Hear the Voice of Autism

Autism has a Unique Vocal Signature a New Technology Reveals

A new automated vocal analysis technology could fundamentally change the study of language development as well as the screening for autism spectrum disorders and language delay, reports a study in the July 19 online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system automatically labeled infant and child vocalizations from recordings and thereafter an automatic acoustic analysis designed by the researchers showed that pre-verbal vocalizations of very young children with autism are distinctly different from those of typically developing children with 86 percent accuracy.

The system also differentiated typically developing children and children with autism from children with language delay based on the automated vocal analysis.

The researchers analyzed 1,486 all-day recordings from 232 children (or more than 3.1 million automatically identified child utterances) through an algorithm based on the 12 acoustic parameters associated with vocal development. The most important of these parameters proved to be the ones targeting syllabification, the ability of children to produce well-formed syllables with rapid movements of the jaw and tongue during vocalization. Infants show voluntary control of syllabification and voice in the first months of life and refine this skill as they acquire language.

The autistic sample showed little evidence of development on the parameters as indicated by low correlations between the parameter values and the children’s ages (from 1 to 4 years). On the other hand, all 12 parameters showed statistically significant development for both typically developing children and those with language delays. The research team, led by D. Kimbrough Oller, professor and chair of excellence in audiology and speech language pathology at the University of Memphis, called the findings a proof of concept that automated analysis of massive samples of vocalizations can now be included in the scientific repertoire for research on vocal development. Although aberrations in the speech (or lack of it) of children with autism spectrum disorders has been examined by researchers and clinicians for more than 20 years, vocal characteristics are not included in standard criteria for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, said Steven F. Warren, professor of applied behavioral science and vice provost for research at the University of Kansas, who contributed to the study and was among the first to see the potential of the technology for autism spectrum disorders screening.

“A small number of studies had previously suggested that children with autism have a markedly different vocal signature, but until now, we have been held back from using this knowledge in clinical applications by the lack of measurement technology,” said Warren.

Warren predicts that LENA, which allow the inexpensive collection and analysis of magnitudes of data unimagined in language research before now, could significantly impact the screening, assessment and treatment of autism and the behavioral sciences in general. Since the analysis is not based on words, but rather on sound patterns, the technology theoretically could potentially be used to screen speakers of any language for autism spectrum disorders, Warren said. “The physics of human speech are the same in all people as far as we know.”

Warren says that children with autism spectrum disorders can be diagnosed at 18 months but that the median age of diagnosis is 5.7 years in the United States.

“This technology could help pediatricians screen children for ASD to determine if a referral to a specialist for a full diagnosis is required and get those children into earlier and more effective treatments.”

LENA is digital language processor and language analysis software. The processor fits into the pocket of specially designed children’s clothing and records everything the child vocalizes but can reliably distinguish child vocalizations from its cries and vegetative sounds, other voices and extraneous environmental sounds. Recordings with the device have been collected since 2006. Parents responded to advertisements and indicated if their children had been diagnosed with autism or language delay. A speech-language clinician employed by the project also evaluated many of the children with a reported diagnosis of language delay. Many of the parents of children with language delay and all of the children with autism supplied documentation from the diagnosing clinicians, who were independent of the research.

The recordings were made by the parents at home and in the other natural environments of the children, by simply turning the recorder on and placing in the special children’s clothing, and then worn all day. The discovery that it was possible to differentiate recordings of the autistic children from those of the typically developing children by the totally objective method of automated vocal analysis inspired the researchers to consider both the possibility of earlier screening and diagnosis and earlier intervention for children with autism.

“Autism interventions remain expensive and arduous. This tool may help us to develop cost-effective treatments and better understand how they work and how to keep them working,” said Warren.

LENA could allow parents to continue and supplement language enrichment therapy at home and assess their own effectiveness for themselves, Warren said. “In this way, LENA could function similarly to the way a pedometer measures how much exercise one gets from walking.”
(source www.news.ku.edu)

From the LENA About Us Page:
The LENA Foundation develops advanced technology for the early screening, research, and treatment of language delays and disorders in young children. Philanthropists Terrance “Terry” Paul and Judith “Judi” Paul formed the not-for-profit organization through a multimillion-dollar gift. Over a five-year period, the foundation created the LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) System, the world’s first automatic language collection and analysis tool and the foundation’s principal technology. The foundation employs a team of scientists and engineers skilled in computerized speech and speaker recognition, microelectronics, statistical research, and children’s language acquisition and development; they are dedicated to helping the foundation enhance language development worldwide. (source www.lenababy.com)

“Love is the Drug” for Autism

‘Love hormone’ may reduce autism symptoms

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (UPI) — The “love hormone,” released at childbirth and during sex, is being used in a U.S. trial of young adults with autism spectrum disorders, researchers say.

