Features Related to Autism

1. "We Need to Pull Ryan into This World"
   

   By Nancy Rones Every inch of progress that Ryan Kalkowski makes in his battle against autism gives his parents new hope — and new determination. In this month’s installment, we look at how far this little boy has come, how far he still has to go, and what his family is willing to sacrifice to get th

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2. Autism and Family Relationships
   

   Alison Singer's days became a blur eight years ago when her daughter Jodie, now nearly 11, was diagnosed with autism. Singer left the workforce temporarily and focused on her daughter. "I set up the home program -- 40 hours a week of applied behavioral analysis therapy," says Singer, referring to a

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3. FAQ: Vaccine Court Hears Autism Cases
   

   May 14, 2008 -- Contrary to media reports, a U.S. court has not yet issued any decisions on whether vaccines cause autism. It's an important issue: About 5,000 cases remain in limbo -- at the parents' request -- as the so-called Omnibus Autism Proceeding grinds on. This week, public hearings in the

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4. Autism-Vaccine Link: Evidence Doesn't Dispel Doubts
   

   Autism and vaccines: It's the link that just won't die. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Institute of Medicine all agree that there's probably no relationship between autism and vaccines. But if the case is that solid, why do so many people remain u

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5. Autism Cases on the Rise; Reason for Increase a Mystery
   

   The number of children diagnosed with autism or related disorders has grown at what many call an alarming rate. In the 1970s and 1980s, about one out of every 2,000 children had autism. Today, the CDC estimates that one in 150 8-year-olds in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. This exp

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6. Autism: Making the Diagnosis
   

   Diagnosing autism or autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a group of brain-based disorders that become apparent in early childhood, is often no simple task for a number of reasons. No specific medical tests are available to diagnose ASD, so the diagnosis is made based on the observations of parents, phy

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7. Treating Autism: One Child's Story
   

   Stories about children with autism are not always happy. But when Debbie Page tells about her son, Gabe, it's a story of hope. The Pages are lucky, in a way: Gabe, born in February 2003, is not as severely impaired as other children with autism. And the Pages, who live outside of Baltimore, are also

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8. Finding the Right Autism Treatment
   

   Parents are using nearly 400 different treatments for their children with autism. They can't all be wrong. They can't all be right. Welcome to the shaky ground on which parents find themselves when they learn that their child may -- or may not -- have autism. The pace of scientific research is frust

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9. Asperger's Syndrome: Secret to Success
   

   While autism spectrum disorder appears on many radar screens today, this wasn't the case when Temple Grandin was growing up in the 1950s. Grandin, now 60, didn't utter a word until she was 3 1/2 years old. As a result, she was labeled "autistic," and her parents were told she should be institutional

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10. The Challenges of Raising a Child With Autism
    

    Looking back, Cori Ayala understands that the signs made sense. Before her son Evan was diagnosed with autism at age 3, he had behaved differently from his older brother, Alex. Evan was happy and affectionate, Ayala says. But "he developed pretty rigid routines that had to be adhered to or he would

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