This will throw more light on our question: “Is Autism Hereditary?”

Research indicates that genetic factors may play a part in causing autism in some individuals. Most researchers agree that autism probably results from many separate causes.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Video:T. Conrad Gilliam, University of Chicago, explores family and twin studies that indicate that for a majority of individuals diagnosed with autism and related spectrum disorders, a significant genetic predisposition to disease results from the cumulative effects of heritable genetic variants affecting multiple genes.

Since autism is considered a genetic condition by many scientists today, the chances that their child might also develop autism are a bit higher than normal. As for the boys/girls ratio, it is said, that more boys than girls develop autism (which is probably not true, autistic girls are probably just not diagnosed as often because autistic behaviour is often not so obvious, or not considered unusual in girls (i.e. it’s more okay for a girl than a boy to be quiet, off in their own world, shy with people etc.).

However, autism is not 100% genes. If it was, then if one identical twin is autistic, the second one would ALWAYS be autistic, which is not always the case.

Family research has shown that in families with ASD, the possibility of autistic disorders is higher compared to so-called NT-families. The disorders are all related to reading-, spelling- language- and/or body-movement disorders or other developmental disorders, like Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADHD) or a tic-disorder and other less dominant ASD.

The possibility of another child with ASD, after a born ASD child is between 2% and 5%. Parents with an ASD childbirth have an higher possibility of about 100x to get another ASD childbirth, compared to parents with NT-children.

Several studies of twins suggest that autism or at least a higher likelihood of some brain dysfunction can be inherited. For example, identical twins are far more likely than fraternal twins to have autism. Unlike fraternal twins, which develop from two separate eggs, identical twins develop from a single egg and have the same genetic makeup. It appears that parents who have one child with autism are at slightly increased risk for having more than one child with autism. This also suggests a genetic link. However, autism does not appear to be due to one particular gene.

It is a fact that the cause of autism has yet to be discovered. It is also a fact that a cure for autism has yet to be discovered. A new case is diagnosed every 20 minutes in the U.S., but getting to a diagnosis can be a frustrating battle. Based on these facts, it is important to understand that if you have a child that has autism, you must simply work to make the world of the child, as well as your world, as comfortable and happy as possible. There is hope in many anecdoctal cases where autistic children can benefit by early intervention, and can grow and develop to lead a life of good quality as adults.

The issue whether vaccines can cause autism is a concondrum of much arguement, pitting science against faith, doctors against parents, and parents against one another.

As a researcher who is out to find the truth, I would like to share with you the research items and publications with the relevant references so that you, as a parent, can study the research and information presented therein, and to form an opinion or make a decision yourself. As there are numerous citations, it is important for you to read all these reports to have a good understanding before you form your own opinion.

In a video below, you can watch Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, went on CNN’s House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to discuss the Hannah Poling case.

Here is another video where Rober Kennedy talks about about vaccines and autism, and presents his view on this question - does vaccines cause autism.

I will first present a brief extract of the publication or research report and then provide the reference link so that you can read the entire research or report as they were presented originally at their respective websites. Here are the relevant references:

Health headlines often broadcast that one study or another has “proven” that vaccines do not cause autism. Look a little deeper, and what those studies have actually done is failed to prove that they do. Others claim to have indeed proven a connection, but their results are not embraced by the scientific community. Disagreements rage over the way studies are set up, and who funds them.
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Any rite of passage that involves jabbing needles into small children is bound to worry more than a few parents. But that doesn’t begin to explain why so many moms and dads are convinced–despite mounting scientific evidence to the contrary–that the triple vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) causes autism in some youngsters. The latest study exonerating the MMR vaccine comes from Denmark, where investigators looked at the health records of every child born from 1991 through ‘98, more than 537,000 children. No matter how researchers analyzed the data, there was no difference in the autism rates of children who received the MMR vaccine and those who did not.

The Danish findings, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, are persuasive for several reasons. Denmark’s socialized medical system has generated one of the most complete health records of any country. So the investigators were able to document accurately both sides of the equation: those who were (or were not) vaccinated and those who developed autism. Even when other factors, such as age at vaccination, were taken into account, there was no difference in autism rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. There was no clustering of autism diagnoses in the weeks and months after vaccination. There was no difference in the number of diagnoses of other developmental disorders related to autism in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.
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British researchers caused a furor in 1998 when they published a controversial report suggesting a link between the growing number of autism cases and the standard childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). Although other physicians criticized the authors for jumping to conclusions, many worried parents stopped immunizing their children. Now 10 of the 13 original authors have decided to retract the paper, acknowledging that their data were not strong enough to support their incendiary conclusion.
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Nearly all of the leading health organizations including the CDC and the NIH say that there is no relationship between vaccines and autism. Yet many parents and smaller research groups are convinced there is more to the story, and the doubts about the safety of vaccines linger in the minds of many parents. How did this controversy get started — and why is it still such a concern?

Now, on to the concerns themselves. To begin with, it’s important to note that there are not one but two vaccine controversies, and both are hot topics right now.
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Issue number one relates to thimerosal. This is a mercury-based preservative which was used in many vaccines between the late 1980s to 2003. The type of mercury used in thimerosal is generally cleared from the body within six weeks, which in theory would render it harmless. But according to those researchers who believe that the preservative causes autism, babies born during that 20-year window were injected with many times the “safe” level as determined by the FDA — and some, they feel, were genetically incapable of clearing the doses of mercury from their bodies. Mercury is, in fact, a neurotoxin, and the theory is that the recent leap in autism diagnoses can be directly tied to thimerosal.

At present, the thimerosal controversy continues — with evidence on both sides mounting up. The positive side, for new parents, is that thimerosal has now been removed from most vaccines — and thimerosal-free vaccines are available across the board. The down side, of course, is that no one can say with absolute certainty that today’s autistic youngsters were NOT harmed by thimerosal-laced vaccines.
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Some scientists have tried to link an apparent rise in the incidence of autism to an increasing number of childhood vaccines that used to contain thimerosal. Thimerosal is an organic mercury compound (ethylmercury) that for a time was used as a preservative in vaccines against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae, and hepatitis B.

