The Etiology of Autism Essay

Autism is a disorder in brain progress that comes to be obvious in earliest youth.

The term autism was first used by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1908. He used it to describe one of his patients that had schizophrenia. He used it to describe his patient who had withdrawn into his own world. The pioneers of the study of ASDs were Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger. They both worked separately and studied different children. In their research, both of their studies showed that the children that they were studying showed similar characteristics. Both Kanner’s and Asperger’s children had problems in social activity and were different from normal children in terms of fine motor skills. (Mandal)

Research into Autism has grown enormously over the past 20 years due to growing awareness and the number of children and adults affected. In 1943, Leo Kanner first described the classic autistic syndrome. Since then, our knowledge and understanding in this area has broadened. In consequence, estimates of prevalence have increased considerably.

Chapter 1 focuses on autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Described in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, autism (also known as autistic disorder, childhood autism, or infantile disorder) is one of the PDDs along with Rett's disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) referred to as Heller's syndrome, Asperger disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Rett's is a rare genetic abnormality affecting brain development in girls. There are treatments available, but there is no known cure. Asperger disorder affects an individual's ability to socialize and communicate effectively. Individuals with Asperger disorder may be socially awkward and have a compulsive

Autism happens because of brain development and the regions that are thought to be involved are the parietal cortex and the hippocampus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the parietal and hippocampus was taken for between the two regions and within the two regions for a control group and an autistic group of people. With the data collected a two sample t-test were performed on the different groups of people and the regions of the brain.

The second challenge is the poor understanding of pathological changes about the brain regions and neuronal circuits underlying ASD. Macrocephaly (head circumference [HC]>97th percentile) is one of the better-established phenotypic features characterizing a subset encompassing 14-34% of autism patients (34-47). Accelerating brain growth is obvious in early developmental stage from 1-4 year of age, yet neurobiological mechanisms hypothesized to possibly underlie excessive neural growth in autism is generally lacking. In addition, GABAergic dysfunction has an important role in the etiology of autism and related illnesses (48-59). Accumulating evidences support that defects in inhibitory circuits are the one of several alterations underlying the complex behavioral deficits observed in autism mouse models (60-66). However, the underlying mechanistic connections between the genetic mutations and cellular/ structural pathological changes in ASDs are not fully established.

“Despite the physiological and potential cause of autism, there are many factors that are key in defining autism” (Marko et. al. 2015). Some of these deficits are seen in communication, social skills, stereotypes, and repetitive behaviors. Cerebellum plays a key role in some of the findings seen in autism, because it is connected to regions associated with the basal ganglia as well as the frontal cortex. Children seen with early cerebellar show different symptoms of autism. “The connection between M1-S1 found in fine motor skills were seen in the motor-sensory homunculus and hand-region” (Thompson et. al 2016). This study shows that the development of M1-S1 has a key role in fine motor skills. The findings from the “minimally verbal children

Some common effects of autism include mishaps of cognitive disorders as well as seizures and other slow development of the brain. The symptoms of seizure are disorders are quite varied. They can range from brief episodes where the child seems to “tune out” to much more obvious convulsions where the child falls to the ground, loses consciousness, and has alternating periods of muscle contraction and relaxation (Volkmar and Wiesner 28). A number of other neurological problems are observed in autism. Some children with autism have delays in the development of hand dominance later than typically developing children (Volkmar and Wiesner 28). Not every child has every problem.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental that includes disordersocial impairments, difficulty in communicating verbally and nonverbally, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Autism was first diagnosed in the early 1940’s. Signs of Autism and diagnosis usually occur before the child becomes 3 years of age. Autism occurs in children about 1–2 per 1,000 people worldwide. It is diagnosed more in children that are boys rather than girls. The number of children diagnosed with Autism has drastically increased since the 1980’s with still, no known cause. Although, some scientists have come up with the theory that Autism may be hereditary or environmental causes.

Autism is a very complicated and though brain disorder that is been discussed in this handout.it was discovered in 1943 by Leo Kanner, who announced his discovery of eleven cases of a new mental disorder. This is a genetic disorder found mostly in young persons. Studies have come out with some result after MRI examinations, which show the affection of different part of the brain. Treatments and some precautions taken so far are cited in this essay. Autism is very complex, it affects people in different ways and very difficult to diagnose and treat. That is the reason why scientists still working and researching on it. There are follow up studies that describe autism in adolescents and adult and residual impairment in everyday life. Description

For many years, autism has taken control of the minds of many men, women and children causing large amounts of distress while having extraordinary lifestyles. Many factors contribute to the overall basis of what autism actually is, and it is with numerous tests and research that have led scientists to uncover the actual reasons as to why autism is so common. Some of these factors include the anatomy, physiology, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. After getting an understanding of what these components are, understanding autism can be much easier, and the ability to recognize the signs will be much more assuring.

Despite its 50 year-old diagnosis, autism is still one of the mostly commonly contracted and rarely treated childhood diseases. Studies suggest that as many as 1 in 500 children may display autistic symptoms. Manifestations of this disability include the stereotypical physical contortions and hand-flapping motions commonly associated with autism, as well as inability to relate to the outside world, limited social skills, lack of concentration, and hypersensitivity to certain stimuli-particularly noise (1). Perceived causes include poor fetal development, genetics, allergies, and a lack of crucial enzymes. Because for many years the disorder was thought to be a result of poor

Long term case-control studies with the focus on the development of autistic brains have reported a rise in head growth during the first year in children suffering from autism. In early childhood, the growth of the head is tightly linked to the brain growth, which has shown an overgrowth in an autistic brain.

Manuel Casanova is a neurologist that believes that the exposure of babies to ultrasound is a factor contributing to the rise in autism. In the brain columns of neurons that work together also called “minicolumns”, that enable high cognitive functions such as facial recognition and joint attention. Joint attention is a quality that appears to be abnormal in the brains of autistic children. The brains of autistic patients have 10-12% higher numbers of “minicolumns” when being compared to non autistic

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, along with severe impairments in reciprocal social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and cognitive development (1,2,3). If the brain is responsible for behavior then it should follow that disordered autistic behaviors should be explainable in terms of brain abnormalities and disordered neurobiological processes. While findings are generally speculative and the etiology of the disorder remains somewhat of an enigma, there is significant evidence that autism is associated with neurobiological dysfunction.