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The surprisingly high rate of the condition known as autism is reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be one in 166 children. Most people find it even a bit scary, especially ones who have never been exposed to statistics or to anyone affected by this condition.
The lack of publicity on the problem causes troubles to autism research, as those research funds are being diverted to other causes with much bigger publicity as cancer and heart disease. We don’t try to say that those are not important, we just say that with such a high rate of people affected by autism it should be considered a worthy cause too.
Despite the high number of affected children, their parents often complain about the lack of intensity in that research if any is done nowadays. Of the total amount of the National Health Budget, which adds up to $30 million, the part that goes to autism research is as tiny as two thirds of a percent, according to Mr. Wright of Autism Speaks. And that is not at all enough, according to the affected ones and their relatives.
That foundation called Autism Speaks, is trying to raise research funds that most people hope will eventually provide a cure for that disease. Such a cure for autism will not only help children escape their trapped worlds but will help their families too.
At this time one of the most important factors that are being handled in autism research, is determining the cause of that disease, because you first need to know what causes that condition in order to be able to cure it.
Although not many of the researchers believe it there are some who think that there is a relation between exposure to mercury and autism. Having the autism research focused in parts on environmental factors too is good but of course an adequate funding is necessary in order to reach any further in the search of autism’s actual cause.
Some of the projects for autism research concentrate their efforts on analyzing high-functioning autistic toddlers. As these children still can not speak well enough due to their early age, the tests they are given are non-verbal and are made with the use of a computer.
The age of the children which are chosen for those tests is 18 months to 2 years as this is the age when the basis of everybody’s character is formed. The aim is to be studied how the information is assimilated by autistic children and what is their development during these early years of their lives.
Tests are also made with children who have autistic brothers or sisters. Thus a comparison can be made between an autistic child and his siblings provided that they have one and the same living conditions and are exposed to the same environmental conditions and stimuli.
Unfortunately the chance for a child with an autistic brother or sister to become autistic himself is higher and this fact is used by researchers. What they want to do is to have a control group of children with autistic siblings which to examine from the moment they were born. Researchers hope that thus they can gather a lot of useful information.
In spite of all the above mentioned efforts, there is a long way to be passed in order to find a cure. This main aim can be only reached with doing much more researches that of course will require much bigger funding.
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