WHAT CAUSES AUTISM?
- No one knows exactly why but the brain develops differently in people with autism.
- Finding the cause (or causes) of autism is one of the most challenging areas of medical science.
- The absence of a clear understanding about what causes autism makes finding effective therapies very difficult.
- It is now widely accepted by scientists that a predisposition to autism is inherited.
- It is not clear why a genetic predisposition affects some family members and not others.
- Autism is no longer attributed, as it once was, to lack of affection in the child's mother.
- Levels of autism appear to be rising but that may be the result of improved detection, identification and diagnosis.
- There are currently no biological tests to confirm a diagnosis of autism. Identification of the condition is at present based solely on observed behaviours.
- Research is also taking place to establish the part played, if any, by environmental factors either prenatally or after a child is born.