’s challenges. WPJ provides a safe, shared space where they can connect with others facing similar issues, share struggles, and learn collaboratively,” says Dr. Shimabukuro.

WPJ itself is the product of over a decade of collaboration among researchers, clinicians, parents, and children with ADHD, blending international insights with the lived experiences of Japanese families. Professor Gail Tripp, head of OIST’s Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit and a co-author of the study, highlights this collaboration as a key strength:

“We worked closely with local and university hospitals, an economist in Tokyo, and a research colleague in the UK. OIST Innovation also supported the study, helping us move toward broader implementation. It’s been a deeply collaborative effort, and it’s rewarding to see it make a difference.”

Overcoming Challenges During a Pandemic

Conducting clinical trials for WPJ was not without obstacles. The trials began shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring significant adjustments to the research design as conditions evolved.

“Coordinating trials across three sites while navigating constantly changing regulations was challenging,” recalls Dr. Shimabukuro. “I’m incredibly grateful for the commitment of the research team, who prioritized the health and safety of participants while ensuring robust data collection.”

Despite the difficulties, WPJ exceeded expectations, reducing parenting stress, enhancing parenting confidence, and alleviating family strain. Notably, the program achieved an attrition rate of just 7%, significantly lower than the typical 15% dropout rate in similar international studies under non-pandemic conditions.

“Our results show how much parents valued this program, even during such a challenging time,” says Professor Tripp.

Expanding the Program’s Reach

The success of WPJ underscores the importance of supporting caregivers as agents of change for their children. As Dr. Shimabukuro explains, “Parents need to be cared for before they can care for others.”

With the program’s demonstrated impact, Dr. Shimabukuro and her team are exploring another crucial environment for children with ADHD: schools. They are piloting an educational video series, adapted from WPJ, aimed at supporting teachers.

“Teachers spend significant time with children and face their own challenges managing ADHD-related behaviors. By equipping teachers with knowledge and practical strategies, while providing a space for them to share experiences, we can create a consistent, supportive environment for these children,” she explains.

Toward a Brighter Future

As licensed clinical psychologists, Dr. Shimabukuro and Professor Tripp are committed to blending clinical expertise and research to benefit children, families, and communities. Their ongoing efforts aim to deepen understanding of ADHD, improve access to support, and expand community resources.

“We hope to help families under strain by enhancing awareness and creating more places to receive support,” concludes Dr. Shimabukuro.

Posted on Patient Talk

White, pink noise improve focus for children with ADHD

Oregon Health & Science University researchers are uncovering the potential benefits of color noise exposure for young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
Oregon Health & Science University researchers are uncovering the potential benefits of colour
# noise exposure for young people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

A study found a small but statistically significant benefit of white and pink noise on task performance among children and college-age young adults with ADHD.

Colour noises represent different frequencies and volumes along the sound spectrum, each with its distinct characteristics and effects on the brain. Just as white light includes all the colours of the rainbow, white noise contains all noise frequencies and sounds like static. Pink and brown noise are similar but with a higher proportion of low frequencies; they may sound like rain or a waterfall. 

As clinical understanding of ADHD continues to broaden, interest in identifying novel, low-cost supports for those diagnosed with the condition has grown. One such support that has recently sparked great interest is the potential use of colour noise exposure — including white, pink and brown noise — to enhance focused performance during attention-demanding tasks.

“Although outcomes are much improved with current treatments, ADHD still can dramatically increase the risk of serious and complex long-term health outcomes because treatments are only partially effective, and adherence is difficult,” said Joel Nigg, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry in the OHSU School of Medicine, co-director of the OHSU Center for Mental Health Innovation and lead author of the study. “It is critical that we continue to investigate complementary and alternative supports for those living with ADHD.

“Our priority is identifying new and improved tools to empower each individual to live their healthiest and most productive life, as well as providing evidence-based guidance on popular ideas in the public domain such as white or brown noise.”

Exploring colour noise

The systematic review and meta-analysis included 13 studies with 335 participants. It found that white or pink noise improved cognitive performance for children and young adults with ADHD or significant ADHD symptoms. In contrast, white or pink noise slightly reduced cognitive performance for individuals without ADHD or with regular attention. 

