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Environmental Factors in the Aetiology of Autism – Lessons from Animals Prenatally Exposed to Valproic Acid

T. Schneider,R. Przewłocki

Published 2011 in Unknown venue

ABSTRACT

1.1 Diagnosis Autism was first described by a child psychologist Leo Kanner as ‘inability to relate themselves in the ordinary way to people and situations from the beginning of life’ (Kanner, 1943). For many years autism was thought to be a consequence of bad parenting; fortunately, in the late 60-ties it was shown that there was no difference in parenting style between the parents of autistic and non-autistic children and a neurobiological basis of autism was suggested (Rutter et al., 1967; Rutter, 1968). Nowadays, autism is classified within the broad domain of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) which also includes Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger syndrome, and PDD not otherwise specified (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). There is a high phenotypic heterogeneity within this class of disorders and the debate regarding their clinical boundaries is ongoing. Instead of a classical categorical approach, a more useful description of this group of disorders as "autistic spectrum disorders" (ASD), not including Rett syndrome, has been proposed (reviewed in Willemsen-Swinkels & Buitelaar, 2002). ASD is characterized behaviourally by impairments in three core domains: social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities appearing before the age of three (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Clinical pattern and severity of impairment vary along these dimensions from mild to severe including a complete absence of interest in interacting with others but also subtle dysfunctions in managing social interactions, a complete absence of spoken language but also mild impairment and idiosyncratic vocabulary or even hyper-linguism in some of the Asperger cases, simple motor stereotypies and a preference for sameness but also complex rituals accompanied by distress and aggression when they cannot be fulfilled. The core symptoms are frequently accompanied by a spectrum of neurobehavioral derangements, including: hyperactivity, aberrant sensitivity to sensory stimulation, reduced

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2011

  • Venue

    Unknown venue

  • Publication date

    2011-08-17

  • Fields of study

    Medicine, Environmental Science, Psychology

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.5772/20391
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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