Clinician’s Manual on Autism Spectrum Disorder

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XVI

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Evdokia Anagnostou, Jessica Brian

   Pages 1-3

3. Diagnosis: screening, surveillance, assessment, and formulation

   • Melanie Penner, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Wendy Roberts

   Pages 5-17

4. Common psychiatric comorbidities and their assessment

   • Stephanie H. Ameis, Peter Szatmari

   Pages 19-32

5. Medical comorbidities in autism spectrum disorder

   • Jennifer R. Walton, Daniel L. Coury

   Pages 33-41

6. Pharmacotherapy in autism spectrum disorder

   • Sharon Smile, Evdokia Anagnostou

   Pages 43-62

7. Behavioral and educational interventions

   • Isabel M Smith, Susan E Bryson

   Pages 63-76

8. Autism spectrum disorder and the family: examining impacts and the need for support

   • David B Nicholas, Christopher Kilmer

   Pages 77-85

9. Future directions

   • Jessica Brian, Evdokia Anagnostou

   Pages 87-91

This concise, yet practical handbook will aid in supporting the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of autism, including behavioral therapies, current clinical trials, and emerging pharmaceutical treatments. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterised by disturbance in language, perception, and social skills that affects an estimated 1–2 per 1,000 people worldwide (although the number is as high as 20 per 1000 in the US). While studies have suggested a disturbance in neural metabolism in patients with ADS, the exact cause of the ASD still remains unknown. In 2013, a single indication of ASD, which united several related conditions (ie, classical autism, Asperger’s syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and PDD-NOS), was included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mood Disorders for the first time in order to support more standardized diagnoses.

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Autism treatment
• Behavioral intervention
• Educational intervention
• Neuropsychological assessment

“The purpose is to provide clinicians with a resource to help manage their patients with autism spectrum disorder. It focuses on evidence-based screening, diagnosis, and treatment. The book is targeted primarily at clinicians caring for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. It is quite appropriate for those in the fields of mental health, pediatrics, and education (e.g. teachers, school counselors, etc.). Because the book is brief and succinct, anyone interested in the topic may find this a useful read.” (Heather Huang, Doody’s Book Reviews, October, 2015)

• Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, University of Toronto, Autism Research Centre, Toronto, Canada

  Evdokia Anagnostou

• Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, University of Toronto,Autism Research Centre, Toronto, Canada

  Jessica Brian

Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou joined Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Centre in 2008 as a clinician-scientist. Dr. Anagnostou was Assistant Professor and Clinical Director of the Seaver Autism Center of Excellence from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Anagnostou's primary appointment is in the Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto a cross-appointment to the Division of Neurology, Department of Paediatics, University of Toronto at SickKids. Dr. Anagnostou completed medical school at McGill University in 1998 and her residency in child neurology in 2003. Dr. Anagnostou's research focuses on the psychopharmacology, neuroimaging and the development of clinical trials to test novel compounds for the treatment of autism and related disorders. Dr. Anagnostou is also studying the developmental trajectory of abnormalities in the frontostriatal circuitry in autism, and exploring the mechanisms of treatment response and side effects generation using fMRI, MR spectroscopy and DTI techniques.

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