MEDICAL SURFARI: WHAT IS AUTISM?

It has been over 50 years since Dr. Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote the first paper to define "autism" (from the Greek, autos; meaning self) to describe a group of children who were self-absorbed and who had severe social, communication, and behavioral problems.

Autism is not a disease but a lifelong developmental disorder of brain function. It occurs 2 to 4 times more likely in males, and in about 4 to 5 out of 10,000 live births. Autism varies a great deal in severity and it affects children from all racial and social backgrounds, and it is usually discovered during the first three years of life.

Your child may not show any signs of autism until about one to two years of age, but the diagnosis can be suspected early in an infant who does not respond to the parent's care-taking with eye contact, smiling or cuddling.

Generally there is some failure to develop meaningful language and social skills, and infants seem to prefer to remain alone in a crib for many hours undisturbed and undemanding.

Autistic children generally do not have physical disabilities, and in fact they tend to be attractive and more graceful in movement. They have a strong need to maintain uniformity and they may not make eye contact or respond to normal social cues.

They are conspicuously quiet and passive as long as their environment remains undisturbed and their activities uninterrupted. They may have frequent temper tantrums with changes in their environment or routine for no apparent reason. Many of these children are more sensitive to sound, smells, touch or taste.

They also tend to lack imaginative play and develop behavioral rituals that become less frequent after five or six years of age. A highly structured environment with a strict, unchanging routine minimizes opportunities for indulgence in these repetitive rituals. Some of these children are capable of normal school education after ten years of age, and some adults with autism have held jobs and lived independently.

Although the specific cause of autism is unknown, there appears to be a hereditary pattern in some families, but no gene has yet been identified.

Autism is not caused by bad parenting, it is not a mental illness, nor is it a behavior disorder. There is no specific test to detect autism, although a team of health-care professionals using different diagnostic tools can make the diagnosis. Although there is no cure for autism, with proper help, your child can learn to cope with the effects of this disability. Music therapy, behavior modification, medications, and specific diet therapies have been used in creative ways to help children with this condition.

Biomedical research on brain and nervous system disorders is aimed at identifying the underlying brain abnormalities using new methods of brain imaging and other innovative techniques. Some scientists are working toward identifying genes that may increase the risk of autism. Others are studying specific aspects of information processing and behavior. Hopefully, these findings will lead to improved strategies for earlier diagnosis and effective treatment.

World Wide Web resources

Autism Society of America

www.autism-society.org/

The web site of the Autism Society of America is dedicated to providing advocacy, public awareness, education, and research related to autism.

Center for the Study of Autism

www.autism.org/

The Center for the Study of Autism and provides information about autism to parents and professionals, and conducts research on various therapeutic interventions for autism.

Autism Research Institute

www.autism.com/ari/

The Austin Research Institute is a non-profit organization devoted primarily to conducting research on autism.