Speech Language Pathology

For years, doctors and medical researchers have known that pregnant mothers are at greater risk for hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, and obesity. All of these risk factors are greatly impacted by pregnancy, and these conditions serve to cause great harm to both fetus and mother during gestation, and beyond. Now comes an intriguing study which suggests that in addition to known health problems resulting from these conditions such as stroke, diabetic shock and coma, heart attacks, and other medical problems, children born to these mothers may well be at greater risk of autism.

Researchers at UC Davis have uncovered major differences in the brain development of affected children. Namely, these individuals show an abnormally fast growth rate in the frontal cortex areas of the brain. For years, scientists have observed decreased brain activity coming from these areas in affected individuals, but they now have histological evidence corroborating their findings. Scientists hypothesize that overactive growth rate is responsible for misfires in the neural net, leading to a lack of proper functioning.

Functional MRI scans, or fMRI have shed further light on these findings. Using these techniques, scientists are able to see cross sections of the brain in vivid detail, without causing harm or distress in an individual suffering from autism. Recent advances in medical technology have made it possible to observe brain function on levels never before possible, and may well hold the secret to unraveling even more of autism’s mysteries.

It’s no secret that rates of autism have been rising steadily over the past few decades. While some of this is attributed to better defined diagnosis criteria, and part of it may well be catching children who may have escaped attention in an earlier era, this is not the full explanation. Of course, one should never assume correlation implies causation, but it is interesting that both obesity rates and autism have exploded in prevalence during the same time period.

A recent study undertaken in South Korea suggests that autism prevalence may be far greater than previously believed. Like many disorders, autism diagnoses are dependent on a number of factors, and individuals with the disease exhibit symptoms along a spectrum. Certainly, in our own experiences, we have all observed higher functioning children and adults with autism, and others that require more assistance.

After analyzing the results of the research, scientists believe that the findings lead to a conclusion which may not be readily obvious to the uneducated observer. To fully understand the findings, we need to take a step back and consider the study itself. Researchers focused on a very small population in South Korea, and studied them in depth for a long period of time. Under this intense scrutiny, scientists found ample evidence of autistic behavior within the study group. Based on the research, the take away is not that autism rates are higher in this particular population, but that if any population was analyzed and studied as closely as this group, similar results would be found.

In other words, autism is all around us, to varying degrees, and is being under represented by diagnoses made hurried and without adequate study. So, while the more heavily afflicted children are caught in the net of treatment and care, better functioning children may be missed entirely by the social safety net. These children then may go on to have difficulty further down the line, whether it be developmental, problems with authority, or other behavioural issues.

These results serve as a good reminder to all of us to consider a number of issues when dealing with children diagnosed with disorders like autism. Namely, these illnesses occur along a spectrum and as such, even though a child has been given a ‘bill of clean health’, it may well be that the diagnosis has been missed. We all should take care to consider these topics, and treat each person as an individual.

Study Suggests Autism Under-Diagnosed