SFARI: Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I had an insightful follow-up phone conversation with Dania Jekel, Executive Director of AANE.  We talked about a number of things but spent a good deal of time on the importance of building partnerships with other organizations and institutions in the community around us.

One of the organizations she talked about is called the Simons Foundation.  It sounded very interesting so I did a bit of time on the internet to learn more about them.  Located in NYC, its focus is on supporting efforts in science.  One of the divisions of the foundation is SFARI; Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative which was launched in 2003.  They have awarded over 380 million in grants to more than 400 investigators in the research of autism.  In 2013 they formed the Autism Brain Net which is bringing together programs across the country who are doing research on brain samples from individuals diagnosed with autism who have donated their brains for the purpose of research.

In looking their this extensive website, I found that SFARI also has a newsletter that is free of charge to receive via email.  So I signed up for their weekly newsletter as you can do.

In my first issue, I was intrigued by an article written by Ricki Rusting just this month, entitled, "Decoding the Overlap Between Autism and ADHD".  In summary, the article offers some interesting information:

In 2013 when the DSM-5 was rolled out, there was finally an allowance for a dual diagnosis involving autism and ADHD.  Studies are showing that in 30-80% of children diagnosed with autism also have been diagnosed as having ADHD and  20-50% of children with ADHD children are diagnosed as being on the spectrum.  Given the overlap, scientists are beginning to rethink the relationship between the two and are looking for common biological roots.

• A team in the Netherlands led by Jan Biestelaar, professor of Radboud University, suggests that autism and ADHD are different subtypes of a single condition.  They believe that ADHD could occur without autism but that autism always occurs with features of ADHD.

• Imaging studies of actual brain structures have been less conclusive.

• Studies of families and twins show that relatives of people with either condition have an increased risk of having both autism and ADHD.

• In a 2014 study, it was shown that 1st born children to a woman with ADHD face the likelihood of having ADHD 6X a mom without ADHD and 2X the likelihood of having autism.

• Further, the article indicates that autism and ADHD are both thought to have multiple genes and that both conditions are heterogeneous, meaning that these genes can differ from person to person.  (As we say, "if you have met a person with autism, you have met ONE person with autism.")

If you are interested in reading the entire article, please click on this link: https://spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/decoding-overlap-autism-adhd/

This article was also just reprinted in Scientific American magazine.

If you are interested to receive the Spectrum Newsletter via email, you can just go to https://spectrumnews.org/newsletter/.

It is great to have knowledgeable friends.