Autism Symptoms & Treatment: Risks Revealed by Dad's Sperm Says Study

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines autism as the disorder comprised of a "group of developmental problems that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges".

As indicated in WebMD, the following are the symptoms noticeable in kids with autism:

-Unusual or awkward social skills

-Repetitive behaviors

-Eccentric habits

-Communication Impairments

-Minimal hobbies or interests

-Coordination impairments

The causes of autism have been a mystery to many. For this reason, parents have tried, yet seldom succeeded, in avoiding child conceiving situations that may likely produce such disorder.

However, parents may just find an accurate answer as to what causes autism in newborns. A Science Daily report revealed that findings published online on Wednesday in the International Journal Epidemiology revealed that the likely causes of Autism were "not in genes themselves, but in the "epigenetic tags" that help regulate genes' activity." WebMD further reported that the majority of these genes operated in association with the brain's function and development.

The father's sperms are likely sources of the causes and risks in association with the neurological disorder, experts shared. Daniele Fallin, a professor at the Bloomberg Achool of Public Health's professor in the Department of Mental Health surmised that, "If epigenetic changes are being passed from fathers to their children, we should be able to detect them in sperm."

As reported in Npr.org, pediatrician Katharine Zuckerman from the Oregon Health and Science University cited current medical practitioners' limited specialty in treating Autism, saying, "Autism should be something that primary care pediatricians are really comfortable with, like asthma or ADHD, but it's not."

"If you see a general pediatrician like me, I can't actually diagnose your child with autism," she added. Zuckerman wished for specialties for treatment for autism to change soon. She said, "We screen for blood pressure in kids and for vision. There's no reason we can't screen for autism."

Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders director, Rebecca Landa, noted that autism's infancy symptoms are often not obvious. Moreover, many get mixed signals in relation to these symptoms, Landa said. She also observed that people "expect that autism [in infancy] is going to look like autism in infancy, and that's not what happens." In addition, Landa reminded the public that each infant is unique in his/her behavioral development. 

One in 68 kids in the United States have autism, as reported in Science Daily.