Causes Of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder is a wide range of disorders that cover both behavior and development that are a combination of these results. The spectrum covers a range from low to high function autism to behavior that is referred to ask hyper socialization.

This is a developmental disorder that interferes with a child’s ability to speak and communicate with others. They are not specific like attention deficit disorder or dyslexia. There are many who suffer this disorder who are misunderstood and end up in poverty.

The affected areas are both a developmental disorder as well as psychological disorder that will affect many areas. The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) covers areas of language, self-help skills, motor coordination, communication skills as well as scholastic development and achievements. There are some individuals that may have noticeable symptoms from the first time you meet them, but there are others that may not show any signs of autism at all upon first meeting them.

Many are that have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder go on to live normal lives. Matter of fact, there are many who have this disorder and may not notice it at all until adolescence or even adulthood. This type is typically diagnosed after a some psychiatric tests.

If you know someone that has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, are not considered disabled. They are different in their thought processing only. There are many degrees and no two are alike.

Those that are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder may not have any problems with interacting with other children. They may also be able to keep up scholastically. Depending on the severity, there may be someone who may be a bit behind in reading or in testing skills, as well as a bit more difficulty socializing well. This is all due to the way the brain stores and processes information, which is done differently than the average child.

If you are a parent of a child with autism spectrum disorder, or someone who cares for them, become educated. There are others that will be involved with your child’s life that also need to be aware and understand this disorder. By learning as much as we can, we plan for a better future with more success for your child. Give him that chance.

Autism spectrum is a term that is used to describe the different types of development disorders. These pervasive developmental disorders comprise the collection known as Autism Spectrum Disorder. There have been many theories based around these disorders and how they are all related to each other. The symptoms range from very mild to severe where the person will never be able to live independently.

Autism is manifested in developmental problems with verbal skills, social interaction and their ability to communicate. This is a chronic brain disorder that causes the autistic child to have repetitive movements and to focus on individual objects. Autism spectrum covers symptoms of severe autism to the high functioning autism disorders. These range according the not only the severity, but the individual that is affected.

For instance, one autistic child may not be able to handle any change in his routine without becoming very frustrated and upset. There is no absolute cause for this order, but so far the research is pointing into two directions. The first being genetics. The other is damage caused by a toxin spread to the brain through vaccinations given to them as an infant and a toddler. The vaccinations have a preservative in them that is mercury, and this builds up in the body and migrates to the brain. It is known to affect the socialization portion of the brain.

Autism spectrum is a disorder that will affect each child differently.

This does NOT result from poor parenting this disorder affects the child’s ability to regulate his emotions and integrate sensory information around him.

There is an underlying genetic cause which produces organic changes during the development of the brain.

Autism spectrum disorder affects the child’s neurological developmental system. They will show some very distinct characteristics in their learning and their social development.

There are five areas that are affected by autism spectrum disorder, and they are:

1. Socialization
2. Communication
3. Sensory integration
4. Behavior
5. Restricted Interests

Each child will show individual symptoms that vary in many degrees of severity. The essential thing a child with autism spectrum disorder needs is to learn essential skills for social and daily livin

Autism Speaks is an organization that has merged with the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) in 2006. This is the worlds largest autism advocacy organization. They have also merged with Cure Autism Now (CAN).

Autism Speaks is a wonderful organization that has provided 20 million dollars toward autism research in four categories in the year 2006. These categories are 1) Pilot Study Awards, 2) Augmentation Awards, 3) Fellowship Awards, and 4) Bridge Awards. These awards were given for the first time ever for early treatment research for autism. There is also a grant funding the development of the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) Community Project which is scheduled to launch this year.

Less than ten years ago, autism was not diagnosed until the age of 3 or 4, but now through the research and funding by Autism Speaks, the Baby Siblings project was developed. Now children can be diagnosed routinely from 18 months to 24 months of age. There are so many benefits to early diagnosis, and Autism Speaks has made this available.

The most important research that has been done by Autism Speaks is the Autism Tissue Program (ATP). These research projects use post-mortem tissue, reporting changes seen in the cell number found in a particular region of the autistic brain, which may be contributing to the behavior dysfunction as well as the processing of emotion and fear.

Scientists at Yale University have been funded by Autism Speaks, finding that autistic children fail to focus on social cues seen given in facial expression. The research has discovered that the part of the brain that we use for facial recognition is not stimulated when he sees another face.

