Autism Spectrum Disorders Health Center

News and Features Related to Autism

131. 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

     Read Full Article
132. 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

     Read Full Article
133. Dad in Autism-Vaccine Case Speaks Out
     

     March 6, 2008 -- Neurologist Jon Poling, MD, PhD, is not surprised that the federal government decided to grant compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund because his daughter Hannah, now 9, had developed autism-like symptoms after receiving childhood vaccines. He knew the case was a good one.

     Read Full Article
134. Gov't: Girl’s Autism-Like Symptoms Linked to Vaccines
     

     March 6, 2008 -- Federal officials say a Georgia girl is entitled to compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund because she developed autism-like symptoms after receiving childhood vaccines in 2000. Hannah's father, Jon, tells WebMD he was not surprised by the compensation decision. "When you a

     Read Full Article
135. 'Baldi' Helps Kids With Autism
     

     Feb. 15, 2008 (Boston) -- Children generally love to play with computers, but many children with autism prefer interacting with a computer to conversing with a person. Many scientists have been working on ways to take advantage of that to help autistic kids learn. A virtual talking head, or "embodie

     Read Full Article
136. Psychoanalysis Helps Kids With Autism
     

     Jan. 25, 2008 -- From the strict dairy-free and wheat-free diet that actress Jenny McCarthy details in her best-selling book, Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, to mercury detoxification and other types of speech and behavior therapies, there is little that parents of children

     Read Full Article
137. Autism Gene Glitch Traced to Moms
     

     Jan. 10, 2008 -- Glitches in a gene called CNTNAP2 appear to be linked to autism, and at least one of those mutations may be handed down by mothers. That news appears in today's online edition of The American Journal of Human Genetics. In the journal, three teams of scientists identify CNTNAP2 as a

     Read Full Article
138. Living with Autism: "Losing My Little Boy"
     

     Nothing could have prepared Nicole Kalkowski for the agony of seeing her once-bubbly and affectionate son, Ryan, slowly slip away from her into the grip of autism.

139. 1% of Autism Due to Unstable Genes
     

     Jan. 9, 2008 -- Duplication or deletion of genes in a "hot spot of genetic instability" accounts for 1% of early autism cases, researchers find. The genes are located on an arm of the human chromosome that's still young in terms of evolution. This means it carries highly similar stretches of genetic

     Read Full Article
140. Thimerosal Down but Autism Rising
     

     Jan. 7, 2008 -- Autism rates continue to go up despite removal of thimerosal, which contains a form of mercury, from nearly all child vaccines, California data show. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence against the " thimerosal hypothesis." The hypothesis holds that vaccines using thimeros

     Read Full Article