In article <4p6qp6$2pb at coyote.dres.dnd.ca>, Reno Pontarollo
<Reno.Pontarollo at dres.dnd.ca> writes:
>This is interesting. However, perhaps you could clarify something for me
>about autism. I
>thought that some children are born autistic. Are you proposing that the
>mother recieved the
>antibiotics while pregnant? Also, are there cases of autism acquired
later
>in life (perhaps due to your theory)?
This is a very common misconception. Autism can develop well after the
first year of life. By definition, symptoms are present by the age of 30
months. When the onset of autistic symptoms occurs following a period of
normal childhood development, it is sometimes refered to as late onset
autism. This is heavily documented and I will quote from one of my
sources:
"A significant proportion of parents report that their previously normal,
or at least better developing, children underwent an insidious behavioral
regression of their sociability, language, and play in the toddler or
early preschool years."
and
"Children whose parents give this history do not differ in other regards
from autistic children whose parents report that behavioral abnormalities
were already discernible in infancy."
Rapin, I. Autistic Children: Diagnosis and Clinical Features
Pediatrics 1991 May;87(5)751-759. Supplement
As of now, autism is not broken down by subgroups of any kind; even though
it is widely accepted that there are multiple etiologies for this
disorder. My hypothesis is not based on the mothers receiving antibiotics
during pregnancy. There are several immune system abnormalities
documented to occur in a large percentage of autistic individuals.
