Autism. ASD. As soon as you hear the words, there’s a hushed response. Or a huge outcry. First, the outbreak was claimed to be the result of inoculations. WRONG! Now, it seems that the penchant in America to ‘wait to have kids’ is taking its toll. Because the older the father, the more likely the child can be born with diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.
Continue reading A diagnostic for Autism…
Autism was first described by Dr. Leo Kanner (Johns Hopkins) in 1943, with an analysis of 11 children with communication disorders. By 1952, autism was diagnosed by ‘early onset schizophrenia’, only to be renamed ‘infantile autism’ in 1980 and ‘autism disorder’ in 1987. Now, we use ASD (autism spectrum disorder) to cover autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and other related diseases. As these classifications changed, the number of children diagnosed with the disorder has grown to reach the currently accepted value of 1 in 110 children.
Continue reading Autism…where do we stand?
I have my own hypotheses about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD),
most of which I would be willing to share with you over a few bottles of wine. But, let’s stick with facts for today’s discussion.
Continue reading Autism involves specialized brain development
We talked about the brain scan that was developed to detect autism in adults. Brain scans in children that carry an autism gene (CNTNAP2) are now providing very interesting results. [PLEASE NOTE: Many people (about 1/3 the population) have this gene variant- without demonstrating the characteristics of autism. The presence of this gene indicates the subject is at risk for autism.] There seems to be more connections among neurons in the frontal lobe.
