Every parent wishes for a normal child so he or she could live normally with the rest of the community. But everyone is also faced with the reality that a child could possibly have abnormalities, and one of the dreaded sicknesses of every parent is autism. Autism has something to do with abnormal brain development and its signs show before the age of three. The effects of the sickness are verbal and nonverbal communication disorder, social interaction impairment, restricted interests, and repetitive behavior. The severity of this disorder varies in every person and the sad news is this does not have any cure yet. Proper treatment and education should be given to the child that was diagnosed to have autism. Although the real cause of autism is not determined even by the professionals, studies show several factors that could contribute to the development of the sickness. Below are some of them.
Boy with autism interacts through touch
- Research shows genetics as one of the factors in the development of autism. Parents with autistic family members have higher risk of having an autistic child. Also, parents with one autistic child could possibly have other children with the same sickness.
- One of the prenatal factors that could contribute to neurodevelopment disorder is the exposure in pesticides of the mother. Studies show that expectant mothers who get exposed to insecticides are more likely to give birth to an autistic child as opposed to women who are distant to such harmful chemicals.
- Researchers also hypothesized prenatal stress as a factor to autism. Pregnant mothers who go through stressful life events, such as death of a family member, loss job, etc, affect the development of the child.
- There are some studies that relate autism to immune system problem. It is observed that autistic children usually have physical problems that are associated with the immune system, although this theory is still under research.
- There are also observations that lack in vitamin D in mothers can cause autism. The increase in the number of children who have the sickness are said to be because of the doctors’ advice to the mothers to stay away from the sun.
- Levels of lead in the blood of autistic children are higher than the normal. Professionals are also looking at lead poisoning as one of the contributors in autism, although studies are still on going whether this is a cause or actually an effect of autism.