In 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a statement indicating that some infants who received multiple injections of vaccines containing thimerosal might have gotten enough ethylmercury to exceed recommended guidelines. Shortly thereafter, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service jointly recommended reducing or eliminating thimerosal in all vaccines.
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While expounding the other day on the lost antiseptic mercurochrome (See The Straight Dope: What happened to Mercurochrome?), I mentioned that vaccines once contained an antibacterial and antifungal agent called thimerosal. Keeping vaccines safe is a good thing - nobody wants a repeat of the 1928 Australian case where a dozen kids died from staph-infected diphtheria vaccine drawn from a multidose vial. Unfortunately thimerosal, like mercurochrome, has the drawback of containing mercury, a toxin known to cause neurological disorders. Children are especially vulnerable. In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service determined that standard childhood vaccinations could lead to a dangerous accumulation of mercury. They called for thimerosal’s elimination from vaccines, and within a few years it was mostly gone.

Thimerosal hasn’t totally disappeared. It continues to show up in some contact lens solutions, and as of last fall was still being used in certain vaccines for diseases including tetanus, meningitis, and flu - often ones used in multidose applications, where contamination presumably remains a concern. But according to the FDA, apart from the occasional flu shot, no vaccine routinely recommended for U.S. kids now contains more than a trace amount of the stuff.
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It’s a legal fight with other Minnesota connections: Minneapolis lawyer Sheila Bjorklund, a partner at Lommen Abdo Cole King & Stageberg, who represents 33 Midwestern families, is one of 10 attorneys on the petitioners’ executive steering committee helping to oversee the massive litigation against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A tribunal of three special masters in the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., is conducting the no-fault proceeding where the petitioners need to prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence—but not scientific certainty—to win damages.

Hokkanen views the litigation before the so-called “Vaccine Court” as a kind of “court of last resort” for parents of autistic children. Should the petitioners prevail, they will be eligible for compensation for pain and suffering, past and future medical expenses and loss of earning capacity.
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The prevalence of autism has risen dramatically in the past two decades. Prevalence is an estimate of the number of affected persons at a point in time. The last issue of the NECC Research Newsletter discussed the first comprehensive prevalence studies conducted in the United States. These studies show that the prevalence of ASDs in 2003-2004 is somewhere between 1 in 139 and 1 in 181 children between the ages of 4 and 17. This implies that there are around 300,000 children diagnosed with an ASD. Most scientists feel the rise in prevalence is due to a combination of changes in the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and increased awareness of the disorder (e.g., Wing and Potter, 2002).

However, some have suggested that the increased prevalence of ASDs corresponds with an increase in the number of vaccinations recommended for children. Correlation of two events is not sufficient evidence to assert that one caused the other as the two events could be unrelated. For example, if a child is born during a full moon, the birth and the full moon coincide but the full moon did not cause the birth and the birth did not cause the full moon. Therefore, further study of such correlations is necessary to reveal evidence to either support or disconfirm a causal hypothesis. One specific hypothesis of vaccines being linked to autism suggests that thimerosal, a preservative previously used in childhood vaccines that was removed from vaccines manufactured in the US in 1999, can cause autism. Thimerosal is still present in some versions of the flu vaccine. Several versions of this theory target different mechanisms for how thimerosal damages the child and causes autism. They all, however, state that some damage occurs to the developing child after vaccination. Advocates of the “thimerosal causes ASDs” hypothesis have also suggested that the prevalence of ASDs will substantially decrease subsequent to thimerosal being removed from childhood vaccines.
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Perhaps parents’ biggest concern about vaccines is whether they can cause autism. So let’s be clear. Despite what you may have read online or heard on television talk shows, there’s no credible evidence linking the two. The main study that hinted at a connection involved just 12 children. And since its publication, most of the study authors have reversed their decisions, and the lead author is being disciplined for professional misconduct. Meanwhile, more than 20 other studies involving thousands of children have consistently demonstrated that neither vaccines nor the preservative thimerosal (a type of mercury that is no longer used, except in some flu shots) causes autism.

So if that’s the case, why did the Polings, of Athens, Georgia, who claimed that a five-shot vaccine series triggered their daughter Hannah’s autism, win a payout from the federal government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)? Doesn’t that prove a connection? No, and this is why: the VICP maintains a list of vaccine-related injuries that are automatically compensated, with basically no questions asked. In the Poling case, Hannah’s rare enzyme deficiency caused her brain dysfunction. And it got worse when she developed a fever after her measles shot, so her family qualified for compensation.
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The debate over a link between childhood vaccinations and autism has reached fever pitch, as evidenced in a major court ruling March 2008. The federal government conceded that standard vaccination practices contributed to the development of autism in nine-year-old Hannah Poling. While failing to admit to a clear-cut link, the government has nevertheless offered the Poling family compensation, citing that a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that predisposed the toddler to autism was “significantly aggravated” by the immunization shots she received at nineteen months. Dr. Isaac Eliaz offers his thoughts on this unprecedented ruling, noting that vaccines in general—and especially those containing thimerosal, a mercury-derived preservative—are not completely safe. Not only do they expose infants and toddlers to toxic loads of mercury, but when administered concurrently, they are also potentially dangerous—and often unnecessary, as in the case of the Hepatitis B vaccination. These risk factors amount to what should rightly be considered a true health crisis for our children.
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With record rates of immunizations in the U.S., the vaccines themselves are now under scrutiny by a small but vocal segment of the population. Concerned that the vaccines may pose greater risks than the diseases against which they protect, some parents are refusing them. So, in addition to developing new vaccines – Johns Hopkins researchers like Hopkins Children’s pediatrician Neal Halsey are employing Johns Hopkins rigidly scientific approach to studying vaccines and any adverse effects.

Halsey is director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which coordinated the scientific review of concerns, raised about a possible link between childhood diabetes and vaccines and found no evidence to support the hypothesis. When there was public concern in the late 1990s, however, that a preservative, thimerosal, that was used in some vaccines, could result in exposures that exceeded EPA guidelines for exposure to a related form of mercury, Halsey led a review for the Academy of Pediatrics in 1999 that recommended, as a precaution, thimerosol levels be reduced or removed from vaccines given to infants, and it was. Subsequent studies have not shown consistent evidence of harmful effects other than rare allergic reactions.
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Your health is one of those things you don’t think about too much unless something’s wrong. People who are sick think about their health a lot. People who have sick loved ones think about health a lot, too. And for the past several years, some people whose loved ones have autism have thought about vaccines a lot.

