Healthy Living: Acting With Autism - Northern Michigan's News Leader

One in every 110 children is diagnosed with some level of autism. For many parents, this usually means problems with communication and little interest in interacting with others. But now a new program is changing how we look at autism by putting kids in the spotlight. Robyn Haines has your Healthy Living.

At three, Kerrick Coble was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder or PDDNOS - a mild form of autism. Now researchers at Vanderbilt University are using the theater to help improve the lives of kids diagnosed with the disorder, from mild to severe.

Doctor Blythe Corbett looks at social and communication skills before, during and after the camp and looks at stress levels by measuring one of the primary stress hormones--cortisol. In three different studies, Doctor Corbett found acting improved the way kids expressed themselves and they also showed lower stress levels.

For most people, cortisol-level production tends to be greater in the morning-- but Doctor Corbett's research found children with autism show higher cortisol toward the end of the day which was related to daily stress from changes experienced during the day.