The Biology of the Autistic Syndromes

This third edition of The Biology of the Autistic Syndromes finally puts fully in place the new paradigm of autism which knocks down the two major myths about autism. 1)Autism is NOT caused by poor parenting - the parents are, if anything, the victims of this psychoneurological disease -- and 2)autism is NOT one disease -- it is many different diseases. The symptoms of autism are due to neurodevelopmental errors in the fetal brain. Modern neuroimaging techniques have shown that virtually every brain region is affected in autism.Approximately three-quarters of the children diagnosed as autistic have one of the disease entities of autism, discussed in Chapter 10. Another quarter of the children have a double syndrome, that is an autistic syndrome in addition to a second, well-established medical syndrome, discussed in Chapter 11. Correct diagnosis of each individual child, as outlined in Chapter 16, is the essential first step toward accurate medical therapy.There are chapters on Asperger syndrome, epidemiology, neuropsychology, epilepsy, biochemistry, neuropathology and molecular genetics. The new paradigm of autism is changing the future for children with autism.