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May 25, 2005
I'll Have The Disorder DuJour Please
If you've noticed a lot of talk about Autism you're not wrong. It seems Autism has become the ADD/ADHD of the new millenium. As a parent of a child with Autism I'm not against all the media exposure as long as it's based upon solid scientific research and not just hype. Here's an interesting article from over at Forbes that highlights a few interesting thoughts on determining autism. Have a read.
Forbes:
The bad news is that the reported incidence of autism has tripled over the last decade. The good news is that this figure is probably exaggerated.Autism's sharp rise is, in large part, a matter of definitions. Is a child with severe learning problems autistic? What about a child who is insensitive in social situations? What about children who have trouble communicating or seem to retreat into their own shells? These days a large number of children who fit any of those descriptions are likely to be tagged with the autism label, or their parents will be told that they have a disorder (like Asperger's syndrome) that falls somewhere in the autism spectrum.
This looseness of definition is getting in the way of medical progress. We will not find effective cures for autism until we add biological markers to behavioral symptoms in diagnosing children.
Three different types of biological features can help to distinguish among the children currently labeled as autistic by behavioral symptoms.
A larger brain, as revealed in MRI scans, is one sign. The larger brains of some autistic children could be due to an excess of myelin, the sheath of white matter around the nerve cells. This could mean that the neurons are overly active, since neuron activity stimulates the production of myelin. Other autistic children have abnormally small neurons in the prefrontal and temporal cortex. These parts of the brain play a major role in language development and behavioral control--key challenges for many autistic children.
A second set of biological markers involves the responses of neurons to external stimuli as measured by the timing and magnitude of brain waves. Some autistics do not show the expected wave form when they hear a change in a spoken syllable (e.g., from "pa" to "ba"). This suggests that there is something deficient in language perception.
The biochemistry of the brain supplies a third differentiating feature. A set of the relevant molecules can be measured by examining the cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the spinal cord and extends upward to the brain. Some autistic children show abnormally high concentrations of molecules called gangliosides. Other biochemical features, which can be measured by brain-scanning techniques, show that certain autistic children have abnormally high amounts of serotonin, a critical molecule for regulating mood.
If children with autistic behaviors were evaluated for these biological features, physicians would likely find several distinct profiles among the children, despite the similarities of their behavior. In other words, what we call autism today is likely to constitute two, three or even more quite different disorders.
Posted by Loyd at May 25, 2005 10:28 AM
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