Dr. Eric Hollander, the center’s advisory board chairman and chairman of the psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says giving oxytocin may improve social functioning and repetitive behaviors — irrespective of the age of the patient.

“For the first time, certain core systems of autism may respond to treatment,” Hollander says in a statement.

In the trial, autistic patients age 18 and older, who were given oxytocin nasally for 12 weeks significantly reduced their repetitive behavior, and were better able to recognize anger or happiness in the tone of a speaker’s voice. Upbeat results were also provided in a similar age group who took the peptide intravenously, the study said. Autism spectrum disorders refers to a group of symptoms, like a profound inability to communicate and other developmental disorders.

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain.

It is best known for its roles in female reproduction: it is released in large amounts after distension of the cervix and vagina during labor, and after stimulation of the nipples, facilitating birth and breastfeeding, respectively. Recent studies have begun to investigate oxytocin’s role in various behaviors, including orgasm, social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, trust, love, and maternal behaviors.

1 Out of Every 91 Children Autistic

According to the Department of Health and Human Services National Survey of Children’s Health, 1 out of every 91 children — 1% of American kids today — has an autism spectrum disorder.

• That’s up from 1 child in every 150, just a few years ago in 2007!
• These statistics don’t include adult prevalence or those children who remain undiagnosed

What do we do now?

Voice our concern at government inaction and we ask our elected officials to explain why though autism prevalence is skyrocketing, investment in treatment, services and support is stagnant.

Realize that this fight is up to us

How can I help?

• Donate now to help the Autism Society get the word out and continue their ever-more-vital programs to confront the autism crisis.
• Urge Congress to provide more funding for autism
• Raise Autism Awareness by sharing this information

What’s the bottom line?

Autism is treatable | We can make a difference now | Take Action

Additional Information from the DHHS Survey:

The weighted current ASD point-prevalence was 110 per 10,000. We estimate that 673,000 US children have ASD. Odds of having ASD were 4 times as large for boys than girls. Non-Hispanic (NH) black and multiracial children had lower odds of ASD than NH white children. Nearly 40% of those ever diagnosed with ASD did not currently have the condition; NH black children were more likely than NH white children to not have current ASD. Children in both ASD groups were less likely than children without ASD to receive care within a medical home.

Autisic Children and Sense of Motion

Autisic Children Heightened Sense of Motion
How a new action feels is more important than how it looks for children with autism. This could be why they find imitation tough. Reza Shadmehr and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, trained children with and without autism to “catch” a virtual animal using a cursor controlled by a robotic arm. The arm resisted movement in certain directions, and the kids learned to use the required extra force. The researchers then switched off the resistance and asked the children to reach for two new targets. One required them to make the cursor move in the same direction as in the training task, while the second required the same action as the training task but produced different cursor motion.

Those without autism applied compensatory force in both cases, indicating that they expected the resistance to be there. But the children with autism only applied the extra force to the second new target. Shadmehr concludes that they focus on the sensation rather than visual consequences of an action and so likened only the second new task to the training task (www.nature.com).

Autistic Brain Builds a Stronger Than Normal Association
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have deficits in motor control, imitation and social function. Does a dysfunction in the neural basis of representing internal models of action contribute to these problems? We measured patterns of generalization as children learned to control a novel tool and found that the autistic brain built a stronger than normal association between self-generated motor commands and proprioceptive feedback, furthermore, the greater the reliance on proprioception, the greater the child’s impairments in social function and imitation.

Please Encourage Autsim Awareness !

Autism and Electrosmog – Cause and Effect?

An Implied Association Between Fetal/Neonatal Exposure to RF Electromagnetic Radiation and the Increased Incidence of the Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recently disclosed epidemiological data indicate a dramatic increase in the incidence of autism spectrum disorders. Previously, the incidence of autism has been reported as 4-5 per 10,000 children. The most recent evidence indicates an increased incidence of about 1 per 500 children. However, the etiology of autism is yet to be determined. The recently disclosed data suggest a possible correlation between autism incidence and a previously unconsidered environmental toxin. It is generally accepted in the scientific community that radio frequency radiation is a biologically active substance. It is also readily acknowledged that human exposures to radio frequency radiation have become pervasive during the past twenty years, whereas such exposures were uncommon prior to that time. It is suggested that fetal or neo-natal exposures to radio frequency radiation may be associated with an increased incidence of autism.

Prior to the twentieth century the only sources of radio frequency (RF) radiation were the hyper-low levels of RF energy originating from our sun and the even lower levels of extra-solar RF noise.  It is in this environment of low-level RF radiation that life on earth developed and exists to this day. During the 1940s, primarily as a result of research and development performed as a part of the war effort, industry and the military establishment were successful in bringing the state of RF energy generation to maturity.  From that time onward we have witnessed a broad range of commercial RF energy product applications including, most notably, broadcast FM radio, radar, television, public-service mobile communication transceivers, residential microwave ovens, and the portable cellular telephone.

