An Insight Into Research On Autism

Autism has primarily emerged as a major topic of research within the past ten to fifteen years, and only in recent years has it been studied in a comprehensive manner.

Because of the complexity of autism, research has been difficult to say the least. Recently, individuals from different fields have worked together to perform interdisciplinary studies on autism, which should allow us to begin to learn more about the disease.

Understanding autism research first requires understanding of a disease about which there is still much yet to be understood. That is, we don’t know a particularly great amount of information about autism.

The first thing to know is that autism is a spectrum disorder; the behaviors, communication difficulties, and developmental issues with which it is associated can occur on a scale from mild to severe. Autism is further complicated by the fact that as an individual diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder ages – and is exposed to different environments and possibly resources – their individual form of the disease is likely to evolve as well. Furthermore, autism is diagnosed primarily psychologically, simply because we have yet to find a better way. It is diagnosed by the presence of associated outward symptoms, whilst it is possible that the underlying issues (causes) are quite different.

Autism research is currently focused in two areas. Because we have yet to understand it fully, a great deal of research focuses upon the medical and biological aspects of it – which particular mechanisms and occurrences may lead to autism, or how the disease evolves/manifests on a systemic or cellular level. This type of research is known as “basic science research.”

Alternatively, many researchers engage in “applied science research.” These types of studies focus on the behavioral, communicative, and educational elements of autism spectrum disorders. Of course, many studies now combine elements from both types of research and it is believed that this will facilitate a great deal of progress in what we know about the disorder(s).

The complexity of autism is, in many ways, what makes it so frightening to people. We don’t know what causes it, and we don’t fully understand the determinants of functionality for persons with autism spectrum disorders. However, we are making great progress in understanding autism, and it is very likely that research will yield a clearer picture of autism spectrum disorders in the future. Once we begin to understand the cause(s) of autism, research can begin to focus on curing the underlying problems, so that autism can be entirely eradicated. Although autism is a very complex and subjective disorder, it is universal that comfort can be derived from the vast amounts of research now underway, which bodes well for us all.

Author

This article was written for Insights-on-Health.com by Nicole D T, a freelance writer who researches and writes on various topics.