Vaccines aren’t exactly a modern invention. After realizing that people who survived smallpox never got it again, people started inoculating themselves around 200 B.C., hoping that a little bit of exposure in the present would save them from a devastating illness in the future [source: National Museum of American History]. Unfortunately, primitive methods, which used a live virus from infected material, could result in the patient getting a full-blown case of the disease.
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It is some people’s hands, I can undo it, so very intelligent people that change maybe a trigger to some kids who have autism. I can not see it, you can not see it but I do not see a great study that should be done. The study should be done, videotaped. Santa Clause in kids of four months, nine months, one year, eighteen months have revealed. You give the kid the vaccine. You said key chains, show me the kid in four months and make our track. Show me the kid in health, smiling, socialite. Show me that. I mean I review a couple of this and we did make an icon and last month when I look at the kid that is what I saw. Believe me it could be a re-essence that we could do something. We understand that without these vaccines, it will distribute terrible welfare for that which can not find any justification with to say that seems quite autism.

There is absolutely no indication that vaccines cause autism, more than that, they are now very well done prospective studies which they had shown that there are absolutely no link between autism and the immunization of our children. The studies have been published over the last two or three years. They were done both here and in Europe. They are done in a blinded fashion so that it compares children who were not vaccinated and children who were vaccinated and in a very definitive fashion. It was shown effects since did not increase the risks of those children having any neurologic out.
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The debate over the safety and efficacy of vaccines is not new. While vaccines seem to be very effective in eradicating many terrible diseases, they are closely tied to the development of other serious health and developmental problems, including autism. It would appear that by using vaccines we have not improved the overall health of our children, but simply traded infectious disease for chronic disease.

Vaccines contain many suspect ingredients known to cause serious health problems. At the top of that list is mercury, an extremely toxic substance. Mercury makes its way into vaccines through a preservative called thimerosal. Thimerosal is not a necessary ingredient in vaccines. It is used as a preservative so that vaccines can be packaged in multi-dose bottles and used on multiple children without becoming contaminated with bacteria. Single-use packaging eliminates the need for the toxic preservative.
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My son was normal until he received his vaccines. His first shots were 2/10/92. By 4/19/02 there were signs he was not developing correctly. By next set of shots, he forgot how to vocalize, and eventually crawl or sit up. Pedicatrician noted his conditioning was worsening with each and every shot. How can doctors say there is no correlation between shots and autism? Comments anyone?

Yes, I do think that vaccines cause autism. I just watched the segment on autism and I am appaled that the doctors would say that the thimerasol is out of the vaccines.. there is only one company that makes vaccines thimerasol free. and there is no one requiring doctors to use that vaccine. and the ones that say they are free of mercury…they are not, they put it in they try to take it out, you cannot completely get the mercury out. Please get the right information. I have an autistic child that when we cleansed him of his vaccines and the mercury, he started making eye contact and the meltdowns lessened. Please get that information out.
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Do vaccines cause autism? It is a truism that nothing can ever be disproven (in fact, one of the most solid philosophical proofs is that neither science — nor any other extant method of human discovery — can prove any empirical claims either).

My purpose here is not to debunk the vaccine myth. Others have done it better than I can. My purpose is to point out that, even if the myth were true, not vaccinating your children would be a poor solution.
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On June 4, 2008, actress Jenny McCarthy, mother of a 6-year-old son with autism and spokesperson for the organization Talk About Curing Autism, led a “Green Our Vaccines” march and rally in Washington, D.C., with her boyfriend, actor-comedian Jim Carrey. McCarthy and many of the 8,500 people joining her were gathering to call for safer vaccines–demanding, for instance, legislation to eliminate toxins, such as mercury and aluminum, from kids’ shots (mercury is part of the vaccine preservative thimerosal; aluminum makes vaccines more effective by stimulating the body’s immune response) and requesting that Congress take a closer look at the mandatory immunization schedule. McCarthy is among those who believe that vaccines have played a role in the autism epidemic. Her new book, Mother Warriors, tells the stories of parents whose children have recovered from autism, and she has served as a voice for many mothers and fathers who are concerned about vaccines.

If there is a connection between vaccines and autism, top health experts, including those from the CDC and the independent nonprofit Institute of Medicine, say they haven’t found it. Their stance is based on at least 10 large-scale scientific studies. “Parents need to know that the world’s brightest scientists have concluded that there is no association between vaccines and autism,” says CDC director Julie Gerberding, M.D.
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A hypothesis linking childhood vaccines with autism has been the subject of an intense debate for almost a decade. On one side are the parents and families of autistic children, many of whom are convinced that the link between autism and vaccines is real. On the other side are researchers who have conducted numerous medical studies, some involving thousands of children, that have found no evidence that autism is linked to vaccines.

As the debate rages on, parents of autistic children are accused of looking for someone to blame, and possibly to sue. Other people believe that the medical community and pharmaceutical companies know there’s a connection between autism and vaccines and are conspiring to keep this information from the public.
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I believe there is a link to autism being caused by certain vaccines, mainly the MMR vaccine. But they all are dangerous. The MMR vaccine is almost the only vaccine that people seem to have a problem with. Scientist’s say they continue to do research, but I honestly believe that they may already have the answer, and are just keeping it from the Public. If it turned out that vaccines were linked to autism, many people would be suing these companies. My two year old brother, cannot speak. He does not have autism, but merely autism spectrum disorders (ASD). When he was one year old, he said his first word, Cocoa. He ran around all week, saying cocoa over and over again. Then he went to get his MMR shot. The next day, he didn’t say cocoa anymore. And he has never said it since. autism spectrum disorder is a mild form of autism. I believe Vaccines link to autism, and that they need to change, if not stop, the way they are being given or created.

Andrew Wakefield, the researcher who controlled the well-known study that claimed a link between autism and vaccinations had falsified the results to show that vaccinations caused autism. In fact, several of his subjects showed signs of autism before the vaccinations. The medical records of the children were obtained recently, and those show very different results from the ones that Andrew Wakefield claimed. He is defending himself against charges of professional misconduct for his ethical conduct regarding the study. In addition to falsifying the results, he also had accepted funding prior to begining the study to prove that the MMR vaccine was harmful, so it was a conflict of interest when he did this study.
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Ask a parent who lost their 18 year old college student to meningococcal meningitis the same question. I lost my sister to meningitis. It could have been prevented. She never got vaccinated.

McCain was opposing the war until he found out that supporting it could get him a vote for president. I won’t be voting for him. Any ally of Bush is an enemy of mine.
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When Jenny McCarthy became a spokeswoman for autism, the model-actress stirred debate when she blamed immunizations as the cause of her son’s condition. Dr. Cecelia M. McCarton answers some questions about whether vaccines are one of the causes of autism.
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Today’s edition of the Washington Post features an article entitled Fathering Autism which is about a father’s experience caring for a daughter with autism. The father in the article is GWUMC’s Dr. Peter Hotez who is the Walter G. Ross Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and the principal scientist for the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative.
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Some of the birth trauma attorneys handling these cases say that only the thimerosal in the vaccines caused the neurological disorders. Others argue that the injections also contained a form of mercury that overexcited certain brain cells. To settle this discrepancy, the Office of Special Masters of the claims court has instructed plaintiffs to carry out three tests for each of the theories.

