LOS ANGELES, CA (BDCi) — April is the World Autism Awareness Month and with that in mind our BDCi staff put a list of things you should know about this disorder.
1. High-quality early intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can do more than improve behaviors, it can improve brain function.
2. Being nonverbal at age 4 does NOT mean children with autism will never speak. Research shows that most will, in fact, learn to use words, and nearly half will learn to speak fluently.
3. Though autism tends to be life long, some children with ASD make so much progress that they no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for autism. High quality early-intervention may be key.
4. Many younger siblings of children with ASD have developmental delays and symptoms that fall short of an autism diagnosis, but still warrant early intervention.
5. Research confirms what parents have been saying about wandering and bolting by children with autism: It’s common, it’s scary, and it doesn’t result from careless parenting.
6. Prenatal folic acid, taken in the weeks before and after a woman becomes pregnant, may reduce the risk of autism.
7. One of the best ways to promote social skills in grade-schoolers with autism is to teach their classmates how to befriend a person with developmental disabilities.
8. Researchers can detect presymptom markers of autism as early as 6 months — a discovery that may lead to earlier intervention to improve outcomes.
9. The first medicines for treating autism’s core symptoms are showing promise in early clinical trials.
10. Investors and product developers respond to a call to develop products and services to address the unmet needs of the autism community.
Read More: http://ow.ly/jFYU7
(Source: Geraldine Dawson -Chief Science Officer, Autism Speaks – Huffington Post)