by Mary Starr

Created on: September 04, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

Autism
What We Know Today

In the 1940's Dr. Leo Kanner studied several children who exhibited similar self-absorbed behaviors and diagnosed them as having autism (http://www.bestbehaviour.ca/briefhistory.htm). At that time it was believed that autism was caused by a lack of parental care and emotional neglect. By the 1970's this idea or theory of why children had autism became obsolete because there was no scientific basis to support this theory.

While there is no known or definitive cause for autism or what is now called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), experts and researchers do share common agreement that the environment and genetics are two major factors that may be involved in causing a child to be autistic.

There are five specific areas of research areas being pursued in an effort to determine what causes autism. These are: genetics, environmental pollutants and toxins, vaccines and impaired immune systems, nutrition and food sensitivity factors and utero factors.
(http://www.autism.com/index.asp)

The area of genetics is being studied to see if scientists can identify the role genetics plays in the cause of autism. Research has shown that there is not one specific gene responsible for causing the disorder but there is a combination of at least 15 different genes that could possibly contribute to the risk of an individual having the disorder.

Researchers have found that because identical twins are carried in the same utero environment their chance of carrying the combination of genes that may contribute to autism is very prevalent. The sibling of someone with autism also has an increased chance of having some form of autism. Also a parent with autism has an10% increased likelihood of having an offspring with autism. This information appears to support that there is a genetic connection to autism but until further clarity is available, it is not appropriate to say autism is a genetic disorder.

The field of science related to studying environmental pollutants and toxins is focusing on determining whether there is a link between environmental pollutant and toxins and autism. Studies are being done to find out if chemicals, air pollution, pesticides, insecticides, and other toxins may possibly have some type of effect in the cause of these disorders. Recent studies have shown that if an individual has been exposed to the prescription drug thalidomide and/or valproic acid at some point during gestation, autism can be triggered. Flame retardants, mercury in fish and

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