ww
w.
do
tco
mh
un
ter
.co
m
Eliminating the Source: What Causes Autism
Many parents hope that in finding a source of autism, this disorder c
an be cured or prevented. Unfortunately, scientists have yet to find
one single reason why children develop autism. It is possible that so
meday autism will be linked to a specific gene abnormality, but the m
ore likely source is not one thing, but a number of factors in a chil
d's world. Autism cannot be prevented or cured, so the best we can do
to help autistic children and adults is be understanding and willing
to compromise to make the world comfortable for them and ourselves.
First off, there are certain things that do not cause autism, and thes
e myths should be laid to rest immediately. Most importantly, bad pare
nting does not cause autism. In the past, mothers were blamed for trau
matizing their children with cold parenting techniques, which was thou
ght to lead to autism. This is simple not true. Autism is also not cau
sed by malnutrition, although food allergies occur in my autistic chil
dren and some autistic children do benefit from taking daily vitamins.
There are many links between autism and he brain. Most people with au
tism have larger brains and they are "wired" differently than a typica
l brain. Differences occur in many parts of the brain, so it cannot be
targeted to one specific brain malfunction overall, but rather a brai
n malfunction in general. Autistic children also show signs of an immu
ne deficiency. Evidence in this study is not yet strong, but research
is still being done. Many autistic individuals have other health probl
ems related to immune deficiencies. Overall, these things all seem to
point to genetics. Although autism is not the parents' fault, it is mo
st likely that autism was found elsewhere on your family tree, and it
is not uncommon for parents to raise more than one autistic child. Aut
ism may also be linked to vaccinations, although this is still being h
ighly studied. The benefits of vaccinations greatly outweigh the ris