This brain development disorder is mainly characterized by acute social communication and interaction, commonly among children of a very young age. While there is no specific age range for autism to appear as toddlers as young as a few months old have been known to exhibit the signs, the normal appearance of this disorder will typically involve children within the 1 – 5 year range and develop from there.
One of the main cause of autism has been linked to a strong genetic case, which means that the very gene system can replicate the autistic disorder from generation to generation. While genetic autism is still a very grey area in the science of brain developmental disorders, there has been sufficient evidence to suggest that it might be a possibility. This is not the most rare of causes when it comes to autism, with even more rare cases that can be contributed to certain birth defects in young children, which is traced to the very agents that causes these birth defects in the first place.
From something as dangerous as drug and inhalant abuse to unconventional causes like vaccinations, the science behind birth defects is still quite hazy, though there has been a recent incursion of evidence that does point to the fact that autism can and might be caused by their presence during the pregnancy stage of women. The normal prevalence of this disorder can be traced to a number as large as six per every one thousand individuals out there, which the phenomenon 4 times more likely to appear in boys that it is in girls. Speaking more about the gene theory behind autism, there is a moving belief that autism can be explained and rationalised as a direct by product of multigene interactions and the appearance of rare mutations within the gene pool. How distinct this theory is of course down to scientific debate. Typically, it cannot be led back to the Mendelian mutation nor can it be traced back to a single abnormality within a chromosome.
The phenomenon is more typically defined by the deletion or overwriting of gene information during meiosis, which can be placed within the sphere of gene replacement. So, the area of gene theory and how it related back to autism is quite unclear sometimes and most do not agree with popular theories of genetic mutation and autism. In the case of birth defects, the science is slightly more strongly supported, as there is physical evidence that suggests that teratogens, the very agents that cause defects, have something to do with post birth autism in children. Some of the agents and environmental conditions that seem to either contribute to the production of the disorder include certain types of food, infectious diseases, exhaust emissions, PCBs, heavy metals and certain types of plastics. The arena of tracing the direct causes can be quite a jungle of scientific jargon and misunderstood and often conflicting theories, but as more research is being placed into it, the more light will be shed on the problem of autism.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.a1-articles.net/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites