Theory on Autism?

Question

Anyone have a theory about why it's now so common? When my son was young it was 1 in 10,000 births. Not it's like 1 in 100's. What is your thoughts on this? I don't want to read a book or anything I just wanted peoples personal thoughts, opinions and theories. Preferably parents of autistic children.

My son is now 17 and is doing really well.

I also think it has a lot to do with the environment and maybe even things like microwave cooking. I know that idea is way out there but anyone ever consider what those things are doing to us? I mean if you have a pacemaker you can't get near the things. Not sure if I even believe microwaves could be the culprit but I think it's something really simple like that things we never even considered. My older son is not autistic and really I took better care of myself the 2nd pregnancy than the first. (not that I was bad the first time but I was even more careful the 2nd time).

Answer 1

Anyone have a theory about why it's now so common? Yes, there are a lot of theories about the cause of this disability.

First, Autism may not be a single disability. It may be a class of disabilities that have not yet been teased out from and untangled from each other. Some individuals have speculated that autism may be as many as six major conditions. In the meantime, it is considered a spectrum disorder, meaning that it takes on many forms of manifestation.

Like cancer, it may have a variety of causes or related factors. Several recent studies, and some older ones, have identified high correlations with sets of alleles, heredity, father's age, mother's age, inoculations, mercury, electrical lines, maternal depression, diet, etc. Some have been debunked, others are just now being considered.

Someday, we may better understand the relationship between these factors and why a certain combination of factors leads to a specific type of autism or Asperger's.

Similarly, there are many ideas about the increase of reported cases. Possible explanations include the increase of associated factors (like environmental pollution, maternal depression, or late-age pregnancies), public awareness, or better diagnostic methodologies.

Steve
:-D

Answer 2

Everything is possible,for many, autism is being a mystery on the neurology field, also other researchers have discovered that in autistic individuals, connections between brain cells may be deficient within single regions and not just between regions as was previously believed. Others are even trying to lead to earlier diagnosis and more targeted medication for autism. With these being said, there is still a lot of research that is currently going on and everything is possible. If a medication fail then they will try something else, I know it sounds unfair, but I believe that science has improve a lot over the time, I will recommend you the movie “awakening” by Robert Williams, “A true Story movie." That's my theory at least.

Answer 3

I am the mother of an autistic son. When he was first diagnosed, I did research linking vacinations to autism and found the research out there really didn't address the question in a way that made me feel this was the cause of the illness. The mercury levels in vaccinations has dropped dramatically in the last 25 years, yet autism rates have continued to climb. To me, if the mercury in vacciniations was the cause, we should be seeing decreased rates due to the lower mercury levels and that fact that more and more parents in the US now choose not to vaccinate than any time prior.

I do believe autism is made of two componenets...a genetic dispostion that is triggered by a chemical catalyst. It could be the catalyst is the vaccinations, it could be there is a biological change in chemistry (the age of diagnosis also coincides with a peried of physichal growth and major developmental change). And, I also firmly believe that part of the increase definitely comes from better understanding and earlier diagnosis of all developmental disabilities. I certainly remember kids from my own time in school that were a bit "off" and just sort of did thier own thing. With what I know now, they were most likely Asperger's kids. Even my husband (another reason I support the genetic tie) who has been diagnosed, as an adult in his thirties, as Asperger's was just considered a bit odd when he was in school in the 80's.

My son is 10 and doing super!

Answer 4

The credible evidence shows that autism diagnoses are better and more inclusive than ever. I know plenty of autistic adults that were undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for many years. Asperger's Syndrome wasn't even put into the DSM until 1994 and now is included in the numbers. The explosion is a myth and I find it very insulting to liken autism to cancer, plague or mental illness.
There are studies that show that the numbers of "mentally retarded" people in ratio to the autism diagnoses have flipped around. Doesn't this make sense? As recent as 10, 15 years ago, people had a label, "MR" slapped on them and they were sent on their way.
The mercury myth is no secret, it's been proven to have no connection to the increase in diagnosis. BTW, the thimersol has been taken out of most/all childhood vaccines and the rates aren't significantly dropping. I think they are still increasing. I know my own son was lagging in his vaccines and yet still was clearly autistic. I communicate with quite a few adults and parents of older children that are just hearing about Asperger's and are in line, waiting for a diagnosis. There are also scores of Asperger's adults that refuse to get an official diagnosis, or had diagnosis hidden from them because their families wanted them to "be normal".

Answer 5

I am the father of an Autistic boy. There is a lot of politics and junk science being thrown around about the increase in autism.
Yes it is increasing. I have reason to believe that a combination of both genetics and vaccines are to blame(I don't think thimerisol is the culprit). I think it can easily be prevented by a simple change in the way the vaccines are administered. But the drug companies are making billons per year from the vaccines and the various medications used to treat all kinds of developmental problems many of which may be related to autism.
I have noticed that any researchers in the US that dare suggest that a vaccine may be a possible trigger, soon loses their funding and their research priviledges.
It make me sick, that a few greedy @#$#%$^& can get disgustingly wealthy by depriving some many children of a future.

Answer 6

I am not a parent, but a long time consultant for students with autism. It has increased over the past 6 years significantly. During my intake with clients I noted each of my students during the pregnancy, the mother was in someway around construction. Whether the parents were remodeling the home or mom worked at a job where there was construction going on. I do believe there is a genetic disposition b/c again during my intake, one of the parents did note having a cousin, sibling, parent, aunt or uncle who had autism, "odd behaviors", ocd, or bipolar disorder. Out of my documented 75 personal clients I see this thread only.
I do believe autism is environmental with genetic predisposition. Most of the students who have autism of late, seem to be higher function than those of 6 to 8 years ago. I have also noted students I have seen typically have vocal sounds whereas my older students did not make vocal sounds until therapy began.
If you look at society as a whole, most anxiety, adhd and depression disorders are also on the rise. I do beleive we need to do something? But what?
I am glad to hear your 17 year old son is doing well.

