So I am continuing my study of The Autism Sourcebook for my non-biblical study. I had every intention of getting caught up on my studies and getting started on the Law Course but it just has not happen. My Hubby and I have spent the last 4 days he has had "off" trying to give each other breaks and trying to get some "us" time in too rather than digging into this 40 day challenge I have started. Which is great for us but not so great for my personal goals. I have struggled to get caught up on my blogging because we have been taking the time to focus on us rather then just me focusing on Monkey. Of course part of our couple time is about him because I think for the rest of our lives we will be worried and focused on our kids but we did find time to have "us" time and it has been great and much needed. Here in FL we are in "season" and in the restaurant biz that means long hours and lots of time away from home so the little time we have together has to be well spent :)
I did find time today while Hubby was checking in with work to do part two of my Day 7 work. My Non-biblical study was in the Section about Causes of Autism. This is a struggle for me because parts of what studies have shown I agree with but other parts I find kind of crazy theories and of course this book I am reading was published in 2005 so it addresses the concerns about Vaccinations causing Autism...I have not agreed with this from the very beginning and I know this will be an issue for some but this has just been my opinion and recent studies have backed me in this but I know for a long time this has been a serious debate :( Here are the factors of causation I do agree with:
1. The Brain Component: There is obviously something different about how a Child with ASD thinks and that is directly related to how their brain works. Research shows there is "faulty" wiring in the ASD Child's brain, either too much connectivity causing confusion in the brain or to little connectivity causing gaps in the brain functions.
2. The Genetic Component: This section talked about were science is on their research of the gene component mostly. I guess they have identified 6 possible genes related to ASD and they would have to come together in a certain way to develop into a child with ASD. I thought this was interesting "According to information at the Yale Child Study Center, research has shown that if you have a given birth to a child with an ASD, there is a one-in-twenty chance of giving birth to another child with an ASD. This number may even be underestimated because many parents stop having children after having one child with an ASD. Many parents of children with ASDs report there is a family history of ASDs or related disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and/or schizophrenia. Other parents report cases of an odd uncle or antisocial grandmother. Because ASDs were defined differently years ago, it's possible that there were family members who had an ASD or autistic tendencies but were either misdiagnosed or never diagnosed at all."
I found most of that paragraph relateable. I often say that I am very glad I got pregnant with our second son when I did because I never would have had another if I had waited even 6 months longer to get pregnant. It was about 5 months into my pregnancy that our Son's tantrums started and we chocked it up to the good old terrible twos at the time but still even then I said if I had known this is what terrible twos meant I never would have had another. I love Peanut and on the rough days he is my little Angel from God sent here to give me kisses and let me know everything is going to be all right and that is why I think I got pregnant when I did because Peanut was meant to be in our lives. The other part of this paragraph I found very relateable was the end about the history in these families with Children with ASD...I do not want to offend or reveal too much about family members who can not speak for themselves but I can say that pretty much every disorder mentioned in that paragraph in found in either my family tree or my husband's family tree, including the odd, antisocial family member that was not properly diagnosed. My Husband is also the odd child that was not properly diagnosed. We think he probably had ADHD but at the time the Doc told my Mother-in-law to get him a fish tank to cure his hyper activity...not sure what the Doc was thinking but I guess that is all he knew to tell her at the time.
3. The Environmental Component: She had separate sections for immunizations and pregnancy components listed but I think they are all part of the environmental component. I definitely agree there is some kind of outside component that collides with the genetic predisposition but I have yet to figure out what that is for my own son let alone make my theory known for other parents. I have had thoughts of the traumatic birth and last couple weeks of my pregnancy my Son endured may have something to do with it but I can't say for sure. I was in labor for a couple weeks and because of my high tolerance for pain they didn't believe me until they hooked me up to the monitors and saw the contractions on paper. I am sure that was traumatic for him and his heart rate was high and they kept blaming me for being dehydrated so they pumped me full of fluids trying to get his heart rate down but it wasn't going down because I was perfectly hydrated, obviously something was going on with him. Finally the last of trauma at birth was the emergency c-section because when they broke my water his heart rate went from the high 180s to the 50s. It was scary for me and I can only imagine the stress his little body went through. There were no signs of issues with him at the time so we all rejoiced in a healthy baby...not sure if it really has anything to do with his issues but it has often crossed my mind.
4. The Immune System Component: This was a new one for me. I had not read this before but I found it interesting. This factor is from evidence of a UC Davis Lab did studies on the immune cells os typical children and ASD children dn found that they respond differently. ASD children have lower levels of cytokines which help mediate the immune response and they can effect behaviors and mood. She ended the paragraph with further research is being conducted and since this book is a few years old there maybe more info out there now. I will have to do some research on that and let you know :)
The rest of the section was about different statistics of ASD:
Ratio for Boys to Girls with ASD 4:1
Ratio for Boys to Girls with High Functioning ASD or Asperger's is 15:1
Decades ago only 1 in 10,000 children had Autism and now they say 1 in 150 children have Autism. There is much speculation over this increase but I just think that we have improved out diagnostic tools for this disorder and we have also opened up the "spectrum" to include more kids with similar symptoms. I don't think there is an epidemic like they make it look, I think that we are just more educated about and aware of Autism than we used to be. Maybe that is naive of me to think but it is my opinion.
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