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Autism


            
             Many times people are subjected humiliation and ridicule due to forces they cannot control caused by psychological disorders. One disorder that is found in young children that can cause many problems in human development is called autism.
             Autism is a disorder that severely impairs the development of a person's ability to communicate, interact with other people, and maintain normal contact with the outside world. It is found in two to five of every ten thousand children and appears before the age of three. It is also four to five more times common in males than females. (Encarta 1) At first children with similar autistic traits were considered child schizophrenics. Not until a child psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School Leo Kanner named the disorder "Early Infantile Autism" which was the title of his paper on the subject. Kanner later noted that the term autism was a poor word choice. It was supposed to relate the resemblance of the diagnosed children to autistic (daydreaming) adults. Autism in adults is essentially voluntary, and therefore many psychologists and psychiatrists to conclude that "autistic" children were normal individuals who voluntarily chose to disassociate themselves from reality. There is no evidence that infantile autism is voluntary. (Rimuland 138) .
             What causes autism is a question that cannot be truly answered, as researchers are yet to find the source of autism. Current research points to a biological or neurological difference in the brain. Also studies have found recently that autistic people have abnormally low blood flow to certain parts of the brain and reduced number of certain brain cells. (Encarta-Autism) Another linked theory is that autism is found in gene patterns where it may run in the family. (www.autism-society.org) Along with this, evidence that in the case of twins, unusually high rates of identical pairs where both children being diagnosed are present, while low rates are found for fraternal pairs.


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