Autism: A Secret World

Autism is defined as "a neurological disorder that impedes language and derails social and emotional development." (Cowley 46) Also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD, it has often been misdiagnosed in the past, or not diagnosed at all. However, due to new research, more cases are being found and treated. According to Cowley, "Experts now suspect that one person in 160 lives with some degree of autism. That's three to four times the rate in the 1970s."

There has not been a lot of discovery in what may cause ASD, however studies taken place at the University of California in San Diego revealed some possible leads. Neuroscientist, Eric Courchesne, led a team that researched medical charts of 48 Autistic children and compared the findings to national norms. They found that the children's head size at birth was rather small, however grew at an increasing pace within the first year. "Autism, the new findings suggest, is not a sudden calamity that strikes children at the age of 2 or 3 but a developmental problem that can be traced back to infancy... Other recent studies suggest that the early growth spurt is followed by several years of slower expansion, giving the autistic child an adult-size brain by the age of 4 or 5. During adolescence and adulthood, autistic brains are generally no larger than normal ones. Unfortunately, they exhibit a range of other anomalies, including dense clusters of underdeveloped cells in the hippocampus and amygdala--structures that are critical for integrating emotional and sensory information." (Cowley, 46) This discovery, although it's promising, does not help with the early diagnosis of Autism because there are many other diseases that have the same early symptoms. Dr. Janet Lainhart, an autism expert at the University of Utah, states "The findings ... are most useful to researchers attempting to define the underlying developmental neuropathology of autism, rather than to physicians trying to identify young children with autism." (Cowley, 47) Because there are other diseases out there that show rapid growth in the head, if doctors depend on this method for early detection, "Lainhart calculates that...they would pick up 60 healthy children for every autistic one." (Cowley, 47)

When determining specific symptoms of Autism, researchers have asked parents of already diagnosed Autistic children to bring in home video tapes of their first two birthday parties. They also ask them several questions of when their children began to show certain behaviors at different stages. Through this research, a list of five areas parents need to watch during the development stages developed, called the "Big Five."

1. "Does the baby respond to his or her name when called by the caregiver?" (Kasari 61) The average infant responds to the calling of his or her name by directing their attention to the person speaking. However, an Autistic baby only responds to someone calling his or her name 20% of the time.

2. "Does the young child engage in 'joint attention'?" (Kasari 61) Most children start to follow what the caregiver is doing and show attention to their behavior. They also start communication and sharing of objects such as picking up a toy that they are playing with and handing it to show the caregiver. An Autistic child does not direct their attention to the caregiver or share in their interests, but seems to be totally separate from the world around them.

3. "Does the child imitate others?" (Kasari 61) Many infants will begin to mimic facial expressions or hand gestures at 8-10 months. The child will stick their tongue out at the caregiver in response to them sticking their tongue out. They might clap along during patty-cake. However, a baby with Autism does not get involved in mimicking their caregiver's movements or gestures.

4. "Does the child respond emotionally to others?" (Kasari 61) Children begin to become socially responsive to others, such as smiling, crying, or laughing when someone else is. However, the Autistic child shows little or no emotion to others. If the child should hurt someone else during play and they begin to cry, the child shows no response.

5. "Does the baby engage in pretend play?" (Kasari 61) Children by the age of one begin to "play pretend" but do not fully grasp the imagination until about age two where toys, dolls, and imaginary objects take on life like attributes. Children under the age of two with Autism do not play with toys or certain ones if any. They do not develop "pretend" play until after two if developing it at all

"It is important to note that in each of the 5 areas we have flagged, we are most concerned with behaviors that are absent or occur at very low rates. The absence of certain behaviors may be more difficult to pinpoint than the presence of atypical behaviors." (Kasari 61)

When is the earliest a child can be tested for Autism? "Given the potential benefits of early diagnosis, is it possible to reliably diagnose autism before age 2? The answer is yes. Early development of children with autism has been studied by:

* Screening large numbers of children for autism-specific behaviors during well-baby checks at 18 months of age

* Asking parents of children with autism to remember back to whether their child showed certain behaviors at certain developmental ages

* Having parents bring in home videos of children diagnosed with autism when these children had their first or second birthday parties (which parents often videotape). (Kasari 60)

When do the first signs of Autism appear so that a parent may be made aware that their child has a problem? Some signs are present the first few months, however some children are just slow in developing and can be misdiagnosed. Doctors generally do not diagnose a child with Autism at a young age unless they are showing extremes of the following characteristics:

* Late babbling or babbling that does not increase in complexity

* Poorly synchronized gaze (eye contact), vocalization (making sounds like cooing or simple babbling), and smile at caregivers in response to the caregivers' attention, smiling and vocalizing to the baby

* Very infrequent attempts to initiate interaction or gain social attention from the caregivers

* Infrequent or poor quality imitation of the caregiver's facial expression, use of objects or vocalizations in social interactions (and the baby may not look at the caregiver or smile when imitating)

* Infrequent social responsiveness (not paying attention to others when they are talking, not