FYI .....
Copied from my earlier post in
Apr 11, 2021
Apr 11, 2021
Autism does not have a cure and there isn't any one cap that fits all approach for treatment. However, in some children early symptoms of autism disappear as they become old.
There is no single cause for it and these days it's considered as "Autisms"... and that's why it's called ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
In SL about one in every 93 kids are affected. Autism awareness is building up slowly and mostly it's not diagnosed in the early stages of life in many cases.
One member mentioned above that his son suffers from 'mild autism". Though some practitioners still use this term but it's not the way autism is categorized. Back in the 80's there was "infantile autism" was considered to be severe disability. Then in the mid 90's "Asperger's syndrome" was added.
Those with Asperger's syndrome were characterized as
bright, verbal, and highly-functioning, while also showing some autistic behaviors.
In 2013, the diagnostic criteria was revised with the publication of DSM-5 which changed to have just
one diagnosis for all people with autism - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
So at present, a diagnosis of ASD includes a
"level of support" from 1 to 3, with 3 describing people who need the most support.
A lot of genetic studies were done from 2000 onwards to find what causes it. There are more than 100 genes identified but changes in just one gene can cause the problem. I can list a few of the important genes and the proteins that were identified but it's not useful for the average person.
An experienced Paediatrician can identify ASD and there are standard ways of doing this, screening tools like M-CHAT-R/F (there are other questionnaires too) but these are NOT 100% accurate. I am not listing the early signs of the disorder here as it's not helpful to anybody and Professional advise is needed.
If you check the Internet you will find this diet works, that method works - but all these might have worked on one case. That doesn't mean that it will work exactly on another. Also there are many frauds like miracle cures.
A good source of information is the
CDC's ASD home page.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html