Putting Ideas About the Cause of Autism Into Perspective

I haven't posted this picture in a while, but as parents and people on the spectrum themselves tend to get inundated with articles sent to them about newly discovered 'causes of autism'. Dealing with this flood of press articles, which are rarely science-based, is intimidating for anyone and it can be a bit bewildering to try to sort through them.

That's why I LOVE this chart! It does a fantastic job of summing up what science has to say about possible correlations (which are not causes, simply things that we see a relationship with, such as science majors) with autism vs what the media has to say. You'll note there's not much of a relationship between the two.

If you're interested in learning more about the cause from a science-minded souce, by the way, I really recommend watching this TED talk which summarizes what we know so far: 

I also recommend, however, not focusing on the idea of cause. There are lots of people working on that, but it doesn't do much to help the autistic people who are our friends, relatives, and classmates. Instead, I'd recommend learning how to be a good ally to the autistic people that you know (or should happen to meet in the future). This video does a good job of summing that up. 

And if you're interested in reading the article that this chart came from, check it out here.

As always, if you have any questions about autism and science - found an article you don't quite understand or heard a claim that doesn't quite make sense - feel free to contact me and I'm more than happy to help you with it!

-Creigh