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Autism / Asperger's syndrome - Take Care
Join featured guest Teissy Meza, Ph. D., Program Director for the Autism Center at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center as she helps explore the new and often successful ways that autism is being diagnosed and treated on this episode of Take Care.
Linda Geller, Ph.D. Clinical Director of the Asperger Institute for NYU's Child Study Center explains a group of conditions characterized by problems with social interaction, communicating effectively and having unusual behaviors repetitive or unusual in nature. Dr. Meza talks about how the range is unique and each case is specific to only one individual and cannot be easily compared to another.
The segment highlights a successful physician, aged 54, diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome but is still highly functional. Dr. Meza describes how typical it is for people with Asperger's to still be fully functioning and maintain a good quality of life as well.
Applied Behavioral Analysis and various therapies can be applied to children to help diagnosis and treat them as explained by Dr. Meza. ABA is the most researched and evidenced approach to help children diagnosed with Autism. Lastly the doctors discuss Thimerosal, or a compound containing mercury found in vaccines that is alleged to contribute to the development of Autism.
The issue in proving this is that the time symptoms appear and time vaccines are received are correlational however a conclusive link has not yet been found and are still left without knowing what causes Autism.
The importance is to intervene early on in the child's life and detect signs so the child may receive treatment early and correct many behaviors. Early signs include children who have difficulty making eye contact with parents.
