Autism

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that begins at birth or within the first
two-and-a-half years of life. Most autistic children are perfectly normal in
appearance, but spend their time engaged in puzzling and disturbing behaviors
which are markedly different from those of typical children. Less severe cases
may be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or with
Asperger's Syndrome (these children typically have normal speech, but they
have many "autistic" social and behavioral problems).

It used to be thought that autism is just a fate that you accept.The good news is
that there are now a wide variety of treatment options which can be very
helpful. Some treatments may lead to great improvement, and others may have
little or no effect, but a good starting point would be the parent ratings of
biomedical interventions, which presents the responses of over 25,000 parents
in showing the effectiveness of various interventions on their own child.

ARI's Diagnostic Checklist, Form E-2, was developed by Dr. Bernard Rimland
to diagnose children with Kanner's syndrome (which is also known as 'classical
autism'). Many parents and professionals have also used the E-2 checklist to
assist in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). You can print out,
complete the checklist, and then mail it to ARI for scoring. Our staff will
analyze the responses and send you a score along with an interpretation. The
checklist is available in 17 different languages. There is no charge for this
service.
How Common is it? For many years autism was rare - occurring in just five
children per 10,000 live births. However, since the early 1990's, the rate of
autism has increased exponentially around the world with figures as high as 60
per 10,000. Boys outnumber girls four to one. The Centers for Disease Control
estimates that 1 in 110 children is diagnosed with an ASD.

What is the Outlook? Age at intervention has a direct impact on outcome--

typically, the earlier a child is treated, the better the prognosis will be. In recent
years there has been a marked increase in the percentage of children who can
attend school in a typical classroom and live semi-independently in community
settings. However, the majority of autistic persons remain impaired in their
ability to communicate and socialize
MMR vaccine controversy
The MMR vaccine controversy refers to claims that autism spectrum
disorders can be caused by the MMR vaccine,
an immunizationagainst measles, mumps and rubella.
Claims of a connection between the vaccine and autism were raised in a
1998 paper in The Lancet, a respected British medical journal.
[1]
Investigation by Sunday Times journalist Brian Deer discovered that
the lead author of the article, Andrew Wakefield, had multiple
undeclaredconflicts of interest,[2][3] had manipulated evidence,[4] and had
broken other ethical codes. The Lancet paper was retracted, and
Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious
professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical
Register, meaning he could no longer practice as a doctor in the UK.
[5]
 The research was declared fraudulent in 2011 by the BMJ.[6]
The scientific consensus is that no evidence links the vaccine to the
development of autism, and that the vaccine's benefits greatly outweigh
its risks. Following the initial claims in 1998, multiple
large epidemiological studies were undertaken. Reviews of the evidence
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,[7] the Institute of
Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences,[8] the UK National
Health Service,[9]and the Cochrane Library[10] all found no link between
the vaccine and autism. While the Cochrane review expressed a need
for improved design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine
studies, it concluded that the evidence of the safety and effectiveness of
MMR in the prevention of diseases that still carry a heavy burden
of morbidity and mortality justifies its global use, and that the lack of
confidence in the vaccine has damaged public health. [10] A special court
convened in the United States to review claims under the National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program rejected compensation claims
from parents of autistic children.[11][12]
The claims in Wakefield's 1998 The Lancet article were widely reported;
[13]
 vaccination rates in the UK and Ireland dropped sharply, [14] which in
turn led to greatly increased incidence of measles and mumps, resulting
in a few deaths and some severe and permanent injuries. [15]Physicians,
medical journals, and editors[16][17][18][19][20] have made statements tying
Wakefield's fraudulent actions to various epidemics and deaths.
 Submitted to :
Mr. Fervi B. Kwek
Clinical Instructor

Submitted by:
PIL,Louiseville Ann Arcilla
3-H
REACTION: