Diagnosis: Autism

(CBS)  The government recently announced that autism now occurs in about one of every 150 American children—a new number that is adding to what was already a raging controversy: with parents groups arguing with scientists over what causes autism, and with politicians over funding for research.

In the meantime, behavioral scientists are trying to identify the early symptoms so that a diagnosis can be made by the age of one. As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, today most children are left undiagnosed until they're five years old.

Researchers at the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California in Davis believe, if they can catch it early, they can change the way a child's brain develops. They have started testing their theory in toddlers like Christian Heavin.

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Psychologist Sally Rogers, a pioneer in the field of autism treatment, started giving three-year-old Christian intensive therapy about a year ago, hoping to alter the course of his autistic behavior.

Asked what his behavior was like before she met him, Rogers says, "Well, when we first met Christian he didn't have any words."

"He didn't really have any play skills. He mostly threw things on the floor," she adds.

And she says he would throw 20-minute temper tantrums because he couldn't communicate. "He was really out of control," Rogers says. "They had to bolt the furniture to the walls because this two year old was in danger of pulling furniture down on himself."

Dr. Rogers worked with Christian one on one—on her hands and knees, in his face, teaching him new words and forcing him to interact with her.

She believes that if treatment can begin this early, while a child's brain is still malleable, the results can be dramatic.

"Do you think that you're actually re-wiring the brain? Do you think you're setting up new wires that wouldn't be there?" Stahl asks.

"I think we certainly are creating new connections in the brain. That's what learning is," Rogers explains.

Asked if she is suggesting that autism can be cured, Rogers says, "We don't know how to touch the biology of autism. But I do think that the behaviors that are associated with autism can be reduced to the point where they're not obvious anymore."

"Now, you can't make that promise to everybody, can you?" Stahl asks.

"No, you sure can't. There's a huge range of severity in autism. There's a huge range of reactions to treatments," Rogers acknowledges.

Christian is now able to talk with his mother Jennifer, and even a stranger like Stahl, in multiple word sentences.

Valerie Arias often wonders what her 13-year-old son Teddy's life would be like if his autism had been treated earlier.

"When Teddy was about six months old, I had him in his car seat, and he just kept flailing his arm over his head," she remembers. "My mother looked at him and she was like, 'Val, I think Teddy has autism.' At six months old, my mother told me that my son had autism. And I said, 'No, he doesn't. There's nothing wrong with my baby.'"

"I was very angry at my mother," she adds. "I didn't speak to her probably for about a year."

What her mother saw was that Teddy never babbled as a baby—he just screamed and grew increasingly violent.

Valerie may have been in denial, but even doctors didn't diagnose Teddy's autism until he was four years old.

By that time, Michael, who is now nine, had been born. In all, she and her husband Aaron have four children, including Paige, 14, and one-year-old Haydn.

Right after Haydn was born, Valerie heard about a study at the M.I.N.D. Institute on early detection of autism. It was focusing on so-called "baby sibs," children like Haydn with an older autistic sibling. So she signed him up.

"Did you know at that point that autism did run in families, does run in families?" Stahl asks.

"I knew that the chances of having another child with autism were greater," Valerie tells Stahl. "But, I figured since Michael didn't have it that everything was okay."

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[alimark98]

I, too, was angered when Lesley Stahl referred to a child without autism, as "healthy", inferring that my son with autism was not. My son is perfectly healthy; he just happens to have a dx of autism. Because of the early intervention we have received, he is doing great. Ms. Stahl and the writers ought to watch how they refer to these children and maybe lessen the 'shock drama'. Autism is a spectrum and there are many manifestations of the dx. The public needs to be aware of that.

Alison
Los Angeles, CA

[fluorisnuffd]

Water treatment involves some chemicals, but it need not ever admit a pinch of spite which places everyone's families and children at intollerable risk. In WWII, fluorine chemistry was experimented with at Los Alamos, in the same human experiements performed there that fed or injected plutonium. It was later exposed during the Clinton Administration. Fluoridation's history is tied to the German manufacturer of zyclon-B used during the holocaust to exterminate millions of Jews. We don't have to put up with it or drink it. And we will not stand by while it injures our neighbors and countrymen. Commercial marketers are and will be held to the conducts and standards of this society clearly delineated in all the laws--the victims are not informed, and they cannot consent to be injured through the commission of any crime.

[fluorisnuffd]

The "treatment" is Prevention, and our full public Intervention, holding elected representatives to account for their sophist meddling in the public's lives over a harebrained notion to prevent cavities through the passive ingestion of tap water--and with no mention of the only effective, conscientious standard and practice of brushing, without consuming the well catalogued toxin fluoride and those compounds in any reference on Toxicology.

[raechyl-2009]

As an Aspergerite, what disturbs me about the report on Autism is that the studies seem to be conducted by "Others" - those without personal knowledge of how these children process information. I've read all the previous comments and watched the show and I know why these things are happening. I know why the lid requires attention, why the child doesn't respond to his name, why there are tantrums (although I have never had a tantrum or screamed or even cried out loud - although I often imagine myself charging headfirst into walls), why children wake up angry, why some music helps (not all), why a foreign language (esp. French) is calming, why we avoid staring a people but can stare endlessly at an object, and on and on. But I don't know the scientific reason why we rock...only that it helps in decision-making. Even when Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees, she learned some by observing, better understood when she lived with them, but never fully understood because she was not one of them. I suggest you watch Rainman: If you identify with the women, you are a nurturer; identify with Tom Cruise and you are an Outsider; identify with Dustin Hoffman, you are one of us. We think differently; our brains use differnt connections. Conventional teaching is not always effective. If you want to communicate with your kids, find an AS person to interpret their thoughts. You can find us - we were the geeks and misfits in high school. And this may not be significant, but I crave sugar and hate chocolate.

[fluorisnuffd]

The "treatment" is the ascertaining of wrongful injury from reckless, willfull and remorseless negligence. We have an epidemic in a country with the highest attained standards for medicine and science...as well as criminal forensics detective procedures...the law is clear whatever the motive to perform or conceal terrorism by any gradual or seductive scheme to entrap its victims. Title 18, USCA, make it work for the victims and your country--fluoridation must be arrested and processed.
www.freewebs.com/writingindependence/main.htm

[bmyers12]

I am a parent of a 7 year old son who is recovering from autism. It has taken 20 years for Applied Behavioral Analysis to be completely accepted for the treatment of autism. Is it going to take another 20 years for biomedical treatments to be accepted? How long is it going take for autism to be recognized as a biological problem rather then a behavioral one? Will the numbers for autism have to be 1 in 10 before the media will talk in detail about environmental possibilities?

Psychologists tend to treat autism based on old theories. Please interview the parents of recovered children, and their journey on how they got there. I encourage you to learn more about what is known about the biological problems in autism from Defeat Autism Now, and give hope to the 1 in 150 families affected today.

[hammerzoo]

To those of you that don't have specialized schools in your area try an online school. I know social interaction is a must with autistic kids, but in order to get them the education they need without the hassles of busing, overcrowded classrooms, and administrators after the all mighty buck online is the way to go. Tell the district they are going to pay for it. They have to: All children have the right to an appropriate education for their needs. Hold up your IEP and say "do it". Or homeschool, either will allow your child to work at their pace and you can gear most work towards their interests. Odysseyware On The Web is the one I go through.

[s-petite]

My son, i'm My opinion got his Autism from the "Vacuum" that was attached to his head at birth when my contractions stopped. I never thought it could have been a result of Vaccines.

What I do know is that im totaly stumped as what to do to help make my son's life easier in the "Schooling" department.

After years of trying/fighting to do the "Right Thing" for/by him, i'm left mentally and emotionately drained and feeling as lost as I did on day I first started searching.

[c123amato]

do you honestly believe that because my 11 month old was taken out by a vacuum and she has NO signs of autism she smiles and looks into my eyes when i call her name. she points when she wants something/or me to bring her somewhere she cannot reach. she gets excited when she see;s new toys but usually more excited if she gets something of mine like my phone i hope this isn't rude your comment scared me more than anything else, i think autism or ANYTHING wrong with your child is a parents WORST NIGHTMARE and there has been a lot of improvement in the research and diagnosis of autism, yet all we want is our children to be happy productive members of society and autism not always but can threaten that

[holly0717]

I am a mother of a 6 yr old boy with autism, thank god he does very well but i think he is because of the earliy intervention he received. He did not babble or anything like "a normal baby would", but his Dr. Deanna Yen knew something was not right and referred me over to the Tennessee Earliy Intervention system which helped him get the theropy he needed. I personally do not think it is the vacnations if that was the case why don't more girls have autism, I think something happens in the pregnancy which causes the problem.

[fluorisnuffd]

That's cerebrum for cognitive impairment, cerebellum for motor-neural impairment that mercury has been linked to. (an editing button might help) I get so disgusted it rattles me. How can we live in a country like the U.S. and have this kind of thing going on, with the major news media lying to the public about it? Then this woman Valerie with her beautiful little boy, not a thing wrong with him, perfectly healthy, seems normal by appearances apart from behavioral subtleties--and Ozonoff's brainwashed her that she has defective genes or shouldn't have conceived. I think we know who shouldn't multiply.