Thimerosal has been removed from standard children’s vaccines, but remains in flu vaccines that are packaged as multiple doses. Unfortunately, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says single dose flu vaccines are available only in limited numbers for the time being. Until more are produced for and distributed to the children in need of them, the threat of adverse thimerosal side effects remains.
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Usually I make it a point not to write about the possible causes of autism, for a number of reasons. First, it’s such an inflammatory topic, and my goal is to share what we’ve learned with a community of parents, not to speculate or fan the flames on issues about which I have no direct evidence. Of course I follow the studies, and I have my opinions, but I’m not sure that sharing them in such a public venue is really of use to anyone, especially my son.

Second, I have to be honest: we are very, very lucky. Isaac is on the mild to moderate end of the spectrum, and he doesn’t have any serious medical issues like intestinal disorders or seizures. So for us, the challenges tend to be more social than medical, and it’s sometimes very difficult to know what’s an expression of his personality versus any real pathology.
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I saw Nancy Snyderman on Scarbourough’s show yesterday morning. At the time I didn’t know that it was her (I’d never seen her before) so I almost choked on my coffee when I heard her snotty reply including something along the lines of: it’s the loud mouth Hollywood stars who spread the lie that vaccines cause autism.

I watch this show every day and know how Joe and Mika interact with each other. What I thought was interesting was Joe giving Mika B a look & nod that seemed to say “don’t start anything…” I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall afterward to hear what those two had to say off camera afterward.
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There is no research that proves autism spectrum disorder is caused by vaccinating children. There have always been theories, but no scientific proof. No studies show that the delay or omission of vaccines affect autism.

ASD is diagnosed at a time when children are receiving vaccines. Parents of autistic children are often looking for what caused autism, and relate it to vaccines because they are happening at the same time. Much media attention is given to adverse effects of vaccines and little attention is given to success stories of vaccines, such as no one gets measles anymore.
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Due to the comments I have recieved I must not have made it clear that I do 100% believe in getting your child vaccinated. My confusion is when is the best time to do it.

Whilst waiting in line at Target today I was flipping through a magazine when I came across an article about Jenny McCarthy and how she helped her son beat autism. It was a very interesting article about the things she did (such as drastically changing his diet) to help him overcome his autism. And it got me to thinking… do vaccines really cause autism, or do they not? The whole thing is very confusing to me, and I often don’t know what to believe. I have done a lot of reading on the subject and what I have found is that almost all mothers ( I have read about) with autistic children have said that yes, after their child recieved their vaccination is when the signs of autism began to show. But most doctors (including my pediatrican) say that no, there has been no link found between vaccines and autism. I have also read that although vaccines dont cause autism, they can make it manifest itself in children that are genetically susceptible. I am no scientist, but just by looking at the numbers it is very convincing that vaccines do have something to do with it, being that 15 yrs ago it was like 1 in 10000 children will be diagnosed with autism, and now its around 1 in 150.
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Four years ago David Kirby, a science contributor to the New York Times, spotted a breaking story when he began researching a possible link between mercury used in a vaccine preservative and autism, a disorder that affects the development of social and communication skills. The result unfolds as this book.

For the past eight years Kirby interviewed dozens of parents to find out how their children had developed autism. He pored over medical journals, clinical studies and government documents. The families he met and the things he learned shook him.
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The United States Court of Federal Claims created a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1988 to give no-fault compensation to people who were injured or died due to vaccination. Over the years, families have never been awarded compensation for children who have autism due to vaccination.

Hannah Poling is a 9 year old girl whose case was reviewed by the vaccine court as a possible test case. After the court reviewed the child’s medical history, it was determined that her situation was NOT appropriate to be a test case by which to judge one of the theories of causation for vaccines causing autism.
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These shocking results come from a Generation Rescue study released in June 2007. The research, privately funded without ties to the pharmaceutical industry or the medical community, included an extensive interview of 17,674 vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

- Vaccinated older boys, in the age range of 11 to 17, were found to be even more susceptible to autism. They are 158 percent more likely to have a neurological disorder, 317 percent more likely to have ADHD, and 112 percent more likely to have autism.
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The debate over a link between childhood vaccinations and autism has reached fever pitch, as evidenced in a major court ruling March 2008. The federal government conceded that standard vaccination practices contributed to the development of autism in nine-year-old Hannah Poling. While failing to admit to a clear-cut link…
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Parents in these groups have reported a sudden and dramatic social disconnect—including loss of language—in children who previously seemed to be developing normally. The change occurred soon after the children were given the first dose of the MMR vaccine (to prevent against measles, mumps and rubella), typically at around 12-15 months. These parents adamantly believe that their children’s autism was caused by something in the MMR vaccine or in combination with other vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. They insist that the timing of the onset of autistic symptoms is not a coincidence.
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For many years a debate has raged on about whether there is a link between autism, the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine, and thimerosal, the mercury-derived preservative that was long used to keep vaccines from spoiling. Over the weekend, Pediatrics published a study showing no link between the MMR vaccine, thimerosal, and autism.

Perhaps you’ve not heard of this issue. We hadn’t, until around the time Eli was getting the bulk of his vaccines. Autism rates in developed nations have been rising sharply over the past few decades, and no good cause has been found. In 1998 Dr. Wakefield thought he’d found one: the MMR vaccine. He and 12 co-authors published an article in the Lancet suggesting a possible link between autism, the MMR vaccine, and a supposedly new type of bowel disease. While the paper didn’t outright claim a causal link among the three, Dr. Wakefield did. In a press conference, he called for the combined MMR vaccine to be withdrawn. This was highly publicized in the UK, and led to a drop in MMR vaccinations. Since then 10 of the 12 co-authors have published a retraction, and the London Sunday Times has revealed that Dr. Wakefield had been paid in part by lawyers working on lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.
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Two particular vaccine-autism connections have been proposed within the past 15 years. At the outset, both were biologically plausible to any of us in medicine and biology. One suggested an association with the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and the other questioned whether thimerosal, a mercury-containing antibacterial compound used in some vaccines to prevent bacterial contamination, might be related to autism. Over the past decade, these hypotheses have been rigorously tested in numerous studies. Every methodologically sound study demonstrates no connection.

