12
UNKNOWN
FACTS!
5 Things You Didn't Know About Autism
1. If you've seen one child with autism, - you've seen just that: one child with autism. You cannot generalize your experiences with that one child to all children with autism. The clinical signs, symptoms and needs of children with autism, who represent 1 in every 68 children, are extremely diverse.
2. We can often diagnose autism reliably by 2 years of age, but the signs can be subtle and require expertise with this age group to recognize. So, despite our ability to diagnose the condition early, many children continue to be diagnosed much later, at 4 to 5 years of age. While these are glaring signs to someone who sees young children with autism all day long..
3. Autism is not caused by bad parenting - Once upon a time, autism was blamed on cold "refrigerator moms" who didn't nurture their children. All that changed when it was recognized that children with autism are much more likely to have seizures over the course of their lifespan. No amount of non-ideal parenting causes seizures – or causes autism.
4. So what causes autism? Many things: infections (e.g. congenital rubella, herpes), metabolic problems (like those tested on the newborn screen – low thyroid, PKU.
5. Better outcomes are associated with earlier diagnosis. That generally doesn't mean a cure. It means better learning and communication skills, fewer behavioral issues, more adaptive/functional skills of independence and less familial stress.