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Autism Research – Get informed about the latest Autism Research from ICAN – Part 1


Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

As many of you will know we have been working with the Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) is helping the locate people prepared to participate in their survey research.

As a way of thanking you for your help they would like to share with you some of the results of their research work.  Topics include autism and anxiety, autism and epilepsy, autism and gastrointestinal problems, sleeps disorders and autism

  1. Mannion, Leader, & Healy (2013). An investigation of comorbid psychological disorders, sleep problems, gastrointestinal symptoms and epilepsy in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946712000487


  1. Mannion & Leader (2013a). An analysis of the predictors of comorbid psychopathology, gastrointestinal symptoms and epilepsy in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946713001980

  1. Mannion & Leader (2013b). Comorbidity in autism spectrum disorder: A literature review.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946713001773

Williams, Leader, Mannion, & Chen (2015). An investigation of anxiety in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S175094671400258X

  1. Mannion & Leader (2014a). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946713002699

We would like to that Arlene Mannion of ICAN for collating this research.  If you have any questions for Ms Mannion please use the comments box below and we will ask her to respond.

The second part of this research will be published next week.

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Looking for parents of children with autism! Please help a student at The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research with a survey.


Over the last

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

year we have help promote a number of research projects run by the Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) . Which is part of National University of Ireland.

A few days ago one of their PhD students, Arlene Mannion, contacted us to ask for some assistance from our readers with a survey she is running on sleep problems or gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

It would be great if you could help her with the research as we think it may prove very useful to all the ASD community going forward.

Mannion writes “Does your child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience sleep problems or gastrointestinal symptoms?

Some children with autism have both sleep problems and gastrointestinal symptoms, while other children have one of these issues or none at all. The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) in National University of Ireland, Galway is interested in hearing about your experiences with your child or adolescent aged 3 to 17 years with autism. We are interested in understanding how sleep problems and gastrointestinal symptoms affect both child and parent. Even if your child doesn’t have sleep or gastrointestinal problems, we can still learn a lot from your information on why some children have these issues and others do not. If you wish to participate, please use the link below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rdm3IrSWzZcrG14jezW1FjrjoF5T62zUH4cX26ecs2k/viewform?c=0&w=1

If you need any more information on the survey you can contact Ms Mannion at a.mannion3@nuigalway.ie.

Thanks very much in advance!


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Autism and Anxiety : “An Investigation of Anxiety in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder” – The results of recent research from The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research h


Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

You may remember that a few months ago (May 2014) we invited you to take part in a survey about autism and anxiety from The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research.

Today we are delighted to present the top line findings.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to use the comment boxes at the bottom of this blog.

This study looked at the prevalence of symptoms.

• 10% of participants were found to have borderline clinical anxiety levels, while 75% of participants obtained scores which placed them in the clinical range for anxiety. This finding is particularly interesting as a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder was reported for only 25% of the sample.
• Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (i.e. nausea, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal pain) were experienced by 80% of the sample within the last three months.
• Sleep problems were reported by 92% of the sample.
• At least one form of challenging behaviour (self-injurious behaviour, aggressive/destructive behaviour, stereotypic behaviour) was reported for 90% of the sample.


This study investigated the relationships between anxiety and other symptoms.

• Anxiety was found to be related to overall GI symptoms, indicating that higher levels of anxiety are associated with higher levels of GI issues. Specifically, nausea and constipation were found to be correlated with anxiety in this sample.
• Anxiety was found to be related to sleep problems, indicating that higher levels of anxiety are associated with higher levels of sleep problems in children and adolescents with ASD. Specifically, sleep onset delay, sleep duration, sleep anxiety, parasomnias, and daytime sleepiness were found to be correlated with anxiety levels in this sample.
• This study did not find an association between anxiety and challenging behaviour.

This study was also interested in looking at the factors which predicted anxiety.

• Sleep problems were found to positively predict anxiety in the current study. This means that high levels of sleep problems predict that an individual will also experience high levels of anxiety.
• Age was found to be a significant positive predictor of anxiety. This suggests that young people with ASD experience an increase in anxiety levels as they grow older.

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Autism Research – Does your child experience anxiety? Please help The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) with their important research.


Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

We are posting this invitation on behalf of Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN).  You can have a look at their web site here.

The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) in National University of Ireland, Galway are looking for parents of children and adolescents with ASD, aged 6-17 years, to take part in a study. The study will be looking at the effect of anxiety on young people with ASD in terms of challenging behaviour, sleep problems, and gastrointestinal issues. Even if your child does not present with symptoms of anxiety, you are still able to take part, as it is important for us to understand the effects of co-occurring anxiety by including individuals with and without anxiety problems. If you wish to participate, please use the link below.

Take part in the research into autism and anxiety!

 


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Feeding your child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Please help The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) with a survey

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research

Have you experienced difficulties with food with your child?  Maybe feeding problems have not been an issue for your child?   The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) in National University of Ireland, Galway are interested in hearing about your experiences with feeding issues with a child or adolescent aged 3 to 17 years with autism.  We are interested in understanding how feeding problems affect a child’s gastrointestinal symptoms, sensory problems and behaviour problems. Even if your child doesn’t have these symptoms, we can still learn a lot from your information on why some children have these symptoms and others do not.

Please click below to learn more.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_idSZPwZVjCQMD5hRl3fkvzzdzmX3T0AJaxoPbRnLWk/viewform

You may also be interested in a  previous blog post on this very subject https://patienttalk.org/autism-and-challenging-behaviour-part-four-eating-and-diet/