What causes autism
- No one knows exactly why but the brain develops differently in people with autism.
- Finding the causes of autism is one of the most challenging areas of medical science.
- The absence of a clear understanding about what causes autism makes finding effective therapies very difficult.
- It is now widely accepted by scientists that a predisposition to autism is inherited with the underlying genetic cause of up to 40% of autism cases having now been identified.
- It is not clear why a genetic predisposition affects some family members and not others.
- Improved detection, identification and diagnosis of autism means that we now estimate that 1 in 100 people has an autism spectrum disorder.
- There are currently no biological tests to confirm a diagnosis of autism. Identification of the condition is at present based solely on observed behaviours.
- Research is also taking place to establish the part played, if any, by environmental factors either prenatally or after a child is born.
- Autism is no longer attributed, as it once was, to lack of affection in the child's mother.
