January 10, 2022
Community Shares:
- A recent Dutch case report described a 60-year-old veterinarian with autism who used the drug ketamine to treat his depressive disorder, suicidality, and autism-related behaviors. In the past, the man had been on 15 different medications to treat his disorders with no success. The veterinarian self-medicated with ketamine and reported that his depressive and suicidal complaints disappeared and that his autism-related complaints diminished. The authors of this case report suggest that ketamine may potentially be effective in treating depression, suicidality and autism-related symptoms but warn about using the drug unsupervised since it can be abused.
- Spectrum has featured a new article that reviews the most current research on motor skills in autism. The authors focused on evidence most relevant for clinical care. They concluded that motor skill differences in those with autism are meaningful and also a highly underutilized clinical target. The authors believe that motor skills should be included in the DSM as a clinical specifier for autism, which would provide targeted attention to motor functioning and give a clear framework for how motor differences fit into the broader diagnostic picture.
- Deaf children with ASD can improve language and social skills with cochlear implants, according to a new study. Children with autism have a higher prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) than neurotypical children. Conversely, children with SNHL are reported to have a higher rate of ASD than those with normal hearing. The relationship between these two diagnoses may be due to congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV), an infection that begins in the developing fetus and is often unrecognized after birth. CMV can cause hearing loss and has been associated with an increased incidence of ASD.
- A new report in Psych Central encourages parents of children with autism to implement four therapies at home in order to support their child’s development and to help manage challenging behaviors. According to the article, floortime, parent-child interaction therapy, applied behavioral analysis and speech therapy are therapies that can be easily adapted at home.
