Category: Autism treatment knowledge

Autism, more correctly known as Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a condition that, for many years, was incorrectly diagnosed under a variety of other medical conditions. Part of the reason for this is that, like some illnesses, such as Lyme Disease, the symptoms of ASD are so varied that there may be many other reasons for why the symptoms appear beyond just ASD.

Today, with more research, and a better—though not complete—understanding of how ASD operates, it’s now understood that many of the different symptoms fall within ASD, just to varying degrees, which is why the word “spectrum” is used to describe the disorder. Someone can be diagnosed with very mild ASD, but otherwise function normally throughout life, only feeling a bit introverted or not quite fitting in with the behavior of others. On the more extreme end of the autism spectrum, however, symptoms can be so severe that normal communication is impossible and even everyday tasks, such as tying shoes, requires a special approach and training.

The Promise Of Stem Cell Therapy

The reality is that ASD is something that can only be treated, not cured. While the exact mechanisms of ASD have yet to be fully documented and understood, it’s already well known that an antibiotic or another form of medical treatment cannot make ASD go away in the same way that pneumonia or heart disease may be cured.

Because ASD has a variety of different symptoms at different intensities, it also has different treatments based on an individual diagnosis. Some children diagnosed with ASD, for example, may have more prominent physiological causes for their condition, and so a prescription of medication, such as anti-psychotics may be advised. Other children may find that the most effective approach is a psychological one, and so behavioral therapy is recommended allowing the child to learn certain behaviors while suppressing others.

One new form of treatment in recent years is stem cell therapy. This has been getting some promising results, although more research and comprehensive study needs to be done. The treatment process, however, is sound. Stem cell therapy is already a well established medical treatment alternative for some forms of cancer, such as leukemia.

Why Do Stem Cells Work?

Stem cells are an effective form of treatment because, in a way, they are ultimate “spare” or “blank cells.” Stem cells are sometimes referred to as “master cells” because unlike normal cells in the body, they can be “programmed” to become any cell that is required.

Under normal circumstances, if you experience blood loss, such as donating blood, you eventually have new blood cells grown from your existing blood cells that replace the loss. The same goes for skin that is cut or burned; existing skin cells grow new cells. Heart cells do not grow lung cells and vice versa.

Stem cells can are available in small amounts in people, with reserves located in the bone marrow. However, extracting stem cells from bone marrow is a complex, extensive activity. When no other options are available, this type of harvesting works, but yields are not large compared to some other methods.

The Secret is Cord Blood

Cord blood, however, is an ideal method collecting stem cells, and, like bone marrow, has a high degree of compatibility with the right recipient. As with a blood transfusion, stem cells must be the right “type” to be accepted by someone being treated with stem cell therapy.

For patients born in more recent years, the best source of stem cells comes from their birth itself. Stems cells are the cells used by a mother and child, as the child grows in the womb. This is how embryos develop from a general collection of cells into more specialized organs like the brain and lungs.

Unsurprisingly, because babies experience a steady rate of growth for the entire nine months of development in the womb, massive amounts of stem cells are required. These stem cells are created, and freely move about in the placenta the baby grows within, and the umbilical cord which passes nutrients and waste back and forth, directly between the mother and the baby. As a result, once a baby is born, a massive concentration of remaining stem cells is left in both the placenta and the umbilical cord.

Always Ask For Storage

Because these stem cells were involved in the development of your child, this means that any stem cells administered from “cord blood” as it is called, will be 100% compatible with a child. In other words, cord blood is, potentially, an enormously valuable medical resource for your child. This is why, upon birth, if you are given the option to have cord blood stored, you should do it. If you find there is ever a situation where your child could benefit from stem cell therapy, retrieving previously stored cord blood will be of great help and could eliminate the need to retrieve stem cells from bone marrow.

Today, autism, or, the more accurate term, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has accumulated far more understanding about certain characteristics of this condition. There is also far more understanding and tolerance for those diagnosed with ASD, a happy contrast from the past, where people with ASD would be poorly treated, and often misdiagnosed as mentally ill.

