Autism Risks Still Allude Professionals

Parents of children with autism often ask pediatricians like me about the cause of the condition, and parents-to-be often ask what they can do to reduce the risk. But although there is more research in this area than ever before, it sometimes feels as if it’s getting harder, not easier, to provide answers that do justice to the evidence and also offer practical guidance.

Recent research has taught us more about the complexity of the genetics of autism, but the evidence also has suggested an important role for environmental exposures. It has become a very complicated picture: Genes matter, but we usually can’t tell how. Environmental exposures matter, but we usually don’t know which.

Study: Autism Risk Factors Elusive

Research has hinted that various factors around the time of birth may raise a child's risk of autism later in life, but there is still too little evidence to point to specific culprits, a U.S. study said.
Experts have long believed that genes play a key role in autism risk, but a U.S. study released last week found that genes appeared to explain a much smaller portion of the risk than previously suggested.
The latest study, a review published in Pediatrics of 40 previous studies, found that factors including low birth weight, fetal distress during labor and signs of "poor condition" in the newborn, such as problems with breathing or heart rate, have been linked to the risk of autism.

How to Enforce Law and Recognize Autism

SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- The news clip that trainer Brian Herritt played for his class Thursday began with grainy surveillance footage of an autistic 11-year-old boy handcuffed in the back of a squad car, screaming and beating his head on the Plexiglas divider until officers restrained him by buckling his seat belt.
Then, a clip of his mother alleging that police in Levonia, Mich., had mistreated her severely autistic son.
"What did those officers do wrong?" Herritt asked the approximately 25 regional law enforcement officers taking his three-hour course on recognizing and responding to people with autism.
The officers ---- from agencies that included the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the Carlsbad and Escondido police departments ---- pondered the question for a few seconds.