Etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder, 1950-Present
Typical play for a child with autism.
What is the etiology, or cause, of autism?
We simply don't know the accurate cause of autism.
Although, we do know that Autism is a developmental brain disorder linked to genetics. That genetic link, however, has yet to be found.
It was thought in the 1950's and 1960's that autism was something that was inflicted on children by their mothers from being cold, or neglectful. These mothers were called "Refrigerator Mothers". The original idea came from Bruno Bettleheim who saw parallels between the behaviors of some prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp and those of autistic children. It took decades for anyone in the medical world to listen to a few other lone psychologists and the mothers themselves to take the blame off of the mothers. This is the farthest from the truth about autism; research has scientifically proved that autism is a developmental brain disorder linked to genetics.
Another common myth about the cause of autism is that autism is caused from the thimerosal. Thimerosal can be found in the MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella) vaccine. The only study showing a connection between autism and the MMR vaccine turned out to be fraudulent and the physician who wrote the article had his credentials revoked. The journal that this article was published also retracted this. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even with this scientific proof, the belief that a link between the two exists is still prevalent.
As previously stated, research is showing that autism is linked to genetics. Say a mother has twins and one has autism there is a 90% chance that the other twin will have it. Scientists believe that there are 5-6 genes that contribute to autism. From studies done on siblings, they have found the genes they believe contribute and those are chromosomes 7, 13 and 15.
We simply don't know the accurate cause of autism.
Although, we do know that Autism is a developmental brain disorder linked to genetics. That genetic link, however, has yet to be found.
It was thought in the 1950's and 1960's that autism was something that was inflicted on children by their mothers from being cold, or neglectful. These mothers were called "Refrigerator Mothers". The original idea came from Bruno Bettleheim who saw parallels between the behaviors of some prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp and those of autistic children. It took decades for anyone in the medical world to listen to a few other lone psychologists and the mothers themselves to take the blame off of the mothers. This is the farthest from the truth about autism; research has scientifically proved that autism is a developmental brain disorder linked to genetics.
Another common myth about the cause of autism is that autism is caused from the thimerosal. Thimerosal can be found in the MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella) vaccine. The only study showing a connection between autism and the MMR vaccine turned out to be fraudulent and the physician who wrote the article had his credentials revoked. The journal that this article was published also retracted this. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Even with this scientific proof, the belief that a link between the two exists is still prevalent.
As previously stated, research is showing that autism is linked to genetics. Say a mother has twins and one has autism there is a 90% chance that the other twin will have it. Scientists believe that there are 5-6 genes that contribute to autism. From studies done on siblings, they have found the genes they believe contribute and those are chromosomes 7, 13 and 15.