Health
Unique therapy helps some young people with autism interact better with others
A New York speech pathologist is using improvisational theater, better known as “improv,” to help young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to develop their social skills.
Bob Domingo, PhD, a speech language pathologist and assistant professor at Long Island University Post in Brookville, New York, is combining his skills and love of improv to help those with ASD.
“Through improv, I am able to combine my knowledge of speech, language and communication with improv games and activities, to open up new, fun ways to communicate with others in developing spontaneous, unscripted ‘scenes’ or conversations,” Domingo told Fox News Digital in an interview.
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For individuals with ASD, symptoms can vary in severity.
People can be anywhere from completely nonverbal to fully verbal, according to Domingo and other experts.
Bob Domingo, PhD, a speech language pathologist and assistant professor at Long Island University Post, is combining his skills and love of improv to help those with ASD. (Amy McGorry)
Here’s what to know.
Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder
Individuals with the disorder often have social and cognitive impairments that make it difficult to interact with others, according to Domingo.
They may be prone to a limited attention span, which can make it difficult for them to comprehend what others are saying.
“The person [may be] unable to use appropriate social skills in conversations,” Domingo said.
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Those with the disorder might also struggle to maintain eye contact, broach topics and take turns during conversations, he added.
People with ASD may also struggle with “self-advocacy,” Domingo said, which means they’re unable to verbalize their thoughts, feelings and needs.
Domingo’s class consists of eight to 12 young verbal adults with ASD from age 19 through over 30, along with some students and professors from the university. (Amy McGorry)
One in 36 (2.8%) 8-year-old children in the U.S. were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as of March 2023, as stated in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Currently there is no cure for autism, but intensive, early treatments can help make a difference in the lives of those with the disorder, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
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Domingo said he hopes his improv classes will help strengthen communication through interactive dialogue exercises.
“Games and activities encourage active listening, which is important for interpersonal communication,” he said.
What is improv?
Improv is a live performance in which actors spontaneously create scenes and characters that engage in dialogue based on the audience’s or host’s suggestion, according to experts.
The exchange can be comical or serious.
Members of the improv troop participate in “yes/and” interactions, which is when one person says something and the other agrees by responding with “yes, and” — which moves the conversation along more easily.
In improv, actors spontaneously create scenes and characters that engage in dialogue based on the audience’s or host’s suggestion. (iStock)
Domingo’s class consists of eight to 12 young verbal adults with ASD from age 19 through over 30, along with some students and professors from the university.
They meet each week on the LIU Post campus and also have Zoom sessions, during which they practice speaking, listening and maintaining eye contact.
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“Improv helps people speak with one another in fun, non-threatening ways,” Domingo told Fox News Digital.
At the start of each class, the group gathers in a circle to perform exercises in breathing, voice, facial expressions and physical movements.
The instructor told Fox News Digital that he hopes the practice that those with ASD receive “helps them make good linguistic and interpersonal decisions outside of class.” (iStock)
Next, the students are paired up and assigned roles, and are then given a prompt to start the improv session.
Examples of social encounters they might have include what people to invite to a party, what gift to buy for another person, or how to show support to a partner in a certain situation, Domingo said.
The pair is tasked with coming up with a conversation with a clear beginning, middle and end.
Guided by Domingo’s cues, the pair is tasked with coming up with a conversation with a clear beginning, middle and end that includes a conflict and a resolution.
“The practice they receive in improv hopefully helps them make good linguistic and interpersonal decisions outside of class,” Domingo said.
Real-life benefits
The improv therapy appears to be helping some of the students, according to parents who spoke with Fox News Digital.
Anthony and Deborah D’Alessandri of Long Island, New York, said their 23-year-old son, Anthony Joseph D’Alessandri, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
“He’s very intelligent and is very funny in his own way. But he doesn’t always connect,” Deborah D’Alessandri said in an interview.
One in 36 (2.8%) 8-year-old children in the U.S. were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as of March 2023, as stated in a CDC report. (iStock)
Since their son started improv, his parents have seen an improvement in his interactions in other programs he participates in, such as his culinary classes, they said.
“Bob’s improv has helped Anthony in those programs, which is a huge success for Anthony,” his mother told Fox News Digital.
