"In an ideal world the scientist should find a method to prevent the most severe forms of autism but allow the milder forms to survive. After all, the really social people did not invent the first stone spear. It was probably invented by an Aspie who chipped away at rocks while the other people socialized around the campfire. Without autism traits we might still be living in caves."
— Temple Grandin (Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life with Autism)
Everyone sings a different song. Seeing the world differently is sometimes an asset, other times a liability.
What is the cause of autism? Why does a child born "normal" suddenly change behavior patterns?
Finding the underlying cause calls for the best minds in science focused on a multitude of factors (including toxins in the environment and tick-borne diseases). Steps taken on the road to discovery are happening across North America.
Researchers at 13 sites in North America will collect DNA samples from families with just one child affected by an autism spectrum disorder. In Connecticut, it is Yale Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine.
Funded through the Simons Foundation and the National Institute for Child Health and Development, other participating medical centers across North America are based at the following universities: Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Columbia University in New York, Emory University in Atlanta, Harvard University in Boston, McGill University in Montreal, Canada, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Illinois in Chicago, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of Missouri in Columbia, University of Washington in Seattle, Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Washington University in St. Louis.
For details visit http://childstudycenter.yale.edu/autism/simonssimplex_faq.html.
Although there is has no cure, autism responds to behavioral and educational treatment. T(here are other conditions that may be mistaken for autism, so proper diagnosis is important.)
The condition was first described by Dr. Leo Kanner in 1943, who reported on eleven children who exhibited an "apparently congenital lack of interest in other people." In contrast, Dr. Kanner, an Austrian-American psychiatrist and physician, noted that these children were "highly interested in unusual aspects of the inanimate environment" according to the Yale Child Study Center.
The National Institutes of Health support two major research networks dedicated to understanding and treating autism. For information see the Autism Research Network.