Answer 7

My cousin is autistic, he is almost 10 years old. He only speaks when spoken to and thats when we really prompt him to do so. So I'm so happy that your 17 yr old is doing fine!

When my aunt gave birth to him, the doctor mentioned that the cause could be because of unconscious stress during the pregnancy. She was experiencing marital problems at the time and this had a negative effect on the baby. The doctor said that people look after their pregnancies but when they have stress, the blood pressure of the child in the womb rises to an extent where it could effect the child negatively.

Also, genetics has a lot to do with it. If you and your partner both have a negative recessive gene in you, it may become active in your child which leads to autism. So you may want to check that out.

I live in South Africa so am not so sure about the vaccine thing but I'm sure it could also definitely be a cause. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

This is funny, because just during the previous evening, I had a discussion with someone on the same question. By the way, I am not a parent but the sister of an autistic sibling. The following is a summary of what I learned last night about one of the more controversial theories about the cause of autism, with a bit of supplemental research I did on my own on this fascinating topic.

There may be a link between autism and the vaccines given at birth to children in the U.S. It is thought that the thimerosal (mercury) that they use as a preservative in those vaccines can lead to neurological problems in the child. Many parents of autistic children believe that the CDC is covering up this inconvenient truth, because, of course, that would probably mean lawsuits worth hundreds of millions of dollars as well as trying to find a less cheap alternative to using mercury.

This theory is very rarely heard, mainly due to the fear instigated by the power pharmaceutical companies to any media outlet that dares to address this side of the debate. Due to the willpower of many parents of autistic children, the debate was finally pushed into the U.S. Senate. Their case was promptly dismissed by the subjective research of scientists (from the pharmaceutical companies, no less!) who showed that there was no link between the thimerosal and the disease.

Fortunately, though, Oprah actually allowed a guest on her show, a mother of an autistic son, to speak out on this - albeit for only 1 minute 38 seconds. This, hopefully, will encourage others to be braver in approaching this taboo subject. The clip is shown in the third link I have provided below.

I'd like to add that I do not, of course, believe this to be the only factor in the cause of autism. After all, there is a reason that this is not only a problem in our country, but a global disorder. There may also be a genetic component, or other environmental factors. But there has to be a reason why the autism phenomenon is so particularly concentrated in the U.S. And there are many who think that it is the mercury used in children's vaccines here that has exacerbated the problem to such frightening levels.

I am glad to hear that your son is doing well, and I wish him and your family the best of luck in future years.

Answer 9

Well I hate to sound mean and first off I would like to say I am glad that your son is doing well. And now here goes my thoughts on this.
I think that autism and add and adhd and all those other unexplained childhood illnesses are ways to get parents to get off from being parents. I've seen a child who was a little hyper active have a parent that says I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE I'M TAKING HIM TO THE DOCTOR. and three days later there is a completley different child in front of me because of the drugs he's on. I think it a way for doctors and pharmecutical people to make more money ebcause parents have become lazy these days. Most parents don't interact with their kids the way they are suppose to. If a child is put in his room with a buncho f toys and a tv why should he be the life of the party. If he hasn't had the interaction with people then he's going to be withdrawn and scared and maybe even angry when he's put in that situation. I have watched a child that I was told was severe austistic become a different child in a matter of a school year because he had a lot of one on one interaction with a certain number of people that continually worked with him. When he first came to our school he would stand beside his desk and spin in circles while his teacher was talking to the class. And this would go on many times a day, but the end of the school year that had stopped almost completely. He started interacting with the kids a little bit and was even showing affection towards his teachers. So that there shows that interaction can help alot. I don't want you to think that I think its your fault. because we really don't know where these diseases come from, but I think that most of the cases are false cases or even not accurately diagnosed. I also believe that it could be a mild case of down's that is being misdiagnosed as autism. But I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor or even a teacher for special needs children. This is just my opinion.

Answer 10

I know it's tempting to blame the rise of autism on vaccines, but in order to do so: 1) you have show that when you have mercury in vaccines, the autism rates go up and 2) when you DON'T have mercury in vaccines, the autism rates go down. This has not been shown to be true. Many countries in Europe, as well as the USA, have decreased or removed the amount of themerisol in vaccines, but autism rates continue to RISE. In addition, in the United Kingdom, there has been a recent epidemic of mumps because parents have not had their children properly vaccinated. Please google "MMR Epidemic UK" and click on the links on "www.foodconsumer.org" and the cdc.gov websites for more info on this.

The diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders has changed drastically in the last ten years. People are much more aware of the disorder, which is a good thing. In addition, MANY more treatments are available now. People are much more motivated to seek help EARLY when they see red flags in their toddlers... which is another good thing.

Plus, it is very important to know that the rates of Mental Retardation have gone down as the rates of autism have gone up... I'm not saying that they are completely interchangeable... but there is a significant overlap in the rates of diagnosis.

Many studies right now are focusing on the genetics of autism. Autism most likely represents a group of different conditions, for lack of a better word... because there is so much variability... Some people with autism are very high fucntioning, like Temple Grandin, the university professor... while others cannot speak and are also intellectually delayed or mentally retarded. It is a huge spectrum, and doctors didn't used to think this way.

It's just not as simple as blaming it on the vaccines or the environment. Otherwise, EVERYONE would have autism.