Research note: exceptional absolute pitch perception for spoken words in an able adult with autism.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterised by deficits in socialisation and communication, with repetitive and stereotyped behaviours [American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA]. Whilst intellectual and language impairment is observed in a significant proportion of diagnosed individuals [Gillberg, C., & Coleman, M. (2000). The biology of the autistic syndromes (3rd ed.). London: Mac Keith Press; Klinger, L., Dawson, G., & Renner, P. (2002). Autistic disorder. In E. Masn, & R. Barkley (Eds.), Child pyschopathology (2nd ed., pp. 409-454). New York: Guildford Press], the disorder is also strongly associated with the presence of highly developed, idiosyncratic, or savant skills [Heaton, P., & Wallace, G. (2004) Annotation: The savant syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45 (5), 899-911]. We tested identification of fundamental pitch frequencies in complex tones, sine tones and words in AC, an intellectually able man with autism and absolute pitch (AP) and a group of healthy controls with self-reported AP. The analysis showed that AC's naming of speech pitch was highly superior in comparison to controls. The results suggest that explicit access to perceptual information in speech is retained to a significantly higher degree in autism.

Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder: controversies of diagnosis and safety of pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment.

Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that presents with a variety of behavioral and social problems. The objective of this review was to examine the evidence concerning the controversies surrounding the diagnosis of ADHD and the safety of pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. A MEDLINE search was conducted using MeSH terms ADHD, children, treatments or behavioral therapy. The search was limited to January 1990 to present, randomized clinical trials, retrospective studies and English. Fifty-seven articles were selected for review. Controversies exist regarding the diagnosis: variations exist by gender, across countries and by method of diagnosis. These issues are currently unresolved. The interventions with the most data concerning their safety and efficacy in children were stimulant medications. Children with ADHD who took stimulant medications showed the greatest improvement in behavior when compared to other interventions such as behavior therapy or family counseling. Limitations of behavior therapy included that it is often a difficult process to continue on an ongoing basis and only a portion of the therapy stimulated the child's natural reward system. However, a combination of both stimulant medication and behavior therapy demonstrated synergistic efficacy. Care must be taken to insure that issues of gender and race, as well as the adverse effects of treatment options, are adequately taken into account by the treating clinician.