Published on 12, July, 2020
Suppose you have the funding and technical skills to carry out autism research (e.g., questionnaires, qualitative interviews, MRI, EEG, behavioural experiments, virtual reality, etc). What kind of research question would you like to ask? What autism question do you think is still not well known, and what would be your solution to solving it, or extend current knowledge?
Alot of autistic adults that I have spoken to believe that you are born with autism as it occurs as the brain develops in the womb, however the NHS and many other places state that environmental factors play a part as well as health at birth.
I would like to see further research into children who have had severe birth trauma or early onset sepsis and possible link between this and autism.
What I've heard form most people is that it's an interaction of both genetic and environmental factors. But, yes, it would be very useful to know exactly what those factors are. I think there are some teams that are looking into difficult births, birth trauma, and preterm birth and the effects they have in future life, but it requires establishing a very large database, and waiting for those children to grow up to be able to track them as they develop, so maybe we will know more several years later as these studies become more available and give new insights.