The Voiceless Minority

Did you know that obesity during pregnancy may contribute to their child potentially developing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?  This shocked me, too! According to an Australian meta-analysis, obesity during pregnancy was found to be more than double the risk of a child developing ASD, while the risk of ADHD increased by 32%. In this meta-analysis, maternal overweight and obesity before and during pregnancy were studied, and interestingly enough, showed significant links with psychiatric and behavioral problems in children later in life. I was reading this from a Newsweek article, and, of course, I have to practice philosophical doubt, meaning I have to question its credibility. Then I stumbled upon this research article . As a behavior analyst, I find myself curious to look at the data behind this. Lo and behold, the scientific evidence showed up, and my doubts were silenced.  It’s interesting, though, because I would have ...

  The picture above shows a group of people sitting around a table. One of the people in the picture has a disability; she is sitting in a wheelchair.  On Monday, we posted an article about a quicker process to diagnose Autism. Today, we continue our series on Autism. This time, we're dealing with an article discussing new autism research. Last October, Disability Scoop published an article discussing the interesting finding that Autism may run in families. Without citing the entire article, I will outline the basics. The primary conclusion of this study, discussed in the article, was that children who have older siblings with Autism are 20.2% more likely to develop Autism themselves by the age of three. If they have multiple siblings on the spectrum, their risk increases to 37%. The study that drew these conclusions examined over 1,600 children from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom for two and a half years, starting at 6 months and continuing up to three ...