Two of the most intuitive arguments follow. The MMR vaccine is given after 12 months of age. In a study by Scientific Institute at the University of Pisa, home videos of children younger than 2 who were later diagnosed with autism were compared with videos of developmentally typical children at the same ages. Behaviors were scored by observers who were blinded to the subsequent development of the children. Differences were clearly present, even at 6 months of age - before the MMR vaccine could have been given.
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One of the main concerns of parents regarding vaccination of their infants is that vaccines are safe. A frequent “scare” about vaccines is whether they cause disorders of the brain or nervous system. The most common scare mentioned by the news media and anti-vaccination groups is that vaccines cause pervasive developmental delay in children, more commonly called autism. Numerous large research studies have shown that this is not the case. However, it is easy to see how this misunderstanding arose.

There is considerable evidence that genes have a strong influence on the development of autism. The best evidence comes from studies of autism in twins. Investigators have shown that when one identical twin has autism, there is at least a 90 percent chance that the other twin (who has exactly the same genes) also will have autism. However, a fraternal twin, who does not share the same genes with the other twin, but who presumably shares other potential risk factors for autism both before and after birth, has only a 10 percent chance of developing autism if the other twin is affected.
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To respond to these concerns about vaccine safety, the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) writing team of Martin G. Myers, MD, and Diego Pineda have written a book titled, Do Vaccines Cause That?! A Guide for Evaluating Vaccine Safety Concerns.
This 272-page book is divided in two sections. The first section tells readers how best to weigh and evaluate what they read or hear about vaccine safety, emphasizing how scientists determine whether a vaccine actually causes a specific effect. The second section deals specifically with vaccine safety concerns such as asthma, autism, and autoimmune diseases, among others. The overall theme is to help readers arrive at conclusions based on science.
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The title character, a lawyer, switches sides in a major lawsuit thanks to a vision of George Michael singing “Faith”. The defendant, Stone’s former client, is a vaccine manufacturer called Beutel. The plaintiff is Beth Keller, the attractive, smart, determined mother of a child with autism. Keller believes that a vaccine containing a preservative called mercuritol caused her son’s illness. A few visions later, Stone wins the case and a cool $5.2 million settlement.
Gripping TV, perhaps, but as so often with television, the science is, well, questionable. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) went so far as to call for the premiere to be cancelled. “A television show that perpetuates the myth that vaccines cause autism is the height of reckless irresponsibility,” said the organization’s president, Dr. Renee Jenkins.
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Concerns that vaccines may cause autism have been worrying parents since some research first introduced the theory in the late 1990s — even amid mounting evidence that continues to prove otherwise. In light of more new studies disputing the autism-vaccines link, here are some relieving answers to your most pressing questions.
In the late 1990s, some researchers started raising concerns over the amount of thimerosal — a mercury-containing preservative — found in many children’s vaccines. Although thimerosal had been used as an anti-contamination agent for decades, until 1991 the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP) vaccination was the only thimerosal-containing shot recommended for infants and children. The hypothesis: As more thimerosal-containing vaccines like hepatitis B and Hib were added to the recommended schedule, researchers worried that babies were receiving too much of the chemical in too short a timeframe, which could potentially impact brain development.
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Almost 70% of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children do so because they believe vaccines may cause harm. Indeed vaccines have been blamed for causing asthma, autism, diabetes, and many other conditions–most of which have causes that are incompletely understood. Some parents believe that vaccines can “overwhelm the immune system.
To respond to these concerns about vaccine safety, the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) writing team of Martin G. Myers, MD, and Diego Pineda have written a book titled, Do Vaccines Cause That?! A Guide for Evaluating Vaccine Safety Concerns.
Link to full report

In terms of vaccines causing autism, the big issue is with the MMR vaccine. The MMR vaccine was the only vaccine ever uttered in the same sentence as autism. This all came about from one article in 1998 by this guy, Dr. Wakefield, who is from England. He did a study on a dozen children, and he basically said that in these children it was possible that the autism was caused by the MMR vaccine. After that study, it took off in the media. Around the world vaccine rates for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine decreased. There were rises in measles cases and measles-related deaths afterwards, despite hundreds of studies since then showing no absolute cause and effect between the MMR vaccine and autism. What’s very interesting about this one study that really gained all the popularity with this debate between MMR and autism, is that several years ago it was actually retracted as solely a hypothesis and not true. 10 of Dr. Wakefield’s investigators said it did not show that MMR caused autism. This would make a great Law and Order episode, but what happened was that Dr. Wakefield was funded by a law firm that was representing children and families suing vaccine companies for adverse effects, and he was receiving money from this company, which is obviously a conflict of interest. Thus, there has been, to date, no medical evidence showing a cause and effect relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. The hard thing is we just don’t know what causes autism. Why the MMR vaccine also came up is there was a timal relationship. Autism is usually diagnosed at around 15 to 18 months of age, and we give the MMR vaccine at a year. However, even though there was a timal relationship, there’s never been any proof of a cause and effect relationship. We feel not only MMR, but all vaccines, are safe.
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At one time, there was a debate that Thiomersal (a mercury-based additive used as a preserative) was linked to childhood autism. However, almost all doctors and scientists studing this issue, as well as all major health agencies (CDC, World Health Organization, etc.) have found no link between vaccines and autism. In fact, many are concerned that this misconception will result in children going unvaccinated and causing an rise in preventable diseases (like measles).
So where did this rumor come from? For autism to be diagnosed, the symptoms have to start?around three years of age. If childhood vaccines are given frequently during this time, it is not unlikely that a significant number of people will notice an association between a vaccine panel and the first onset of the symptoms of autism simply by chance.
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…Almost 70% of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children do so bec…To respond to these concerns about vaccine safety the National Networ… The authors of this volume have recognized the absolute need to provi…This 272-page book is divided in two sections. The first section tells…
To respond to these concerns about vaccine safety, the National Network for Immunization Information (NNii) writing team of Martin G. Myers, MD, and Diego Pineda have written a book titled, Do Vaccines Cause That?! A Guide for Evaluating Vaccine Safety Concerns.
Link to full report