But just because we have a better understanding of ASD, and how it affects people, that doesn’t mean that this understanding is complete. And it doesn’t mean that the public at large is more aware of ASD and how to interact with ASD patients. If you’re uncertain as to what ASD is, and would like to know more about it, we’ll explain.

What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

ASD is a medical condition, not a disease. This means that it currently has no known cure, unlike illnesses such as pneumonia, which can often be cured through specific medicines, vaccines, or other treatments. ASD can only have some of its symptoms managed or reduced, but the ASD itself cannot currently be eliminated.

ASD is a mixture of physiological, neurological, and behavioral symptoms that result in difficulties with social interaction, repetitive behavior patterns, and some physical symptoms, such as gastrointestinal issues, or sleep disorders. As a result of this mix of neurological, physiological, and behavioral factors, this may sometimes lead to the development of additional disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and others.

Why Is It A Spectrum?

The reason that ASD is called a spectrum disorder is that there is a very large variance in the number of symptoms manifested, as well as the severity of those symptoms. The seriousness of the symptoms is occasionally classified by their ability to affect a person’s function in normal, everyday settings, and interactions. Some people diagnosed with ASD, for example, are considered “high functioning,” in that, aside from being regarded as introverted, or having eccentric behavior, they have never required any additional therapy or treatment, and the ASD doesn’t have a severe impact on their lifestyle.

However, the other end of the spectrum is referred to as “low functioning,” and this can mean that people diagnosed with ASD experience great difficulty in normal settings and interactions. Poor communication skills, such as low verbal interactions, refusal to make eye contact, and even aggression issues mean that without behavioral therapy, or in some cases, medications such as antipsychotics, individuals in this area of the spectrum require more treatment and attention and may never smoothly integrate into a normal social setting.

What Causes ASD?

Medical research revealed that a primary cause of ASD is genetic. The severity of ASD can vary, but if there is a family history of ASD, there is a likelihood that the ASD will be passed onto a child born within that family line. However, while genetic transmission is one of the main forms of ASD appearing in a person, it is not the only one.

There are conditions which can create ASD even in someone without the genetic characteristics. Many of these are pre-natal, meaning that circumstances before or during birth may create the condition. Mothers who become pregnant at a very advanced age raise the risks of a child being born with ASD. The weight of the child while developing in the womb also plays a role. Children with insufficient access to nutrition during pregnancy, and are chronically underweight during pregnancy have an increased risk of being diagnosed with ASD.

Even the birth itself, if not properly supervised, can lead to ASD. Hypoxia is a condition where the infant does not receive sufficient oxygen, which may result in brain damage or other effects. If hypoxia occurs shortly before, or during birth, sometimes the resultant oxygen deprivation can result in ASD.

What Are The Symptoms Of ASD?

It’s important to remember that people diagnosed with ASD will not have all the symptoms of ASD and that the severity of these symptoms can vary wildly, from mild to crippling. Some of the most common symptoms of ASD are:

Lack Of Eye Contact

People with ASD tend to find direct eye-contact over-stimulating due to the way they process information, and so avoid it. Depending on the severity, some therapy may overcome this.

Repetitive Motions/Behaviors

People with ASD often find repeating a certain motion, such as rocking back and forth, or repeating certain behaviors, like playing with a toy in a particular way, soothing. As a result, they tend to engage in these activities at an abnormal rate of frequency.

Unique Speech Patterns

People diagnosed with ASD may develop distinct speech patterns, such as unusual vocal tones, or even a lack of tones, sounding robotic. They did not subconsciously integrate conventional speech patterns the way other children did.

Routine Oriented

Those diagnosed with ASD often place great importance in establishing and maintaining routines. Disruptions to routines can result in high irritability, and, in extreme cases, aggression.

Remember that it’s important always to consult a medical expert, and get a professional diagnosis of whether someone has ASD, before deciding what steps to take next.