Initially, the contribution of each radiating device was imperceptible when weighed against the background of incoming solar radiation.  However, over the span of decades the number of terrestrial RF radiation sources, now counted in the billions, has increased to the degree that, presently, the base radiation level is many thousands of times higher than from solar RF energy impinging on the earth. Notwithstanding the proliferation of RF radiation sources during the early decades of the “radio frequency age”, the 1940s through the 1970s, humans were seldom exposed to RF radiation at levels that might cause concern.  Since the late 1970s a number of commercial products have become ubiquitous, which provide human exposures to levels of RF radiation that are significantly higher than either of the previous or present background levels.  Research reports indicate that RF exposure levels, typically encountered from some commercial products, may induce alterations of biological processes or damage to the genome. Concurrently the incidence of autism diagnoses demonstrates a pronounced, approximately linear, nearly three-fold increase occurring during the last twenty years.  “The question as to when autism begins in any child remains to be answered.  Some studies provide support for a prenatal or perinatal origin for autism.”  For several decades prior to 1980 autism incidence remained essentially invariant; reportedly at about one diagnosed case per 2005 children.  Byrd has reported a present autism incidence of about one per 700 children.

RF radiation sources have become commonplace in the personal human environment from approximately 1980 to the present.  Operation of an RF radiation source such as a two-way radio or a cell phone exposes the operator to levels of RF radiation shown to be biologically active.  Operation of an RF radiation source also exposes others, in the near proximity, to similarly biologically active levels of electromagnetic field intensities 15. Some of the known effects of exposure to RF radiation include cognitive impairment 16, memory deficit 17, EEG modifications, DNA damage, chromosome aberrations, micronucleus formation, fetal malformation, increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier, altered cellular calcium efflux and altered cell proliferation. RF radiation exposures from residential microwave ovens are, typically, on the order of 1 milli-watt per cm2.  RF radiation exposures from cell phones range from about 0.1 to 10.0 milli-watt per cm2.  Portable two-way radios provide similar exposure levels.  The scientific literature confirms that RF radiation exposures, at levels more than 1,000 times lower than described immediately preceding, or on the order of 1.0 micro-watt per cm2, induce significant changes in biological processes or molecular repair mechanisms.

During gestation the possibility of unobservable embryonic and fetal damage is increased as mothers-to-be utilize and are exposed to the emissions from RF radiation devices.  Researchers have emphatically reported that an embryo or fetus should not be exposed to radio frequency radiation such as that emitted by the portable cell phone or portable telephone.  One particular reason to avoid RF radiation exposure during pregnancy is that an embryo or fetus may not be fully protected by amniotic fluid for extended periods of time due to the natural movement of the embryo or fetus within the womb.  Secondly, the pelvic structure promotes deep RF radiation penetration and that radiation can be absorbed within the developing embryo or fetus. Other researchers have postulated that there may exist a previously unidentified environmental toxin associated with the observed increased incidence of autism.  For example, the works of Byrd (California – 1999), Bertrand, (New Jersey – 2001), Taylor, (United Kingdom – 1999), and Chakrabarti & Fombonne, (United Kingdom – 2001) clearly support the proposition that the identified increased incidence of autism has an origin at about 1980: an increased incidence that has its origin established at the very time the personal RF radiation devices came into popular use – about 1980.  We propose that RF radiation, a new form of exposure of the human embryo, fetus, and infant, and an acknowledged environmental toxin under many exposure conditions, may be associated with the increased incidence of autism.  This proposition is further based on the fact that these radiating products are periodically and typically utilized in the embryonic, fetal and neonatal environment.  RF radiation is the only known toxin, exposure to which is wholly correlated with the repeatedly documented increased incidence of autism: now reported by at least some researchers as greater than 1 per 100 newborn. (source Norman Doidge M.D., Michael Merzenich, Robert C. Kane, Ph.D.)

A Little More About Electrosmog

What is electro-smog?

• popular term for artificially produced electrical and magnetic fields & electromagnetic radiation

• invisible, inaudible and odor-free

• detectable with readily available measuring equipment

• the result of the explosive growth in electrification in everyday life

• electro (electricity) + smog (smoke-fog) = Electro-smog

Where does electro-smog come from?

• domestic electrical installations and household equipment, transformers etc.

• high-voltage lines, power supplies, cables and wires

• mobile telephones, baby-phones, wireless telephones, WiFi LAN’s.

• radio and television, radio communications, satellites

• civil / military radar stations and airplane radar transmitters

• remote controls

• industrial plants, welding and drying

• electrical motors and transformers

• public transportation, buses, trains, streetcars, etc.