The therapy can have profound affects on the children. The follow-up is a complete behavioral assessment, including another MRI, to see if the treatment is sticking, Ventola said. Makayla finished the four-month program in April and just completed her four-month follow-up last month, said Cucinello. She said the girls often develop anxiety and depression because they are advancing in school, and encountering more complex social situations and demands, without support and treatment. Ventola said the girls pay a price for the late diagnoses. My daughter had to be taught everything,” said Cucinello. “He was doing things naturally, intuitively. Ventola said that a very accurate diagnosis can be made by age 2, but that many girls, because their signs and symptoms may not be as obvious, aren’t diagnosed until early school-age.Ĭucinello knew her daughter was on the autism spectrum, in part because she saw the development of her son, born 3 1/2 years later. Makayla was diagnosed when she was 5 1/2, near the end of her kindergarten year, which is later than most boys. Ventola also speaks with the girls’ teachers and invites them to come and view a therapy session, so they might incorporate some of the approaches into their classrooms.Ĭucinello, whose daughter went through an earlier four-month treatment program at the Child Study Center, said she has shared what she learned with her husband and her parents, so that they are also exhibiting more patience with Makayla, and enjoying more success in engaging her.Ĭucinello, a hair-dresser, she said saw “great results” with Makayla after the treatment – more use of language, a calmer demeanor, more empathy for others, less anxiety over changes in routine, and less of a negative response to crowds, noises, and other stimuli. The moms in particular are taught some of the therapies so they can continue them at home and keep the progress going. Parents are a major part of the clinical study, which is funded in part by Women’s Health Research at Yale. “Are we changing how they are thinking about, and reacting to, social information?” said Ventola. After treatment, the reaction to the human motion is usually much more powerful.īut is there a difference in the brain responses of autistic boys and girls? Ventola and her team are trying to find out. The researchers look to see if the brains of autistic children register different reactions to the two videos.īefore treatment, there is very little response to the human motion in the part of the brain linked to social recognition. In another lab, two blocks away on the bustling medical school and hospital campus, is the team’s practice MRI machine, complete with the buzzing sound, so the girls can get used to the experience.ĭuring the real MRI, between relaxing cartoons, the girls watch two videos: One is of lighted dots in a human shape, strolling and doing other “biological motion.” The other is of random dots, buzzing around, knocking into one other. They are fitted with one-way glass along one wall, through which parents watch from an adjacent room. The other day, Ventola showed visitors around the warren of treatment rooms. “We absolutely need to know if the treatments work for girls, not just boys, or whether we’re just wasting the girls’ time,” said Wang, a pediatrician.”We want to be confident that we’re providing the right treatment for girls.” “I don’t know of another one,” he said, adding that it is crucial work. Paul Wang, head of medical research for the national advocacy and science organization Autism Speaks. The study is likely the only one going on in the country with an exclusive focus on girls, said Dr. “Until now, girls have largely been excluded from research because it’s hard to recruit a meaningful sample of girls,” said Ventola, an assistant professor in the autism program at the Child Study Center. While they’re at it, the team is also examining whether there are genetic differences between autistic girls and boys, and whether supplements of the oxytocin hormone, which is associated with social bonding and feelings of attachment, might be effective in children with autism.
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