What is Autism?
It is a lifelong severely incapacitating developmental disorder which occurs in Children in first 3 years of their life. Autism causes disturbance and impairment in 3 areas communication, social skills and their restricted and repetitive behaviors. Individuals diagnosed with Autism may respond abnormally to sensations as one or multiple senses might get affected at once. These troubles are manifested in abnormal behavior with people, events and objects.
Autism is also known as Spectrum Disorder as symptom severity ranges from social disability and mild learning to severe impairment with highly unusual behavior and multiple problems. Disorder might happen alone or might be accompanied with seizures and retardation. Of all development disorders Autism is third most commonly found and is even more regularly found than Down’s syndrome. Normally, 2 out of every 1,000 have autism or autistic symptoms. Out of those Boys are greater in number with 80% of autistic population is male. Autism can be found anywhere in this world and in any king of family irrelevant of the class, culture, race, income class or religion.
How do children get affected by these diseases?
The cause of autism is not clearly defined at present. Most scientists have a theory that it happens due to environmental issues and genes the one fact which is clear is that autism is not contagious as it can’t be caught from others. Latest research states people tend to get spectrum disorder in case anyone else in family also has it, though it does not mean autism is passed on to children from parents.
Another study has identified that some extracts of environment make children more prone to develop spectrum disorder. Although what exactly is the reason has not been found. Other studies suggest that reason behind autism might be vaccines, allergies or viruses. None of these studies have proven scientifically and no scientific study has found link between autism and vaccines. It is difficult to figure out the actual cause of autism as it is hard because of human brain and its complications. At present most studies are focusing on genes and human body having so many genes, it will take long time to determine which gene/s are the prominent contributors. As autism runs in family, researchers have a theory that certain gene combinations might predispose autism in child. Risk increases of a child having autism in such cases.
Parents having children in advanced age further increases of a child having autism. When pregnant women are exposed to any chemical or drug the possibility of child having autism further increases. There are many risk factors like alcohol use, metabolic condition of mother (Obesity & Diabetes) and antiseizure drug use at the time of pregnancy. Autism has also been linked with PKU (untreated phenylketonuria) disorder which is metabolically inborn due to enzyme absence and German measles (rubella). Vaccinations are linked as cause of autism but there is no supporting evidence for this case.
How to prevent Autism?
Presently it is not clear what exactly causes Autism and so child’s brain cannot be cured. Therapies like diets and medications are being tested but nothing has been proved. Without the knowledge of cause it is not possible to prevent autism. There is no injection, pill, medication which can cure the problem. Only effective treatment of autism at present is program of structured training. Thus, combining parent training and schooling are best treatment at preset. If intervention is consistent and appropriate children with autism can progress significantly. Intervention at early stage, before age of 5 is crucial for progress of child and accurate and early diagnosis is crucial in these cases. Children with autism grow up to become adults with autism and meaningful outlets are required for employment and social interaction of autistic. Reason for autism is still not clear as most researchers consider genetics as the main reason for child having autism with 90% of risk associated with it. Minor cases might be caused due to chemical exposure and birth defect agents.
Autism cannot be cured at present but the risk can be reduced for a child to have autistic disorder:
- Never take drugs in pregnancy unless approved by doctor; which is true in case of seizure medication.
- Never drink alcohol while pregnancy months.
- In case you are diagnosed with celiac disease or PKU make sure you get treatment.
- Autism due to Rubella (German measles) can be prevented by getting immunized before pregnancy.
Conclusion
Autism is a lifelong severely incapacitating developmental disorder which occurs in Children in first 3 years of their life. The cause of autism is not clearly defined at present with research supporting environmental issues, genetic disorder, allergies, family history or viruses. It is not possible to cure autism as the main reason behind is not yet determined. But it can be managed with structural training and taking care of some provisions in pregnancy years.
References
New M. “What is Autsim?”. Kids Health. kidshealth.org. Web. 8/2012
“Are Children Born with Autism, or Does it Develop Later?”. Autism Speaks. autismspeaks.org. Web. 11/10/2013
Beck, M. “Progress in Identifying the Genetic Roots of Autism”. The Wall Street Journal. online.wsj.com. Web. 24/9/2012