“He has learned to communicate better with other people. He has learned that sometimes humor adds to the conversation,” she continued. “He has also learned to work with a group.”
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Another parent, Elizabeth Matthew, also from Long Island, told Fox News Digital that the improv classes have helped her 19-year-old son with his anxiety.
“The social aspect of speaking and learning through improv has increased his self-confidence,” she said.
“Part of his issues involve anxiety and not knowing what to say first, so this is enabling a stronger self-confidence.”
“All adults who meet the formal criteria for autism have difficulty with social skills.”
Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that theater-based intervention led to cognitive and behavioral improvements in young individuals with ASD.
Rebecca Landa, PhD, executive director of the Center for Autism Services, Science and Innovation (CASSI) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, was not part of the improv class but commented about it to Fox News Digital.
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“All adults who meet the formal criteria for autism have difficulty with social skills. The specific nature of these difficulties may vary from person to person,” Landa said.
She said the difficulties might be less pronounced in familiar situations with no stressors.
These social challenges can affect a person’s overall sense of well-being, she said.
Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that theater-based intervention led to cognitive and behavioral improvements in young individuals with ASD. (iStock)
“Autistic people may mask their social difficulties, which causes fatigue and is often associated with anxiety,” she said.
“Improv classes can help if the autistic person enjoys the class and wants to participate.”
The expert cautioned, however, that a mental health professional and autism expert should facilitate these types of classes.
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“[They can] provide additional coaching and reflection to support insight and conscious awareness of what is helping, [identify] which skills may be targeted and improved, and [identify] how to apply the skills in real-life situations,” she said.
Domingo said he hopes more professionals will consider using improv to help those with autism.
“Autistic people may mask their social difficulties, which causes fatigue and is often associated with anxiety,” an expert said. (iStock)
In May 2024, he will present at the annual New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NYSSLHA) convention in White Plains, New York. He’ll discuss the use of improv to help with social skills.
He is also teaching a course to several disciplines at Long Island University about using improv to help individuals socially interact.
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Cost may be a barrier for some families, parents noted.
Anthony D’Alessandria told Fox News Digital that he hopes insurance will eventually cover alternative approaches like these improv courses.
“We feel that if this was more mainstream and insurance companies would pick up the tab, we would be able to promote our child to greater heights,” he said.
“And we feel that there is going to be an entire generation that can’t afford this.”
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Research conducted partly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) suggests that “microgravity” could help scientists fight drug-resistant superbugs, according to a report from SWNS.
Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless, NASA states.
Experiments by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison show that viruses and bacteria behave differently in near-weightless conditions. In space, they develop genetic changes not typically seen on Earth.
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Lead study author Dr. Phil Huss, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, noted that interactions between viruses that infect bacteria — known as phages — and their hosts play an “integral” role in how microbial ecosystems function, per the SWSN report.
Viruses that infect bacteria were still able to infect E. coli in space. However, the way those infections unfolded was different from what is typically observed on Earth.
E. coli is a group of bacteria that can live in the gut and are harmless most of the time, according to Cleveland Clinic. (iStock)
Bacteria and phages are often described as being locked in an evolutionary arms race, Huss said, with each side constantly adapting to outmaneuver the other.
“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment,” researcher Srivatsan Raman, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the university, told Fox News Digital.
“Even in a very simple phage-bacteria system, microgravity altered infection dynamics and pushed both organisms down different evolutionary paths,” he added.
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While these interactions between bacteria and phages have been well-studied on Earth, few studies have examined them in space, where they can lead to different outcomes.
For the study, Huss and his colleagues compared two sets of E. coli samples infected with a phage known as T7. One set was incubated on Earth, while the other was grown aboard the ISS.
The ISS is a microgravity environment — where people and objects appear weightless. (NASA / SWNS)
The team found that after an initial slowdown, the T7 phage successfully infected E. coli in space. Genetic analysis later revealed clear differences in how both the bacteria and the virus mutated in space compared with how they behaved on Earth, per the report.
Huss said the phages grown aboard the space station developed mutations that could improve their ability to infect bacteria or attach to bacterial cells. At the same time, the E. coli grown in space developed mutations that could help them resist infection and survive better in near-weightless conditions.
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Raman said some of the findings were unexpected. In particular, he noted, microgravity led to mutations in parts of the phage genome that are not well-understood and are rarely seen in Earth-based experiments.
The E. coli grown in space developed mutations that could help them resist infection and survive better in near-weightless conditions. (iStock)
Researchers then used a technique called deep mutational scanning — a method that tracks how genetic changes affect function — to examine changes in the T7 receptor-binding protein, which plays a key role in infection.
Additional experiments on Earth linked those changes to increased effectiveness against E. coli strains that are normally resistant to T7.
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“Equally surprising was that phages shaped by microgravity could be more effective against terrestrial bacterial pathogens when brought back to Earth,” Raman told Fox News Digital.
“That result suggests microgravity can reveal combinations of mutations that are difficult to access through standard laboratory evolution, but [are] still highly relevant for real-world applications.”
“Microgravity is not just a slower or noisier version of Earth — it is a distinct physical and evolutionary environment.”
Huss said the findings could help address antibiotic-resistant infections, including urinary tract infections, which have been increasing in recent years.
“By studying those space-driven adaptations, we identified new biological insights that allowed us to engineer phages with far superior activity against drug-resistant pathogens back on Earth,” Huss told SWNS.
Study limitations
“Experiments on the ISS are constrained by small sample sizes, fixed hardware and scheduling constraints,” Raman noted. “Samples also experience freezing and long storage times, which can complicate interpretation.”
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He added that the research has broader implications.
“Studying microbes in space isn’t just about space biology,” Raman said. “These experiments can uncover new aspects of viral infection and microbial evolution that feed directly back into terrestrial problems, including antimicrobial resistance and phage therapy.”
Space should be treated as a discovery environment rather than a routine testing platform, one researcher said. (iStock)
He added that space should be treated as a discovery environment rather than a routine testing platform. The most effective approach, according to Raman, is to identify useful patterns and mutations in space and then study them carefully in Earth-based systems.
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Scientists also noted that the findings highlight how microbial ecosystems, like those associated with humans, could change during long space missions.
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“Understanding and anticipating those changes will be essential as space travel becomes longer, more routine and more biologically complex,” Raman said.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS Biology.
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A simple blood test may detect Crohn’s disease years before symptoms appear, according to a new study reported by SWNS.
Canadian researchers say the discovery could enable earlier diagnosis and potential prevention of the chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The test measures the immune system’s response to flagellin, a protein found in gut bacteria. Researchers found that this response is elevated in some people years before Crohn’s develops.
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The findings, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, highlight the “interplay” between gut bacteria and immune system responses as a key step in the disease’s development, per the SWNS report.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract that causes persistent digestive symptoms, pain and fatigue, significantly affecting quality of life. Its incidence among children has doubled since 1995, according to official figures.
Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes swelling and irritation of the tissues, called inflammation, in the digestive tract. (iStock)
The presence of flagellin antibodies long before symptoms appear suggests that the immune reaction may help trigger the disease, according to research leader Dr. Ken Croitoru, clinician-scientist and professor of medicine and immunology at the University of Toronto.
A better understanding of this early process could lead to improved prediction, prevention and treatment, the expert said.
“We haven’t cured anybody yet, and we need to do better.”
“With all the advanced biologic therapy we have today, patients’ responses are partial at best,” Croitoru told SWNS. “We haven’t cured anybody yet, and we need to do better.”
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“We wanted to know: Do people who are at risk, who are healthy now, have these antibodies against flagellin?” he said. “We looked, we measured, and yes indeed, at least some of them did.”
This new research is part of the Genetic, Environmental and Microbial (GEM) Project, which has followed more than 5,000 healthy first-degree relatives of people with Crohn’s disease worldwide since 2008. The project collects genetic, biological and environmental data to better understand how the disease develops.
The presence of flagellin antibodies long before symptoms appear suggests that the immune reaction may help trigger the disease, according to the lead researcher. (iStock)
The study followed 381 first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients, 77 of whom later developed the disease. Of those, more than 30% had elevated antibody responses.
