This book focuses on the emerging and expanding areas of research on ASD and their potential to lead to better diagnosis and more effective therapies. These areas include innovative and integrative approaches to genetic/genomic analyses and investigations of epigenetic contributions, including the role of noncoding RNAs, DNA methylation, alternative splicing, RNA editing, and faulty translation in gene regulation and expression, metabolic and immune dysfunction, co-morbidities, as well as hormonal and gene-environment interactions that may increase risk for ASD.Within each chapter, experts review cutting-edge research as well as provide their perspective on the future of research in their respective areas, including the challenges involved and the types of studies or advances that are necessary to move the field forward to achieve predicted translational goals.Contributors: Argel Aguilar-Valles, Evdokia Anagnostou, Emma Ashwin, Bonnie Auyeung, Kelly M Bakulski, Simon Baron-Cohen, Margaret L Bauman, Donna Betts, Chad A Bousman, Daniel B Campbell, Manuel F Casanova, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Gursharan Chana, Abha Chauhan, Ved Chauhan, Jessica DeWitt, Keith W Dunaway, Alal Eran, Ian P Everall, M Daniele Fallin, Richard E Frye, Piers Gillett, Matthew Ginsberg, Christos G Gkogkas, Rhonda J Greenhaw, Simon G Gregory, Elena L Grigorenko, Feng Gu, Rebecca Harmer, Martha Herbert, Valerie W Hu, Karen L Jones, Petra Kern, Arkady Khoutorsky, Rebecca Knickmeyer, Isaac S Kohane, Louis M Kunkel, Janine M LaSalle, Michael V Lombardo, Deepali Mankad, Marvin Natowicz, Laura Nicholls, Christos Pantelis, Natalia Rakhlin, Radhika Ramadas, Daniel A Rossignol, Tewarit Sarachana, Stephen W Scherer, Gabriela Schmulevich, Ayten Shah, Frank R Sharp, Alison B Singer, Efstratios Skafidas, Estate M Sokhadze, Nahum Sonenberg, Boryana Stamova, Zohreh Talebizadeh, Renee Testa, Judy Van de Water, Irina Voineagu, Daniel Williams, Ryan K C Yuen, Daniela Zantomio.

This book bridges art therapy practice and research by presenting sensory-based relational art therapy approach (S-BRATA), a clinically tested framework for working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that explicitly addresses sensory dysfunction and its impact on impaired attachment. The author shows how art therapy can facilitate attachment while addressing sensory problems that might underlie impaired attachment shifting the focus from the behavioral to the emotional development of the child with autism. The book additionally challenges traditional aspects of art therapy practice, particularly the focus on the relational aspect of the intervention and not the art product. Not restrictive or prescriptive and with the potential to be adapted to other interventions, S-BRATA provides an explicit framework for doing art therapy with children on the spectrum that opens the scope of art therapy practice and encourages flexibility and adaptation. Clinicians, students, and parents alike will benefit from the text’s clear outline for relational development with individuals on the spectrum and its emphasis on the importance of the psycho-emotional health of a child with ASD.

In 1964, the release of Dr. Bernard Rimland's book, Infantile Autism, revolutionized the autism field by providing the autism community with much-needed guidance on how to understand and treat individuals on the spectrum. He single-handedly realigned the field from a psychodynamic, parent-blaming perspective to a scientific, physiological course of action. This 50th anniversary edition presents the original book with contributions from leaders in the autism field, including Drs. Martha Herbert and Simon Baron-Cohen, who celebrate Dr. Rimland's exceptional work, and place his findings within the context of autism as we understand it today. Bringing Dr. Rimland's findings up to date for a new generation of readers, this book will be fascinating reading for parents and those on the autism spectrum as well as professionals working with autism and anyone with an interest in autism and/or psychological theory.

"Norman Doidge's revolutionary new book shows, for the first time, how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works. It describes natural, non-invasive avenues into the brain provided by the forms of energy around us--light, sound, vibration, movement--which pass through our senses and our bodies to awaken the brain's own healing capacities without producing unpleasant side effects. Doidge explores cases where patients alleviated years of chronic pain or recovered from debilitating strokes or accidents; children on the autistic spectrum or with learning disorders normalizing; symptoms of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and cerebral palsy radically improved, and other near-miracle recoveries. And we learn how to vastly reduce the risk of dementia with simple approaches anyone can use. For centuries it was believed that the brain's complexity prevented recovery from damage or disease. The Brain's Way of Healing shows that this very sophistication is the source of a unique kind of healing"--

This book covers state-of-the-art medical image analysis approaches currently pursued in autism research. Chapters cover recent advances in diagnosis using structural neuroimaging. All aspects of imaging are included, such as electrophysiology (EEG, ERP, QEEG, and MEG), postmortem techniques, and advantages and difficulties of depositing/acquiring images in larger databases. The book incorporates 2D, 3D, and 4D imaging and advances scientific research within the broad field of autism imaging.

This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

The newest edition of the most comprehensive handbook on autism and related disorders Since the original edition was first published more than a quarter of a century ago, The Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Volume 1: Diagnosis, Development, and Brain Mechanisms, has been the most influential reference work in the field of autism and related conditions. The new, updated Fourth Edition takes into account the changes in the disorders' definitions in the DSM-V and ICD-10 that may have profound implications for diagnosis and, by extension, access to services. Along with providing practical clinical advice--including the role of psychopharmacology in treatment—the handbook codifies the ever-expanding current body of research throughout both volumes , offering a wealth of information on the epidemiology of autism and the genetic, environmental, biochemical, social, and neuropathological aspects of the disorder. Volume 1 includes: Information on outcomes in adults with autism spectrum disorders A range of issues and interventions important from infancy, though adolescence and beyond for individuals with autism spectrum disorders Current information about play development, including skills, object play, and interventions Coverage of the state of genetic, biochemical, and neuropathological autism research Chapters on psychopharmacology and medical care in autism and related conditions The new edition includes the relevant updates to help readers stay abreast of the state of this rapidly evolving field and gives them a guide to separate the wheat from the chaff as information about autism proliferates.