Researchers say these results point to a possible low-cost, low-risk intervention that may benefit youths with ADHD. Nigg said that leveraging white and pink noise is relatively safe, easy to implement, and accessible. Additionally, colour noise therapies can be used inexpensively at home and with other interventions, like medications, with relatively low concern for side effects.

At the same time, however, using colour noise to enhance attention is not without hazard, Nigg cautioned. Hearing damage is a significant risk if noise volumes are not carefully monitored, and other studies have shown that youth tend to use headphones at excessive volumes for different activities. The effects of frequent use on children’s attention development are also unknown.

With these unknowns, creating clinical guidelines would require additional data, Nigg said. Looking ahead, researchers will need to prioritize additional studies that compare white or pink noise with other environmental stimulation — such as brighter light or other kinds of noise — and test the effect range across task types and with varying types and durations of auditory stimulation.

Additionally, study populations should be expanded and diversified to ensure accurate data is collected on race, ethnicity, and other characteristics that may influence effects, Nigg said, noting that the lack of a large, diverse sample population was a significant limitation of the study.  

“While additional research is needed to translate the findings to clinical practices, these initial results should be seen as encouraging,” Nigg said. “The results should stimulate further work to clarify who can benefit and what dosages and amounts are safe and appropriate. Supportive interventions continue to be needed for ADHD, which affects millions of kids and adolescents around the world.”

Posted on Diet

You are what you eat…and so are your grandkids? Study links poor diet to multi-generational health issues

Study finds how the effects of famine can be passed from one generation to the next
Study finds how the effects of famine can be passed from one generation to the next.

You are what you eat, as the adage goes. However, a new study from Tulane University found that what’s missing from your diet may also impact the health of your descendants across multiple generations.

Recent research supports the idea that famine in one generation can lead to harmful genetic outcomes in the next. However, questions about how many generations could be affected when an ancestor endures a nutritional crisis have persisted.

In a study published in Heliyon, Tulane researchers found that when paired mice were fed a low-protein diet, their offspring had lower birthweights and smaller kidneys over the next four generations, leading risk factors for chronic kidney disease and hypertension.

Researchers found that correcting the diets in offspring had no impact, and subsequent generations continued to be born with low nephron counts, the vital filtration units that help kidneys remove waste from the bloodstream. Though further work remains to determine if the findings translate to humans, the outcomes underscore the potential for food scarcity or malnutrition to result in decades of adverse health outcomes.

“It’s like an avalanche,” said lead author Giovane Tortelote, assistant professor of pediatric nephrology at Tulane University School of Medicine. “You would think that you can fix the diet in the first generation so the problem stops there, but even if they have a good diet, the next generations – grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren – they may still be born with lower birth weight and low nephron count despite never facing starvation or a low-protein diet.”

Correcting the diet in any of the generations failed to return kidney development in offspring to normal levels.

While maternal nutrition is crucial to an infant’s development, the study found that first-generation offspring were negatively impacted regardless of whether the mother or the father ate a protein-deficient diet.

This novel finding of how diet can have a transgenerational impact on kidney development is one of the latest in the field of epigenetics, the study of how environmental factors can impact gene expression without changing the DNA sequence.

The researchers studied four generations of offspring with nephron counts beginning to show signs of normalizing by the third and fourth generations. Tortelote said further research is needed to determine which generation returns to proper kidney development – and why the trait is passed on in the first place. 

“The mother’s diet is absolutely very important, but it appears there’s also something epigenetically from the father that governs proper kidney development,” Tortelote said.

The study also illuminates further understanding of the underlying causes of chronic kidney disease, the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S.

“If you’re born with fewer nephrons, you are more prone to hypertension, but the more hypertension you have, the more you damage the kidney, so it’s a horrible cycle and a public health crisis that could affect people across 50 to 60 years if we apply this to humans’ lifespans,” Tortelote said. “There are two main questions now: Can we fix it, and how do we fix it?”