There is so much information about autism that it’s often overwhelming, so I try to post content that I think are differentiated, and not likely found on other autism websites. This presentation made by Dr Wendy Chung at a recent TED 2014 conference, offers the clearest, best explanation yet on a complex subject : What Causes Autism?
Dr Chung, pediatrician, geneticist and researcher, is Director of the Clinical Genetics Program at Columbia University Medical Center in New York as well as the university’s fellowship program in clinical and molecular genetics. She is the principal investigator of the Simons Variation in Individuals Project (VIP), launched by the Simons Foundation, SFARI.org’s parent organization. The project aims to identify and study individuals with an autism-associated deletion or duplication on chromosome 16p11.2. Of her impressive bio, https://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/investigator-profiles/2011/wendy-chung-genetic-sleuth-is-advocate-for-families the descriptor I like best is “genetic sleuth” as here, she articulates scientific findings in layman terms on what causes autism.
“Autism isn’t a single condition. It’s actually a spectrum of disorders,” says Chung. “And like it is a spectrum of disorders, it has a spectrum of causes.” For a summary, check out this link http://blog.ted.com/2014/03/20/what-we-know-about-autism-wendy-chung-at-ted2014/
This is a MUST VIEW video for not just parents of ASD kids, but anyone who seeks to understand children with this condition, because most likely, you would know such a child. Each of us can make a more tolerant and helpful environment for them. Within my own tiny social circle, I know of ten boys/ young men, and the number keeps growing, because yesterday there were nine.
Also Read : Temple Grandin : The World Needs All Kinds of Minds
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