There is a Autism Genome Project that is funded by Autism Speaks that has gathered nearly 170 leading researchers throughout the world to conduct the largest study in finding genes that are associated with Autism. The first phase of the project was to identify genomes that may be harboring susceptible genes. This has been completed and published in Nature Genetics, which the worlds’ largest and mos prestigious publication in research.

Autism Speaks is the catalyst for major research and bring autism awareness to the front. They are working toward the cure and providing the us with hope.

Autism Society of America, this is an organization to support the research and eventual cure for autism. Autism is a brain disorder that has no cure. It is typically depicted in Hollywood as a divine gift, allowing the person with autism to perform incredible things such as impossible math computations, or things such as you would see in the movie “Rain Man” with Dustin Hoffman.

There are some with autism who are able to do incredible things like this, but this is typically a very painful and complicated disorder. Even though there is no cure, there is a lot of research going on through organizations such as the Autism Society of America. Every organization that is an advocate for autism is working toward continual research and progressive treatments to work toward the goal of a cure.

The Autism Society of America is located in Bethesda, Maryland. They were formed over 40 years ago with a far reaching goal to provide awareness of autism through education. They have a magazine called Autism Advocate, which is a top rated magazine providing great resources for those involved and learning about this horrible disorder.

The Autism Society of America was a huge support in the Mercury Free Vaccine Act of 2005, trying to stop the debilitating effects of ethyl mercury, which is found in thimersal, on young children.

They are also supporting the “Combating Autism Act” of 2005 which has matched the funds presented for research of autism. They have also been behind a wonderful activity called “Ticket To Ride” where Harley Davidson riders gather from all corners of the United States to raise money and awareness for autism research.

They are a loud voice that is needed to promote research and awareness of autism in every community. They provide resources for those who are caring for autistic children, they are working toward helping everyone involved with autism, whether the autistic child or the family. They are a wonderful support system that consists of experts, researchers, teachers, and parents, all who are work with autistic children.

The American Society of Autism provides comfort and support for families who have been caring and dealing with autism for many years, helping them to manage. There are wonderful resources for parents of newly diagnosed children, and for professional volunteers working with these special children. They are a valuable organization that is bring hope to all those affected by autism.

There have been many areas of autism research done and none has been able to give a complete explanation for all the aspects of autism. There are some though, that do have an explanation with three given theories.

The Three Major Theories Are:

1. Theory of Mind (TOM) – this explains socialization and communication impairment
2. Central Coherence (CC) – this explains the focus on detailed objects
3. Executive Function (EF) – this explains their need for repetitive behavior, resistance to change and difficulty with organization

These theories compliment the explanations of autistic behavior but do not cover them. Autism research has been able to come up with three different impairments that can be explained by the first theory.

These three theories are complementary but do not cover the explanation of all aspects of autism behavior. Autism research has accomplished the explanation of all three impairments: social interaction, communication and imagination.

These impairments can all be explained by the first theory:

1. Mind Theory – this is the capacity the mind has to understand things such as: beliefs, feelings, hope and desires, and intentions. This gives us the ability to imagine what others are thinking or feeling. We are able to create a mental pictures of our emotions and the feelings of others. Without this ability, is what those diagnosed with Asperger syndrome displays. They can’t use these important skills in their socialization, their imagination and their communication.
2. Central Coherence – This ability is needed to process information from our surroundings. We are able to take in bits and pieces of details and make the big picture with them. Autism research has shown that children with autism spectrum disorders will have difficulties processing life this way. They are not able to take in all the details to put the picture together. But yet, on the other hand, they may pick up details that a normal person would never be aware of. But this does limit their ability to integrate the smaller pieces into a whole picture. They are thought to live in a ‘fragmented world’. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for them to bring sense to situations or to act normally in a social setting when they are unable to see things the way you do?
3. Executive Function – This term describes the mental processing, giving us conscious control of what we think and do. We use this skill to plan and organize our day, controlling our behavior. This allows us to make decisions and carry them out, to resolve a problem. This is a higher level of thinking, they may have normal to high intelligence, but are not able to finish work, make a solid plan, organize things and stay focused on their given task until completed. They may be impulsive and may not consider any consequences.

Autism research is still going on every day, finding answers for us that we so desperately want and need.

Autism cases are growing, there are an estimated 3 to 6 children of every 1,000 are affected with autism. More condition symptoms have been showing up more and at earlier ages than before. Autism is a disorder that affects mostly boys, and the symptoms are showing up by the age of 3.

Autism, more condition symptoms are in the areas of communication and their socialization skills. This is not something that can be cured, but it can be treated. It is a disorder that will be with them for their entire life. One of the reasons that autism may be showing a huge increase, may be in the advances in diagnosing and the change of the criteria used.