The responses were strongest in siblings, underscoring the role of shared environmental exposure, researchers said.
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So far, 130 of the study participants have developed Crohn’s, giving researchers a rare opportunity to study its earliest stages. The average time from blood sample collection to diagnosis was nearly 2-½ years.
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Previous GEM research showed that an inflammatory immune response targeting gut bacteria can appear long before the disease develops.
The study followed 381 first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients, 77 of whom later developed the disease. (iStock)
In healthy people, gut bacteria coexist peacefully and play an essential role in digestive health — but in Crohn’s patients, the immune system appears to mount an abnormal response against the microbes, experts say.
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The Canadian team also confirmed that this pre-disease immune response was associated with intestinal inflammation and gut barrier dysfunction, both hallmarks of Crohn’s disease.
The study did have some limitations, including that it did not include experiments to show exactly how the immune response might lead to Crohn’s disease. (iStock)
Research team member Dr. Sun-Ho Lee, a gastroenterologist, commented that this new study supports the idea of designing a flagellin-directed vaccine for certain high-risk individuals to prevent the disease, according to SWNS.
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The study did have some limitations, including that it did not include experiments to show exactly how the immune response might lead to Crohn’s disease.
As a result, the researchers could not determine the biological steps linking the immune reaction to the onset of the illness. “Further validation and mechanistic studies are underway,” they noted.
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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A new study suggests that exercise can treat depression just as effectively as therapy and antidepressants.
A Cochrane review looked at 73 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 5,000 adults with a depression diagnosis. The studies compared exercise with either other active treatments — such as therapy or medication — or with “inactive interventions,” like being placed on a wait list or in a control group.
The London-based team discovered that exercise may be “moderately effective” compared to no therapy in reducing depression symptoms, according to a press release.
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“There is probably little to no difference in depressive symptoms between people undertaking exercise and those receiving psychological therapy,” the authors noted in a study discussion on Cochrane’s website, and “there may be little to no difference in depressive symptoms between people doing exercise and those taking antidepressants.”
The analysis discovered that exercise may be “moderately effective” compared to no therapy in reducing depression symptoms. (iStock)
The review found that light- to moderate-intensity exercise was more beneficial for easing depression symptoms than vigorous exercise.
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No single type of physical activity stood out as the best, but mixed programs that included resistance training appeared to be “more effective” than just aerobic exercise.
Some forms of exercise, like yoga and stretching, were not included in the analysis, but are areas to be further researched, the review noted.
Mixed exercise programs and resistance training appeared to be “more effective” in easing depression symptoms than just aerobic exercise. (iStock)
Professor Andrew Clegg, lead author of the review, wrote in a statement that exercise “appears to be a safe and accessible option for helping to manage symptoms of depression.”
“This suggests that exercise works well for some people, but not for everyone, and finding approaches that individuals are willing and able to maintain is important,” he said.
Study limitations and risks
The researchers noted that there was a high risk of bias in some of the studies included in the review, and noted that the long-term effects of exercise on depression symptoms remain uncertain.
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Clegg noted that “larger, high-quality studies” are needed to determine which types of exercise work best and whether the benefits last over time.
The comparison between exercise and other treatments and how they benefit people’s quality of life were also “inconsistent and uncertain.”
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“Adverse events from exercise were not common,” the researchers mentioned. “The small number of participants who experienced them usually reported muscle and joint problems or worsening of depression.”
About 21 million U.S. adults had at least one major depressive episode in a recent year — equivalent to roughly 8.3% of all U.S. adults, according to the National Institutes of Health. (iStock)
“Future research should focus on improving the quality of the studies, working out which characteristics of exercise are effective for different people, and ensuring different types of people are included in the studies so that health equity issues can be considered,” they went on.
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About 21 million U.S. adults had at least one major depressive episode in a recent year — equivalent to roughly 8.3% of all U.S. adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Depression symptoms include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, guilt or irritability, as well as loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities. Fatigue, poor concentration, sleep disturbances, appetite changes and social withdrawal are also red flags, in addition to thoughts about dying or suicidal ideations.
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The condition is most often treated by antidepressant medications and psychological therapies, such as talk therapy. Anyone who needs help should consult their doctor.
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