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Autism ought not remain unseen

Written by Sevencam
Thursday, 16 April 2009 00:00

For One Husband-and-Wife Research Team, the Debate on Autism Misses the Point by Missing the Tell-tale Signs of Early Detection

As we continue through National Autism Awareness Month, the national debate over whether or not vaccination causes autism remains provocative and unresolved. An article in the January 13, 2009 edition of The New York Times, for example, presented the long-held views of “pro”-vaccine pediatrician and author Dr. Paul A. Offit. He believes—along with Hollywood actress Amanda Peet and former first lady Rosalynn Carter—that there exists no correlation between vaccines and autism. Meanwhile, The Huffington Post reported on February 25, 2009 that Dr. Duane Alexander—Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), an NIH agency—has endorsed further research into possible links between vaccination and autism. Although a recent U.S. court ruling found that vaccination was not necessarily the cause of autism in the children of three families, all agree that the origins of the illness remain a mystery.

However, according to husband-and-wife researchers Osnat and Philip Teitelbaum, authors of Does Your Baby Have Autism?, the autism community should expand the scope of its debate to include not only how a child develops autism, but how early autism can be detected. “Currently, the medical establishment only tests for autistic behavior in children when they are twenty-four months or even older,” states Osnat Teitelbaum. “Our ongoing research identifies the early signs of autism during a child’s first four to six months of age.”

The Teitelbaums have based their theories on more than fifteen years of study, most of it focused on the videotaped movements of autistic and non-autistic infants. “When watching the various tapes of these young children,” note the authors, “clear patterns began to emerge. We were able to draw parallels between asymmetrical motor developments in children who were later shown to have autism.”

While they do not claim to know what causes autism, the Teitelbaums do feel that their findings can help parents take a more active role in determining whether or not their child may be autistic. “We feel we have opened the door to a new approach in autism diagnosis that could allow parents and professionals alike to help children very early in life, when this assistance may be of greatest value.”

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