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AUTISM

By: Kaylee Bott


November 18, 2015

Autism is a disorder known as ASD that affects the brain and how it develops. People
that have autism struggle with verbal and social conversations with others because that is the part
of the brain that is affected with autism. Many are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at
very young ages, as early as age two. Autism is fairly common in kids today. Autism statistics
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify around 1 in 68
American children as on the autism spectruma ten-fold increase in prevalence in 40 years.
Careful research shows that this increase is only partly explained by improved diagnosis and
awareness. Studies also show that autism is four to five times more common among boys than
girls. An estimated 1 out of 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United
States (Autism Speaks, What is Autism?). This study showed that ASD is much more common
in boys than it is in girls.
For many years, researchers did not have a clue as to what causes autism, but after many
years of studying children with the disorder, they are finally receiving answers from studies.
The environmental case is hotly debated. There is some evidence that maternal infections
during pregnancy can increase the risk. Other studies have pointed to a possible link with
antidepressants while others have looked at elevated levels of mercury. But determining prenatal
exposure to any substance is difficult because it is hard to know what substances people have
been exposed to and when. The team compared the rates of these malformations to rates of ASD
county by county. After adjusting for gender, income, ethnicity and socio-economic status, they
found that a 1 per cent increase in birth defects their measure for environmental effects was
associated with an average increase of 283 per cent in cases of ASD. Rates of autism were
several times greater in some counties than others, which the researchers interpret as being the
result of environmental toxins (Simon Makin). Some people can argue that if the environment
had something to do with how people are diagnosed with autism, and then there would be many
more people with this disorder. The clearest evidence of these autism risk factors involves
events before and during birth. They include advanced parental age at time of conception (both
mom and dad), maternal illness during pregnancy and certain difficulties during birth,
particularly those involving periods of oxygen deprivation to the babys brain. It is important to
keep in mind that these factors, by themselves, do not cause autism. Rather, in combination with
genetic risk factors, they appear to modestly increase risk. A growing body of research suggests
that a woman can reduce her risk of having a child with autism by taking prenatal vitamins
containing folic acid and/or eating a diet rich in folic acid (at least 600 mcg a day) during the
months before and after conception. (Autism Speaks, What is Autism?).
They have done studies for years to see what medications can help autism if any.
Medicines for treating the three core symptoms of autism communication difficulties, social
challenges and repetitive behavior have long represented a huge area of unmet need.
Unfortunately, few drugs on the market today effectively relieve these symptoms and none of the
options most often prescribed by practitioners work well for every individual. In fact, while the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two drugs for treating irritability associated
with the autism (risperidone and aripiprazole), it has yet to approve a medicine for treating
autisms three core characteristics. Nonetheless, medicines such as risperidone and aripiprazole
can be beneficial in ways that can ease these core symptoms, because relieving irritability often
improves sociability while reducing tantrums, aggressive outbursts and self-injurious behaviors.
(Autism Speaks, What is Autism?). None of these medicines will cure autism and there has yet

to be signs of steps that are moving towards finding a cure for autism, but the medicines will
help limit the symptoms and help people with autism.
There are many different symptoms that come along with having autism such as: socials
difficulties, problems with communications, poor imagination, and unusual behaviors.
Symptoms usually become apparent in the first three years of life. Half of parents become
concerned in the first 12 months. Some children with Asperger's syndrome are only diagnosed
after they have started school. The symptoms of ASD vary between people. Some have minimal
symptoms whereas others may have severe difficulties. People with ASD have varying levels of
intelligence. A few have very high IQs, but a low IQ is found in about 5 out of 10 people with
ASD (Dr. Tim Kenny, Autism Spectrum Disorder.). For example some social difficulties are;
there are different types of problems and not all will occur in each case. The child may: Seem to
be aloof, have little or no interest in other people which can result in having no real friends, not
understanding other people's emotions, prefer being alone. (Dr. Tim Kenny, Autism Spectrum
Disorder.) Problems with communications can range from; not being able to express
themselves, not being able to understand gestures or tone of voice, saying odd things like
repeating what you tell them, using odd word choice, using too many words, making up their
own words, not being able to use gestures when they speak or understand hard directions. (Dr.
Tim Kenny, Autism Spectrum Disorder.) Poor imagination can be like them not acting their age.
For example, my 17-year-old brother still watches very young kid shows, plays with young kids
toys, and enjoys doing anything involving young kids. He also enjoys hanging out with kids a lot
younger than him because they enjoy doing the same things as he does. These unusual
behaviors are typical and include one or more of the following: Odd mannerisms such as handflapping or other odd pointless movements, anger or aggression if routines are changed, actions
may be repeated over and over again (like rocking backwards and forwards), obsessions
including timetables or lists may develop in older children and adolescents (Dr. Tim Kenny,
Autism Spectrum Disorder.)
Autism affects the many different parts of communication with people who have the
disorder. One thing that benefits people with autism is body language. In the study, children
aged 5 to 12 were shown photos of adults with blurred faces posing in ways to convey happiness,
sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. Those with autism were just as good as those without
at recognizing the emotions. But this is only part of the picture. People with autism also have
difficulty changing their behavior in response to others emotions, says Julie Grezes at
INSERMs Laboratory of Cognitive Neurosciences in Paris, France. When most people
recognize that someone is experiencing a certain emotion, they are able to put themselves in their
place to understand why they might be feeling that way. People with autism are known to
struggle with this. Now we know that they can read body language, says Peterson, we can look
for ways to help them link certain cues to what the other person might be thinking and feeling.
(Rachel David, Interpreting body language is no problem for kids with autism.) Finding
different ways to help kids with autism feel comfortable when communicating with you is very
important because it makes them feel like they are in their comfort zone of a lot closer to it
anyways.

By doing this research on autism, you can see the growth and development they have
made over recent years with discovering many different things about the disorder. I am excited to
see the improvements being made for the sake of my brother with autism. It is very satisfying to
know they are making research for autism a necessity. Learning all of this new information about
autism and why they do the certain things that they do was interesting as well. Sometimes you
wonder and get mad at them for doing certain things, but in reality they cannot help what they do
because it is part of the disorder they have.

Works Cited
David,Rachel."InterpretingBodyLanguageIsNoProblemforKidswithAutism."NewScientist.N.p.,27July
2015.Web.15Nov.2015.
Kenny,Dr.Tim."AutismSpectrumDisorders.SymptomsofAutism|Patient."Patient.N.p.,13Mar.2015.Web.
15Nov.2015.
Makin,Simon."BiggestEverAutismStudyProbesEnvironmentalLinks."NewScientist.N.p.,20Mar.2014.Web.
15Nov.2015.
"WhatIsAutism?"AutismSpeaks.N.p.,2015.Web.15Nov.2015.

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