Autism-Recent Advances

Our understanding of childhood autism and the related pervasive developmental disorders continues to advance in many areas. The heterogeneity of phenotypic expression, presents many challenges making ascertainment of exact prevalence difficult. There is now wide agreement on and reliable application of the diagnostic criteria for autism, but there is less agreement on criteria for the related disorders atypical autism, pervasive developmental disorders unspecified and asperger's syndrome. Evidence about genetic association indicates that several genes are involved in creating susceptibility to the disorder and the first steps to identify susceptibility loci have begun. The studies conducted at many levels of analysis are allowing us to see the interconnections between the underlying biological causes and the cognitive and behavioural manifestations of the disorder. The development of newer assessment tools for use as a general population screen to diagnose autism early are being validated. A considerable amount of research is currently underway into developing appropriate education and intervention programmes for treatment and it is hoped that the new knowledge about the core biological and cognitive deficits in autism will help in developing better management strategies for this enigmatic and devastating neurodevelopmental disorder.