In 1998, the hepatitis B vaccine was initiated in a new program to vaccine newborns. This ill-conceived plan is often pointed to by researchers as a possible cause in the occurrence of autism. There are other researchers that point to the MMR vaccine as a cause of autism. It is possible, however, that both of these may be causes of autism for different reasons.
Today, there really are no reasons for giving a child the hepatitis B vaccine, and this is backed up by many vaccine experts. Experts state that a newborns immune is undeveloped, and the immune system is unable to respond to vaccines. With this understanding it is obvious that vaccines, which are designed for the stimulation of the immune system, find nothing to stimulate. In short, if a new Morton’s immune system lacks response than a vaccination, which means to generate a response is useless; however, it is believed that there is a connection between vaccines and autism.
Link to full report

Mercuric compounds are nephrotoxic and neurotoxic at high doses. Thimerosal, a preservative used widely in vaccine formulations, contains ethylmercury. Thus it has been suggested that childhood vaccination with thimerosal-containing vaccine could be causally related to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
Link to full report

Thousands of families claim that routine vaccines caused autism in their children. Now they’re taking the government to federal court.
American journalist David Kirby, author of controversial book Evidence of Harm, talks to Polly Tommey from magazine The Autism File about the on-going debate that refuses to go away. Can vaccines…
Link to full report

According to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, children who are born more than three months premature have double the expected rate of autism at age two as full-term children.

Click here to view the embedded video.
Video - Identifying early signs of autism in your child

Let’s look at some statistics from the study which was conducted using an assessment method via a survey of children behavior known as the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT).

Overall, about one in 10 of the extremely premature infants who did not have other health problems (including cerebral palsy, mental impairment, or vision or hearing problems) tested positive for autism at age two.

However, even if the child was tested positive, not all children who test positive definitely have the brain development disorder or autism. There are two main reasons for this:

1. Autism spectrum disorders (which include a range of diagnoses, from mild to more severe autism) aren’t typically diagnosed until age three or older
2. The M-CHAT is not considered a definitive test.

To quote Health.com :

“However, the finding is not surprising, according to Dr. Antonio Hardan, director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, who was not involved in the study.

“We have to be in the womb for nine months for a good reason,” says Dr. Hardan. “There are a lot of steps of brain development that should occur in the right environment, and the ideal environment is in the womb.”

In the new study, which was conducted by a team led by Karl Kuban of the Boston University Medical Center and Boston Medical Center, 26 percent of children who were born extremely premature (27 weeks gestation or less, as opposed to a full-term of 37 weeks or more) had cognitive impairment, 11 percent had cerebral palsy, 3 percent had problems with vision, and 2 percent had hearing impairment.

Overall, 21 percent tested positive for possible autism when given the M-CHAT at age two. However, when the researchers excluded all children with cerebral palsy or other health problems, 10 percent of the extremely premature children tested positive for autism. About 5.7 percent of children who aren’t premature test positive on M-CHAT.

Hardan said in addition to brain development, premature birth also cuts short crucial nutritional and hormonal support.

“You put together being born at 27 weeks, prenatal complications, and the possibility of genetic vulnerabilities, and all these factors will add up to launch the process that can lead to autism,” he said.

Over the past decade, some research has suggested that autism may be on the rise. Hardan said that more awareness of autism, as well as a broadening of the definition of the condition, have played a role. However, the fact that more premature infants are surviving than in the past may have also contributed to autism rates, he said.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, the survival rate of a baby born premature was much less than it is now,” he said. “Today, thanks to medical advances, we are seeing these premature babies at age nine, or as teenagers, with emotional and behavioral symptoms similar to autism.”

The symptoms include a lack of eye contact, pointing and social interest. However, sluggish motor skills in an infant or toddler do not automatically mean a child has autism.

“Motor milestones [such as lack of eye contact] are often delayed in premature kids,” she said. “But we expect that a premature baby will not have any more complications by age two.”

If a child still has signs of autism past the second birthday, such as withdrawing from peer relationships, lack of speech, using repetitive language, and a persistent fixation on certain objects, it could mean he or she has autism.

“Kids without autism still have social interest, even if they have difficulty, but with autism, social communication skills are impaired or absent,” Warner said.

Although there is no cure for autism, treatment is available, and the earlier the better. Hardan and Warner recommend a formal evaluation for children if caregivers suspect something is wrong.

“You can go through the school system– it’s free,” Warner said. “It’s important to get a good handle on what the impairments are.”

People reading this article also read the following resources on autism:

1) Essential Guide To Autism - Discover Vital Information About Autism & Check For Autistic Traits - Get What Really Works. Click for details.

2) Complete Autism Package. 1 In 166 Babies Have Autism. Interview With Autism Expert Trained By Famous Dr. Andrew Weil. Click for details.

3) The Parenting Autism Resource Guide. A Complete Resource Guide For Parents Who Have Children Diagnosed With Autism. Click for details.

4) Positive Approaches To Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Short Books Offering An Informative And Positive Approach To Autism, Aspergers Syndrome And Dyspraxia For Parents, Carers And Teachers. Click for details.

5) Autism Essential Guide - The Complete Guide To Finally Understanding Autism. In Depth Report On Autism. Filled With Informative Literature The Reader Will Get The Real Facts About Autism And Learn How To Cope With The Stress Of Raising And Teaching An Autistic Child. Click for details.

Stem Cell Therapy

There are reports of alternative treatment using Live Cell and Stem Cell Therapy. Here is a video showing a child with autism before and after she have had stem cell treatment.

Family Immersion Model to treating autism

Here is another video showing how one family’s experience at PACE Place, a family immersion program in Beaverton, Oregon is helping families living with autism in children.

Dr Rashid A Buttar’s Protocol

See the success of Shin Nicholas’ autism treatment using Dr. Rashid A. Buttar’s autism treatment protocol.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Follow this video to discover the results of treating Autism with hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

Facilitated Communication Technique
In order to facilitate the communication of an autistic child, this technique assumes that by supporting a nonverbal child’s arms and fingers so that he can type on a keyboard, the child will be able to type out his or her inner thoughts. However, diametrically opposite to this assumption, several scientific studies have shown that the typed messages actually reflect the thoughts of the person providing the support rather than those of the autistic child. Notwithstanding this, parents find this act itself to help the child and the parent, perhaps in bonding and allow a certain level of communication during the process.

Here is a video showing another assisted communication therapy session with a kid with a view to helping her communicate.

Here is a video showing how
Holding Therapy Technique
In this technique, the parent hugs the child for long periods of time, even if the child resists. Advocates of this technique claims that it forges a bond between the parent and child. Others are of the opinion that by doing so, the technique helps stimulate parts of the brain of the autistic child as he senses the boundaries of his or her own body. There is no scientific evidence, however, to support these claims. There are also objections towards the holding therapy because of the negative effects of “forcing” the child as you hug him or her.

