Location: Home » Disorders » Autism Spectrum Disorders » Causes
- These disorders are congenital, which means that something happened to the child before birth to cause the problem.
- The concordance rate for Autistic Disorder is 91% for identical twins but 0% for fraternal twins.
- Evidence indicates that the brain structure and chemicals in these children are abnormal, and therefore they do not process information in the usual way, especially in terms of sounds and language.
- Scientists are also exploring the possible interaction between those and environmental factors as a contributor to onset.
- Autism is NOT caused by parenting behaviors
- Other explanations for autism, such as purported links between childhood vaccination and onset, are unproven and go against the consensus view.