Child and Adolescent Psychiatry  Eight Steps to Treatment Traumatic experiences are common in childhood and adolescence and can have significant psychological effects on the child’s emotional well-being and overall development. Outcomes can be affected positively or negatively depending on responses and interventions.

Recurrence Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Baby Siblings Research Consortium Study ABSTRACT Objective: The recurrence risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is estimated to be between 3% and 10%, but previous research was limited by small sample sizes and biases related to ascertainment, reporting, and stoppage factors. This study used prospective methods to obtain an updated estimate of sibling recurrence risk for ASD.

Low positive affect (PA) may be an early vulnerability factor for unipolar depressive disorder in at-risk children, and has more of an impact than high negative affect (NA), according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Asperger syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder.  It is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of a distinct group of neurological conditions characterized by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior.  Other ASDs include:  classic autism, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Unlike children with autism, children with AS retain their early language skills.

Children And Depression From a distance, Callie (not her real name) appears to be a normal if quiet 5-year-old girl. But when faced with a toy that blows large soap bubbles – an activity that makes the vast majority of kindergarteners squeal and leap with delight – she is uninterested in popping the bubbles or taking a turn with the gun herself.

Deborah Brauser May 24, 2011 (Honolulu, Hawaii) — Virtual reality training may help improve complex social attention in school-aged children with higher-functioning autism (HFA), suggests new research presented here at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 2011 Annual Meeting. Head-mounted virtual reality apparatus In the pilot program, 18 children with HFA and 20 healthy controls wore head-mounted displays showing a virtual classroom with 9 “virtual avatar peers.” As the participants gave short speeches about themselves, each peer was programmed to start fading and become transparent if ignored.

Women who reported not taking a daily prenatal vitamin immediately before and during the first month of pregnancy were nearly twice as likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder as women who did take the supplements — and the associated risk rose to seven times as great when combined with a high-risk genetic make-up, a study by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. “Mothers of children with autism were significantly less likely than those of typically developing children to report having taken prenatal vitamins during the three months before and the first month of pregnancy,” said Rebecca J. Schmidt, assistant professor in the Department…

Most of the increase seen among boys, children under 3, researchers note  More children aged 3 and younger are now being treated for autism in Massachusetts, a new study finds. One in 129 children in Massachusetts born between 2001 and 2005 was enrolled in early intervention programs for an autism spectrum disorder by their third birthday, according to the study. Over the five-year period, the proportion of children aged 3 and younger getting treated rose from one in 178 among children born in 2001 to one in 108 for those born in 2005 — a 66 percent increase. Much of the increase in diagnosis occurred among boys, which increased by…

First-graders suffer when teacher support and material resources are lacking, study suggests WEDNESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) — First-grade classrooms with poor environments — not enough resources, teachers who feel disrespected by colleagues — have been linked to a higher number of mental health problems in students, according to a new study. The study doesn’t prove that classrooms that face more challenges directly cause mental health problems in kids. However, “being in a classroom with a lack of resources might adversely impact children’s mental health because children are frustrated or disheartened by their surroundings,” said study lead author Melissa A. Milkie, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland. “Teachers…

Juvenile Fibromyalgia   February 11, 2011- Juvenile fibromyalgia is, well, fibromyalgia: a chronic non-inflammatory musculoskeletal pain condition characterized by widespread pain and multiple tender points.