Autism
Autism is a neurological disorder, characterized by inability to interact socially; linguistic disability; intense, narrow interests; and repetitive behaviors. These are called stims or stimming. They include walking on tiptoes, flapping of hands, staring at objects for a prolonged period of time, oral fixation, spinning in circles, and other repetitive activities. Other signs include lack of eye contact, playing alone, lack of words, or in the case of Asperger's syndrome, big vocabulary but lack of social skills or inappropriate behavior. It is usually detected by the time a child is four years old but some people's autism go unnoticed into adulthood. There are many intelligent and talented autistic individuals.[1]
Diagnoses of autism has increased from 1:10,000 in 1988 to 1:166 people today. Some estimates are as high as 1 in 150 people [2], and it has been rising. Among boys, 1 in 94 has the disorder. In New Jersey, which has the highest rate in the nation, 1 in every 60 boys has autism and 1 in every 94 children is affected.
Some parents, politicians and a few fringe researchers cite a mercury preservative used in vaccines, thimerosal, as the cause of injury in many recipients, including a cause of increase in autism rates. Thimerosal is a inorganic form of mercury that was widely used as a preservative, but since FDA and CDC action in 1999 and 2000 thimerosal usage in vaccines has been either removed or lessened to around 0.01% in vaccines that still use it, including influenza and DT vaccines. This translates to around 25 micrograms per a 0.5mL dose. Humans in the US generally absorb between 3.9 and 21 micrograms of mecury per day. It has been generally accepted that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. [3][4][5]
Autism is a spectrum disorder which means there is a range in how it affects different people. There is the fragile x syndrome, Asperger's syndrome, pdd nos, mild autism, moderate autism, severe autism, and some idiot savants. Autistic children will not all act like the character portrayed in the movie Rain Man. Nor are all autistic children uncaring or unable to show emotion, in fact many are very caring.
There is a rare form of low functioning autism called idiot savants in which the people who suffer from it cannot brush their teeth or take a bath or dress themselves or do any other basic activities but are extremely good at one thing, usually mathematics but sometimes also involving music, memory feats, or hyperlexia.
Autism was first identified in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner. Dr. Hans Asperger also did some research into autism at about the same time and discovered Asperger's syndrome. In the past it was blamed on frigid mothers. As early as the 90's many psychotherapies were used to treat it. One very effective treatment, though not a cure, is Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA therapy).
External Links
References
- â Temple Grandin, "Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life with Autism" amazon link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307275655/ref=wl_it_dp/103-3432247-4184629?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1CWNFSEUCIXQL&colid=49VN3HJC5OQK
- â http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/faq_prevalence.htm
- â http://www.fda.gov/Cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm#t3
- â http://enhs.umn.edu/hazards/hazardssite/mercury/mercdose.html
- â http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/vaccines.htm