You may be trying to work out whether the differences you have noticed are autism. Or you may have been told that your child has autism and want to find out the best way to help them.

Children change in many ways as they get older. They grow physically. For example, they put on weight and get taller and stronger.

But they grow in other important ways too. They learn how to speak, smile and get along with people in other ways, such as playing. Doctors call all of these changes development. These changes normally happen by specific ages. So you may hear them called developmental milestones. A milestone is just a way to tell how far you have come.

Doctors watch for milestones to tell whether your child is developing properly. You can watch for them too. If you are worried about your child having autism, here are some milestones you can watch for.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Medline Plus: developmental milestones.
October 2007. Available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002348.htm (accessed on 21 April 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Committee on Children with Disabilities.
Technical report: the pediatrician's role in the diagnosis and management of autistic spectrum disorder in children.
Pediatrics. 2001; 107: 85.

 

 

 

 

 

³

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Academy of Neurology and Child Neurology Society.
Practice parameter: screening and diagnosis of autism.
Available at http://www.guidelines.gov (accessed on 21 April 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Johnson CP.
New tool helps primary care physicians diagnose autism early.
AAP News. 2004; 24: 74.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

But children don't always follow this pattern exactly. Also, they can be slow to reach certain milestones but not others. Ask your doctor if you think your child is falling behind in any way.

Skills such as speaking, smiling and getting on are controlled by your brain. It does this through several networks or pathways of nerves that connect your brain to other parts of your body. As your child grows their brain forms new pathways so they develop more skills.

With autism, your child's brain doesn't work as it should.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Volkmar FR, Pauls D.
Autism.
Lancet. 2003; 362: 1133-1141.

 

 

 

 

 

¹This affects how your child develops in many ways. So doctors call autism a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD for short).

On the outside, children with autism usually grow and look like other children. But they don't develop the skills they need to get along well with others or to keep up in school.

With autism, your child usually has problems with speaking. And they may not like being touched in any way, such as cuddling. Also, they may behave in odd ways. For example, your child may do the same activity over and over again. Or they may follow the same routine all the time.

Sometimes, children with autism are very good at a certain skill or subject, such as math, technical drawing or music. That's because they can focus very hard on just one thing. This is linked to their autism. But this happens rarely.

Autism affects different children in different ways. Some children never learn to speak and need help throughout their life. Other children can learn the skills they need to live on their own.

Autism belongs to a group of similar conditions. Doctors call this group autistic spectrum disorder. The group also includes a condition called Asperger's syndrome. To learn more, see Autistic spectrum disorder.

On these pages, we are looking at autism itself.

If your child has autism, you may worry that something you did caused it. But nothing you have done as a parent could have caused your child's autism.

In most children with autism, doctors don't know the exact cause for it.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Folstein SE.
Autism.
International Review of Psychiatry. 1999; 11: 4.

 

 

 

 

 

⁶ All we know is that the brains of children with autism work in a different way.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Volkmar FR, Pauls D.
Autism.
Lancet. 2003; 362: 1133-1141.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Researchers have looked at many factors to see whether they are linked to autism. We've described some of these below.

Studies give us good evidence that autism is mainly caused by

 

 

 

 

 

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

 

 

 

 

 

genes, rather than by any things your baby or child experiences. You get half of your genes from your father and half from your mother. Your genes control how your body develops. If you have a faulty gene, it can cause problems with growth and health. But this doesn't always happen.

A combination of certain faulty genes from both parents may increase a child's chance of getting autism. We're still not sure which genes are involved or how the faulty genes affect your child's brain. We have good evidence from research that autism is mainly caused by genes.

If you already have a child with autism, or you or your partner has an autistic spectrum disorder, you may worry about the chance of your future children also having autism. You can get advice about this from a genetic counselor. This is a person who will look closely at your family. Ask your doctor about genetic counseling.

The genes your child has may not be the only reason for their autism. Things your child goes through in the womb, at birth or afterward, might help bring on the condition. Autism probably happens because of a combination of genes and these other things. But researchers haven't found any good evidence for this. So we can't say for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Medical Research Council.
MRC review of autism research: epidemiology and causes.
December 2001. Available at http://www.mrc.ac.uk (accessed on 21 April 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁹

Some studies have shown that babies born prematurely, or with very low birth weights, are more likely to have autism.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Kolevzon A, Gross R, Reichenberg A.
Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for autism: a review and integration of findings.
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2007; 161: 326-333.

 

 

 

 

 

¹⁰

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Schendel D, Bhasin TK.
Birth weight and gestational age characteristics of children with autism, including a comparison with other developmental disabilities.
Pediatrics. 2008; 121: 1155-1164.

 

 

 

 

 

¹¹

Sometimes autism is caused by a medical condition that your child gets. But this isn't common.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Lamb JA, Parr JR, Bailey AJ, et al.
Autism: in search of susceptibility genes.
Neuromolecular Medicine. 2002; 2: 11-28.

 

 

 

 

 

⁸ In about 1 in 10 children with autism, the autism is clearly caused by a medical condition.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Medical Research Council.
MRC review of autism research: epidemiology and causes.
December 2001. Available at http://www.mrc.ac.uk (accessed on 21 April 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁹ To learn more, see Medical causes of autism.

In the past, some experts thought that vaccination with the MMR vaccine (a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella) might be linked to autism. Because of the worry, many parents have decided not to give their children this vaccine. But several big studies have looked into this question. All these studies have said there isn't any evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Leading researchers and doctors who specialize in child health advise parents to give their children the MMR vaccine.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Lamb JA, Parr JR, Bailey AJ, et al.
Autism: in search of susceptibility genes.
Neuromolecular Medicine. 2002; 2: 11-28.

 

 

 

 

 

⁸

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Immunization safety review: measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism.
National Academies Press, Washington DC, U.S.A.; 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

¹²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Wilson K, Mills E, Ross C, et al.
Association of autistic spectrum disorder and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: a systematic review of current epidemiological evidence.
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2003; 157: 628-634.

 

 

 

 

 

¹³

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.
MMR vaccine: how effective and how safe?
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. 2003; 41: 25-29.

 

 

 

 

 

¹⁴

To learn more, see MMR vaccine and autism.

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