Here is a video showing how speech and hugging is used to help an autistic child. In the words of the therapist:

“Whenever I arrive at Jacobs house he runs up, says hi, gives me a hug and reminds me of the fun things we have done together (it’s so cool). However, he did need a bit of help to get it grammatically correct. For example he would say “We go to Rainbows End!” (A theme park)He actually meant “We went to Rainbows End” I gently corrected him often but he would still say “go” instead of “went”. So we played this game where when he said “go” he had to spit it out and say “went”. After just one session he got it. Now he consistently says “went”. Here he just starts doing it for the fun of it. Constantly being corrected can affect one’s self-esteem, learning by playing a silly game can often be more effective with the added bonus of having fun together. ”
Click here to view the embedded video.

Auditory Integration Therapy
Auditory Integration Theraphy necessitates that the child listens to a variety of sounds with the goal of improving language comprehension. Supporters of this treatment suggest that it helps people with autism receive more balanced sensory input from their environment. When tested using scientific procedures, the method was shown to be no more effective than listening to music. However, this alternative treatment stands out as some parents report that children make significant behavioral and language gains following this treatment.

Here is a video showing the joy of learning by autistic kids through music.
Click here to view the embedded video.

Dolman/Delcato Method
Autistic people are made to crawl and move as they did at each stage of early development, in an attempt to learn missing skills since childbirth or to stimulate lost skills and bring them to the fore again. While there are no scientific studies to support the effectiveness of this method, it cannot be denied that a degree of movement would constitute physical exercise that can help the autistic child in learning co-ordination and movement abilities, rather than staying aloof and alone.

There are tools for these alternative methods such as the faciliated communication therapy, auditory integrated therapy and the Dolman Method listed on the right sidebar of this page that can help you make a quick start.

Before we discuss the treatment strategies for the child with autism, let us take a look at this video featuring President Barack Obama ( then Senator ) on autism and disabilities.

The common symptom in all autistic children is an impairment in social skills, which however, differs in severity. For example, some autistic children may be withdrawn and aloof, keeping to themselves, very much like in a “dream world” of their own, while others engage in self-injuring behavior such as head-banging or hand-biting. Still others may display different degrees of aggression, attention deficits, or hyperactivity that the parent will find difficult to control.

As each autistic child has his own unique combination of impaired social skills and different behavior problems, there is actually no single standard, out-of-the-box treatment strategy. Because of this, an effective autism treatment strategy will encompass several autism treatments to deal with the different problems. However, the goal of any autism treatment is to improve the behavior, the quality of life of the child, helping in communication skills while moderating and minimizng and removing undesirable behavior. The effective treatment strategy must place emphasis to help the autistic child reach a level of independence, eliminate undesirable behavior such as self-injury and self-stimulation. There is also a need to learn about medications that can help control symptoms of autism, and also the side effects of certain medications. At the same time, there are available, alternative treatments that have helped others, and it is important for the parent to find out more about them.

We will provide some parenting tips to help make daily home life with an autistic kid easier.

Being personally equipped with all the knowledge about autism and getting involved in your child’s treatment will go a long way in helping your child.

Here are a series of 4 video showing how a family makes the effort to intervene at home to assist and help their child with autism.

Intervention at Home with a Child With Autism- part 1

Intervention at Home with a Child With Autism- part 2

Intervention at Home with a Child with Autism - part 3

Intervention at Home with a Child with Autism - part 4

Additionally, the following tips will make daily home life easier for your both you and your autistic child:

* Be consistent in what you wish to do to help your child. Autistic children find it difficult to adapt whatever they have learnt in one setting to a different setting. Even environments might upset them and give them a hard time. For a child with autism, it is always better to create a consistency in your child’s environment as that will help to reinforce learning. One way to do that is to find out exactly what your child’s therapists are doing, and then apply the same techniques at home. Since consistency is so important to the autistic child, you need to be consistent in the way you interact with your child, bearing in mind a child with autism is like any other normal child and has moods as well, and at the same time, you need to demonstrate a consistent way in dealing with challenging behavior from the autistic chilld.

* Stick to a schedule. Together with consistency, a highly-structured schedule or routine will go a long way in helping the autistic child because an autistic child finds it easier to cope with repeated consistency. Scheduling would involve putting up a schedule for your child, with regular times for meals, therapy, school, and bedtime. There should be minimum disruptions or changes to the routine, and if there is any unavoidable schedule change, it is important to prepare your child beforehand.

* Reward good behavior. Rewarding good behavior is a good way to provide positive encouragement to the autistic child. When you do find your autistic child doing something good, be profuse in your praise and hearty in your approbation. Praise them when they act appropriately or learn a new skill, being very specific about what behavior they’re being praised for, so that they understand exactly why the praise has been given. Be practical when rewarding them for good behavior or learning a new skill, such as by giving them a sticker or letting them play with a favorite toy.

* Create a home safety zone. Setup a private space in your home where your child can relax, feel secure, and be safe. An autistic child will require help in understanding clearly demarcated boundaries, so it will be useful to use colored tape to mark physical areas that your child can recognize as being off-limits, and labelling certain items with pictures and images that the child can see clearly and identify with.

For example, consider the treadmill in the house, or the exercise bike - these are heavy items that can cause harm if they are not setup properly or fall on your child. Also, these can be tampered with and subjected to child tempering as well.

You may also need to safety proof the house, particularly if your child is prone to tantrums or other self-injurious behaviors. The areas of the home covered are as follows:

The Attic
The Master Bedroom
The Bedroom
The Corner
The Family Room
The Play Room
The Music Room
The Kitchen
The Study
The Bathroom
The Broom Closet
The Front Door
The Back Door

* Have fun with your child. Enjoy time with your child because apart from being autistic, a child is every inch normal, and a child coping with autism is still a child who will enjoy the love and affection from his parents. Therapy at home is not a lifeless chaing that stifles the bonding which can be a joyous time for the child. Find ways to play and have fun together. Don’t be driven by an obsession to tag any activity into the therapeutic or educational mould, and find it burdensome to help your child. The important thing is to enjoy your child’s company! Find ways to make your child smile, learn the difference between temper tantrums and panic attacks, shake pom-poms over their head or on their belly and the chore suggestions the child can learn to do with enthusiasm and for which you can give profuse praise.

Educate your babysitter, respite worker, grandparents and friends about your child with autism, and you can bring an awareness about autism to them. This will help give them insight into the daily lives of the family and offer tips on what they can do ahead of time at their home if they are coming in for a visit or to babysit.

