Help With Autism

Autism often develops early in children, but the trouble is that it is difficult to detect. Until children begin to communicate and interact with people and their environment, finding early indicators of the disorder is largely a guessing game. But new autism research from the Kennedy Krieger Institute shows that an infant’s gaze could be one of the earliest indicators of autism.

According to the study, infrequent or erratic staring is an indication that an infant is at a higher risk of autism. During the study, the researchers also tested for cause and effect learning skills, which they found to be consistent between both high- and low-risk infants. The study was conducted using 25 infants who have siblings with autism and 25 who have no family history of the disorder. A child is considered “high-risk” for the disorder if they have at least one sibling with autism, as they are 25 times more likely to develop it themselves.

In our last post we discussed a new finding that suggests there may be a common genetic link for those with autism. A new study released today adds more fuel to that hypothesis, as researchers found that the closest relatives of those with autism often move their eyes in subtly different ways. These differences are so minimal the people themselves won’t even notice them. But when observed in a lab, the differences are discernible.

This commonality among people with autism and their relatives is further evidence that genetics and heredity are causes of autism. Mathew Mosconi, a scientist who worked on the study, says that by studying eye movements scientists may be able to determine which specific systems the disorder is affecting. Eventually, the researchers hope to use the findings to develop new autism treatments.

As we’ve said before, autism is a polarizing topic because it seems like new two cases are quite the same. Treatments that help some do nothing for others, and there are always myriad culprits to point out as the origin of the disorder. Because of the massive amount of ambiguity circling around both the causes and treatments of the disease, it’s literally impossible to come to a consensus about anything. But people have a hard time disputing science, and new autism research of the DNA of children with autism may be able to finally give us a bedrock on which to build further discussion.

Last month, an extensive study from a diverse team of international researchers was published in the journal Nature. The scientists found that the patients with autism had more mutations in certain segments of their DNA than unaffected individuals. Although the mutations were different in each patient, they were there in the same segments of DNA. These findings explain why there is a spectrum of disorders with similar yet inconsistent symptoms and offer a new catalyst for treatments.

Identifying autism early is essential to treating the disorder and providing help and resources to those parenting a child with autism. As such, scientists are always looking for early indicators of autism. The baby babble, which we all find so adorable, could actually be one of these crucial indicators. Researchers have created a program that they believe could help identify autism in toddlers by differentiating the speech of toddlers with autism and those without.

For the study, researchers place a small voice recorder in the pocket of over 200 young children, recording 12 hours of audio per day for six to eight days. Autistic children generally form jumbled syllables for a longer period than other children do, and the software works to identify these anomalies. Preliminary research found the software to be correct in 85 percent of its identifications.

Although there are a myriad of theories, nobody knows for certain what actually causes autism. However, a new autism reach study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Healthy suggests a strong correlation between infertility drugs and the disorder. The study, which was presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, found that women who used infertility drugs were twice as likely to bear children with autism. The women’s age was controlled for in the study.

There wasn’t just a simple correlation; the link between the drugs and autism was more profound in cases where the woman had used the drugs longer. Researchers included nearly 4,000 women in the study, which was conducted using a questionnaire, not a clinical analysis. Also at the International Meeting, a team of Israeli researchers presented a paper showing a similar connection between autism and in vitro fertilization. While there are certainly some questions and further research to be done, this appears to be a major step in the right direction towards solving the autism quandary.

For over a decade MMR vaccinations—those preventing the measles, mumps and rubella—have been considered one of the possible causes of autism. This hypothesis was generated by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and two other researchers who were then employed at the Royal Free Hospital’s medical school in London. Since this finding, there was been significant controversy surrounding the validity of the study and the practices involved in garnering the research.

This week, the General Medical Council ruled that Wakefield was guilty of serious professional misconduct. Some of the allegations against Wakefield include dishonesty in the report and invasive testing methods. Wakefield runs the risk of being struck off of the medical register because of the ruling. In the years since his report, vaccination rates have fallen significantly, which has led to a rise in measles cases.

While there is no single cause of autism, research has uncovered some of the components that are believed to be key contributors. Some of the widely held theories as to the causes of autism include: hereditary complications, genetics and other medical problems. Autism is characterized differences in brain shape and structure.

There is no one gene that is the culprit, but research is currently being conducted to find segments of code that may contribute to the disease. Researchers are also investigating pregnancy and environmental factors, such as metabolic imbalances and exposure to certain chemicals.

Autism is a neurological abnormality and its cause is unknown, but some research has suggested that autism may be connected to a freak gene combination. Other findings show that autism may be linked to underlying health conditions. Metabolic disorders, genetic disorders, developmental brain abnormalities and neurological disorders may not cause autism, but they can increase the likelihood of it.

In the past some theories related to the possible causes of autism have been refuted. Past studies have claimed that emotional trauma at an early age and bad parenting could be to blame. This study was deemed inaccurate by the scientific community. Autism health is a tricky question, but current autism research in the area is working towards explaining the mysterious origins of autism.

Parents of autistic children have long suspected that medication alone couldn’t provide a solution to their woes. As of today, the National Institute of Mental Health has released results of a study backing up those suspicions. According to the study, autistic children’s behavioral problems can be tempered considerably by adding a parental training program to the usual regimen of pharmaceuticals.

For about seven years now, there has been some concern from parents about the adverse effects of antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The medication has been shown to be effective at calming autistic children and helping them to control tantrums, but it has also been linked to increased appetite and serious weight gain. The study pit a group of children prescribed with Risperdal alone against a group of children taking the antipsychotic and also being given carefully managed behavioral guidance by their parents. The second group showed the greatest signs of improvement over a six-month period.

Other autism research has found that if the disorder is diagnosed early in a child’s life, it’s in a parent’s best interest to seek out alternative treatment options. These might include chelation therapy, wherein dangerous mercury particles are sought out and removed from the child’s system. That technique has been proven effective for children who develop autism due to exposure to the mercury-based vaccination preservative Thimerosal.

For most parents, raising a child doesn’t feel like a job – it’s more akin to a sacred duty. Sure, it’s difficult for any person to put the needs of another first, but after a while parenthood becomes a natural state of being. Parents of autistic children are no different – they just want what’s best for their son or daughter. If taking care of an autistic child requires a bit more effort than most, few parents would realize it.

That’s at least true for most of a parent’s day-to-day life. But many autistic kids exhibit occasional bursts of frustration that begin to weigh on their parents’ psyches. Autism affects communication and social skills in a profound manner – in some cases preventing the child from articulating thoughts in a comprehensible way. This can lead to misplaced resentment; the child resents that no one understands him, and the mother resents that she has to deal with the bad behavior that results.

For parents who care for an autistic child, the most basic tasks can become exponentially more difficult because of a communication barrier. Luckily, certain autism treatment options have proven successful at restoring harmony to the parent-child relationship. Conscientious parents should investigate the existing body of autism research to decide which techniques are best for their children.