Austism Essay Research Paper It has been

Austism Essay, Research Paper It has been over 50 years since Dr. Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote the first paper applying the term ‘autism’ to a group of children who were self-absorbed and who had severe social, communication, and behavioral problems. For many years, the most cited statistic is that autism occurs in 4.5 out of 10,000 live births. This was based on large scale surveys conducted in the United States and England. More recently, estimates on the prevalence of autism have ranged been as high as +% to +% of the population. Autism is three times more likely to affect males than females. This gender difference is not unique to autism since many developmental disabilities have a greater male to female ratio. Autistic infants are

different from birth, they are usually described as being either passive or overly agitated babies. Two common characteristics they exhibit include arching their back to avoid physical contact, and they are unable to anticipate being picked up, they become limb. During infancy, many begin to rock and/or bang their head against their crib. About one half of autistic children develop normally until about 1.5 to 3 years of age, then autistic symptoms begin to emerge. Some autistic toddlers reach developmental milestones, like talking, crawling, and walking, much earlier than the average child; although others develop much slower. As an autistic child grow older they may fall very much behind in area of social skills, communication, and cognitive. In addition, dysfunctional behaviors

may start to appear, such as self-stimulatory behaviors, like repetitive non-goal directed behavior, such as rocking, hand flapping, hand biting, head banging, sleeping and eating problems, poor eye contact and insensitivity to pain. Another characteristics of autism is insistence on sameness. Many children become over insistent on routines; if one is changed, even slightly, the child may become upset and throw a tantrum. An example of this is, wearing the same clothing, or going to school on the same routine. One possible reason for insistence on sameness may be the person’s inability to understand and cope with novel situations. Although there is no known unique cause of autism, there is growing evidence that autism can be caused by a variety of problems. There is some

indication of a genetic influence in autism. Currently there is a great deal of research focused on locating the ‘autism gene’, however research guess there are up to five genes associated with autism. There is also evidence that a virus can cause autism. There is an increased risk in having an autistic child after exposure to rubella during the first trimester of the pregnancy. There is also a growing concern that toxins and pollution in the environment can also lead to autism. The areas in which there is a high population there is also a high report of pollution. Researches have located several brain abnormalities in individuals with autism; however, the reasons for there abnormalities is not known nor is the influence they have on behavior. These abnormalities can be

classified into two types, dysfunction’s in the neural structure of the brain and abnormal biochemistry of the brain. They have located two areas in the limbic system which are underdeveloped, the amygdala and the hippocampus. These two areas are responsible for emotions, aggression, sensory input and learning. Also a dysfunctional immune system has also been associated with autism. It is thought that a infection or an environmental toxin may be responsible for damaging the immune system. Researchers have found that many autistic individuals have a decreased number of helper t-cells, which help the immune system fight infection. Many autistic individuals do not realize that others may have different thoughts, plans, and perspectives than their own. About 10% of autistic