The autism spectrum has become more aware to individuals throughout recent years. At first certain individuals who had autism were not able to be diagnosed as such and were just being seen as different to their peers. Now however, with autism now becoming ever more understood by the general public and by the area of mental health, individuals who are on the autism spectrum can be diagnosed and hopefully helped to improve their quality of life.
Certain finding have been made about autism, for example, it is believed that males are four times more likely than females to have autism and that experts believe 2-6 children out of every 1000 will have autism. A summary of these figures show that 1/500 children to 1/166 children have autism. However even with 500,000 individuals (at an age less then 21) thought to have autism, does not mean that all 500,000 have been diagnosed with it. With figures like these being discovered, it is very important to look into autism and how it could affect the individual and the families themselves. Experts believe that the sooner a child can be diagnosed with autism the sooner appropriate interventions can be made.
Research by the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) is trying to determine the risk factors that coincide with autism spectrum disorders. This research is conducted by interviews, looking at medical records, questionnaires, evaluations and blood sample; these are all being studied to determine their link with autism spectrum disorders. Each piece of research/factor was chosen as a priority (gave more weighting) depending on how strong the link was between the type of data they collected, what new info was needed about it and also how well the type of research could be measured with the methods available.
Studies and the statistics found with research on autism spectrum disorders could give individuals a better understanding as to which factors could be important when looking at autism; be they environmental, genetic or both. While awareness about autism has increased alongside the understanding of the disorder, it seems that the more research can be conducted the greater the chances are of finding successful treatments among individuals with autism.
ruthtanti 
Feb 20, 2012 @ 14:27:21
Autism is something that is more widely recognised now, but I think that more research has to be done in order to increase our understanding of it. There is research that suggests that individuals with autism are being diagnosed earlier in life, at an average age of 6 (Howlin & Moorf, 1997). However, it is still a very long, frustrating period of time waiting for the diagnosis to take place, and assistance to the parents after the child has been diagnosed can also be very limited (http://aut.sagepub.com/content/1/2/135.short).
Feb 20, 2012 @ 16:49:09
Your blog was very engaging and interesting, especially for me as when I’m at home I work at a local Riding for the Disabled Association with some children who have autism along with other disabilities. The issue of diagnosing autism is extrememly important, as if it is either mis-diagnosed or left too late, the child – and parents – may suffer. In the comment above mine, te9192 mentions how Howlin & Moorf (1997) propose diagnosis at an average age of 6 years old. However, looking online, I have found a study that proposes autism can be diagnosed much earlier than this. Teitelbaum, Teitelbaum, Nye, Fryman & Maurer (1998) focused on 17 3-year-old infants who had been diagnosed with autism by conventional methods. They looked at video footage of the infants when they were much younger, before diagnosis, and observed marked differences in their movements as young as 4-6 months old. They took from this that even as early as this age, diagnosis for autism is possible, which would prevent years of worrying and stress for the child and family. However, I realize that this must be taken with a pinch of salt and that more studies are needed before this can be fully validated.
Feb 21, 2012 @ 13:02:28
Hey really great blog, the autistic spectrum is so interesting and i thought id share with you a relevant link i found on the causes of this disorder.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/01/twins/miller-text
It was an incredibly interesting story on two identical twins who both had autism but differed in severity. This case study allowed the researchers to explore the influences, the statistic for both twins to have autism is 70%.
But the main correlation that researchers are looking into is the connection between autism and epigentic processes (chemical reactions not caused by their genes or the environment but a “third component”). The particular epigenetic proccess that is known to make the expression of genes weaker/stronger is called DNA methylation. The goal of the study of this particular set of twins is to see whether they have different methylation profiles then other people, this might explain how one twin has turned out so differently from the other.
Heres another link to explain it more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
Feb 22, 2012 @ 23:52:58
i really liked this blog i thought it was very interesting. i have heard a couple things about autism which im not sure are very true. one of them is that most people have some trait of autism in them and with the seemingly ever growing spectrum of autism i hate to think more and more people will be diagnosed with it when they dont really have it especialy when people who are perfectly normal and can live perfectly normal lives but are told they have a form of autism which they might very well have but if its not effecting them then i dont think it should be diagnosed because diagnosing somthing suggests its a problem.