Autism or someone diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be a difficult and challenging experience for people unfamiliar with this condition. Unlike many conditions, ASD has numerous factors at play, from both genetic to environmental, and, as such, there’s no one universal diagnosis, treatment or therapy that will apply to everyone. So, unlike measles, or pneumonia, where vaccinations and a well-documented, standardized medical treatment can be applied to just about everybody to address the problem, ASD requires a unique approach for each individual.

But for people—especially parents—to deal with ASD effectively, it’s important to get an understanding of what autism is, and where the medical sciences stand in their current understanding of its causes and possible treatments.

What Is Autism?

Generally speaking, autism or ASD, is a condition that expresses itself primarily in the behavior of a person. Someone diagnosed with ASD will usually experience more difficulty than the average person when it comes to social skills, speech, non-verbal communication, and repetitive behaviors.

However, the reason that autism is often referred to as autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is because of that word in the middle, “spectrum.” Because autism expresses itself primarily as a behavioral condition, the type of behavior displayed exists on a broad spectrum. On the minor end of the spectrum, someone diagnosed with ASD can live a largely normal, independent life in which the ASD proves to be disruptive only occasionally. On the other extreme of the spectrum, ASD can be so severe that a person diagnosed with requires a supervised setting to live safely.

What Causes Autism?

It’s important to note that because ASD is so varied, no one specific cause has been definitively confirmed as “the one.” Genetics, for example, is currently theorized to be anywhere from 60%-90% a determining cause in ASD. However, inheritance may not be the only factor, and medical investigations have also revealed that there may factors in the prenatal stage when a baby is developing in the uterus, that may also cause ASD, such as a mother contracting rubella, while pregnant, and transmitting that disease to the developing embryo.

There are also theories that certain factors in the environment may also pose a risk of autism even once a baby is born. Vaccines, thankfully, have already been ruled out as a possible cause of ASD in children, and in many cases, there isn’t sufficient medical evidence that yet indicates any post-natal factors that might be associated with causing ASD.

However, there are still some ongoing studies to see if there is any relation in ASD with other side-effects, such as gastrointestinal problems. Many people diagnosed with ASD also have a gastrointestinal problem accompanying this, so there may yet be a connection between the two that is, as yet undiscovered.

Can Autism Be Cured?

For the moment, the answer to this is “no.” There is no guaranteed, permanent cure to eliminate autism in the same way that antibiotics can eliminate certain illnesses, or surgery can repair a problem within the body. ASD can, however, be treated, which is a different thing. ASD treatments or therapies are not supposed to get rid of ASD, so much as manage it, and create a situation where a person diagnosed with ASD can “move along the spectrum” and regain more behavioral functionality.

Because ASD affects different people in different ways across the spectrum, different treatments will often apply. What is recommended for one individual may not be suitable for another, and vice versa. The specific position along the spectrum as well the distinct forms of ASD symptoms determine which treatments are most appropriate. Someone with only the mildest form of ASD, for example, may require no treatments at all. However, there are several different approaches to treatment, including:

Behavioral Therapy

In some cases, a person diagnosed with ASD is best served through addressing the behavior of the person. By introducing the ASD diagnosed child to methods such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), the children can learn to reduce undesirable behaviors, such as aggression, while developing the desired behaviors, such as verbal communication. In many instances, some time of behavioral therapy is always recommended, as a strictly medical approach doesn’t do anything to help a child integrate and socialize properly with others.

Medical Treatment

The other side of the equation is the physical or medical side. Here procedures are carried in an attempt to deal with some of the physiological characteristics of ASD. Stem cell therapy, for example, is an emerging form of treatment that is showing promise in helping reduce aggression, and re-engage social and speech abilities.

It’s important, however, for every parent to make sure that a thorough examination and diagnosis is undertaken to understand a child’s exact ASD condition. It’s very harmful to decide that one treatment is the ideal one and to ignore all other medical advice and diagnoses that are not the preferred method. Not every treatment is appropriate for every ASD diagnosed child.