William H Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA
There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. Many caregivers feel there is a correlation in the timing of the 2 year old vaccines and autism because that is the age at which the developmental impairments associated with autism become most apparent. As to mastrubation, "self-stimulatory" behavior is more common in persons with autism than typically devel...
As this is a medical question, I suggest that you bring this question to an MD with expertise in development. There are some studies that have found association between asymmetrical ventricles and developmental delay but there are also studies that find that atypical cranial ultrasound results are a poor predictor of development at 12 and 18 months. At the v...
Unfortunately, most children who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are still not identified as having an ASD until they reach 6-8 years of age. However, we do know that children younger than one year of age can be diagnosed with an ASD. Maestro and colleagues have conducted several studies reviewing home videos of children's first b-day parties wherein...
There are a number of social skills groups that meet in Illinois. I suggest that you go the the following website (copy and paste the address in your web browser, this forum does not allow direct links) and search by zip code.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/community/fsdb/category.php?cid=26&sid=17&distance=state&zip=&age=&agetype=&sort=name&dir=desc
I've...
Jen,
Your situation sounds very challenging with many distinct problems and it is hard for me to figure out where to begin. First and foremost, you ask about the role of a psychologist in this situation. I'll assume that you already have a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), if not, I suggest that you find a developmental pediatrician/pediatr...
I'll start with the question on the Duarte variant of galactosemia. It is a milder form of galactosemia. This condition is an inherited disorder that affects how the body processes certain sugars. This condition results in the body not being able to process the sugar galactose, which is found in many foods. Galactose also exists as part of another sugar, la...
