(Rockville, MD - July 30, 2008) Helpful consumer tips for families caring for children with autism is the focus of a new podcast by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
The podcast features Amy Wetherby, PhD, an ASHA member and expert on autism, as she addresses issues such as why early detection is important, why autism diagnosis is increasing, common manifestations, misconceptions, and what the future holds regarding research and treatment.
A leading authority on autism, Dr. Wetherby is the Laurel Schendel Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at Florida State University as well as the Executive Director for the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities.
"Autism spectrum disorder is a collection of neurodevelopmental disorders that have three primary features," Wetherby explains in the ASHA podcast. She describes the primary features as difficulty with social skills and interacting with others, trouble with both verbal and nonverbal communication, and displaying and fixating on repetitive behavior. She also states that early intervention makes a big difference because when a child's brain is more malleable or "plastic" it decreases the chance of secondary problems occurring, and allows for the treatment from educators, primary care givers, and parents to be more ingrained into the child.
This podcast is a key feature of ASHA's main autism resource page which provides parents and other caregivers helpful information such as the signs and symptoms of autism, how autism is diagnosed, the available treatments, and how a speech-language pathologist (SLP) can be beneficial in treating autism. Those interested in finding a SLP in their area should visit ProSearch, ASHA's online directory of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology programs.
The podcast featuring Dr. Wetherby is part of ASHA's continuing podcast series, ASHA Network News, which highlights varying topics that pertain to human communication. Previous subjects have featured comic strip For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston who highlights aphasia (a disorder that results from damage to the brain's language center, oftentimes after a stroke or traumatic brain injury) in her very popular strip; Lee Woodruff, wife of former ABC's World News Tonight anchor Lee Woodruff, as she explains how helpful SLPs and audiologists have been to her family; award-winning author David Baldacci as he discusses our most fundamental life skill of literacy, and others. Parents who may be concerned that their child's hearing is at risk from using personal audio devices can listen to a podcast related to ASHA's public education campaign, America: Tuned In Today… But Tuned Out Tomorrow? which educates young children, parents, and educators about the potential risk involved. All ASHA Network News podcasts can be heard in their entirety on ASHA's podcast page.
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 130,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and dizziness disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. More information may be obtained on the http://www.asha.org.
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