There are many levels of severity of autism more condition symptoms ranging from severe social dysfunction to someone the high functioning autistic who can hold a job and have a pretty normal life. If early diagnosis and treatment can be made, there can be a big difference in their skill levels and social skills.

Autism, more conditions, symptoms, can each vary in each individual case. There are those who may always need support in their living or work environment, then there are those who will do perfectly well on their own.

Some of these symptoms will include:

• They may seem unable to hear you, tuning everything out
• Resist being held or cuddled
• Seems to be unaware of the feelings of others
• Tends to be a loner, like to be in their own little world
• Speech skills will form later than average
• Difficulties in structuring words into sentences
• Avoids eye contact
• May speak in an unusual tone, more of a sing song voice or robot speech
• Unable to initiate conversations or the ability to maintain a conversation
• May repeat words or phrases
• Has repetitive movements such as spinning or hand-flipping, or rocking
• Has very specific rituals
• Does not do well when routines are changed
• Constantly moving
• Fascinated easily by a particular object, such as a spinning wheels on a toy
• Very sensitive to light, sound and touch

As an autistic child becomes older, their symptoms may lessen enabling them to live a happy and normal life.

The actual autism causes have not yet been discovered, but there are some theories that are believed to be the cause. It is believed to be a disorder which is caused by some brain abnormalities which results in damage to mental development. This has never been pinpointed in the base because patients diagnosed with autism can show abnormalities in many different areas of the brain.

There have been speculations of several autism causes which include genetics, factors of the environment, viral infections, metabolic disorders and pregnancy and delivery complications. The doctors have not been able to narrow down the genetics theory to single gene, and it may not be just one single gene. It may be as a result of several genes that are unstable and unpredictable. Researchers suspect that it may be a combination of several unstable genes that present this risk.

Risk Factors and Autism Causes:

1. Autism has been diagnosed in a family member, therefore leading to the higher risk of another child being diagnosed with the same thing, especially if first family line.
2. If there have been any medical conditions after the birth such as metabolic disorders, neurological disorders, genetic disorders or any abnormal brain development. All of these risk factors can be cause of autism.
3. There are things in the environment that can aggravate risks in family genetics

There were some autism causes believed, but later dismissed, which were the emotional trauma of vaccines. The vaccines themselves are not ruled out as some would like to believe. The FDA would like to say this is not a factor, but I do not support that view.

There is enough data to show that mercury that is found in the vaccines is enough to cause brain damage and the results are autism. I bring this up with passion because my son does suffer with high functioning autism, and these symptoms were evident after a bad reaction of a DPT vaccine. He is now an adult and doing well. When he was young, autism was not as commonly talked about as it is today. There is a lot of autism research being done on autism causes, but I also believe that you need to find the right sources for this research. There may be research that only want you to see what they choose for you to see.

Is there enough Autism awareness in our society? I would say the answer to that is no. If there were, there would be more understanding in the schools, there would be more support provided as well as education for new parents. Autism awareness is something that is going to happen through people like you and me.

The number of autism cases are growing, but the public is not being made aware as quickly. There are some autism bracelets that have been distributed recently, but not enough to get the attention of the public. The key to autism awareness is to get the attention of the government.

President Bush thankfully signed a bill to help combat autism in 2006. This bill is going to provide up to $5 million dollars to put toward research and education as well as treatment for autism. We need to educate parents on the symptoms of autism, that this is a lifelong disability, making learning difficult as well as the social behavior problems associated with it.

Autism is now known as the “ultimate learning disability”. The reason for this name is because those with autism have a difficulty with understanding both social behavior and language development.

The colors or autism are The Colors Of Hope. The bracelet was created using bali silver and swarovski crystals. Every bracelet has been designed to spread the Autism Awareness and show our support. The bracelet has a way to show your level of support by the last bead on the bracelet. The three colors signify the three levels of support. There is pink for the ‘Parent’, green for the ‘Family’ and purple for ‘Friend’ of someone with autism. It is created in the primary colors and a wonderful puzzle charm.

Ever bracelet sale, the customer may choose which organization they want to send their donation to. As well as the sale of the bracelet, is an Awareness Loop that can be placed on your purse, a belt loop, or a backpack. There is also an Autism Awareness key chain that can be purchased.

If you are an organization that would like to participate, then you can contact Abernook and be added to their list. Your Autism Awareness program can earn 20% profit of the retail sale of these products to put toward your organization.