In time to come, if you are considering to let your child learn more responsibilities about caring for others, you may wish to grant him his wish to have a pet, like a puppy. Some autistic children are afraid of the neighborhood dog or cat, and you will need to find out if indeed he is keen to have a pet, and you will need also to prepare him to handle one- the child with autism can accidentally injure a pet or scare one, and the pet can, in all possibilities, retaliate and bit the child.

Like any normal child, the child with autism will need to attend school at around 5 or 6 years old.

While some parents simply enroll their child in the local kindergarten, the parents of an autistic child can play a more active role in determining the child’s schooling.

The question to be asked is this: “Will your child be best catered for in the typical classroom with typical normal peers or will he require specialized classrooms or private schooling? Will he require mainstreaming or inclusion?”

Here is a video that shows the Pioneer Learning Center, an autism school.

Each child with autism is unique, and so the school setting will be dependent on the child.

Some questions to consider as you begin thinking about your options are:

* Is your autistic child verbal and engaged, or is he verbally challenged? If he is verbal and engaged, he may be more likely to do well in a typical setting (though social, sensory and emotional issues may get in his way if they aren’t specifically addressed).

* Is your child displaying good academic skills at the childcare center? While it may seem strange, some children with autism are advanced well beyond their typical peers, while others are far behind. If your child is already reading and doing math compared to his peers, it will be important to find a setting that accommodates her gifts as well as her challenges.

* How is your child’s social behavior? Can he handle large groups? If loud noise and large groups are likely to cause your child to “melt down,” a typical classroom or school could be a disaster — even if your child is bright and verbal.

* Does she do well with a lot of sensory input? Bright lights, loud noise, stiff uniforms and other factors can sabotage even the most capable child with autism. It may be possible to minimize these issues, but if your child is very sensitive she may need a smaller, quieter setting.

* Does he have difficulties with focus? Some children with autism are easily distracted. Typical elementary school classrooms are loaded with mobiles, colorful posters, class pets, and a whole slew of tools for engaging — and distracting — a child with special needs.

* Has she had a tough time in typical classrooms in the past? If your child has found typical preschool easy to manage, she’s much more likely to do well in a typical kindergarten. If not, that may be a warning to start slow and work your way into a more challenging environment.

* What kinds of programs can your public school offer? Some districts have classrooms and programs specifically set up for kids with autism. Others have general purpose special needs classes. Still others have no special settings, but integrate all children into typical classes. Find out what’s available, and ask other parents how well each setting seems to be managed and supported.

* How well do local programs fit your child’s needs and abilities? The vast majority of children with special educational needs are socially typical and academically challenged. Children with autism may be just the opposite — and may throw in sensory challenges to make things even more difficult. As a result, a special needs classroom may be a poor match for your child if the teacher stresses academic remediation but assumes everyone will do just fine at recess.

* Are there local private or charter options that make logistical and financial sense for your family? In some communities there are a variety of private, charter, or co-op schools that may be worth considering for your child with autism. Don’t assume that your district will pay for a private setting, though — this happens more rarely than you’d think.

Interestingly, the choice of smaller/larger, mainstream/specialized isn’t always based on a child’s intellectual ability: typical school settings can be tough on even the brightest, most articulate children with autism. And even when a district works on accommodations, there may be severe limits to teachers’ resources, support, and time.

Once you’ve looked into your options and evaluated your child’s particular strengths and needs, you’ll be better prepared to make smart choices for your child’s educational setting. Before you meet with your school, though, you’ll need to learn much more about special education law and its significance for kids with autism. You’ll also need some ideas about the kind of program you feel will work best for your child.

Here is a video showing new research that explains what will happen to our kids with autism as they develop into adults.

It is now known that people with autism have normal life expectancies but with impaired social functions. As autism is mainly exhibited as symptoms, early intervention when the child is young will lead to better outcomes.Some people with autism eventually lead normal or near-normal lives. Although there is no cure, appropriate early educational intervention may improve social development and reduce undesirable behaviors. Further, autism varies a great deal in severity.

The most severe cases are marked by extremely repetitive, unusual, self-injurious, and aggressive behavior. Such severe cases may persist over time and prove very difficult to change, posing a tremendous challenge to those who must live with, treat, and teach these individuals.

On the contrary. the mildest forms of autism may appear more as a personality disorder associated with a perceived learning disability. In the mildest form, symptoms in many children will improve with intervention or as the children mature.

Associated with autism, about a third of children with autistic spectrum disorders will eventually develop epilepsy. The risk is highest in children with severe cognitive impairment and motor deficits.

As the child moves into adolescence, he will face more pressures that may result in worsened behavior problems. These adolescents with autism may become depressed or increasingly unmanageable.

It must be pointed out that parents with autistic children should be aware that as their autistic child moves through the different phases of life, they will face changing needs and parents have to be ready to re-adjust treatment to help their child.

At present, there is no known cure for autism, though with suitable treatment, education and support, many children with infantile autism can learn and develop into useful and independent adults. The earlier the treatment is started, the better is the outcome. In fact, earlier intervention has often led to reduced challenges and difficulties associated with the disorder, including reducing the disruptive behavior and a higher degree of independence.
What sort of treatment is available to the patient with autism? A variety of treatment is available, but what is chosen will be dependent on the needs of the individual. It is common that a combination of treatment methods is used to provide more effectiveness than a single method. Also, autism usually requires treatment for the lifetime of the patient.

In general, occupational therapy and physical therapy are two common prongs of treatment for the person with autism.

Occupational therapy helps improve independent function and teaches basic skills (e.g., buttoning a shirt, bathing). Physical therapy involves using exercise and other physical measures (e.g., massage, heat) to help patients control body movements.

Treatment includes the following:

* Behavior modification
* Communication therapy
* Dietary modifications
* Medication

We will cover these in more details in subsequent posts.

Earlier diagnosis very often improves the chances for a better outcome for patients in treatment.

Diagnosis includes the following:

* Physical examination (may include neurological examination)
* Medical history (includes family history, birth history, and early development)
* Medical tests (to rule out other conditions)

Since autism is related to difficult communication and speaking skills, doctors use various screening tools to evaluate development, communication and language skills, and interaction with others.

The history of the child’s development would be traced as far back as at the age of 12 months eg. Did the child babble, point, wave, and grasp objects by age of 1 year?. Doctors will also observe the child closely during the diagnosis period and subsequent visits. It is by tracing out the child’s past development history that doctors can identify significant characteristics to confirm a diagnosis.